From Star Trek Game Information
This Interview with Krešimir Špes of Cateia Games took place on the 19th February 2005 and discussed the in-development freeware game Star Trek: Neutral Zone 2.
STGU: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Krešimir Špes: My name is Krešimir Špes, I’m the lead programmer of a Croatian company for computer game development: “Cateia Games”. My biggest passion is computer game programming. Ever since I was a kid, I was playing games on Game Boy, Super Nintendo and PC. I joined “BB & idol graphics” four years ago and we’ve founded “Cateia ltd.” a year and a half ago.
STGU: Are you a Star Trek fan and which shows are your preferred viewing?
Krešimir Špes: Well, I like star trek, though I do not consider myself a huge fan. I mean, I don’t dress in star trek uniforms, go to conventions or anything like that. Not that I think that there’s anything wrong with that. My favourite star trek show is “The Next Generation” and my favourite Star Trek movie is “First Contact”. What I find the most fascinating about Star Trek are the space battles, the starship design and all the cool “toys” like the transporter and tractor beam.
STGU: When did you first start making games?
Krešimir Špes: I first started making games when I was 13. My dad showed me how to use Visual Basic and from that day forth I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up :)
STGU: How did you get involved/come up with the idea of making a Star Trek game?
Krešimir Špes: Two years ago, I wanted to get some experience in network programming so I started developing a small space-shooter game. Since I’m a star trek fan, I decided I could make a small star trek game for the fun of it. After I made the first working version of the game I showed it to my friends and they liked it. A week later it got published in a few Croatian magazines. After that, I decided to add more features so One thing led to another and I made a whole game. When the first TNZ was completed I spent a whole year designing the second sequel in my free time.
STGU: Have you made or are you involved with any other games?
Krešimir Špes: So far, we’ve made a Turn based strategy called “Crusaders PE” which was sold across Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, we’ve translated and published a small arcade game called “Chicken Shoot” in Croatia and have recently finished our most proud of game: “The Kings of the Dark Age”, - a medieval TBS / RTS game which is going to be published by “Zuxxez Entertainment” worldwide in March this year. 75000 copies in the first release. Other then that, there’s the first TNZ, the second and a small memory game called “Crusaders Memory” which is the first complete game I ever made.
STGU: What have been your main goals with the development of The Neutral Zone 2?
Krešimir Špes: The primary goal of TNZ2 is to create a star trek game that is addictive and could make huge differences between players!
In SFC and BC all you could do is target a ship or one of its subsystems and press the left mouse button! I intend to make TNZ2 in a way that it’ll take weeks/months of practice for a player to achieve excellence. To be a good TNZ2 player you have to use your brain AND your reflexes.
The secondary goal of TNZ2 is “Active User Involvement”, which means that I’ve made the basic game design but every small detail is debatable. I’m making this game for the people who’ll play it so it’s very important that the game is made to their liking :)
STGU: Can you tell us a bit about the features and story of TNZ2?
Krešimir Špes: In my opinion, the BEST feature of TNZ2 is that there is absolutely no automation. You have to do EVERYTHING yourself. There is no targeting; if you want to shoot something you have to point your mouse in the direction you want to fire. And off course if you’re not skilled, you’ll miss often. I believe if I develop automatic firing like in SFC and BC, I’d suck the life out of the game.
The second important feature of the game is the introduction of the “command structure” in team games like “Capture the shuttle”, “Defend the starbase” etc. In team games, each team will have an admiral who will be able to form wings and give orders to them. There will be several types of orders like “Go To, Attack, Defend, Follow, Patrol...”.
Each wing has a wing leader who can decide the wing’s formation and give orders to his fellow wingmen.
As a pilot you have two indicators: one which points in the direction you have to go to follow your order and the other which points in the direction you have to go to be in formation.
The order-issuing system will be developed so that it takes as less time to give an order as possible therefore making it actually useful in combat.
I reckon newbie teams will not use that option much but professional teams will rely on it heavily.
Also, I intend to develop strong bot AI because the more ships fighting in the game, the merrier. Aside from standard LAN multiplayer I intend to make internet play with match-making, maybe even over gamespy arcade. It is my intention to make good net-code so you can have at least 10-20 players/bots on a 56k connection and off-course, allot more on DSL/Cable.
This game is obviously orientated to multiplayer, though it's very likely I'll make a mission/campaign editor so people can make their own missions. In such a case, I'll organize a competition and whose mission-pack is voted best will make it into the game along with the name of the creator which will end up in the Credits section.
STGU: Who else is involved in making of the game?
Krešimir Špes: At this point I’m the only one developing the game, from programming and design to graphics. But, I’d be an ass if I didn’t mention all the effort made by all the people who are beta-testing the game and thus making sure the game will have as less bugs as possible when it’s released.
STGU: Will there be a beta version or demo of the game, if so, when will it be released?
Krešimir Špes: There are two possibilities; either TNZ2 will be commercial or freeware. When the game will be about 75% complete, we will offer it to various publishers and if they’ll be interested in publishing the game, TNZ2 will be commercial. The biggest problem for the potential publisher, in my opinion, is getting a star trek license.
Whenever I'll add a new feature to the game I’ll upload an alpha/beta version on the TNZ2 website for people to play and criticize.
Cateia Games
The Neutral Zone 2 Home Page
