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Interview with Frank DeLise - by Stealth97 Monday July 31st, 2006 at 5:52pm

Can you explain your current position within Kaos Studios, and what work you have done in the past?

My name is Frank DeLise, General Manager of Kaos Studios. You can see some of my past work here. Previous to Kaos Studios, I had a studio called Trauma Studios which developed Desert Combat. Trauma was later acquired by Digital Illusions to work on Battlefield 2 and an unannounced project.

How many staff members do you currently have, and how many work hours have you put so far into this game?

We have 50+ developers now and growing. We have been hard at work since late last year on the project and plan on working hard to release a great game.

How did you come to the name Frontlines: Fuel of War?

Fuel of War was what started the name. I wanted a name that described the cause, “It’s the FUEL that drives us to the “Frontlines” of tomorrow to our next great “War.” Fuel has dual meanings, obviously from our dependency on Oil and is what Fuels a global war. Frontlines came from the game mechanic that allows us to be on the front of a battle. Giving single player a non-linear twist and Multiplayer a teamwork effort to move forward. So Frontlines is the franchise name and Fuel of War is the beginning of the global war.

Why did you choose THQ over other publishers?

THQ was a perfect match because they allowed us to stay together as our own entity. There are no creative decisions made on our game outside this studio, which is rare in this industry. They foster creativity and give you the freedom to create a great product and even allow you to form your own identity.

Why was the choice made to develop the game on the Unreal 3 Engine?

Unreal 3 was a good choice for us because we wanted to spend most of our time on gameplay, not designing a game engine. It also allows us to develop on multiple platforms easily.

Can you explain to us what type of gameplay we expect?

As a gamer, Frontlines was designed out of a passion in this Genre to fill a void that was missing. There simply is no non-linear single player military games with the intensity, battle chatter, squad play combined with the go anywhere do anything vehicle play. That combined with Co-op, Multiplayer on all platforms and near future weapons based on real military designs. I am also tired of single player games that force you to keep redoing the same thing every time you die, in FFOW you are always chipping away at the battle and you can form new strategies as you go. For Multiplayer, I really want teamwork to matter. In FFOW, teamwork truly makes your team stronger. More than two people in a vehicle make vehicles much more powerful by target sharing and counter measures, the frontline only moves forward if you work as a team, so expect to see some really cool team based features using the latest military equipment.

What do you say to all the Desert Combat fans about this upcoming game?

Frontlines: Fuel of War learned a lot from DC, a lot of elements will carry over including, pace and intensity, attention to detail and of course helicopters will be a blast. We also learned that people like each side having its own strengths and weaknesses as we started to learn in later versions of DC.

People are concerned that since this is a multi-platform game the PC side of things will be lacking. What do you say to these people?

The PC version will have everything it needs to be a great PC game. We know PC players are typically more hardcore than console players and we plan to give the PC players everything they deserve, so you will likely see some differences on each platform.

Can you give us the story behind Frontlines: Fuel of War?

FFOW is set 20 years in the future, as our world’s dependence on oil increases, so does the tensions. As our economies start to crumble, our countries are forced to secure what resources they feel our rightfully theirs. Quickly, small outbreaks turn into a full scale war. This causes new alliances to be formed, which are already forming today. (SCO as an example, Russia \ China) The war is desperate and bleak, but you must choose your side to fight for your countries survival! Choose between the Western Coalition or Red Star Alliance.

Note: You can download the Frontlines: Fuel of War trailer by visiting here.

What type of maps can we expect? We have been hearing the words open, and dynamic a lot.

We plan to have maps ranging from tight infantry maps to large scale Tank\Air battle maps in both Single Player and Multiplayer.

Will there be mod tools released when the game is launched?

That is the plan, we want to fully support the mod community, as it is our roots.

What types of vehicles can we expect?

You can expect a full range of vehicles, from light, medium armor vehicles to tanks, anti aircraft, jets, helicopters and more. We will be releasing concept work and screenshots over the year to show you what we are up to.

What types of weapons can we expect?

Weapons will range from the standard assault rifles to remote controlled drones and laser designators, a full range, even tactical nukes!

Can we expect to have HDR support?

Yes.

With recent development of Multiplayer games, there seems to be a lack of support coming from the developers. How do you plan on changing this?

We plan to support the community as often as possible. We are planning to build a dedicated team just for that purpose.

Will there be a destructible environment?

Yes, the environments are destructible making the battles that more intense. We don't plan to flatten the entire board, rather make the level look like you just had a war there and not take away the gameplay elements.

We would like to thank Frank DeLise for taking time out of his schedule to answer our questions. We look forward to the finish product of Frontlines: Fuel of War.