Command and Conquer DEN - games by Westwood & EALA

July 11, 2009 - This is an interview with Blbpaws, mod team leader with C&C3: The Forgotten, a mod for C&C3: Tiberium Wars. Included with the interview is some exclusive never before seen in-game screenshots and art from the mod.

Lion: Please introduce yourself to the fans, tell us of your past achievements in the C&C modding community, and what role you play in the development of C&C3: The Forgotten.

Blbpaws: I'm Blbpaws, a senior staff member at C&C Labs and CNCGeneralsWorld. I've been playing C&C since 1998, and modding it since 2003. I've led two mods prior to this one, a small one entitled Real Threat which aimed to make Generals more realistic, and a much larger one called C&C All Stars, which brought together the best units and structures from all the C&C games. That mod was our true success, as it was downloaded more than 70,000 times—a great reward after four years of hard work by the team. I've also written a number of articles on modding and game development. For C&C 3: The Forgotten, my main job is the design of the gameplay, the coordination and recruitment of all the team members, and the development of certain aspects of the mod, such as the AI and some mission scripting. In addition, since this mod is so story-intensive, I've also been principally responsible for designing and writing the story, which has been a lot of fun and a true learning experience.

Lion: Approximately how many people are currently active in the development of the mod, and how long has the mod been in production?

Blbpaws: We've got a great team with twenty folks contributing. CommieDog is an excellent XML coder and Tsumetai handles a lot of art and is our other SDK magician. Phe0n1x and CaptNeo do a great job creating missions. Kane Nash has done all our concept art and some texturing with Nick and Nielsen. Andy, SchindlerJon, and paimail help out with modeling, while stygs and chronosheep helped us with the Tiberium Fiends model and animations. Nick, Rick, Alex, Steve and Matt are all helping us get the story right. Jeff is an excellent musician who's creating some great tracks that we think you'll love. Bhones provides Worldbuilder advice. Mike helps keep me sane and makes sure the server works. I've already discussed my role above, but I can't emphasize enough how I happy I am to be doing this and to be working with people with such extraordinary talent. The mod has been in development since August 2007, though we didn't announce the project until the following May. We spent a lot of time getting the story right, working on faction composition, and assembling a team that was capable of getting the job done.

Lion: What was the motivation behind choosing The Forgotten as a new faction for your mod, and how challenging is it to come up with new units and structures for this faction?

Blbpaws: After C&C All Stars we wanted to do a mod that told a story, since that was the one thing All Stars didn't have. Most of the C&C story has been told in a lot of detail, from the megalomania of Kane to the invasion of the Scrin, but no one really has focused on the true losers in the conflict, The Forgotten. They're the ones who suffer through all the wars, who have sometimes fought for one side or the other but have never been rewarded.

Another thing we wanted to do was create a character that fit well into the world of The Forgotten. The result was Salvador Trogan, a politically-savvy former Nod spy who--with the help of the player, of course--works to first unite and then lead the disparate Forgotten groups into a rebellion against the three superpowers. In crafting his character, I spent a lot of time trying to think about what it is that lets leaders, good and evil, inspire and unify. I can't say I know what the secret is, but I think in Trogan, if you look carefully, you will see a lot of elements of great leaders from history, as well as some attributes that are unique to him.

Most of the units and structures came pretty easily out of this fiction. For example, some old Nod and GDI units return or are modified because many of The Forgotten fought in the Second Tiberium War. Other units are directly tied to the campaign. The player's actions in the missions explain how these units came to be a part of The Forgotten's arsenal. Our goal is to create a gameplay experience in which the player feels he's had a hand in building the faction. Even when playing skirmish, we hope you'll remember how your actions in the missions led to the acquisition of a certain unit for The Forgotten.

I’ll reveal one of these units that you’ll help steal the technology to develop: the Impact Drone. You can see some exclusive art, a render and three screenshots below, created by the very talented Nielsen. The Impact Drone is based off a stolen version of GDI’s old Hunter-Seeker drone, except The Forgotten have refined it with relay communications, so that it’s controllable once in the air. It’s unmanned - unlike other pseudo-guerilla groups, The Forgotten don’t believe in suicide bombings - and laden with explosives that pack a serious punch.

Lion: I understand this mod will include a single player campaign in order to tell the story of The Forgotten, and I'm looking forward to the campaign. I have no doubt it's quite a difficult undertaking involving much intense work. How far along are you in the development of the single player campaign, and how many missions do you have planned?

Blbpaws: It's absolutely a tremendous challenge, but it's one we wanted to undertake and one we're meeting. We have five very long missions planned, each with three difficulty levels. We have maps pretty nearly done for two of them, and a draft started for two more. Scripting is about 75% done for one mission, 60% for another, and maybe 10% for a third. The missions were the last thing to be developed, so they lag behind the rest of the mod, but we're doing well. CaptNeo and Pheonix are doing a good job in crafting the missions, and Nick, Rick, Alex, Steve, and Matt are almost done with their work in making the story truly come to life within them.

You can see some of the art from CaptNeo's mission with four new screenshots below.

Lion: Are there any special features that your mod will have that will make it stand out against other mods in the C&C community?

Blbpaws: In addition to the unique faction and story, we've introduced a lot of new gameplay mechanics that we think people will enjoy. There are quite a few of these, but I'll give three examples here. First, Tiberium Fiends are back, but as part of a neat unit, the Beastmaster. Essentially, even though Tiberium life rages wildly, certain members of The Forgotten have a special connection to them. These wise community members, known as Beastmasters, have spent years working with Tiberium life. When the time comes to fight on the battlefield, they'll guide their Fiends into battle with you. Should they get killed on the battlefield, though, their Fiends will no longer obey your orders.

Another new mechanic is a bulldozing system. Very much unlike the Bulldozers from Generals, these Bulldozers are simply armored lumbering behemoths that smash everything in their way. Just because it's postmodern war doesn't mean old-fashioned force doesn't work. But for those of you who like postmodern novelties, you can upgrade your Bulldozers with electric spikes on the outside, so that they'll electrocute as well as pulverize anything that gets in their way.

As another new trick, we've given the Forgotten commando a special ability: to dress another infantry unit up as a body double. This way, for a low fee, you can create an army of "commandos" and your enemy will have no idea which is the real Commando—until of course he blows up the Conyard.

Our biggest innovation comes in the story. I'm not quite ready to talk about the details of it too much yet (we'll show you a lot throughout the summer), but I think we're pushing the envelope of what mods can do, and pushing it a lot farther than any other mod has pushed it. We have spent hours and hours on the story--we have seven people who primarily handle bringing the missions and plot to life, plus my contributions--and I'm confident that it will be something very special in the end. In fact, here’s something that maybe will give you a hint of where we’re going, mood-wise. It’s a piece of promo art created by Kane Nash (click pic to your left), and it shows the scene of a key battleground in the mod’s story. Of course, I can't tell you or show you the details or even how we use this art, but when we do, you'll see what I mean when I say we're pushing the boundaries.

Lion: What challenges are you currently facing with the mod?

Blbpaws: It's always a long process, and keeping folks engaged for that long is always difficult. This is why I'm always looking for talented people to add to the team. There were many technical challenges along the way, particularly with Worldbuilder and the SDK, but the technical wizardry of CommieDog, Tsumetai, and CaptNeo eventually surmounted all of those. The biggest thing now is churning out the remaining artwork, finishing up the story, and completing the remaining missions. Things are rarely easy in a project of this magnitude, but despite our nonexistent salaries, it will get done, and it will be worth it when it is.

Lion: Anything special you can tell us about The Forgotten mod that you've been keeping secret up until now?

Blbpaws: Well now, I guess I should reveal something, shouldn't I, especially after that mean ole' teaser up above there. Very well in addition to showing off a new unit above, how about I tell you the superweapon used by The Forgotten?

The Forgotten employ a truly nasty superweapon, one that shows off their ingenuity and their connection to Tiberium. It's the Tiberium Veinhole Monster. Even though Tiberium Veins are mostly gone from the Earth by the time of the Third Tiberium War, the Forgotten know how to grow and care for the monster that creates them. They hatch this monster inside a protective dome so it can't escape, and nurse it until it gets large and powerful. When the time is right, they pack the monster into a large delivery vehicle, which they fire into the air at the enemy position. Upon impact, the monster smashes deep into the ground and Tiberium Veins quickly envelop and destroy much of what's in the area. No, it's not an Ion Cannon strike or nuclear warhead, but you won't mock it after they fire it at your base.

In terms of revealing other new things, you can see an in-game shot of the Fissure Tank (see below), which we haven't shown previously. It's a tank that fires a large shell, which, upon impact creates a huge destructive concussion by its target.

Lion: I won't ask when we can expect the completion of the mod, as most modders with tell ya..."when it's done", and we all do have lives off the net as well. Generally most fan created mods can take up to several years to complete, and many never see the light of day. You've already proved yourself in the C&C modding community as a finisher. What steps are you taking to keep this mod on track, and how hard is it to keep mod team members motivated?

Blbpaws: I fully expect the mod to be done this year, and hopefully with time to spare, but we'll see. We will hold a private beta before release, so some of you (particularly the good voice actors out there ;)) will have a chance to give us your feedback and play the mod in advance.

It's true that I've led a mod of substantial size to completion before (and much of this team was part of C&C All Stars), so I'm confident we'll be able to do it again. In terms of keeping people motivated, I'm always trying to bring in new talented staffers so that we do our work faster and better. Most of all though, I think that people stay motivated when they buy into the project and feel that they are contributing to something that matters and is well-done, and that they are getting a chance to shape the project's direction. I'm not going to try to speak for the team, but whatever success I have in coordinating the project I'll attribute to those two things. When people have a chance to contribute and shape a project that is fun to play and that others enjoy, they enjoy working on it and everyone is better off.

Lion: Thank you Blbpaws for taking the time out of your busy schedule for this interview. Any parting thoughts for the fans?

Blbpaws: Other than thanks to you for doing this interview, Lion, and for the fans for following us--you can learn more at our site--there's one other message that I think is important: I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do this at such a level. I think one is very fortunate to do something like this once, as with C&C All Stars, but to get a chance to do it again, with an even better and more talented team is something for which I’m very grateful. The experience of bringing our ideas to life, and to work with a great group of people in doing so, isn't something well-captured in words. I firmly believe that the fans in this community are capable of tremendous amounts, and that it isn’t the Hollywood glitz or glamour that makes C&C, but the love fans and developers have for the games and the characters. Anyone who thinks that fans like ourselves are incapable of creating a meaningful, fun, and immersive C&C experience is someone we hope to prove wrong.

I encourage all fans to give modding and mapping a look. Part of the reason we created C&C Labs was to lessen the learning curve. Bringing your vision to life has never been so possible or so much fun. Come on in. The water's fine.

Visit the C&C3: The Forgotten website for more info on this C&C3 mod in development!