Space Hack Wrap Report

Key Strengths Our team has done a great job. With such a small group, we created project on a good graphical and technical level. I can give many examples. Each person was responsible for similar elements. Characters designer Marcin Domanski had the risky job to design, model and create the textures and skeletons for about 50 monsters appearing in the game. Otton Laskowski had to design and create the game interface, make all the 2D / 3D objects as well as animate the hero and other human characters. Marcin Krawczyk and Robert Samoraj made all the models of objects and locations in the game. They designed, modeled, textured and created all the locations. Jarek Zakrzewski and Micha³ Nowakowski, our two programmers, did a great job to build the editor and later to put the whole game together. We all fought every day, and everyone did everything they could to create Space Hack.

I think Space Hack is the best game we have made so far. We've taken care of every important detail to provide players a lot of fun.

Areas for Improvement It may sound strange, but we haven't experienced things that went wrong. At the beginning, every idea we had was analyzed regarding not just its usefulness, but also potential problems related to it. All the time, the very first question was how long it would take. The ideas that would take too many days of work were eliminated immediately. We followed strict rules defined earlier, and that let us avoid complications later on. New ideas had to fit into the already created mechanisms, or they had to be in line with original concept. A few interesting ideas had to be rejected, but thanks to that, we met our deadline.

Lessons Learned Every game we make is a set of lessons we learn. Space Hack has taught me that the people you have on the team are the most important factor. It is their creativity and engagement that the final result depends on.

Lesson number two - it is very important to create proper tools for game development. The amount of work we put into the editor at the beginning will bring benefits later and will allow to have some fun with developing the game itself.

Lesson number three touches magic a little. Click! This is the most magical element of the game. The one that most depend on. This is the moment when we start to interact with the gameworld. You have to sense it properly to make the player feel like he was inside and not simply in front of the screen.

Audience Response So far, Space Hack has been released in several countries. Looking at reviews that have been published on the Internet, I think the game has been accepted very well. Average scores are in the range of 75 to 80%. We are receiving lots of e-mail from players from around the world, and they really praise our game. Recently the game was also released in Poland, and according to the old saying "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country", I was a little afraid of what the reactions might be. Nevertheless, I have to admit that my fears turned out to be for nothing. We have received a whole lot of e-mail from contented players. In general, their opinions are in line with those of the reviewers.

Admittedly, there were also some not very positive reviews... one of them was devastating. We took it into consideration, although we couldn't agree with all opinions presented there. While making games, we have to deal with good and bad opinions; this is a part of our job.

Looking Ahead At the moment we are finalizing the release of Space Hack in the USA and Australia. These are our plans for the near future.

Three months ago, we started working on the new project. It is also going to be hack and slash, but this time, the action will take place on Earth. We will stand in the way of dark forces to protect friends and balance in the world. We have some basic graphics done already and recently presented the first part of game location on RPG Vault. [Our Frater Announcement last week included the first exclusive screenshot and concept image. - Ed]

Having learned the lessons from Space Hack, we will make a number of changes in the gameplay. There will be some brand new things not available in other RPGs so far, and the Neferkars will prove to be of great help in fighting the beasts from beyond this world.

Personal Thoughts I think Space Hack is the best game we have made so far. We've taken care of every important detail to provide players a lot of fun. We are glad it has received such positive feedback. We get news from all the countries where it was released, and people are grateful for dozens of hours of really good gaming. We are really happy about that, and we would like to thank them all. There would be no Space Hack without you. Every discussion we had regarding new ideas started with the questions of whether this is what the player needs, will he like it, or will it irritate him?

I have learned a lot during my work on the game. I'm not talking about technical issues only, but also about inter-personal relations and approaching our common challenge. In spite of many problems, I think it was very worthwhile to make Space Hack, and I'm glad our work wasn't in vain.

Krzysztof Krawczyk Managing Director Rebelmind

[Since introducing them in November of 2003 to offer post-release viewpoints from the respective teams, it has been our pleasure to publish Wrap Reports on a good number of other titles, primarily within the RPG, online world, action and strategy categories. A complete list of the previous ones may be found on the next page. - Ed.]