John DiCamillo Interview

We recently had an opportunity to speak with John DiCamillo of Destroyer Studios about the release of Starshatter.

Xtreme-Gamer: Please tell us a little about yourself and what you do.

John: My name is John DiCamillo, although I generally go by "milo" online, and I'm the president and lead developer at Destroyer Studios. That means I do pretty much everything related to game development - programming, artwork, sound effects, producing, scripting, you-name-it. When I started Destroyer Studios, I was basically a one man band, but with this latest release it has been a pleasure to work with a talented team of outside artists and sound people. So there's much less "programmer art" this time! I still do all the programming myself though.

Xtreme-Gamer: Is Starshatter: A Gathering Storm a sequel to the original Starshatter or an expansion pack?

John: Starshatter: The Gathering Storm is more like a "special edition" really. We've kept the same basic storyline as the original release, but updated all the graphics, sounds, music, ship models, and so on.

Xtreme-Gamer: Can you tell us a little about what has changed since the original version?

John: I spent many hours tweaking the AI and performance parameters, and enhancing the dynamic mission generator. I've tried to make the "easy" setting easier for new players, and the "ace" setting even harder than it used to be. Plus we've added several new features including animated cutscenes and head-tracker support. And we've added more fighters, more starships, more space stations, more ground bases... oh, and 3D cockpit models for all the Alliance fighters.

Xtreme-Gamer: Have there been any enhancements to the graphics since the original?

John: Oh yeah, tons! About a year ago I released a free patch for the original version to add bump-mapping and specular-mapping and volumetric shadows. But the original models weren't really designed with that kind of detail in mind. For this release we have redesigned all of the ships with higher poly counts, larger textures, and better use of the advanced shader algorithms. We've updated the planet models with higher resolution textures and better atmospheric effects, and redesigned the nebular backgrounds. I've also tweaked the lighting and fogging algorithms for the atmospheric missions, and updated the terrain texturing.

Xtreme-Gamer: Will Starshatter: A Gathering Storm have widescreen monitor support?

John: Yes, all standard monitor resolutions are supported. Plus, if you happen to have a non-standard resolution, you can easily hand-edit a video configuration file to set it up.

Xtreme-Gamer: Did programming a space sim pose special difficulties not normally encountered when creating a land-based title?

John: I dunno, I've pretty much only ever worked on space sims! Even before I started Starshatter, I was working at Interplay doing 3D graphics card support for Starfleet Academy and Descent. I guess I've just always been drawn to this genre since I was a kid playing Space Invaders and the Star Wars arcade coin ops.

Xtreme-Gamer: Starshatter: A Gathering storm includes a dynamic campaign. How will this campaign differ from a non-dynamic campaign?

John: Well, normally a dynamic campaign system is like having a miniature RTS game built into your sim, where the player just takes on the role of one of the units. The campaign engine evaluates the strategic situation every few minutes and generates mission profiles to achieve tactical objectives. If your side is advancing on an enemy base, then the campaign engine will create missions to scout the area, eliminate enemy ground support, and escort strike packages or mobile artillery. Then either the player takes on one of those missions, or the campaign assigns them to AI pilots to fly.

Creating a dynamic campaign engine for a combat space simulations is really quite different than anything else because space sims have traditionally been so reliant on story elements to drive the action. For Starshatter, we had to find a way to do all that tactical planning stuff I mentioned, and still seamlessly incorporate scripted missions and cutscenes that advance the story.

When you start a campaign, each side has a fixed order of battle with about fifty starships and a hundred fighters of various sorts. You are assigned to one of those units and the campaign engine generates missions for you to fly. As you go through the game, all damage is persistent, so any enemy ship you destroy is gone for good. Likewise, if you fail a mission, your own ship will be gone for good and you will have to transfer to another one. With each successful mission that you fly, you are helping your side move that much closer to victory. I think it makes successful carrier landings just that much more satisfying.

Xtreme-Gamer: Will units gain experience as they progress through the campaign?

John: Units don't gain experience - unless you count battle damage as "experience" - but your character does. Each mission gives you the chance to earn experience points, mostly by making kills, but just logging air time and landing safely counts too. Those experience points lead to promotions, and promotions give you the opportunity for taking on more responsibility. Once you achieve a command rank, you can choose to command starships in addition to flying fighter missions. And once you reach the admiralty, you can take on a carrier command and run the whole battle your way.

Xtreme-Gamer: Can you explain how the gameplay in Sharshatter: A Gathering Storm works?

John: Starshatter: The Gathering Storm has four dynamic campaigns (plus one scripted training campaign) that collectively tell the story of a major interstellar war between two human empires: the Terellian Alliance and the Marakan Hegemony. As you progress through the game, the war quickly builds from a small border skirmish to a full-scale all-out battle for supremacy, and that's even before the evil aliens show up.

Xtreme-Gamer: Will players primarily pilot and fly a space ship, or is this title geared more toward the strategy gamer?

John: Starshatter really supports both kinds of gameplay, depending on what you prefer. If you primarily enjoy quick action, you can play through the entire game as a fighter pilot. Or you can do the whole game as a starship captain for a more tactical experience. Or if you really like variety, you can request a transfer to another unit after each mission and see the whole galaxy.

Xtreme-Gamer: The space simulation community seems to thrive on mods. Will any editors or mod support be available for the game?

John: Oh of course. I've always released modding tools with Starshatter, and this version will be no different. Starshatter has a built-in mod manager, so that you can choose which mods you want to deploy at any given time. You can even create custom mission scenarios that use ships from two or more different mods. I've just built a new, easier-to-use mod builder program that will be coming out shortly. And I'm going to be releasing an updated version of the 3D modeling program that I used to create the models in the game.

Xtreme-Gamer: Any final thoughts?