Moonbase Commander duo takes GameZone into the world of this turn-based strategy game
By Michael Lafferty

Exploring a new land can present its own set of challenges, but when you are talking about a distant planet, the challenges increase.

MoonBase Commander, developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames, promises to take game players in directions that other turn-based strategy games may not have thought of. First of all, the game’s developers have a long-standing reputation for excellent children’s software. That translates to a game that can be enjoyed by children, 8 and up.

According to the press release: “MoonBase Commander puts players in charge of their own lunar territory in a quest to build the most powerful empire on the moon. The key to winning is to find, exploit and use valuable energy pools to eliminate rival factions who are also on the same quest. Along the way players must choose the best way to accomplish their goals by using weapons, surveillance or shields to fortify their defenses. MoonBase Commander features multiple and unique opposing factions, bright graphics, a light storyline and various types of terrain that can be easily customized with the terrain editor.”

Other game features include an AI that will challenge players of any experience (or expertise) level, four factions, three modes of play (single play skirmish, challenge mode or multiplayer modes) and solo or team play.

The system requirements have also been kept on the low-end side of PCs. The minimum calls for a Pentium 266 with 32 megs of RAM, a 4x CD-ROM drive and DirectX 8.0.

Rhett Mathis, the game’s lead designer, programmer and in charge of audio effects, and Patrick Wylie, the senior producer, level designer and documentation writer, teamed up to answer question from GameZone about this title.

Question: Moonbase Commander sounds like an intriguing strategy game. Explain how it differs from similar games such as Alpha Centauri?

Answer: “There are a lot of differences. First off, the way moves are executed is much different. In Moonbase Commander, every move is launched from what we call a Hub unit. The player rotates the aim indicator, and then holds the launch button until the desired launch power is reached. This means that every action involves a certain amount of skill – rather than the typical click-here, click-there mechanism. Players have to continually balance the potential reward of a move with the risk of failure.

“The next major difference is that Moonbase avoids lengthy technology trees in favor of a compact set of versatile units. The depth of the game comes not from how many subtly different units there are, but from the different ways these units can be exploited. Because of this, Moonbase games tend to move from buildup to battle more quickly, so you get right to the gleeful business of destroying your opponents.

“These two differences help make Moonbase a really excellent multiplayer game. Most turn-based games don’t work very well online because of the slow pacing. Moonbase doesn’t have this problem – its game play lends itself quite naturally to excellent multiplayer gaming, even across slow Internet connections.

Q: The press release talks about a light storyline. Is the game mission-based or does it follow the mode of RTS games like Warcraft III with an evolving storyline? Is the game linear or non-linear?

A: “The storyline is light in the sense that the Moonbase world doesn’t take itself overly seriously. Our factions have real character, and make fun of the way things might be in the near future. NiceCo is a huge consumer electronics company that practically rules the world, but they promote this happy friendly image. There is a lot of this kind of irony in the game.

“The Challenge Mode portion of the game is a single-player campaign. You take the role of Commander in four missions for each of the four factions. After each mission, you’re ranked based on how efficiently you met the mission objectives. It is possible to play through, beating each mission at the lowest ranking, but you’ll unlock more goodies by getting the top ranking. These missions are designed to ease the player into the game, but they get plenty tough by the end.”

Q: Does this game explore anything new technologically? What engine does it use and why did you select that particular engine?

A: “When I started designing Moonbase Commander, I wanted it to by playable by as many people as possible. For this reason, I wanted to keep the game software rendered. Even with this restriction, we ended up with a 16-bit engine that can do tons of alpha-blending, additive effects, and distortion effects on a regular computer, all while maintaining a wicked-smooth frame-rate. All of our units and interfaces use alpha for edge-pixel anti-aliasing, which looks great. The best thing about this is that you get cool explosions, pretty special effects (power spikes, smoke, EMP’s), and lush environments on pretty much any PC out there.”

Q: Does the moon in the title refer to the satellite orbiting Earth? If so, and because there is a lot of information available about the planet, does the game have familiar landmarks and/or terrain features?

A: “Heh, actually it’s a reference to any moon of any planet. The Moonbase missions are designed to explore, capture, and exploit the resources on moons throughout the galaxy. I look at the Moonbase Universe as being parallel to ours, so there are similarities, but the various worlds in the game are fictional. I rather like the idea of being able to invent new worlds that may be more fantastic to anything we’ve yet discovered.”

Q: What will players be able to do with the terrain editor? Will players be able to create their own scenarios? How easy is the terrain editor to use?

A: “You’ll be able to make maps just like the ones we’ve included with the game. The terrain editor is super-easy to use. You just pick a terrain altitude, then draw the terrain onto the map. The editor calculates how to manipulate the terrain engine to create the correct shapes. An average person could make a decent map in about five minutes. The other thing that’s cool about this is that you can host a multiplayer game with your map, and it’ll be automatically transmitted to the other players. When the game ends, they can even keep it – there’s no hassle with sending it in email or any of that.”

Q: Tell us a little about the game’s AI. Is it evolving or is it purely maniacal and cutthroat regardless of the player’s experience? (Consider this question asked with a glint in the eye, and a smile)

A: “There are actually 10 different AI players, each with different playing styles and abilities. Brutakas is a very aggressive, highly skilled attacker who can give good players a real challenge. Neep is an easier AI, who has difficulty focusing on a long-term strategy. By teaming up with or against AI players, you can create just about any difficulty level you want. If you can beat three allied Brutakases (or would it be Brutakii?), come find me on GameSpy.”

Q: What are the multiplayer options in the game?

A: “Besides the 40+ maps of varying sizes and terrain makeup, you can set wind-strength to make the game more challenging, set the shot-clock to make players do their moves faster, set the fog of war on or off, and set alliances. You can even add AI players into the multiplayer fray, and you can ally with or against them. All of these options are also available to players using their own custom maps.

“You can enjoy these options via LAN, using the in-game lobby, or over the internet via GameSpy, with up to four players. Our multiplayer code was designed to allow people with fast connections to play people with slow connections without any lag or slowdown. Ping rates just aren’t an issue for Moonbase Commander – playing over a modem works just as well as playing a LAN game.”

Q: What was the biggest challenge faced in creating this game?

A: “I think that anything as original as Moonbase Commander is scary to a big publisher. I’m very pleased that Infogrames ultimately saw the game’s potential, and was willing to take a risk on it.”

Q: To whom do you think this game will appeal, and why?

A: “Moonbase Commander is simpler to learn, and more immediately satisfying than most strategy games, so I think casual gamers will find it appealing. It also has a tremendous amount of subtlety and depth. For this reason, I think hard-core strategy fans will really get into it. We’ve been playing LAN games here in the studio for a solid year, and we’re still coming up with new, sneakier strategies to unleash on one another. I’m really proud of the fact that Moonbase Commander works on more than one level, so there really is more than one reason to like it.”

Q: What do you think are the key features that game players are likely to remember long after they had to end a gaming session?

A: “I think the way you launch a new unit out of your Hub, and the cord trails out behind it as it arcs through the air is totally unique. Another side effect of playing Moonbase is that you’ll probably find yourself in the car, at the store, or watching TV, and that little light-bulb will appear over your head: ‘Whoa! I bet you can use an Energy Collector as a weapon!’ When I play, there are usually a few points in the game where everything weighs on a single move. At these times, somehow it’s a little tougher to aim, but you swallow hard and take your shot. If your calculations are correct, it’s pure gaming heaven. That combination of strategizing and skill is so satisfying that you’ll be glad you can keep replays of these great moments.”

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