2025: Battle for Fatherland is a new third-person action game that promises to amaze gamers with mech fights, diverse weapon application and tactics. GGMania got a chance to chat with Yury Dubinchuk, 2025: Battle for Fatherland game designer as he reveals more details about the game.

GGMania: Could you introduce yourself to our readers and tell them a little bit about what you do on 2025: Battle for Fatherland?

Yury Dubinchuk: My name is Yury Dubinchuk, 2025: Battle for Fatherland game designer. I work on gameplay, storyline & game content development and game mechanics as a whole.

GGMania: Can you give us a little background on the development team working on 2025: Battle for Fatherland?

Yury Dubinchuk: The 2025 Battle for Fatherland team has a profound experience in computer games development. Our RTS, RPG, Action track of records includes Besieger, The I of the Dragon, and Requital.

GGMania: Can you give us an overview of 2025: Battle for Fatherland, telling us what the game is all about?

Yury Dubinchuk: 2025: Battle for Fatherland is a third-person action game with tactical elements and extensive unit customization. The gameplay is wrapped up around destroying combat mechs and other weaponry using a diverse arsenal: jeeps, tanks and heavy mechs. The storyline takes a gamer to the world in 2025. A huge terrorist alliance active on the international level is striving for taking over the world control. Separate groups of partial people try to change the situation. The main character, a brave soldier of Peacemaking Forces is an active member of such a guerilla group. Aligned with his mates he will fight hard battles opposing the criminal alliance war machine thus facing failure grief and victory triumph.

GGMania: Describe the single-player campaign a bit. How many missions? How does the campaign work? Is it linear or dynamic?

Yury Dubinchuk: The campaign is supposed to last 8 hours of continuous gameplay. It contains 13 game locations, each composed of its own range of missions. The main emphasis is made on linear missions but some of them will be quite dynamic and random.

GGMania: What kinds of weapons will players be able to use in the game?

Yury Dubinchuk: Speaking of weapons first we need to mention the machinery this weapon will be installed in. A gamer can take advantage of several quite various machinery types. Traditionally used jeeps and tanks have equally traditional weaponry - heavy machine cannons, tank guns. A different situation is with a moving mech - this battle unit is capable of destroying an enemy's huge war base. To achieve it we've developed a wide arsenal of diverse weapons ranging in 3 classes: primary weapon, dischargers, and machine guns. The primary weapon is comprised of kinetic, electro-kinetic and electric-power barrels. The discharger aims at launching jet-driven mines, self-guided and non self-guided missiles. And the last class is machine guns. They include antipersonnel and antitank guns along with a rapid-fire laser mount. Each weapon has several types of ammunition. Choosing among various types of weapons and ammunition a gamer will be able to set the battle machine adjusting it to fulfill general or specific tasks.

GGMania: What kinds of mechs/robots will be available?

Yury Dubinchuk: A gamer will possess one mech he/she can take control of. This apparent lack in the arsenal is balanced out by a wide range of weapons and ammunition with which the gamer will be able to customize his machine.

GGMania: How will players go about upgrading their weapons?

Yury Dubinchuk: Before starting for a location, the gamer goes to the hangar where he can upgrade his mech through selecting weapons and ammunition. The selected systems of ammunition impact the mech model specifying its external view.

GGMania: Tell us about the enemies that we will be finding in the game as well as to their AI.

Yury Dubinchuk: When we came to creating enemy units we had an idea that each of them should have its own individual peculiarities that will be used during the battle; some units will resemble modern ones, others will be quite futuristic. That's the way we got infantry combat vehicles, tanks, jeeps, SP artillery mounts capable of long-distance plasma firing and moving mechs that can complete any combat mission. Every unit has its own individual system of behaving on the battlefield. For example, mechs have generators, they get use of their power to shoot it out with electric-power weapon and to activate special armor shields. It is up to a player and weapon type he uses to decide what the energy stock should be applied for. Opponents can retreat rearward to recharge generators while allies will protect them.

GGMania: Could you describe the combat system?

Yury Dubinchuk: A combat mech is a key unit a gamer can get use of. It's very easy to control it; you'll just need to remember they way they do it in many action and shooter games. There's some little inertia while mechs move but it's possible to change the direction quite on the fly. Thus a gamer can make complex maneuvers, deviate from missiles targeting him, and effectively use natural shelters. With a diverse ammunition arsenal and absence of economical techniques we made up such a balance that provides for using the same weapons equally at the beginning and at end of the game.

GGMania: Could you describe the game interface?

Yury Dubinchuk: The game interface is very convenient, easy and intuitively comprehensible. At the same time it reflects all the information necessary for a gamer to digest: amount of ammunition, energy supply, unit condition, status of energy shields and automatic turrets, radar system. Also there's a message window that emerges when dialogues take place.

GGMania: What can you tell us about the engine that is being used for the game?

Yury Dubinchuk: 2025: Battle for Fatherland is being developed on the engine that was originally created for the Heavy Duty. We are doing our best to get use of its key possibilities - multithreaded physics, support of vast open spaces, inverse kinematics. The mechs moving in full compliance with inverse kinematics laws act like living beings bearing in mind the terrain peculiarities. This moving behavior relies on thorough workup of the foot stepping, place selection, and position estimation.

GGMania: What are some of the special effects (example) you're proud of having in the game so far?

Yury Dubinchuk: We pay a lot of attention to special effects. Explosions, destruction, fumes, etc - all these features look very realistic. If you break a tree it will have its leaves off; if you walk along some stiff terrain you'll see deep traces left by heavy machine wheels. The destroyed machine frames that are very beautiful and somber in burning expressing war drama which is especially contrasting on the background of wonderful landscapes. We haven't missed out screen effects: camera jitters whenever we run into some objects or if a missile is exploded nearby. Also we've included post-effects, image smearing after it has rained, etc. All these features look really very beautiful.

GGMania: What kind of hardware should players have in order to experience good game performance?

Yury Dubinchuk: To ensure maximum game performance a gamer will need a video card supporting Multiple render targets and Shader model 3.0 as well as multiple-core processor. If you have earlier generation video cards it's just fine for normal gameplay, however the whole beauty of a picture won't be rendered.

GGMania: Needless to say that kick-ass music make an action game even better. Can you tell us a little bit about music in 2025: Battle for Fatherland?

Yury Dubinchuk: The music in 2025: Battle for Fatherland is indeed very dynamic thus expressing the atmosphere of fierce battles that take place there. We listened to a great number of works written by our composer before we felt we are satisfied enough to approve the final variant and a total number of sound tracks. The person who made this music for us is quite experienced in it and has been cooperating with our studio for about 10 years. Beyond this he is engaged into writing music for TV and other media projects.

GGMania: Could you tell us a bit about the multiplayer in 2025: Battle for Fatherland?

Yury Dubinchuk: The game contains a single campaign only. There is no multiplayer supported.

GGMania:  What do you see as the best feature in this game?

Yury Dubinchuk:  1) Mech kinematics - the system of movements in which feet rearrangement is made in an algorithmic order. A mech chooses a place to put its foot on and does it bearing in mind the terrain peculiarities. It's impossible to achieve with animation that's why all the movements look especially realistic.  2) Relevant and compelling storyline; a main character - a brave soldier of Peacemaking Forces who can't stand terrorist attacks and wants to change the situation 3) More than 20 physically bordering missions: being in one location a gamer can view a different location's part.

GGMania: Currently, how far in development are you and when do you expect to release the game? Will be 2025: Battle for Fatherland released in North America?

Yury Dubinchuk: We have almost completed developing the game. Currently we are busy with balancing features and making game movies. 2025: Battle or Fatherland is slated for the first half of autumn. It will be decided later in which countries it will be published.