Unreal Fortress is a class-based mod for Unreal Tournament.
celtic88: How long has Unreal Fortress been in development?
BrainFreeze: The initial idea arose around a year ago, and really substantial development began this spring.
celtic88: What were some of the inspirations for UF and what did you do to make it different than the other TF-based mods out there?
BrainFreeze: Inspirations have come from many sources, including of course the original TF. Speaking personally, I've been influenced by Tribes, Rogue Spear, spy movies, WWII, and more. The other guys have brought their own inspirations to the table, so to speak, and these have all come together in the work you see today. To make it different, we've so far focused on altering and rebalancing the classes from what you see in the other Fortress mods, and we've added a lot of new equipment, like a security camera, motion sensor,two-man mortar, and more. Of course, new maps, graphics, and sounds also help to create a new experience.
celtic88: Have bots been worked on all along or were they more of a last minute thing for the initial release?
Azm0: The bots were worked on right at the very beginning but have been de-prioritised a little over time. After the next release we will turn once more to concentrating on Bot AI as well as some enhancements for clan matches.
celtic88: Are there any plans to allow the bots to take advantage of the class they are playing?
BrainFreeze: Definitely, we've always wanted them to take advantage of class-specific items and abilities.
celtic88: How do the engineer bots know where to place sentry guns?
Azm0: At the moment it is based on the bot's flag. There are a simple set of rules in place currently to enable the bots to protect their flag. This will be superceded in the future by a choice special navigation points placed by the mappers.
celtic88: The bots seem to be more scattered about in the current release, any plans to make them more team-oriented instead of independently?
BrainFreeze: More bot teamwork is a high priority for us.
celtic88: Do you think bots are an important part of a mod or are they just something to practice offline with?
BrainFreeze: Currently, they're mainly useful for offline practice, but we'd like to see that situation change, with bots becoming more sophisticated and challenging.
celtic88: On a scale from 1-10, what would you rate the priority of bot improvements in UF?
Azm0: 3 (assuming that 1 is the high end of the scale)
celtic88: Why?
Azm0: What use are bots if there are serious gameplay effecting bugs for example?
celtic88: Any hint on what kind of game types (such as Hunted) we can expect in later releases?
BrainFreeze: Expect an escort/hunted mode, along with up to six or seven other game types, including domination/command point, assault, reverse CTF, and more.
celtic88: Anything else you'd like to add?
BrainFreeze: We want to add new character models, new weapons, and new weapon models and skins. These are all well underway, we're happy to say.
celtic88: Thanks for the interview.
BrainFreeze: Any time! Thank you.
