Tim Aste is an artist and producer at GarageGames. He is the project manager for "Legions", a game technology demo in the works at GarageGames.

TribalWar
With all the news, screen shots, and videos showing up on the Internet, what exactly will be shown at GDC 2006?

Tim Aste:
GarageGames will be showing off our usual array of technology and products like we do every year. One of our demonstrations will include a preview of an upcoming "Game & Technology Demo". This will be a playable tech demo, in the sense that the original Q1Test was a playable tech demo for Quake years ago. Our tech demos are a great chance for GarageGames to demonstrate technology, get people interested in making games, and have some fun making and playing what we demo.

TribalWar
So there will be a game made out of this "tech demo"?

Tim Aste:
This is one possibility we are heavily considering at this time. Given the right circumstances and interest in what we put out there this is definitely a path that we could go down. There are a lot of factors which may or may not be obvious that come into play with this sort of thing really. GarageGames has grown significantly over the last two years and can finally begin approaching these sort of projects with a genuine interest of making them a reality, but we do a lot of things different here. Things need to match up right for us to be able to take a new project on no matter what it is.

TribalWar
Will the tech demo be released to the general public?

Tim Aste:
Any technology demos we make here at GarageGames will always be released to the public for free, granted we can distribute them effectively of course.

TribalWar
Will the tech demo support multiplayer?

Tim Aste:
Of course. Plans for how in-depth it will be aren't finalized, but we want to make it as painless and convenient as possible for the person using the tech-demo, without over-committing resources or time.

TribalWar
When can we expect to see the tech demo?

Tim Aste:
We will be previewing it during Game Developers Conference 2006. We don't want to commit to any dates for the public release, but rest assured we aren't talking years here.

TribalWar
What's with all the GarageGames employees posting things on the forums?

Tim Aste:
Well, we wanted to hint that anyone in San Jose at the end of March will want to probably check out our booth to see what we are working on since most Tribes guys would probably take an interest in it. However, in typical TribalWar fashion, you guys flipped the **** out. Wink

It sort of forced our hand to move a little bit faster than we had intended, so we can't release as many details as we want right now. Many of GarageGames guys showed up to work Friday a bit blind sided, and a few jumped on the forums to have a little fun with the community. We decided it was enough rumor stewing though, we want to set the record as straight as we can with what we can officially say at this time.

Protip kids, please don't look up and call my personal cell-phone. It's the fastest way to not find anything out. Same goes for showing up at our office. Wink

TribalWar
Is single player planned for the full product?

Tim Aste:
For the technology and game demo, there are no plans at this time. Our focus is in a Multiplayer Action demonstration and test. We are very proud of our net code and plan to emphasize how great it really is.

TribalWar
Is multi-player planned for the full product?

Tim Aste:
If we go forward past the tech demo, you will see multiplayer.

TribalWar
Will it be possible for users to modify the tech demo in anyway, through the use of scripting or other methods?

Tim Aste:
No comment at this time on this one unfortunately, sorry.

TribalWar
How do you define if there is enough interest in the tech demo to warrant a full game being developed (outside of herpes infested TribalWar members)?

Tim Aste:
A lot of factors come into play with this sort of thing. One thing that is never a factor is if we want to do it. We always want to do it, GarageGames is all about creating fun games with no outside elements forcing our hand. We strive to make the best quality product that is possible, and fun games we enjoy to play. Some things that are a factor in this sort of situation are things such as "Will this delay development of another (or more important) product? Can we afford to sink time/money/people into a project like this without shutting down? Will people play it? There are a ton of factors that influence where we go with our products, but we have a pretty solid method for rolling out products here, as you can tell by our growth and persistence.

One thing that keeps us going is that we know we have a community built around previous games, we want to make something new and exciting that appeals to existing fans, as well as bringing in fresh blood. The more people we can bring an enjoyable fun game experience, the better.

TribalWar
What do you say to the people that expect this to be tribes 4?

Tim Aste:
It's not going to be Tribes 4, it's really that simple. Will the people who play Tribes like it? Definitely.

TribalWar
Is GarageGames trying to obtain the Tribes IP?

Tim Aste:
GarageGames has no current interest in obtaining the Tribes IP back from Vivendi Universal at this time. The crew that created the world of Starsiege Tribes (and many other successful titles before that) are working here at GarageGames along with a whole slew of great new talent. You can trust them to be able to create exciting new intellectual property and innovative gameplay that would easily appeal to the Tribes community and hopefully beyond.

TribalWar
Who else is working on "Legions"?

Tim Aste:
We have an office of almost 40 people, and in some level everyone has a say in all projects. We have a very unique culture at GarageGames which enables us to really do some creative and awesome stuff. You can bet guys like Jeff Tunnell, Mark Frohmayer, Rick Overman and Tim Gift who developed and created Tribes and Tribes 2 will definitely have a hand in any multiplayer action tech demo or game that GarageGames may develop. Many guys from TribalWar's community have even been recruited over the years to come work for GarageGames on our various projects. There are a fairly diverse group of Tribes players in our office.

TribalWar
What are they playing?

Tim Aste:
Robert "Xgalaxy" Blanchet is best known for Tribes 1 Renegades and Tribes 2 play for +GoD+. Justin ("RevyPoo/av0n/justin" depending on the game/mod) DuJardin played Tribes 1 Renegades and base in top competition, and occasionally LT. Pat "Zerostride" Wilson plays a lot of Tribes 1 base, and occasionally LT for some stress-relief after a long days work. Non tribes related games that get played a ton here are Enemy Territory, Battlefield 2, Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, Dawn
of War, and tons of other things. We are an office of gamers with a great tendency to LAN party. Smile

TribalWar
How close is TSE to being out of early adopter status?

Tim Aste:
Can't comment, but we are approaching our last milestone now. We know development got delayed a bit with a few projects that ended up taking a lot of time, but those changes were actually for the better as a lot of trial-by-fire problems were identified and fixed, and TSE now is available for the Xbox and Xbox360. There are four commercially shipped titles on TSE already, so even if it's in EA, it's still a great engine that works.

TribalWar
What do you say to people who compare TGE to the Tribes 2 engine?

Tim Aste:
TGE, TSE, TGB, may have some of their roots in Tribes 2. That's kinda silly though, the tech has evolved a ton since then. If you want to get nitty gritty about it, you could say the Terrain Engine really got it's start in Red Baron. It's definitely not the same though, tech changes.

TribalWar
Have you ever played Tribes? If so, what version/mod?

Tim Aste:
Yes of course, I played a lot of Tribes 1 and Tribes 2 base. I play pretty much every Multiplayer FPS that comes out as well. It's definitely a strong theme around here. Yes, I still suck at skiing after all this time, as you can see from some videos floating around out there. That's my own problem to deal with though. Smile

TribalWar
If a multi player game like Tribes is in the works , what will this mean between GG and RenWerx who is currently developing Volitant Assault (being developed with TGE / TSE )

Tim Aste:
If anything what we are doing now will only help these games advance their work on the respective engines. We hope to see anyone using our tech succeed with what they are doing.

TribalWar
Thank you Tim!