Do you want to play Half-Life 2 on 1st September? You think it´s impossible? No, definitely! Two guys from Germany are working on brand new Half-Life 2 game! Codename: Gordon is going to be an amazing Jump & Run title, which will offer many of the original Half-Life 2. Don´t trust me? Then read our today´s interview with X-Tender, one of the Codename: Gordon´s creators.
Doupe: First of all, please introduce yourself and your latest game Codename: Gordon to our readers.
X-Tender: Codename: Gordon is a Flash based Jump & Run which plays in the Half-Life 2 scenario. Some people say it´s look like the famous "Metal Slug" or "Contra."
Doupe: What is the inspiration behind the Codename: Gordon project? Where and when came into existence the idea of making a Half-Life 2D game? And finally, when have you started the develop?
X-Tender: It starts with an idea from Warbeast (Soenke Seidel - www.warbeast.de). I created a Flash screensaver for our company and after he saw how mighty Flash and my skills with the tool are he asked me if I had just to make a small game with him, he realy meant "small." And so we started - we chose the HL2 theme because Warbeast and myself are big fans of this game and we thought that the people would welcome a small HL2 based game till the game get released.
And now, after weeks of developing we have so much responses and fans that we can´t believe it.
Doupe: Why did you choose Jump`n Run genre for your "Half-Life" title? And why are you using the Flash technology to create the game?
X-Tender: Like said before, we love HL! We chose Flash because it´s platform independence (Windows, MAC, Linux) and it´s the only programming language I rule very good.
Doupe: The main character and hero of the game is going to be Gordon Freeman, of course. But what´s the main plot and the background of story? Will there be an alien invasion too?
X-Tender: Well, the main story is nothing special, it´s very funny and logic. More i can`t tell you... and no, there is not an alien invasion. Gordon "search" something... :o)
Doupe: How many levels (or missions) have you created for Codename: Gordon? Is the game going to be more action or puzzle-solving oriented?
X-Tender: The game would have 6-7 levels and every level have a little bit on gameplay, but the action-part is one of the most important parts. You have also solve some small riddles and some "sneak and hide" parts ;o)
Doupe: It seems your game is going to be inspired with the real situations and incidents from Half-Life 1 & 2. We have seen the video you released a few days ago and there was a lot of great moments from original Half-Life 2 presentation (like the harbor and so on). So, what well-known situations, locations and other Half-Life elements could we expect to see in Codename: Gordon?
X-Tender: We took our informations from the released HL2 E3 videos and pictures… everything you saw in videos you`re also going to see in our game.
Doupe: Could you tell us about guns, items and other weapons, which can be found in Codename: Gordon? Will be players able to control any kind of vehicles?
X-Tender: Current available weapons are - The Mighty Crowbar, Pistol, Machine Gun and Manipulater Gun. These are the weapons that was planed from the beginning, if we will have some time before the release we will build maybe some other weapons.
Items - hmm… there will be a HEV and health charger like in HL1 and some ammunitions.
And i can say YES! to the vehicle question. In the end of the video you can see the buggy, in Level 4 you will drive arround and shoot alienships - and in the end ... JUMP!! =o)
Doupe: What´s your favourite Half-Life monster we will combat with in Codename: Gordon? What about other enemies? Is Codename: Gordon going to include some well-know characters like Barney, G-Man or the newest girl Alyx?
X-Tender: Hmm, I love the headcrabs, and there will also be zombies, troopers and the "slicer"... and some sentry guns and also a strider ;o). Like in the video where you can see Barney we also include the G-Man, Dr. Kleiner, Eli, and Alyx. And you can talk to them ;-)
Doupe: How long will the full version of Codename: Gordon be?
X-Tender: We think about 45 minutes, but we are not sure because we don`t have all levels ..
Doupe: What will be the weight of Codename: Gordon (5, 10, 20 or 50 MB)? And also, do you plan to make the localization of your game to other world languages like Czech?
X-Tender: We count with 15-20 MB because we want to include some funkey Music ;o) .. As far as i know i try to make a multilingual version where all texts get loaded from an external file, so it is possible to make many translations.
Doupe: We know you plan to release the game 1th September. At what development phase is Codename: Gordon right now?
X-Tender: Well, Codename: Gordon is over the hump, the hardest parts are finished and Warbeast works still on the levels but i have a good feeling about the release date. We don`t plan to make an expansion pack, but who knows... X-mas is not far ;o) ..
Doupe: And the final question - what´s your opinion about Half-Life 2? Have there been any trouble with Valve Software and their attitude towards your project?
X-Tender: We allready talked with Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson, they get a demo and Gabe send it out around in the company, and they like it. =o). So we don´t have to worry that they sue us.
Doupe: Thank you very much for your time. Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?
X-Tender: No problem and thanks. We do our best to make a real good game for free.