Praz: My name is David Prassel, I have been the Project Director for the last 6 years of Incoming. I am the original creator and the founder of it as well. My role includes things from management, hiring, websites, as well as PR. My actual core work includes 2D art, Concept Design, Map Textures as well as Story and Design elements.


HL Fallout: Incoming Source is currently the result of six years of work and ideas. How much has the original concept of the game changed over more than half a decade?

Praz: The core game itself is very much the same. It even features the same game mode from the original creation. Most of the weapons have stayed the same and the return of the Penguin and Phantom are both in the Source version as well. We also of course have the same features which everybody loves: Drivable Vehicles / Flyable Vehicles / Dinosaurs / and large open maps. I'd say its at least 80% the same from its original incarnation.


HL Fallout: What challenges/difficulties have you and your team faced, both technical and in general while creating this modification?

Praz: For me it would be our features. Just getting them in-game and working. On a lighter note, we just have hired 3 new programmers, Tanoku, amckern, and Archy who will be aiding us to release. With these three, things will start flying even faster. Another difficult decision for me was porting it from Half-Life 1 to the Source engine.


HL Fallout: What was the overall motivation for your latest announcement and apology to the community for Incoming Source's Halo influenced content. Also, how will this announce alter the art direction for the mod?

Praz: I think the apology to the community was a great thing. In turn we received great feedback from the community, which is great, because we made that announcement for them. The motivation was for the community. Of course the team needs to be happy, as we are the developers, but if the community is not happy, who will be playing our game? We also thought it would be great to just use our own creations and designs. This won't alter the art direction too much as we only scrapped two models which already have new concepts finished and are undergoing creation by the developers.

HL Fallout: Besides the basic team deathmatch and announced Hack the Computer gameplay modes, do you have any information on a possible third mode as alluded to on your website?

Praz: HtC was recently re-named to Vital. Same mode, same game, better name.

There have been many ideas flying around both on the development side as well as the community. I can say I have personally seen talk about Capture the Flag as well as cooperative against Dinosaurs.


HL Fallout: What kind of game pace should players expect while playing? Is Incoming looking for a 'run and gun' style of play or something closer to a 'think before you shoot' concept?

Praz: It's a bit of both actually. To let players get an idea, it's the speed of Counter-Strike: Source (almost) but has a more tactical side 'allowing' players to think before they shoot. We are very focused on gun play. Sure we have vehicle combat, but I personally am very anal about gun play. Each weapon features fire modes, recoil, melee attacks, and iron sight aiming. So as I said, its quite a bit of both really.


HL Fallout: A lot of people have criticized the weapon load out, saying that current weapons don't fit in a futuristic scenario as seen in Incoming: Source. Do you or the team have any plans of adding a few original weapons that fit the Incoming Source theme?

Praz: I try and stress this as much as I can when I see this concern. Yes, we do feature M4a1's, Mp5's and the sort. Our story is heavily focused on limited to no resources. Sure, using these weapons 200 years later is quite a stretch, no doubt, but it allows variety. We will of course have original designs that are more futuristic and they are the 'core' Incoming Source' weapons. You can see one here.


HL Fallout: As seen in a few screen shots the weapon load out is based on a 'points' system where each weapon has a certain cost. How will the starting number of points a player has be determined? Will it be a set number or can you gain/lose them?

Praz: When a player joins a game, they are given X number of points. They can both gain and earn these points by doing various things. To give an idea of how to gain points: Stay alive / Kill an enemy / Heal a teammate / Complete an objective. To give you an idea of how to lose points: / Attack a teammate / Kill a teammate / Lose an objective /. These points are then used to 'select' weapons and equipment.

HL Fallout: How far along would you estimate the iSource team is towards their first public release? Should the community be expecting a public Alpha or Beta?

Praz: We are getting closer and closer each day. The development team has an estimated release date in there heads, we just need to make it happen, which is always the hardest part.

They can expect a public release, which will be constantly updated with features and fixes.


HL Fallout: Do you have any future plans in mind after work on Incoming Source is completed?

Praz: I have been doing game work for the last 8 years, the IP of Incoming taking up 6 of those years. I think you can see I have a love for this game. I have thrown a few ideas on paper for a new game after Incoming Source, as of right now, it takes place inside of the Incoming Universe. There is another game idea that has been talked about as well but I like to try and not think about any other games until Incoming Source is complete. That won't be for a while, as the plan is to release new updates, fixes, and patches through-out its life to make it the best game that we can. But yes, there are plans to answer your question directly.

HL Fallout: Is there anything else you would like to mention including future updates or news about Incoming Source?

Praz: We have recently hired some new talent and the release is getting closer. We are very excited about getting work done at such a great rate and our goal is to get a release to the public as soon as humanly possible and hopefully with the tiniest amount of bugs.


I'd like to wish Praz and the rest of the Incoming Source team the best of luck through the first public release of their mod. You can expect to see more of Incoming Source right here on HL Fallout in the form of a preview before the mod hits a computer near you. For their latest news be sure to visit the Incoming Source website (http://www.incoming-source.net/) or hang with some of the team on IRC at #incoming-source on Gamesurge (irc://irc.gamesurge.net/incoming-source).

Related Links:

• Incoming Source Website (http://www.incoming-source.net/)
  
• Incoming Source on IRC (irc://irc.gamesurge.net/incoming-source)
  
• Incoming Source Forums (http://www.incoming-source.net/forums/index.php)