[LadyGamers]:  First, lets get to know you a bit more. You're the Project Director of Prolific Games' upcoming Battlefield 2 total conversion called Shattered Faith. As much as we all realize you're a hard working man, could you give us a little background of your love for games?

[Scott Zier]:  Sure! I've been gaming since the early commodore and 386x days. I'm not really that old, but I took to computer games in elementary school before it was a very popular thing to do. My first online gaming experience was in college, with QuakeWorld. College was the best way to get high speed Internet back then. I took to the mod community early, and have enjoyed being a part of it since.

I'm solidly a PC gamer, I feel the mouse and keyboard is the only way to really go. I play a very broad range of games, with my all-time-favorites being titles such as X-Com, Civilization, Red Alert, Team Fortress, Battlefield 1942, anything from BioWare, and of course major titles that I've worked on- Galactic Conquest and soon to be Shattered Faith.

I've only once had a dangerous addiction to a game, that was EverQuest when it first came out. I kicked free about a year later, and while I still enjoy the MMO scene, nothing has quite sucked me in the same way. Which was good, because I was actually able to get my degree rather than another level...

[LadyGamers]: Not many people take a huge leap to create a Total Conversion for a game. It almost requires just about as much work as creating a retail game. Why did you pick Battlefield 2 instead of any other game? 

[Scott Zier]: It has become increasingly hard to do a total conversion, yes. The games are much more complex to work with, and the graphics are more demanding. The fans really do expect to have professional level graphics and gameplay from mods, which can be hard to do while developing in your free time. We've been very fortunate at Prolific to have such a talented team that has been together for so long, as is passionate enough about our games to continue working with our free time.

On the whole we picked Battlefield 2 because it's engine best fit to the game we wanted to design. Our previous experience with BF1942 and also with EA helped as well, but basically we felt we could create the best title, quickest, with BF2. It also helps to pick a game that we felt would have good distribution potential.

[LadyGamers]: When I stumbled across the Female Medic screenshot months ago I thought Shattered Faith was a retail game. At the time I didn't know there was a connection to Battlefield 2 until I saw the Shattered Faith logo. Was this what you are shooting for? Will there be any resemblance of BF2 during gameplay at all?

[Scott Zier]: Shattered Faith is a lot more than just a mod, and we are certainly presenting it as a full game. There will be very little resemblance to the gameplay in BF2, and on the whole we hope to make a much more interesting and varied style of combat than BF2 presented. There will be a much broader range of objectives, several new gameplay modes, and varied theaters of war.

The player classes themselves are more varied and unique than in most FPS games, and as you switch between teams (Human or Invader) you'll find the tactics and methods used change dramatically.

A good example is what is currently dubbed the "Terror Beast." The Terror Beast when sprinting can lower his powerful head and ram into vehicles, causing massive damage and walking away with none himself. He also has an alternate bite attack, and a terrifying howl that will stun and reduce the accuracy of soldiers in his immediate vicinity. He's a melee class, though, and while very effective against ground vehicles, needs to be partnered with Invader ranged classes.

Another good example is the Invader version of a medic, which... well... isn't even remotely like the human medic in terms of operation and usage. It's also a unique species within the Invader caste.

We are also dramatically changing the feel of Vehicle combat, which we found to be a bit flat in BF2. Air battles will be much more dynamic and similar to the gameplay feel and maneuverability of BF1942 battles, while ground vehicles will have a more kinetic feel to their motion and great variety of types.

[LadyGamers]: Speaking of the female medic model, does this mean all medics will be a woman? Are there any other female characters planned for Shattered Faith? Don't worry, you won't hurt our feelings if there wont be any. Most of us female gamers are immune to it.

[Scott Zier]:  I'm happy to say that there are several other female characters planned for the game! This includes females fighting within the militia forces that form during the war. Shattered Faith starts present day and takes place around the world in a war that ravages every nation. Women can, and would, play a very important role in helping to defend their homes.

While we would like to make the selection of female or male an option, it's more likely for graphic optimization that every medic for that nation or map would be female. An example is that British forces in Europe may have a female medic, while another map featuring Russian forces may have a male medic. Or indeed, a joint mission with British and Russian forces may use either.

[LadyGamers]:  From the storyline it almost sounds like Shattered Faith has simulation and role-playing elements. What genre category would you place Shattered Faith in?

[Scott Zier]: Shattered Faith could best be described as an action FPS with simulation elements. It does have a very strong story that is reminiscent of a role playing game. Shattered Faith starts present day, and then moves to cover three separate epochs in time.

The first epoch (present day) features very dark and intimate combat settings. It's a very tense and scary environment for humans, and early encounters feature the invader classes not using any vehicles, but being more than a match for humans who must rely on vehicles to survive.

The second epoch is the all out war, and takes place a little over ten years after that. It's our goal to show a very logical progression of technology in this timeline. Equipment and vehicles that are prototypes today, would be common place in Epoch 2. Likewise, new designs the team is working on will replace the prototype equipment. We really want to make Epoch 2 feel real to the players, and it's the human story we'll be focusing on. In this regard Shattered Faith is very much a fictional-realism title.

To help make these elements work within multiplayer games, we've been designing unique branching campaigns that can be played on a server. Where the outcome of one map will dynamically change the resources and mission in the next. This is just one among many special gameplay modes we'll be including.

Epoch 3... well... that's a bit of a secret still. We have confirmed that it will feature very realistic space combat though, something that we've always enjoyed putting into games. The first release of Shattered Faith will only feature Epoch 1 and 2, however, focusing on first encounters and the war.

[LadyGamers]: Shattered Faith is starting to sound more and more like no other Total Conversion out there. For instance, the music reminds me of a movie more than a game. What was the reason behind the music in Shattered Faith?  And, will we see the music played mainly in-game or cinematic sequences?

[Scott Zier]:  We do feel that Shattered Faith is going to be on par with professionally developed games, and even in that sense it will be like no other FPS experience out there. We have an extremely talented team that is making this a quality production on all fronts; gameplay, art, sound, and of course the music!

We have two composers working on several scores that will highlight each time period in Shattered Faith, and also specific missions. The music will play during loads, important cinema elements, and even during the course of fighting through the game. Music really helps to heighten the emotional experience, and it's an option during play we think many gamers will choose.

Music is one of the many tools we are using (like the branching online campaign mode) to bring a story feeling to the multiplayer experience. When we set out to make this project, we first identified what we, as gamers, liked and didn't like about online gaming in Battlefield or other FPS titles. One of the many things that topped this list was the fact that online play is typically limited to a random collection of maps with no bridging connection. We've always been into developing games that promote team work, and creating a more tangible reward for team victory is important. So we're very excited about offering these new optional elements that help create a more compelling experience, and help make team victory mean so much more during average online play.

Music Samples
Clip 1 | Clip 2 | Clip 3

[LadyGamers]: The Battlefield community has always seemed like a very tough crowd to please. With the success of the Galactic Conquest mod, the Profilic Games team has a good reputation of completing a project. Shattered Faith has only been in development since early this Spring. Would you say SF has a bigger following than you did during the early stages of development for the Galactic Conquest mod?

[Scott Zier]: I would say we have as big of a following with Shattered Faith right now as we did with Galactic Conquest in it's early stages. As a team we certainly feel that we'll end up with a much larger audience for Shattered Faith than we did with Galactic Conquest. Not only is Shattered Faith a much more accessible title to the general community, with a realism focus and exciting story, but we've also refined our skills as developers over years of working together.

This extends to the art being more impressive, the gameplay more enjoyable and intuitive, and of course the releases being much more solid and stable.

Shattered Faith is an epic sized game, and I think players from all over the world will appreciate the personal connect they can make with those fighting the conflict.

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