Darg: In an earlier interview, Flagship stated that there would be a multiplayer component to your games. Given your experiences with both "free" and "pay to play" games, which model is Flagship leaning toward?

Bill Roper: We’re spending a lot of time looking into how we want to approach this specific aspect of the game, including the potential creation of our own online multiplayer destination. No matter what we do, it has to be simple to use and offer something towards the game play experience and the way the community interacts. As we move through the development process, we will better define our final online model, but it is just too early now to make a definitive statement.

Chile: We realize that Flagship is extremely early in the development of its first game, but has there been any consideration to include module software for the creation of custom content? For example, the Aurora Toolset that Bioware produced for NeverWinter Nights?

Bill Roper:We have not put a specific focus on creating a full-featured, user-friendly toolset. We do, however, understand the importance and fervor of the modding community, so we have been thinking towards ways to support these gamers. We don’t have the intention of doing anything to make the game especially hard for those in the mod community to manipulate.

Wargasm: There has been some talk about the 3d engine. Is it easier to buy a license from another company such as the Havoc engine from Valve, or Doom 3 from ID? Or, better put, wouldn't it be easier to take a 3d engine that is out there, customize it, and save a lot of time in the production of an in-house 3d engine?

Bill Roper:The amount of time to modify an engine to do specifically what you need a game to do can very well take as long as designing the engine yourself. There are numerous examples of games that have continued to slip in regards to release dates because they keep switching technology. The engines that have been developed by companies like Id and Valve are certainly impressive, but at this time we feel that the specific needs of the game we are creating are best served by the creation of our own technology.

Wargasm: How do the increase of CPU speeds and faster and faster video cards affect the design of your game? For example, ID software seems to have some pretty high specs to enjoy all the eye candy, yet people with less expensive and/or older systems suffer in a way. How does one decide on what to include and what to omit when producing a game for the average consumer?

Bill Roper: We have always made games that appeal to a broad community of gamers. This means that we need to support a wide range of hardware, from CPU to video cards, to make the game playable by as many people as possible. We will continue this tradition with our current game and want to do all we can to both ensure the average player can enjoy our game, as well as having all the bells and whistles for those who have the top of the line equipment.

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