GGMania got a chance to chat with some members of Zuxxez and Reality pump as they talk about Earth 2160,  their upcoming sci-fi real-time strategy sequel. According to Zuxxez, the current status Alpha 1, Alpha 2 will be reached later this month, beta is planned for summer and release end of autumn 2004. In Europe, Earth 2160 will be published by DeepSilver, the games label of Koch Media and will be officially introduced at the Games Convention in Leipzig from the 19th to the 22nd of August this year.

GGMania: Please start off by introducing yourself and giving us an idea of your involvement with Earth 2160
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: This is very much a co-operation of answers supplied by Dirk Hassinger, VP of Zuxxez and Executive producer of Earth 2160, Mirek Dymek, Project Leader and Technical Director of Reality Pump and Tim Wilson, PR and Localization of Zuxxez Entertainment.

GGMania: For new gamers to Earth 2160, can you introduce the core development team, is this the same core team who produced the previous "Earth" games?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Mirek Dymek, Project leader and Technical Director of Reality Pump and his very capable crew of ladies and gentlemen who have also brought us the previous games in the series are the only team qualified enough through their passion f or the genre GGMania: Can you give us an overview of Earth 2160, telling us what the game is all about?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Earth 2160 connects directly onto the end of the last (escape from the blue planet). The planet that man destroyed through his continual warmongering with has been knocked out of its true orbit around the sun with result that any further existence would become impossible. The last few thousand representatives of mankind left and headed for Mars the Red planet in the hope of avoiding total extinction. And this is where the story continues. Will the old wars be continued, or will the last few hold together and fight for survival against an as yet unknown danger?

GGMania: How are you planning on captivating the playing audience yet again?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Fans of the Earth series and RTS fans in general will have so many choices and options, excellent graphics and strange and stunning venues that we no longer have to consider this question ourselves.

GGMania: What can you tell us about the storyline of the game?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: There is no linear storyline if that is what you mean. Depending on choices made by the player, or players the story could develop from new. Again!

GGMania: What playable sides will the player get to use in Earth 2160?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: The three sides already know from Earth 2150 the Lunar Corporation, The Eurasian Dynasty and the United Civilised States. We also have as a fourth fraction a group of beings very foreign to us, still known as “The Aliens”, which could change. On planet Mars we are all alien.

GGMania: How many campaigns/ missions will there be, and how varied will there be?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: We have no concrete information on numbers as yet, but we can ensure all players and fans that there will be more than enough to keep them busy and enthralled for a long time. As far as variation is concerned, with so much more of everything in this game there will be no place repetition.

GGMania: How many different kinds of units are there and do they gain experience, abilities or skills over time? What is one of your favorite units?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: The most accurate way to answer this is to say that the variation of units is as good as uncountable this time, as long as you do your research and exploit your options. GGMania: What kinds of upgrades will be available in the game?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: There are many types of upgrade, which can be made to buildings vehicles and weapons. Exactly how this is done can depend very much on the amount of time and energy invested in research.

GGMania: How will resource management be handled in the game?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: There are three resource types, Water, metals, and silicium, each faction has access to two only of these. Metals and silicium can be mined, metal recycled and water is extracted from the planet in any one of its physical forms. There can be up to seven forms of resource type to be exploited.
There is one exception to the amount of resource available to the contesting parties and that is with the alien race that can utilize all types.
The availability and placement of resources can create an interesting strategic situation. When almost all resources have been exhausted from the map, there will always be some small reserves remaining somewhere near an enemy base, because he has not used them, could not use them, or cannot collect them. The resulting situation could end in one of many ways. How things turn out though, is very much up to the player or players.

GGMania: How is combat handled in Earth 2160?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Combat is as much a part of strategy as choosing the direction of research and the options taken in constructing units. This time though, with four factions in the game and battles taking place not only on Mars, but on various moons and satellites of other planets. Combat will be highly complex, varied and results will be decisive.

GGMania: Compared to Earth 2150, are there any significant differences in the way you are designing and implementing the AI?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: There are certainly significant differences, but this information is still partly confidential. The time will come when we can tell you everything, until then please allow us our secrets.

GGMania: Can you give us an example of specific missions in the game?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: No, not yet. Firstly, there has been very little info released from Reality Pump, which is ripe for the public yet. But there will soon be press releases and news coming thick and fast.

GGMania: What other gameplay elements in the game do you consider to be important and/or unique? Will there be anything new that we've never seen before?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Important and unique is the level of research that can be achieved, the vast possibilities available in combining modules for units. What have you never seen before? Well, this level of detail and ingame graphics in an RTS, for a start.

GGMania: What can you tell us about the engine that is being used for the game? Can gamers expect a huge improvement in graphics?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: In spring 2003 we started work on a new engine, “Earth-4", this is a high-speed engine as it is designed for Per Pixel Shader graphics cards only. Using shader technology 1.0, 1.2, 2.0 and 3.0 we can show a level of graphics as yet unseen in this genre.

GGMania: Will a lot of the look and feeling be brought from Earth 2150 games to Earth 2160?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Similarities will be there, yes. There are also a lot of enhancements to a many aspects, resulting in a major facelift to other parts.

GGMania: What type of music will be played during the missions?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Ancient Himalayan love songs and the ballads of high altitude rhubarb farmers!
No, just kidding, the music is being composed now exclusively for the game by Gerd Hoffman and Joachim Schäfer who were also instrumental in the sound track for Earth 2150. Parameters have been set, but no one has heard anything yet. I personally would like some reference to “Mars, the Bringer of War” from Holst, but have very little influence in the question of the score.

GGMania: What kind of hardware should players have in order to experience good game performance?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: If a player wants to play on a standard office PC he should forget it. System requirements are quite high. A player will need a P4 - 2GHz or compatible, 512 MB RAM, ATI Radeon or GeForce 4 Ti card.

GGMania: What can you tell us about the multiplayer portion of Earth 2160?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: It is possible to save a game and rejoin it later, what is also possible is save a game and join another running match. CO-OP games and combinations of teams verses AI or teams verses teams in various game types have been include in the multiplayer options.

GGMania: Could you explain the MP modes a little more, especially the "Destroy Structures", "Limited Cost Battle”?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: More information to this theme will be made public at a later date. What I can say is that a host has the chance of adjusting so many parameters, for example research speed, the number of AI adversaries and allies, and also, MOD teams can create their own modes.

GGMania: Will there be a community map editor and SDK?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: The answer is, “yes” to both.

GGMania: What's the current status of the project, and what remains to be done? When will it be released?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: At the moment we are at a pre-Alpha stage and everyone involved is working their fingers down to bone to reach the next step. A lot needs to be done before in all areas of the game before release in Autumn 2004. if you want me to list it all we would need a document about the size of the yellow pages.

GGMania:  Do you plan to release a playable demo?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: It is part of our policy to release a really hot demo before the game is shipped out to the stores.

GGMania:  Which elements of Earth 2160 do you feel you are the most proud of?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Most certainly the all-new Earth 4 engine, but every one contributing to the game can be proud of all new aspects ranging from design to the implementation of some exciting new technology.

GGMania:  I've noticed you already registered the Earth2170.com domain, can you reveal some details about this possible sequel?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: It could take up to five years before any concrete plans are ready for release. All I can say is that we are gearing up for a further milestone.

GGMania:  Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview. Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers about?
Zuxxez+Reality Pump: Yes, please stay in touch and up to date with GGMania and www.zuxxez.com for more news of developments. We have something really big for RTS fans and newcomers to the genre.