found this on polish soldat forums, thought it's pretty interesting so decided to translate it and post it here.
Original threadMM talks about how he would want destroyable terrain in soldat, answers why he decided not to go open source with it, explains few issues with enesce, talks about shoozza and the new dev team, how much regs are being profitable and of course his other projects such as when/if Link-Dead will be ever released and whats KAG.
i can't guarantee the quality of the translation and also was not granted any permission to take the interview and post it so feel free to kick my ass if anything feels wrong
[ChronoS] How did you come up with the name Soldat? And why did you choose it?[MM] I think the best names for games are between 4 and 6 letters f.e. Doom, Quake, Liero, Unreal. The name Soldat came to my mind someday while i was taking a shower, thanks to my very little german language knowledge. Soldat means "Soldier".
[ChronoS] How much did you work on the first playable version?[MM] About 7 months, since November 2001 to May in the next year.
[ChronoS] Soldat has got a big fanbase quite fast, were you prepared for the fact that this game will be a success?[MM] I had absolutely no idea, no dreams about that game. I just wanted to make a cool game for LAN.
[ChronoS] Taking it to a time prespective, would you change anything in Soldat?[MM] Many things, too many to change them now. It would require to rewrite the game from the start from delphi to c++. So technically i would change everything. But from the gameplay perspective it is hard to change anything because people got used to what we have now. I would surely play around gravitation.
[ChronoS] Do you have in plans making other games, besides the one you're currently working on?[MM] I have an entire copybook of ideas for games. I make one at a time because i am just one. I would like to get a bigger team of coders someday to make more projects simultaneously.
[ChronoS] Why did you decide to hand Soldat over to Enesce? [MM] Because i've had a growing desire to make new games. So when Enesce came up i've decided to personally programm my last version of soldat and hand it over to someone who has more energy to the project than i do.
[ChronoS] Did you hassle Enesce to work ? Did it worry you that there is no progress while the time has been passing by?[MM] Enesce is a difficult man to deal with and he had a lot of personal issues. You couldn't say anything about hassling because i am in Poland and he is in Australia. Besides, i wasn't his employer and i didn't pay him salary. On the contrary of what may have been seen he was working on Soldat all the time but for some reason only known to himself he had a hard time releasing new versions. Probably because the community was disposed to him very negatively, and it does no good.
[ChronoS] You have to admit that letting Enesce to the project was a mistake, don't you regret that all your work could be wasted?[MM] It was not wasted so it was not a mistake. If not for Enesce there could be nothing happening with Soldat for a long time. I only regret i did not get Shoozza to the game earlier.
[ChronoS] What made you decide to make Shoozza to be the leader of the DEV team and do you think this time you made a good choice?[MM] Shoozza is probably the biggest Soldat fan there exists. Besides he is a terrific programist and has a great ethic of work. He is also a great team leader, which is what the previous developer lacked.
[ChronoS] What do you think about the current state of Soldat scene?[MM] I think there need to be new Soldat versions to warm it up a bit.
[ChronoS] The work on Soldat continues, as you know the new versions marked 1.6 RC1 and RC2 are out. Did you play those versions already and if yes - what could you say about them?[MM] The full 1.6 version is already out by the time i am writing this
. I think the 1.6 version is the first stage to the next versions. There were so many problems with this verson for Shoozza you couldn't even imagine. He practically had to write from the beginning the changes made by Enesce since 1.5 because they mysteriously dissapeard. The work was tremendous. I hope you make it up to him. Send him some cookies or at least give him a hug when you see him or just thank him on the forum.
[ChronoS] Do you still check new topics on soldatforums?[MM] I don't have time. I don't even do it on
http://kagforum.com, the forum of my new game. Thankfully there are people who keep me up to date with what is happening.
[ChronoS] Was abandoning Soldat a good solution, we know you focused on another project, but, taking it to a perspective, don't you regret it?[MM] To make it clear, i abandoned programming Soldat. I still know what is happening with the game. I help and give the directives to everyone in the team. Soldat Gather on soldat.pl written by jrgp would not exist without my direct contribution. Soldat 1.6 would not see the day light if i didn't consult matters with Shoozza.
[ChronoS] We know you don't programm Soldat anymore, but maybe there are still ideas coming to your head concerning your first project, what would you like to see added?[MM] Sure. I'm keen on new bonuses, making the graphic and interface more modern, modifiable terrain (so there are holes from grenades), Soldat in webbrowser and on iPad, better and even more realistic Realistic Mode and making a game mode somewhat like Counter-Strike and making Soldat more similar to this game (because i played it recently and it's really good)
[ChronoS] Are you in touch with the DEVS, do they ask you for advice, or do you just give them a free hand?[MM] As above.
[ChronoS] Is it certain that you will not make Soldat anymore? Was it a permanent resignation, or maybe there will be a big comeback?[MM] It was so long since i have seen the Soldat code that i would do more harm than good to the project. My current engine is in 100% adjusted to create Soldat from the beginning or Soldat 2. So maybe that's what i will do sometime.
[ChronoS] Do you sometimes play Soldat, as in present times, because, as we know, you used to play, i even had a pleasure to play with you?[MM] Was i good?
It was a long time since i played. Last time i play was against Zombies with chainsaws, I don't play games almost at all, if that's the case.
[ChronoS] Soldat's best era has passed - i think you will agree with me on that? Do you have any idea how to bring some new faith?[MM] Soldat is just old. It's 10 years already! In it's best time there was no Facebook, there were no games for browsers, there was no Steam, there were no Achievements, no iPhone's, no Minecraft and building. Soldat has to have it all to find it's place in these times.
[ChronoS] What do you do currently?[MM] I'm currently doing a new game called "King Arthur's Gold". The view, controls and multiplayer are the same as in Soldat. But this game is placed in medieval world, you have 3 classes to choose from, builder, archer and knight. You can build castles and destroy them. Everything live in the net with loads of players.
[ChronoS] Will it be possible to meet you on some conferences in Poland or abroad? I have seen a broadcast from TEDxWulkan conference on YouTube.[MM] I will give a lecture on Computer Games Convention in Lodz in Sempember 10th 2011 (
http://zjazdtworcowgier.pl/). I will talk about how i made my new game and how to make your own.
[ChronoS] You once mentioned Open Source in Soldat, why did it not happen? What's in the way?[MM] We have considered it for a long time with Shoozza. The direct obstacle was the fact that i have used several libraries that are not open source. Rewriting them would be a lot of work. Secondly, the net code is safer if not everyone sees it. Soldat is half open source, i mean if someone is willing to work on it, all it takes is to write to me and tell me what does he want to include in the game and if he is qualified to do this. I will make it happen to him.
[ChronoS] Is Soldat profitable? Is the number of registrations growing?[MM] The number is constant, however smaller than 2-3 years ago. I pay the bills and food and that's it.
[ChronoS] Link-Dead is in alpha phase. You have made a lot of progress on that game, i have to admit it looks great, but i will stay with soldat. Please tell us when will the final version be released?[MM] Heh why do you ask if you are going to stay with Soldat
. I've held my work on Link-Dead for the time i'm making King Arthur's Gold. KAG is simpler and faster to make so i've decided to have fun with it for some time. Link-Dead will maybe be released sometime but surely not this year. For the time being play KAG, i'm sure you will like it ->
http://kag2d.com.
