Supreme Developer

A vision of futuristic warfare that would surely give George Lucas nightmares, Supreme Commander is the reigning king of the much-tread RTS genre. Since it’s release, Chris Taylor’s evolutionary tribute to his classic Total Annihilation has racked up award upon award. Not content to rest upon his laurels, Mr. Taylor has big plans for Supreme Commander - plans that should keep this title’s fan base quite pleased for the foreseeable future. Gamesquad was generously given access to the uber-developer himself to find out what surprises await his cadre of fellow supreme commanders….

Gamesquad: Supreme Commander has been available for a few weeks now. Are you satisfied with the response the game has received from the community so far?

Chris Taylor: Absolutely, there has been a great response so far.

Gamesquad: Supreme Commander is a big game, and there can be many units moving around on the map as battles progress. At times, the units seem to have difficulty maneuvering and frequently bump into each other. Will Gas Powered Games (GPG) be working to improve the pathfinding for a future patch?

Chris Taylor: Yes, and we have many improvements for almost every aspect of the game in the works with a new update coming out in about three weeks, we just need to make sure it is thoroughly tested.

Gamesquad: Can you tell us a little about the mod tools that are planned for the game?

Chris Taylor: In the next update, we are releasing the in-house tool that we used to create the maps and script all the single player missions. We'll be adding documentation to our knowledge base, which is accessible through GPGnet and will be sharing any additional information as the requests come in.

Gamesquad: Are there any plans to add a DX10 version for Supreme Commander? If so, can you tell us anything about what GPG has planned?

Chris Taylor: We have been working on a DX10 version, and though the actual "conversion" of the game to DX10 is nearly complete, we realized that the additional content to support new DX10 features is quite massive, which has presented a new set of challenges for us. We'll release more news when we get closer.

Gamesquad: While the game's AI puts up a credible fight, Supreme Commander really shines in multiplayer. Can we expect any additional features or refinements for the multiplayer mode?

Chris Taylor: Most of our energy right now is going into improvements for GPGnet, but you will see some new features in Multiplayer in the new update. Everything is evolving and moving ahead across the board, on almost every level, whether it is bug fixing, tuning and balancing, optimizations and new features. We're cranking on it!

Gamesquad: Does GPG have plans to release new downloadable units or maps?

Chris Taylor: We do indeed, and we'll have more news about that in the coming months!

Gamesquad: It seems that GPG does not intend for Supreme Commander to be "just another" RTS game that is played and then put on the shelf after a few months. Was this the plan from the start?

Chris Taylor: You are right, we see this as a game that can be played for years and years, and there is no end in sight to the new innovations that we can bring to the genre. There are lots of exciting things in the works to continue to extend the game, in almost every respect, whether it's online or in the game itself.

Gamesquad: Is there anything you would like to add?

Chris Taylor: Only to say thanks to everyone who has been very supportive of us, it is very much appreciated. We will continue to work hard to make Supreme Commander the best RTS ever!!