May Bonus Update news

The modification European conflict has existed for 4 years. The units and generals in the mod provide nice eye candy. Not only are the units and building totally unique but the voices and generals are also completely new. The modders often work on this modifcation and do everything they can do release a beta version as soon as possible. We had the chance to talk with the leaders Mike and Sam in an interview and we were able to experience astonishing details.
But find out yourselves and have a look into the interview.
Have fun!

- Hey, please tell us something about yourself (yourselves)!

Mbob61 - My Real name is Mike which some of you may know, I'm 19 and currently I'm on a gap year from University. I will soon be Studying Games technology.

Samster01 - My real name is Sam. I'm 19 and my main hobbies include video games, (both playing and modding them), and reading. I'm currently attending a BTEC IT (information technology) course that is teaching me more about computers, technology and how they work. After the course finishes I will be studying Video Game Design at University. I've also known Mike for a long time, and we're good friends.

- Please tell us something about your Mod ! (Show some links etc)

Mike - European Conflict is a total conversion mod for Zero Hour which adds three totally unique factions. These are Western European Alliance or WEA, United Asian Nations or UAN and the American Confederacy or AC. These factions will have a totally original and custom-made array of Units, Buildings and Gen powers. These factions also use custom-made AI which we feel is more fun to play than the Zero Hour AI.

We have a more informative features list here - Moddb.com
We have the Back story here - Moddb.com
If you would like to post in our forums, they can be found here - Forum.falloutstudios.net

Sam - Mike has given a nice overview of EC, but he forgot to mention the excellent music we have in the mod, which has been made by our musician Nagerb. An example of this music is available here under the video's section of our Moddb page: Moddb.com.

- What makes your Mod so special? What makes your mod different to other Mods?

Mike - Unlike most mods, European Conflict is remaking everything. All three factions are totally unique and we are aiming to use no Zero Hour content when we fully release. We feel that our mod has a certain "Fun Factor" which most mods don't have as much as we do. We are also using totally unique voice acting made by some of our team members which really adds something different to our factions.

Sam - I think one of the reasons EC is special to me, other than it being our own personal project, is that at several points during development we could have said, ‘this is enough content', and then released an incomplete mod. Every time we had this mindset a new team member has joined with new skills, such as music, voice work or particle effects, which we have incorporated into the mod. This has increased EC's development time but made it a much better mod in the process.

How long did the development take? // How long will it take until it's released?

Mike - The mod has been alive for between 3 and 3.5 years in total. However, the mod basically died for a long period of time. I then decided to revive the mod about a year and a half ago and progress has been very good. As to when we will release, we are currently working on a UAN beta which will be released when we can get it finished

- Will the AI be able to handle this Mod? Will there be any problems?

Mike - Our mod uses totally custom AI which functions pretty well on almost all maps. There are a couple of small issues but overall it's a great improvement over the original Zero Hour AI. It will use all our units, buildings and General powers. Sam can answers questions on the AI better than I can.

Sam - As the AI Scripter in EC, I would like to add that the AI in EC will be much more challenging than the ZH AI.

- Do you have any future plans for your Mods or your real life?

Mike - Future plans for the mod will likely include Sub Generals and a couple of other things we will keep quiet at the moment
In terms of real life, later this year i will be going to University to study Games Technology.

Sam - In addition to what Mike said, mod related plans may include some sort of a campaign and maybe European Braaaaaaaains!!!!!, if I can learn now missions are scripted. If that ever happens, it will be a long way down the release pipeline. Plans for my future include going to University to study Video Game design.

- How important is the community for you?

Mike - The community is very important to us. As some of you will have seen with our latest poll about our release, we take the views of our fans very seriously.

Sam - To give another example I will point you towards our public voice content we had a while back. Forum.falloutstudios.net
Many of the voices in the topic will end up in game, with appropriate acknowledgment in the mod credits. We have in fact already recorded several UAN voices, which will we showcase in our next video update.

- What do you think about the situation now after the release of CnC4?

Mike - Personally, I think it was a mistake to mess with the CnC franchise so heavily. They should stick to the things people like rather than trying to borrow aspects from other games which don't really suit the franchise.

Sam - Base building is one of my favourite things in the CnC franchise, and RTS's in general. I was therefore disappointed when base building and ore mining were removed from CnC4. Personally I hope they create a Generals 2 some time in the future.

- Are there any problems with the Mod or within your Team? Or is everything working out perfectly?

Mike - Like most mod teams, our members real life commitments come first. Modding is a hobby and not an obligation meaning we have to work around these real life issues.

Sam - I could not be happier with the extremely talented team we have managed to recruit, and I am pleased to be able to call many of them my friends. There was one incident a long time ago with a previous team member who will remain nameless, but that's all in the past.

- What is your next project / the project you're working on at the moment?

Mike - Currently, a lot of my attention is either being directed to EC or towards various Xbox 360 games.

Sam - Creating and releasing EC is our current plan. All our energies are being diverted towards it. After we finish EC to our satisfaction, hopefully with all the extra things we have planned, only then we will consider our next project.

- How did you get the idea to make this Mod? How did it all start?

Mike - It all started whilst Myself and Co-Founder Kamikazi where Beta Testing for Generation X. We felt we had some unique ideas which could be turned into an appealing mod.

Sam - I myself became involved in the mod slightly after Mike, Kamikazi and Pirate. I started off as a campaign writer, back then we were fairly generic. We had some cool ideas but some of the content was low quality and had no clear direction. At that point in development we were more or less adding things randomly, none of the factions felt planned or designed.

Everything changed when Mike went on holiday and brought some pens and paper with him. He jotted down some idle idea's and from that EC as you see it today was born. It was around this time when I was promoted to co-leader, originally in a temporary capacity. I started chipping in with faction idea's and eventually took up AI scripting so EC could have working AI in its first release.

- Is there anything you want to tell the community?

Mike - I personally would like to thank the community for the support they have shown us so far and to tell them to be patient but to look forward to what we will be showing soon hopefully.

Sam - I am extremely grateful for the support we have been receiving from our fans, and particularly from Moddb. The response we received from the recent ‘EC Release' poll was overwhelming, 72 comments last time I checked. I can confirm we have decided to push forward with the UAN beta release plan, due to the majority of fans voting for it.

- Why did you choose Europe, one of the most peaceful regions of the world for your game?

Mike - Europe as a whole was largely under used in Zero Hour modifications. We also liked the idea of use the three large power blocks in the America's, Europe and Asia.

Sam - Well for one thing several of the mod team members live in Europe, and since very few ZH mods' have added a European faction, (with the exception of CNC Europe), we decided to make one.

- Are you going to be able to play in European cities, like Berlin or Paris?

Mike - At the moment we have put the idea of a unique campaign on hold but don't rule out the idea

Sam - One of the reasons the campaign is on hold is currently we lack someone in the team who can create scripts for campaign missions. If we can hire someone with the necessary skills, or I can learn to mission script, then a campaign might be possible in a future release.

Thanks for reading. We hope we have given some informative answers.
We would also like to announce that we have chosen to release the UAN only beta after looking at the responses from our release poll.

Original interview on: Cncsaga.de

We hope you've enjoyed our latest update. This is the EC team signing off.