Exclusive Interview with Ace of Spades Creator, Ben Aksoy.

We all know and love Ace of Spades but we are yet to hear about the future and even more so about Ben himself. Recently I contact Ben with a few question I knew and hoped the community were dieing to hear. So, without further ado.


1. What inspired you to make Ace of Spades? Is it designed after a specific war?

I just wanted to make a game that I would want to play. I quit gaming
a long time ago because I was sick of static environments and rinse
and repeat gameplay. I wanted a game that rewarded creativity over
reflexes so I developed Ace of Spades. It's not modelled after a
specific war although there are some Vietnam influences (the namesake
of the game). I'm keeping things a little abstract because it gives me
more freedom when adding features, and gives players more freedom with
their imagination.


2. You already said you would like to see a Map Editor added but do you have any other thought on how you may extend modability.

There's already a growing community in modding the game sounds and
model files. I'm not a big fan of server-side mods because I know the
first mod would be those bad Quake killstreak sounds that first put me
off gaming... but maybe down the line it'd be cool to allow admins to
script simple gamemodes. Also, custom maps should be supported pretty
soon!


3.  How are you dealing with all the attention? Do you plan on recruiting/hiring help?

It's pretty cool to see your name on big sites (when they spell it
right) but I wish I was better prepared for all the initial traffic. I
didn't think the game would catch on so quick. Despite all the offers,
I don't think I need to recruit people yet... the fun part of
development starts now anyway.


4. Do you want to increase the range of vision?

In terms of fog, probably not. It's there for performance and network
bandwidth reasons and I've never liked pixel hunting in Red Orchestra.
Fog allows flanking tactics and the game already has a pretty decent
view range.


5. Where do you want to take the game? Do you want it to stay realistic or make it a little over the top?

I'd like to keep the AoS on the side of realism but still keep the
gameplay simple and instinctive.
I think the abstract, simplified gameplay allows player more freedom
in their style of play instead of suffocating it.


6. Do you want to implement more details into maps like grass, tress, or boulders?

Yes, I'll definitely add more detail to terrain generation, and add
different types of terrain. And the map editor should allow players to
create whatever they want.


7. You have already described where you want to take the games weapons but have you made anymore plans since then?

I wish I planned that far ahead, but I'm just going day-by-day. I
would like more weapons that take advantage of the dynamic terrain...
a satchel charge or mortar would be cool but they'd have to be
implemented in a way that couldn't be abused.


8. Could voxlap and Ace of Spades support vehicles? If so would you ever consider implementing any.

The terrain is too blocky for jeeps/tanks, but planes and PT boats
aren't out of the question.


9. Do you want to change the size of the maps? If so how big or small?

Not really... I'd like to increase playercounts to 64 one day though.


10. Last but by least, of course, what is your favorite team to play?

Click my name on a news post at ace-spades.com to find out.

This just in, I checked. He is a supporter of the green menace. Err I mean green hive, or is it grunmacht now? Who knows...

Anyway, I hopes you enjoyed the interview and bookmark the blog for future news and mods for Ace of Spades.