Planetary Annihilation is the RTS that is currently making waves across the internet, not just due to its intriguing concepts but also as it doubled the original Kickstarter pledge goal. Recently, we were able to interview Jon Mavor the CTO on Planetary Annihilation, to find out more details about the game itself.
Here are the highlights of the interview as there were a number of questions including the number of factions and how to stop asteroids from hitting your planets received answers along the lines of ‘Not yet announced’.
Firstly, tell us a little about yourself, what it’s like being the CTO at Uber Entertainment and why do you want to make Planetary Annihilation?
Well we are almost at the end of the campaign so at the moment it’s tiring being the CTO. Overall though I enjoy it quite a bit and I get to be involved in a huge variety of things. Hiring, contracts and biz dev, tech, design etc. As a game PA has been rolling around in my head long enough that it needs to get out. Think of it as a passion project.
The leap from Monday Night Combat and Super Monday Night Combat back to the RTS genre is rather large, but what can carry over to Planetary Annihilation from the MNC development process?
Honestly not a whole lot. The MNC team is going to continue to do it’s thing. Of course a lot of those guys are RTS veterans as well. But overall the development process is quite different. One of the huge things we can bring over is our entire back-end UberNet infastructure. This was built and already works with multiple games so we get great leverage there.
What is the last stretch goal on the Kickstarter project?
The last announced goals are the Orchestral Score and the Documentary. Think of them as the cherry on top.
If not all the stretch goals are reached on Kickstarter will they become DLCs in the future?
Hard to say. It basically comes down to development dollars and priorities. I think it’s too early to make that call in most cases. Luckily, I think we’ll make it.
With the ability to slingshot asteroids around stars into planets does the gameplay not revolve around a rush off the original planet before it is annihilated?
The variety of different scenarios that are possible with the game is pretty endless. I do want there to be multiple smart strategies to win the game. With multiple planets taking down a single one isn’t necessarily going to win you the game anyway.
How will Planetary Annihilation deal with upgrades and improvements for units and buildings? Will there be a tech tree system, an experienced based rank system or upgrades for individual units and buildings?
No tech tree system. Well sort of but not what most people would consider a tech tree. Basically you need to build the things which can build the things you want to build. Individual unit upgrades are not part of the operating design as a general thing.
Will there be unique buildings for certain types of planets, for instance floating hydroelectric plants on the water planets?
Yes! There will be several specific types of units that work in specific situations. For example on lava / water etc.
The graphics that have been shown off have a slight cartoon style, will the final games graphics change to be more realistic or will they be a tweaked version of what we see today?
They will be tweaked but we are still trying to have a unique style. Art commander Steve has a lot of refinement he wants to do.
How far in and out will players be able to zoom on the map and will the split interface view limit this at all?
Pretty much everywhere. I don’t want to artificially limit the camera.
Will it be possible to play an entire match on the surface of just one large planet?
Definitely.
What resources will players be attempting to amount and will there be opportunities for allies to give or trade resources?
The basic resources will be metal and energy. Allies will be able to control the same army so they have the same set of resources.
That’s all we had time to ask but stay with Just Push Start for Planetary Annihilation updates and also a thank you to Jon for taking the time to answer the questions.
