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| Would you like to play a nice game of Chess? | Here we see the interface showing varying radar coverage provided by ships, aircraft, and long-range radar outposts |
UK-based, independent developer and self-publisher, Introversion Software, was launched into public awareness with the release of their first title, Uplink, in 2001. Uplink was just the sort of game that no major publisher could ever sign off on: It was subversive, appealed only to a niche market, had a fairly steep learning curve, and defied classification within a genre. Despite these hurdles, it was a commercial success within hours of being released for online sale, and has sold more than 40,000 copies to date. In addition to the recognition Introversion received from Uplink, the “last bedroom-programmer” team earned well-deserved credibility from the gaming press, with the game being generally well received in reviews. Following a protracted development phase which put the four-man developer team under financial stress, Introversion outperformed their previous success with the release of their second game, Darwinia in March, 2005. Technically, Darwinia could be called an RTS, but once again, Introversion had produced a completely unique game. Darwinia also received critical acclaim in the press, and a year after its release, won three awards at the Independent Games Festival Awards, in San Francisco, California, USA.
"DEFCON is proof once again that the creation of exciting, unique games does not rely on years and years of development, nor a 100 strong dev team. With the release of DEFCON, Introversion continues to demonstrate that Indie developers are at the forefront of exciting, innovative gaming experiences." -- Producer, Air Chief Marshal, Tom Arundel
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| A look at DEFCON's multiplayer lobby | It can pay to shoot first, and ask questions later |
Now, with the imminent release of their third game, DEFCON, Introversion will attempt to capitalise on their previous successes, with a truly unique RTS which simulates the Cold-War doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, putting the player in command of the full complement of a superpower's nuclear arsenal. Fans of Introversion's previous games may remember the easter eggs alluding to the 1983 cult-classic film, Wargames, which Introversion unapologetically states was the inspiration for the game. The interface is simply a geo-political map outline of your potential theatre of war – planet Earth – which shows each of the cities, radar outposts, missile silos, airbases, submarines, aircraft, surface ships, and nuclear weapons in transit that you, the general, are responsible for controlling, from your seat in the war room, in a deep underground bunker.
The name of the game, DEFCON, refers to the actual US military's DEFense CONdition, as depicted in Wargames, where a DEFCON rating of 5 signified relative peace, while DEFCON 1 indicated the military was fully mobilised to engage in World War III. The gameplay elements designed to reflect this appear to work well: Changes in military posture take time to enact, and raising the readiness of your defence forces is immediately apparent to each of your opponents, prompting strategic rivals to reciprocate should you suddenly spur your forces into action. At DEFCON 5, players are unable to engage in any hostile encounters; DEFCON 3 allows for conventional air and naval encounters, and full mobilisation at DEFCON 1 is required before you can launch nuclear weapons. The steady progression that results is designed to give players time to bring stealth, misdirection, and deception into the game.
DEFCON is a game of strategy and tactics. At the most basic level, players must carefully craft strategies to utterly wipe out the enemy civilian populations, without having their own people destroyed in the ensuing retaliatory strike. Likewise, on the tactical level, even the most meticulously planned offensive strategy can come crumbling down if a fleet of nuclear submarines is detected and destroyed by the enemy's conventional military before they are able to sneak in and launch their devastating payload.
In a game of global thermonuclear war, emerging from the nuclear holocaust unscathed is out of the question: The tagline of the game is Everybody Dies, and one wins not by avoiding the enemy strike completely, but rather, by forcing or tricking an enemy into prematurely launching their attack with incorrect or insufficient intelligence, and an unprepared military. This can reveal the locations of each of the enemy submarines and missile silos, allowing you to make a far more devastating counter-attack before the enemy missiles find their targets. Points are awarded for decimating the enemy civilian population while keeping as much of yours alive as you can. While there will not be any single-player campaign, the game will offer multiple CPU controlled bots to play against when you can't find a friend to nuke.
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| Rudimentary diplomacy functions will allow players to form alliances. Now who shall I betray first? | After the dust settles, there's no winner. But victory still goes to the player who loses the least! |
Intelligence is provided by long-range radar stations and air-bases, along with your navy's sonar. As well as battleships and nuclear submarines, you may choose to deploy carriers from which to launch nuclear bombers, or fighters to counter them. But the most important units of all are the nuclear weapons with which the game is won or lost, that can be launched either from submarines, nuclear bombers, or ground-based missile silos. When played in real-time, a missile may spend as long as half an hour in transit, however, with the use of the time-acceleration feature, Introversion puts the majority of games between 30 and 40 minutes long.
Introversion looks to have done a stellar job in recreating a bleak Cold-War atmosphere of ruthless, calculating logic that must have pervaded throughout the Soviet and US nuclear command centres for so many years. The sombre background music and minimal approach to game design serve as reminders of the seriousness of the duty you have been charged to carry out. It is convenient then, that this approach is one almost required of independent developers to succeed: In producing a game without a need for any complex 3D models and textures, and therefore almost entirely lacks the years-long phase of content-creation that most games require, Introversion offer a free lesson to the rest of the scene on how it is possible to produce a quality game that will be taken seriously with only a minimal budget.
This leaves only two lingering questions in my mind. First and foremost, will the game sell? Introversion had serious problems with the initial release of Darwinia, despite its reception in the gaming press. It wasn't until they adopted a distribution method better suited to the scale of their enterprise – namely, Valve's Steam – that it took off. But sales probably won't be a problem, as the appeal of game where you do little else but nuke your enemies would seem to be pretty wide. This does, however, raise the second question. How long will the appeal last? For those who enjoyed it, Uplink was almost dangerously addictive, but it suffered from a tendency to produce a sharp drop off of enthusiasm after first defeating some of the tougher parts of the game. How many Russian nuclear winters do you have to cause before the concept gets cold? If the game is at all customisable, then community-made expansions may extend the longevity considerably.
Introversion's formula is not rocket-science, but they have found ways to distinguish themselves from less successful independent developers, and ambitious modding teams. There are plenty of good ideas for games out there, and this team has just used their ability and put in a lot of hard work to bring a few of them to life, while demonstrating some business acumen. Despite what certain promotional photo-shoots might suggest, the team has remained realistic in keeping in touch their community, and have kept their fans very much involved in the (usually expensive) process of supporting and patching their games following release. One overwhelming response from gamers in recent years is that we miss the box-contents and illustrated manuals that were included with the games of ten years ago. While it's finally catching on, the industry response to the demand has been very slow, despite that fact that such a simple addition is inexpensive, and yet can make a huge difference to the impression left on the consumer. DEFCON's included manual is evenly divided between explaining the game, and Cold-War era propaganda that almost has you wondering if you're meant to be laughing, or building a fallout suit and bomb shelter under your stairs... Instructions are provided. It's this humour that makes it somewhat reminiscent of the Vault Dweller's Guide from Fallout.
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| If possible, this should be a text link from “promotional photo shoot” above | If possible, this should be a text link from “keeping in touch” above |
After five years of relative dormancy, RTS is coming back in a big way. Games like Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, and Supreme Commander are already raising the bar, making this a huge couple of years for the genre, and in 2007 Blizzard, EA, and THQ will be going all-in for a slice of the RTS pie. In the past, rather than being intimidated by such competition, Introversion has demonstrated an excellent understanding of their market, and how to thrive in it. With their proven track-record, and by embracing approaches suited to the size of their operation through every phase of production, DEFCON could attract Introversion's best reception yet. While there are some lingering concerns about how long a fairly one-dimensional concept can remain engaging, with sufficient variety and extensibility, the £12 price-point could be easily justified. If the game lives up to the atmosphere and gameplay it promises, it should provide players with countless hours of fun. DEFCON will hit the shelves at the end of September, and will be released for download both on Steam and directly from Introversion, which optionally includes having the box and contents posted to you anywhere on the globe. We're looking forward to release day with great interest!
