LinuxLounge.net und ab auf die Couch!

Linux|Lounge: Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and your connection to Blood Frontier?

Quin: Despite working on Open Source projects for roughly a decade, I never really found my own niche until Blood Frontier. One of the unfortunate aspects of my work style is that I don't have a huge range of knowledge on one subject; I can code mostly as a byproduct of the goals I wish to accomplish. Blood Frontier is a project with so many different facets/tasks and little in the way of exposure and contributions. My wide range of skills are put to work a lot filling in for parts of the project which aren't getting done; I am basically the go-to guy for anything Blood Frontier - if there's a problem that needs solving or a bug/feature that needs fixing, I'm the one doing it.

Linux|Lounge: What makes Blood Frontier special compared to other First Person shooter?

Quin: When developing any kind of game, this is a question you have to ask yourself a lot; especially in a genre as heavily saturated as the First Person Shooter. During our initial brainstorming sessions we decided we wanted to bring over some familiar concepts from other games as well as create some of our own "twists" on what we think should be apart of the FPS experience. You'll see a great deal of inspiration from our own favourites, like Halo, Doom, Quake, and Unreal Tournament - as well as some hints from more recent games as things develop.

There are a few ways we're doing our own thing; and most of it comes down to experimentation - trial and error - seeing what people do and don't like and forever adjusting our end goal accordingly. We are a project that has been open to the public from the very beginning, and we consider every piece of feedback given to us. Unlike many projects we know our success is determined by the people playing it, so we make sure they play an important role in shaping the final product. Community is a priority, and many people become loyal just for that fact alone.

Linux|Lounge: Why did you choose to publish your game with an open source license?

Quin: I've always been an Open Source developer, I also suffer from a long term illness which keeps me from working professionally. Over the years we've seen the quality of games diminish in direct relation to the advances in graphics; this has gotten to the point where we have a lot of trouble justifying spending heaps of money on games that aren't worth the disc they're printed on. We want to do this game right, and we want people to be able to experience it for free. Depending on our success, we may or may not be looking at a "BF Store" concept in the future, to generate revenue from (optional) downloadable content and other marketing ploys, but we feel Open Source benefits everyone in the end, not just us. This is not to say it is totally reliable, people tend to expect more for less from an FOSS project; as a result I maintain a strict policy of not providing tech support to those looking to use my code for their own purposes. I'm a game developer, not an engine/technology distributor.

Linux|Lounge: Have there been times when development was stuck, what were the reasons and how did you overcome these?

Quin: As with any FOSS project, there are times when things get very quiet - with most of those times centered around me not being able to make any forward progress ("coder's block"). When you do over 90% of the work yourself, this can be quite disheartening to both yourself and your community, so it pays to keep up appearances. We place a heavy emphasis in participation in our IRC channel, and during these times we either just socialise (read: talk crap) or someone says something and sets off an idea which gets the ball rolling again. The trick is not to worry about it; my most genius ideas have come from out of nowhere, while doing the most mundane things.

Linux|Lounge: Can you give us a hint on future development, what are your plans?

Quin: The sky is the limit, I guess! From the very beginning we've seen just how much the evolution of the project shifts the end goal dramatically. Every time we change some little gameplay nuance or fix some bug we have to re-evaluate where we're going and what we're about, our original plans hardly resemble the product you see today.

Of course, we have the DLC store ideas, and some progress is being made on the co-op story aspect now; but for the most part things happen as they go, and I've learned from experience that making plans is an exercise in utter futility. We just go with the flow, release when it's ready, pursue an idea whenever we think it could work. Anything I say here would likely be obsolete in a few months, future development relies heavily on feedback and contributions from the public - so it's all really up to you.

Linux|Lounge: Thank you for your time.