Chaos League PC Interview

1. Where did the idea for Chaos League come from? We've noticed some similarities to a megadrive game named Mutant League Football, has that inspired you at all?

The idea comes from a couple people inside the studio who were big fans of some of the classic sci-fi / fantasy sports that were released in the early nineties. Mutant League Football is one of them along with Speedball, MUDS, Blood Bowl, Grave Yardage, etc...We felt it was a genre worth trying to revive and we wanted to provide a new approach (more modern) to this type of games. That's why we settled on a RTS game.

2. Chaos League focuses somewhat around the sport of American Football, besides obvious things such as the fact its set in a fantasy world, what can players expect to be different in Chaos League in terms of rules as opposed to a serious gridiron sim?

Well, the fact that there are no rules. The game is free-flowing. The only time-offs are after a score. You don't have any real set plays. Players really don't need to worry about the rules and can concentrate on the game. Additionally, you can do many things that are not allowed (officially) in real-life sports like bribe the referee, recruit hooligans, kill an opponent or dope your players.

3. Can you go into detail about the career mode and just how deep it will be for players looking for a single player experience? Will the game offer any management options?

At the start of the career mode, you create your team by hiring a bunch of rookies with no experience. You start in the lowest division (which is division 4) and you will try to get promoted. During each match, your players will earn experience points for successfully performing some actions. Later on, there experience points can be "converted" in new skills or spells. You also earn money for each match which will let you hire new players and eventually some of the unique stars/heroes when you get in the elite division.

Besides the championship, you also have a cup where teams from all divisions are entered. Every time you win a championship or cup, you will get a new trophy to be added to your trophy room.

Management options are limited although we keep track of plenty of stats to get some kind of historic feel.

4. Online and LAN play is promised. What support, if any, do you plan to offer once the game ships for players to be able to setup tournaments or to minimise the effect of cheating?

There will be two types of play available online: ranked and friendly. For friendly games, we don't have any anti-cheating measure because we will allow players to use custom-made teams. However, for teams that are entered in an online league, the "commissioner" will be able to compare exports of the match result from both players. If the exports do not match, one of the players probably cheated...

As for ranked play, only the standard teams can be used and those cannot be edited so cheating should be difficult in ranked play.

Finally, the game allows matches with up to 3 players per team. It makes for a faster and more strategic game since each player can spend more time on each player he controls.

5. Seventy different types of players will feature across nine teams. What kind of classes can players expect to see from the characters and will players have the opportunity to choose a team from a large squad of players?

It's actually 70 types of players across nine races. As for the teams, there are 79 teams with different mixes. Each team is normally a mix of players from the same race and one or more monsters (Trolls, Ogres,...). Each race has about 4 different type of players such as quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, linebackers, linemen. Some races don't have any receivers, others don't have linebackers for example. Each type or class of player has different skills and abilities that significantly impact the playing style of the team.

6. What do you think is the most unique and interesting feature of Chaos League?

It is very difficult to point to just one feature. One original feature is the way we set up the calendar for championships in solo mode. The match schedule of the teams is not set at the start of the season, it evolves on a weekly basis. Basically, you'll know your opponent just before playing them. If you play home, you get to challenge any team that is supposed to have an away game this week. If you play away, you will get challenged by a team.

Where this gets really interesting is when you get to the end of the season. Beating a strong team will give you more points than beating a weak team so you might have interesting choices to make in the last few weeks. Will you challenge a strong team to earn more points but risk losing or will you try to play it safe and hope for losses of other challengers?

7. As well as traditional plays, characters will be able to cast spells. Can you give a few examples of such spells and how this system is implemented into the game ie. what does a player need to do to be able to perform special spells and moves?

Most of the spells are adaptations of standard spells that can be found in many RPGs. You have spells like fireball, lightning, magic protection, etc.. Some of them are more specific to Chaos League since they affect how well a player picks up or throw the ball. As for what the player needs to cast these, each player has a "breathe" bar that allows him to perform any action when it is full. This can be assimilated to mana is some games although it has more uses in Chaos League (such as sprinting, using a master power, creating a temporary fog of war or calling for the fans' support). Depending on what a player wants to do, he/she will spend more or less of his breathe points. It is extremely important to know how to use the breathe wisely if you want to win.

8. Do you think that this game will most appeal to players who have been plugging away with traditional sims looking for something out of the ordinary or someone who hasn't really experienced the sport before?

It is a tough question. We feel it can appeal to both. Although we don't think it will appeal to players who are playing sports sims ONLY, this can be of interest to gamers who like sports among other genres. The core of the gameplay being RTS-oriented, we feel strategy games players are the people that should be interested by the game.

9. The game is said to have RPG elements. How will this work in the game and how will this affect the game, will players basically be defeated easily for the first few hours of play or will competent players with decent skills be available from the outset?

The RPG element is limited to the improvement of your players. Although they are rookies at the start, they will also face level 0 opponents to start with. It's like in a RPG. When you start roaming dungeons with a low level character, you won't be facing a dragon.

Like in a RPG, there are classes and some skills and spells cannot be acquired by every type of player.

10. American football is already a very physical sport but what were the reasons behind choosing this particular sport for the basis of Chaos League?

It made sense for us to take one of the most physical sports and make him a bit more violent and outrageous.  

11. Finally is there anything you want to say about the game we haven't already covered, or to anyone waiting for the game?

Just that, although the setting is unusual, RTS players should quickly understand how the game is played and the many strategies that can be used.

Thanks for your time.