Interview: Rommel

From Russia with Lovel(ly Mods)

An interview with Dmitry Rommel by Magic for Samods.org


Foreword

It's funny how things work out.

By that I refer to how simple events cause a cascade of other events that leads you to, well, something fun.

I started Samods around 1998. I met several campaign makers after running the site and posting on some forums. One of these people was a guy called Snoopy who worked on Fall of the Gods and then Vagrants. He had a fellow Russian friend called Rommel and they both worked on his The Hammerhead Project which was also hosted at the site.

Myself and Rommel then worked on the WarCraft 1 Con before he took it to a completely different level, which of course is his campaign (mod \ total conversion \ production of immense proportions) Heart of Storms.

As it's been a long time since a major update on his site, I took some time to quiz him on it which has been, well, very fun.

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Magic: Hello Rommel. I guess you're constantly busy with online and real life work then?

Rommel:: Yo. Having a real life job, active account in a MMORPG, at least three unfinished projects, tons of miniatures to paint and to finish converting, and lots of other stuff never helped anyone get more spare time. ^^



Magic: Your current main project is Heart of Storms (HoS). For new people who may have stumbled across this interview, what is it all about?

Rommel:: Short version - it's a huge Warcraft 3 mod with six new races and a story set in Warcraft 2 era.

Long version - should I really copy and paste http://hos.samods.org/about.html?


Magic: HoS has been in production for many years now. Let's start right at the beginning. Where did the initial concept for the campaign come from? Was it a single core idea or several that you mixed together?

Rommel:: After I played Warcraft III for the first time (Man, that was SIX years ago!), I almost instantly came up with the idea of making a campaign about WarCraft 2-era orcs, new ones pissed me off - Thrall appeared too much of a wussy, and I was used to evil (yet fun) old school greenies. The inspiration for the rest came in time from various sources, but Arnak the Bad Orc remained the core character. He's now a far more detailed hero than an 'anti-Thrall' though.


Magic: Tell me about him, since he is the main character after all. He's a warrior of the Horde during WarCraft 2?

Rommel:: Arnak is the leader of Doomhammer's personal taskforce (proto-version of the Kor'Kron "spec ops"), a right hand henchman that barks and bites by his master's order but also has a cunning mind of his own. He doesn't share the Old Horde orcs' obsession with carnage, but is ruthless, cynical and grim in his own right. He has a sense of honor, but he is also not above, say, striking contracts with the goblins - knowing very well their alliance with the Horde is made out of desire to ruin the Eastern Kingdoms and make what's left of them dependent on goblin goods. He knows very well that gold is the fuel of war, so he's quite pragmatic for an orc.

In fact, Arnak is supposed to be a figure implied in original Warcraft 2 plot - after Doomhammer killed Blackhand and subjigated the Shadow Council, he certainly could not rule all by himself, he needed trustworthy warlords who were absolutely loyal to him, unlike clan chieftains who are described to follow him 'as long as he doesn't make any mistakes' (like Rend and Maim). Arnak is such a warlord, he owes Doomhammer much and shares his views. The views of the Horde conquering the new world, not for the demonic masters, but for its own needs.

An interesting detail about Arnak is that he has a human sidekick, a former slave girl turned his bodyguard and personal agent. Though originally inspired by such pairings as Joker and Harley Quinn, it turned out quite a wicked reversal of Thrall and Taretha. Also, it serves an illustration to Arnak's slight deviance off traditional orc ways :)


Magic: What's the gameplay like? A mixture of 'commando' (Limited units with an objective) or 'build and destroy' I imagine? Or completely different?

Rommel:: Quite so. We aim to make missions fun rather than seriously challenging. You'll see a lot of stuff from Warcraft 2 era (and even take part in battles re-created according to The Tides of Darkness novellisation), and some truly epic scenes. But if you expect some gameplay revolution, go look somewhere else.

Magic: Are there any special features you can mention or at least hint about?

Rommel:: As much as we stick to the Warcraft feel, the gameplay was altered slightly. We introduced such stuff as oil derricks (basically, sea gold mines) along with detailed naval combat, new unit classification (for example, mounted units will take extra damage from elven Defenders' pikes) and epic units that are limited by one per player. But in the essence, it's good old Warcraft.


Magic: One thing I've loved in fan-made campaigns, for StarCraft in particular, has been the different approaches and 'directions' that the authors come from, whether being influenced by anime (Desler and Razorclaw_X spring to mind), big productions and an epic story (The Oracle) or a faithful and solid parallel adaption of Blizzard's work (Auspex). This in turn affects the characters, plot and gameplay. Where do you see HoS in comparison? More like the latter perhaps?

Rommel:: The Frozen Throne (The WarCraft 3 expansion) campaign inspired us most of all. Fast-paced missions, switching from one side to another, unexpected alliances and betrayals - you'll see a lot of it in HoS.


Magic: So there appear to be plenty of references to other games and media in HOS. Which have really inspired you?

Rommel:: Warhammer. Lineage 2 if we talk Shadow Elves. Warhammer. Warhammer. A bit of LotR. A bit of Red Alert (Tesla Coils and Kirovs for the Ironforge Alliance). Classic horror movies. The Witcher. Warhammer. But actually you'll want to know when to stop. Else the project will look like Tales of Raviganion, which featured a lot of direct rip-off from WH, up to the names (but this was a good project, and the only one of its scale that lived long). I did what Blizz did - loot a bit here, a bit there, write your own story, mix in with your design ideas, and voila, it tastes good.


Magic: I think all authors do that (As I like to point out to people, it's one thing to be inspired by something, it's another to blatantly rip it off). How do you approach being creative? For example, do you think its best to delve into multiple creative 'universes' and find what you like in each?

Rommel:: On one hand, when you need inspiration, you browse through tons of games and books to search for a good sample. On another, sometimes the ideas come from where you'd never expect them to come. For example, the image of three-faced Shial was inspired by a trio of my university professors at the final exams. ^^


Magic: Just so people are aware of the work involved, what exactly will be in the campaign? How many people have been involved?

Rommel:: Campaign is supposed to be three acts long, with 3-4 missions in each. But first we aim at a stable working beta with all races.

HoS team is me, my chief henchman (Snoopy, Pheonix IV and now Pryamus), a lot of past and present volunteers/contributors such as mappers, modellers and voice actors (Jigrael, Iskatumesk, J. Eggermont, Abriko, Xaran Alamas, Magic to name just a few), and quality control/advisors (Celestea, HandClaw). This is convenient, though hard to organize - but hey, we're just people enjoying our hobby. ^^


Magic: And, perhaps more importantly to the fans, how much of the work is complete? Is there an approximate release date?

Rommel:: I will not tell. It's done when it's done, and breaking promises isn't too good.


Magic: Can we expect a demo or major preview soon?

Rommel:: Hmm... let me count: HoS Prologue (a machinima that is directly linked to the campaign), open beta, demo. In that order, or in another one. So yes, we can expect all that.


Magic: At what point did you really expand HOS from being a mere WarCraft 1 mod\campaign to what it now encompasses? Did you ever think of the feasibility of what you were attempting to produce?

Rommel:: It was all about 'wow, this looks cool, let's fit it'. Shadow Elves were born from a single Sorceress reskin that looked too nice to be wasted, so eventually a whole race with its lore, unique game mechanics and lots of cool models was made around it (and the skin itself was wasted long time ago). Basically, HoS is a mix between entirely true-to-lore Ironforge and Orcish Horde, slightly non-canon High Elves (their visual style is very different from WoW one, but hey, they were made before WoW: TBC) and Shadow Elves and Stygians, that are exclusive to HoS.


Magic: Like I asked the Realm Design guys, how do you remain motivated to consistently work on a project for so long? Six years is a long time! Do you ever force yourself to work for the good of it as a production or do you simply enjoy it?

Rommel:: *Looks around* Asking your girlfriend to hold you at gunpoint often helps when you lack motivation.


Magic: Do you have any tips for modders and campaign makers? Any principles that you like to stick to?

Rommel:: Stick to a chosen idea/theme, and try not to deviate too much. And first of all, do your best to develop something unique, a feature your mod will be remembered by.


Magic: Like when you swapped modding StarCraft for Warcraft 3, have you ever been tempted to start a new project on another game? Company of Heroes perhaps?

Rommel:: Never played CoH, perhaps I will when they have the Red Army - sorry, but not feeling like making one myself. I actually modded a bit for Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War and contributed to Firestorm over Kronus mod with my skins. That was fun, but then HoS kicked in again.


Magic: The WarCraft lore has certainly changed over the years. What do you think of it at the moment? Do you like where Blizzard are taking it with Wrath of the Lich King (WOTLK)?

Rommel:: I hated TBC lore. I hated new draenei. It's the biggest fault of Blizzard, ever. But after Black Temple and Sunwell I got used to them. WotLK is all that TBC wasn't. It's a great story with the feel similar to TFT campaign. It has fantastic solo content. It's as fun as an offline RPG to play and explore, and it is Warcraft at its best. All loose ends from older campaigns now come to the conclusion. You know, when you realize that the Lich King, and the Faceless Ones, and the Nerubians, and the Ashbringer actually are pieces of a huge puzzle that is assembled only now... it's impressive. So yes, I'm happy with what Warcraft lore has come to.


Magic: Staying on the subject, how is HOS incorporated into the WarCraft universe? Does it take many liberties or are they very carefully set up?

Rommel:: Everything that is connected to Warcraft lore, is connected according to the canon. There is a huge amount of well-known lore tied in the game story - to name just one piece, in the high elven campaign, Alleria and Turalyon are making a cameo according to the Tides of Darkness novel. A number of missions is based on existing events, such as the rescue of Zul'jin and his trolls or the taking of Blackrock Spire from Dark Iron dwarves. Still, HoS flavour is added to many events, for there's often room for some speculation without the risk of messing up the official version.

I consulted with Xaran Alamas, whom I consider Metzen's right hand loremaster. ^^ He has shed the light of the official lore on HoS story, so it's safe to say my own fantasies are somewhat sanctioned. ^^ Shadow Elves are a good example of this - while visually they're a nod to classic dark elves, they fit very well with the official lore as a group of rogue Kaldorei Old God worshippers, and while I didn't dare to draw direct links, it's hinted they have a connection to the currect Old God situation. Interesting enough, soon after I discussed the idea of the Aether - the energy of 'Emerald Dream gone bad', used by the Shadow Elves - with Xaran, the Emerald Nightmare came to WoW. Well, I know it's a coicidence, but still ^_^


Magic: What features in the conversion are you each most pleased about? Are there any that are just a joy to play about with?

Rommel:: The graphics and visual style. HoS has some of the most talented modellers in the community working for it (such as Jigrael and Stuffkikker), as well as having recycled a lot freebie models, and we've put a lot of effort into making unique visuals for every race. It possibly has the largest number of custom models ever seen in a WarCraft 3 conversion (or at least we are on par with TToR) and we did our best to make each of them an eye candy.


Magic: Will the races be available for multiplayer or are they restricted to single player?

Rommel:: HoS is multiplayer compatible, but I won't promise a new DotA. It's all about story and fun rather than strict balance.


Magic: Have you ever thought of life after HOS? Are there any projects or things you'd like to do?

Rommel:: The Hammerhead Project is coming to Starcraft 2! Or did you think I'd allow it to die at 90% complete?


Magic: What are your current impressions of StarCraft 2 (SC2)? Do you prefer StarCraft over WarCraft?

Rommel:: Frankly? Yes. I like its gameplay much more, where you can amass dozens of units and don't care for each unit's hitpoints and abilities cooldown. Warcraft 3 is all about micro, Starcraft is more about big battles and fun. I also think that SC racial trio is much more original by all means than Warcraft counterpart. One of the reasons HoS features fully remade races, is that I didn't like any War3 race in existing state. Besides, Warcraft III had pretty clumsy graphics by its time, unlike SC2 which is coming out all smooth and stylish.


Magic: Personally, I keep drifting into the idea that SC2 will be a 'reset' of the old, original StarCraft community (Something that brought many of my online friends together), but times have moved on. The game will certainly be similar yet different. What are your thoughts on that? Are you looking forward to it either way?

Rommel:: Yes I am. If they combine Starcraft feeling and gameplay with Warcraft 3 level of detail and editing capability, it will probably be my dream game.


Magic: Are there any creative people who you admire most? Authors, game designers, film directors...

Rommel:: Plenty of them, some of whom I know in person, some - only by their work. But I guess I'll name only one, mostly unknown to the public. Marina 'Ringil' Ainagoz, a Russian artist and professional miniature painter, my good friend, my muse and an example in many aspects. By the way, by the time this interview comes out she'll be married (no, not to me ^^) so extra gratz to her!


Magic: Spasiba, Rommel. Thank you very much indeed for enlightening us on HoS - I only hope it illuminates our screens and minds sometime soon. :)