Gamecloud - How would you describe the gameplay of the title? Is is an action game? Is is a strategy title?

Sparky - It's an action strategy title...so it's a stractegy game. Ugh, that sounds like either a mathematical term or a painful eye disease. But seriously, we weren't very concerned with fitting into a pre-established game type when we planned this game out. We weren't trying to just put a giant monster wrapper on an RTS, FPS, RPG, or fighting game. We have more strategy than the average action game, but a lot less than a Command-and-Conquer-style RTS. For example, the player controls only one unit and there's no build phase. There's constant chaos and action going on, and while the player has to make choices about what the monster should do and how, it isn't about fast reflexes or twitchy controls. In many ways it's also a simulator -- recreating a complex world with thousands of little people and vehicles independently and interacting. We're fans of a sandbox play style, and don't like games that are linearly scripted or stories that feel like they are on rails. So the heart of the game is an "any giant monster attacking any city" engine, simulating all that entails.

We've gone out on a limb in with some design decisions: for example, there's no real "win" condition for the player. The humans always win in the end, but really the game isn't about winning so much as the destructive rampage. We're also aiming towards a shorter and more casual style of gameplay, without a formal hierarchy of advancing levels or difficulty. Players who really want an unlockable level-game structure may not like that. But we're still working on balancing the gameplay and testing it to get the right feel.