Flying Heroes Preview

And there you have it! Our special in-depth look at Flying Heroes. FH is the upcoming action game from Czech based Illusion Softworks; the guys that brought us that excellent tactical-squad/action title, Hidden and Dangerous. Just read on and you'll find out all the juicy details about Illusion's upcoming action-filled fantasy game. Action Trip team was lucky enough to get in touch with Janek Kolar, Flying Heroes designer and production team leader, but before we get to the Q&A itself a little introduction is in order.

Jarek Kolár (22) - from 1992, Janek Kolar has been working as a graphic designer on development of locally made adventure games. Between 1996 - 1997, he worked for Virtual X-Citement Software GmbH Company in Germany. He worked as a graphic and chief designer on real-time strategy Akte Europa (team Software, published in Germany - Eidos, 1997). Towards the end of 1997, he founded a company called PTERODON, s.r.o., based in Czech republic, and as a graphic and chief designer, developed the real-time strategy of Hesperian Wars (which should be published in 1998, in Germany). He is a designer for Flying Heroes project and leads the production team.

And without further ado, we give you Flying Heroes...

Action Trip: First of all, give us a basic outline of Flying Heroes. Genre, storyline...etc. The game is (in certain aspects) similar to...

Janek Kolar: Flying Heroes is an outstanding game placed in the fantastic world of Hesperia. This world was created before the ideas of Flying Heroes come to mind and it have created detailed history, geography and demography.

Take me to the sky!

Snowy mountains and giant birds...

In the not too distant past Hesperia was a dark and violent land. Death and insanity ruled with an iron fist as decades long civil war pitted tribe against tribe, clan against clan, brother against brother. The conflict was bloody and cruel, atrocities committed in the name of long forgotten causes, buried with the rotting corpses of generations passed. No one could remember how the war had started and no one had the will or desire to try to end it. Hesperia appeared to have little hope - a land heading for complete self-destruction.

But from amidst the hate and insanity there came a saviour, a man who in the face of overwhelming odds chose peace over war, life over death, and gave hope to a land where previously there had been none. He was Atlanton II, the first Hesperian emperor.

Atlanton II was a wise ruler and was well aware that the aggressive tendencies, of which had fueled the tribes and clans of Hesperia for so long, needed to be positively channeled in order to prevent the bloody conflicts from breaking out once more. That path would lead to certain self-annihilation. And so the Air Battles were born.

The inaugural Air Battles tournament took place in Southern Chalibar, in the Arena of the Giants, the same venue where brutal gladiatorial combat between prisoners of war took place during the conflicts. The tournaments soon gave rise to an organised league system in which representatives of the strongest clans fought each other. Instead of savage wars Hesperia now had peace and the most electrifying, adrenaline charged blood sport ever witnessed.

From these Air Battles legends were born. Warriors of immense skill and courage, defying death at every turn. They were the Flying Heroes... If he were alive today, Emperor Atlanton II would be amazed at the well-organised structure of the present day leagues compared to the improvised, irregularly held tournaments of his day. The League is now divided into three divisions. The Iron League, filled with raw fighters eager to prove their mettle, the Silver League, a tough, competitive group, and the Golden League, home to the elite of the elite. To be promoted to the higher league, pilots must finish top of their division.

To compare Flying Heroes to some existing title I can take Flight Simulators and FPS in general, specially I could mention titles like Red Baron, Magic Carpet, Wing Commander, Descent, Unreal Tournament or Quake Arena. But I have only some similar principles like flying, career, league, multiplayer.

AT: Can you give us a description of the races featured in the game? How do you plan to make the clans distinctive, besides the obvious visual difference?

JK: Lizard Riders - Indigenous to the Grey Mountain areas of Eastern Abamon are the giant winged lizards that have lived in harmony with the mountain people for centuries. Utilising their friendly relationship with the reptiles, the mountain people formed the Lizard Riders. Naturally protected by a hide of thick reptilian scales, the mountain blacksmiths added to the lizards' formidable armour with custom made iron plates. On their backs a seat or cockpit is mounted. The most remarkable qualities of the lizards is their fire breath and their resistance to fire, both valuable commodities in the fiercely contested Leagues. Their weapons have long lasting effects (poisoning, burning), comboes allowing speed up, turn back, spitting of a slowing poison. They are easy to control.

Magion - The Sky Magicians live on the flying islands to the southeast of Hesperia and have founded a flying club called Magion. Skilled in all forms of the arcane arts, they demonstrate their prowess, not to mention their eccentricity, by flying various bizarre objects. They float around on beautiful magic carpets and giant teapots, they even raise ancient battleships to fly. Eccentric, arrogant, but very powerful. They are using a wide array of both defensive and offensive spells (healing, speed, disorientate, invisibility, fireball, iceball, acid rain, fall fire, flash, disintegrate, armageddon). Only mages have weapons which can freeze. Magical flying objects are light armoured but very flexible in menoeuvring.

Hammercraft - Inhabitants of the Permisian province, Hammercraft are keepers of the ancient secrets of the region. With this knowledge, Hammercraft engineers have designed and constructed monstrous airships for use in the Air Battles. Heavily armoured and heavily armed, they are the bruisers of the League. For raw power, they are unchallenged. However, because of their immense size and weight, Hammercraft ships are slow and cumbersome. Nevertheless Hammercraft pilots can shoot with fast rotating gun-turret independent of the ship itself. They can also use many useful comboes which can balance their slow speed - extinquish that will kill the flames on board, anti-aim magnet that will save the airship from homing missiles. They can even repair their ships slowly.

Sky Knights - Indigenous to the mountains of Southern Deborea are giant birds. Over the centuries, Deborean druids have produced special breeds in captivity that are even larger with wing spans of up to 20 metres when fully grown, specifically for use in the Air Battles. They are covered in light armour that provides them with sufficient protection from enemy fire, and on their backs a seat or cockpit is mounted. The giant birds are capable of highest speeds, but they can't stop in mid-air or reverse. They comboes are in style of maneuvering - speed up, turn back, escape.

AT: How much does the gameplay style vary from one race to another? Give us some examples there...

JK: For example the birds Sky Knights can fly fast around dogfighting their opponents with quick air raids. They are light armored but it's not easy to hit them. Magions are not so strong in weapons and armor but they can cast many powerful spells. They can become invisible, drain manna from their opponents and returns it in form of destructible fireballs or disintegrate spells. Lizards Riders must fight hardly. They have quite powerful weapons with long lasting effect when hit - opponents are burning or being poisoned. And if a rider come very close he can use firebreath of his lizard to shot down anybody. Hammercraft should occupy some good position and then stay still and shooting the enemies down.

AT: Would you consider the style of combat to be more similar to FPS games, or say some action flight sims?

JK: I would say that Flying Heroes offers freedom in motion as a flight sims and easy and action combat control like FPS games. It's also a matter of each clan. I would compare the control and style of Sky Knight birds to some Fighter planes, Lizard to some WWI planes with very explosive weapons, Hammercraft ships to slowly flying Mechs with rotating gun-turret and Magions even to an action hero levitating with jetpack.

AT: From what we know so far it sounds as the game will feature plenty of action, but what about some tactical aspects... Hmm... maybe some squad-based combat?

JK: In Singleplayer mode you have to manage your resources and buy proper equipment. The variety of items will give you and opportunity to use different tactics. Sometimes you will win with brute force, sometime you will need to sneak and shot from the distance or placing mines, casting nasty spells or firing hand controlled missiles. Later in the game you will get assistants to help you in your matches. In multiplayer especially in team based game modes you will need to use tactics and coordination. For example in Capture-the-Flag one of your teamates with huge zeppelin can as a strong fortress guard your area and others flying on fast birds are disturbing the enemy with storm attacks, while you in small Magion ship sneaking to the enemy from the other side.

AT: Give us a few pointers on some of the environments featured in the game. How much of a role will the terrain-type play during combat?

JK: Having a fantasy world of Hesperia gived us an opportunity to create many fantastic environments which will differ in everything. The aim was to make player always wonder and being surprised by the location where he is flying. We have snowy mountains with wild rivers, arctic plains, flying islands, volcano, waste lava plains, ancient nations sanctuary places in desert and tropical lagoon, deep crystal caves, fantasy industrial valley, old giant arena, huge underground complex..

The type of the terrain will determines how the match will look like. Open spaces gives an oportunity to use sniper guns and homing missiles. Interiors and corridors are good for making surprises with ambush or mines and hard face to face battles. Very important element of the terrain is water - lakes, rivers, waterfalls, water tanks. The water is used for extinquishing the fire on board and removing acid and poisoning effect. These are very often cases during the match.

AT: Will there be weather effects?

JK: Player will play in locations in various location in various daytime and weather. The practical use will be in the visibility. It's much more easier to guard and shot on distant target in sunny afternoon, then to look for sneaking opponents in night or foggy weather.

AT: Some unique eye-candy features you plan to include in the game?

JK: Mention only some - watching opponent creatures flying around you, stunning graphical effects of magical spells and explosions, fantastic weapon design, free look from your creature/ship with visible cabin, wings etc, flowing wild water in rivers and waterfalls, falling parachute with your opponent from the shot down aircraft and obviously all the levels.

AT: Some special AI tricks in store for the players? Can you give us some examples there?

JK: Every AI character has it's own figure, name and history. He uses his favorite combo/spells and has his own style how he comments the situation. You could be amazed by just reading what your opponents are talking about. And obviously they are smart pilots which uses the proper weapons in proper situations watch who is dangerous and who is going to win. It' s cool to just a watch a giant bird maneuvering in air, attacking looping, escaping. And don't forget that all AI pilots must fly smoothly and fluently through the air not any random jumping and strafing like normal FPS bots.

AT: What types of weapons are going to be featured in FH?

JK: The types are basic gun, close combat gun, sniper gun, high repeat rate gun, gun with homing and hand guided missiles, big supergun. Every side have these 6 types with different abilities and effects. Each weapon has primary and secondary mode in which it can be used. Interesting weapons is for example Spark staff which can drain opponent's manna, Gas gun which can release poisonous gas cloud, Bombardion which huge missile is divided in several small homing ones, Blitzer weapon armed with lightning. There are plenty of them and everyone is somehow special.

AT: Do you plan to create some special multiplayer mods? How big of a factor will multiplayer play in the game. Is FH more single player or multiplayer oriented?

JK: I would say that the game is half multiplayer and half single player. Single player offers a career with character development, resource management, league system and special training and quest missions. All special items, techniques are trained during the career so player gets the whole features of the game on fluent learning curve. Multiplayer uses all important gameplay features of the game right on from the first time. Player can choose a clan and can flight with his friend over LAN or internet.

In the release version will be available death-match, team death-match, capture the flag, domination, tag (one player has a tag and must catch someone else to give him the tag). We plan much more types of multiplayer modes (Sky Hockey, Escort the Zeppelin, Assault, Joust, Collection and others). But we want to have the game to be on public, to see the reaction and comments, before we will be adding these new modes. It will be free to download from FH web site, same as new levels.

AT: When could we expect the game to ship? And what type of a machine would be needed to play the game; full detail at 1024x768?

JK: The official release is April 2000. The game is designed to use maximum of the todays PC computers so for the full details in this resolution you will need at least PIII, 128 MB Ram, TNT2 or GeForce 3D graphic card. But if you lower the details you can still feel the speed on P166MMX with 64MB Ram and 3DFX Voodoo1.

Special thanks to the Take 2 PR Machine, and Janek Kolar for taking their time to provide us with all sorts of tasty tidbits of Flying Heroes goodness.