Interview by Rick Goodman, Lead Designer of Age of Empires® and Empire Earth^TM, and Stefan Arnold, Writer and Designer at SSSI.

1. What were the deciding factors for choosing Sierra Studios as the publisher? Do you get Sierra's help in developing the game?
   
   A number of publishers expressed a strong interest in Empire Earth. In the end we went with Sierra because they matched up best with our company and our game. Sierra's reputation, resources, and commitment to the vision of Empire Earth were among the factors that made our choice practically a no-brainer. They simply had what were looking for and vice-versa.
   
   Sierra has supported us in every facet of the game development process since we signed with them. They are providing us with professional game testers, whose expert help has already been invaluable. Empire Earth had a great location at E3 2000 and the marketing for the game has been and continues to be first-rate. Also, Sierra's parent company, Havas, has a vast distribution network. And this is just a sample of what they are doing for us and the game. Sierra's overall contribution to Empire Earth is really incalculable.

2. Games are nowadays having shorter and shorter life spans. How long do you expect/hope Empire Earth to live and why? What policy do you have regarding add-ons, patches, updates, and scenarios, or is the policy decided by Sierra only?
   
   Some games - call them classics - can live long, successful lives. This is what we aspire to. We want people to enjoy Empire Earth for years to come and we're working hard to ensure that this is what happens. We and Sierra will provide ongoing support for the game beyond its release as well. This just makes good business sense because we want gamers to trust our names as well as our games. But there's more to it than that because we are gamers ourselves, and this commitment to quality is what we as gamers expect from the companies from whom we buy games.

3. What kinds of random elements (e.g., unit movement, tech trees, natural catastrophes) are included in Empire Earth?
   
   Of course, there are random maps. Empire Earth will ship with a variety of interesting random map styles that range in size from tiny to unbelievably huge. Other that that, we have tried to make sure the game is very non-random because there's nothing more frustrating than painstakingly planning out a strategy only to have it ruined by some unexpected event in the game. The outcome of a game should be decided by the players, not by the game itself.
   
   The single player campaigns are a bit different than multiplayer games. The scenario designers have control over how the scenario will play out - but that is one of the unique challenges of the campaigns. You have to beat the scenario designer's creation

4. The UI looks very traditional as far as has been seen in the screen shots. Do you have any special things in the user interface that you would like to mention? I heard that there have been some recent changes to the UI; how would you describe those?
   
   Simplicity and functionality are essential elements for any User Interface. We recently made some changes to the UI of Empire Earth to improve and enhance the players' gaming experience. We're confident that we've come up with a design that combines the best of traditional interfaces with some new features that are sure to make controlling the action in Empire Earth even easier. Scrolling the screen by holding in the mouse wheel and moving the mouse is just one example. Credit for new UI goes primarily to Programmer, Scott Marison, and Designer, Richard "Methos" Bishop. The graphical portion of the new UI will appear in future screenshots.
   
   The basics of Empire Earth's UI can be learned quickly, while the more "advanced" features are there if people want to make use of them. Consider the familiar example of hot keys. Hot keys are available in most RTS games, but, for whatever reason, not every player makes use of them. By the same token, there will be features available in the UI for Empire Earth that are cool, but not necessary for one's enjoyment of the game. For example, double clicking a building selects all buildings of that type that are currently visible on the screen. You can then give a production order to all of those buildings at once. If you want to create several M1 tanks at once, for instance, just double click on a Tank Factory to select all the visible Tank Factories you own and hit the M1 production button to start producing tanks at all the factories simultaneously (assuming you have the resources for them, of course!).

5. If we consider Civilization to be 80% strategy and 20% action, and Age of Empires to be 20% strategy and 80% action, how would you place Empire Earth on this scale? What I mean is, how does the feeling of the gameplay differ from those old games?
   
   Empire Earth certainly has a great mix of both strategy and action. Planning and building your empire, setting up your defenses, preparing for war - these are all rooted in strategy. But once the battle is joined you'll be in for some exciting action, though strategy and tactics will still play a part in the battle's outcome. Moreover, if you consider the single-player campaigns, then you'd probably have to include a little role playing and problem solving in the equation as well. So what's the verdict? Let's just say it's our sincere belief that Empire Earth will appeal to a wide range of gamers.

6. How does the tech tree work with user-created civilizations? Do they always have the same tech tree, or do players "buy" tech tree nodes the same way as civilization bonuses?
   
   Each civilization, whether predefined or created by the player, has potential access to every technology and unit in the game. Historically, of course, technologies were developed at particular times by particular cultures and civilizations - and sometimes more than one. In Empire Earth, players have the ability to "rewrite history" in as much as the civ they are playing might decide to research a technology which, historically speaking, it did not possess. For example, the English civilization might "invent" Explosives first. In reality, the English did not invent this technology (though they certainly made use of it), but in a given game of Empire Earth, this could be how history transpires, so to speak.
   
   This example illustrates an important fact about Empire Earth. The game is based on history, but it is not an historical simulation. Our design process has always placed fun well above historical accuracy. We aren't trying to mirror history; we're just trying to make a cool game! If, however, the game motivates players to learn more about history, that's cool too.

7. What do you find to be the main limiting factors (like gaming PCs, human resources, time, etc.) in making Empire Earth?
   
   No question, time is the limiting factor. We have a long wish list of things we'd like to add to the game, but if we added them all then the game would be a never ending journey! So we had to pick out what we felt were the most compelling ideas and tackle them. The feature list for the game turned out to be pretty long itself, but we're confident in our ability to deliver it.

8. What about the multiplayer features? As I have understood, the main multiplayer host will be WON.NET. Is there any difference between won.net and zone.com (besides the owner)? Is there going to be a hosting component in the game or as an add-on that allows to make own multiplayer hosts on other networks.
   
   Multiplayer games will support more than 8 players and these players can connect to each other in several ways. Won.net, now run by Flipside, will be running the free Internet matchmaking service for Empire Earth. Flipside, like our publisher, Sierra, is owned by Havas. The service will function similarly to other matchmaking services, where players can enter "rooms" and then host or join a game, except you won't have to leave the game to do it. Flipside will keep statistics, such as win-loss information, for each player.
   
   Players can also play over a Local Area Network (LAN) or connect directly to a host machine by entering the host's IP address. Our goal has always been to make setting up a multiplayer game as quick and simple as possible and we believe we're well on our way to achieving this.

9. Anything else that you would like to tell us? (no I won't ask about the release date or demo or open beta...)
   
   Thanks very much to you and everyone who has supported Stainless Steel Studios and Empire Earth. We take your commitment to us very seriously and we're working hard to ensure that Empire Earth not only lives up to but surpasses all your expectations. Thanks for reading and be sure to stay tuned for more news and details as we continue to roll toward our Summer 2001 release.