We have got a chance to chat with Petr Vochozka, CEO of Czech-based developer company Illusion Softworks about their recently released action game Mafia for PC. First part of interview included questions and answers about their expectations, amount of sold copies during the first months, problems with Italian goverment, average rating in reviews, patch plans, multiplayer addon or AI improvements.

In second part we talked about mods, possibility of an expansion pack or sequel to Mafia, differencies in upcoming console versions and current status of Vietcong, FPS developed in co-operation with Pterodon. Today we continue with last part of Q&A about Hidden & Dangerous 2, upcoming projects and future of Illusion Softworks.

Tiscali Games: We have not heard about Hidden and Dangerous 2 for a long time. How far is the development of the game at the moment? When do you expect it to be finished?

Petr Vochozka: The game is still being worked on, however we are approaching the finish of development soon. As in the case of Mafia and Vietcong, we try to polish everything as much as possible. We are planning to release the game in the second quarter of 2003.

What was the reason for the delay in the development of the game?

Petr Vochozka: There were several reasons that caused the delay. It was the change of the lead programmer and the engine, further expanding of team (H&D1 created only 6 persons, the current team working on H&D2 has about 20 people) as well as the change of the lead designer who widened the scope of the game instead of stressing the development ahead. It is normal that a new and complex game takes 3 or more years to be created by a new team. You can be sure that the Hidden & Dangerous 2 will be a big blast compared to the original H&D1. This is our main goal at the moment.

When do you plan to publish new details about the content of H&D2, some screenshots or videos?

Petr Vochozka: H&D2 is currently under "black-out" which means no new information for media are being released. We won't publish more info until release of the game is near within a few months. It's way better than talk during past 2 years always about the same things or post single screenshot per week etc.

There are rumors that Illusion Softworks is currently working on about seven new games? Can you reveal us something about them?

Petr Vochozka: There is a total of eight teams including the Mafia team. That means that eight games are being developed. In general, I can say that our games are based on reality and combine action, strategy and simulation.

We know that your team at Bratislava is working on a Chameleon project - when can we expect to see official announcement? Is it true that it's quite similar to Hitman? Does it run on the same engine as Mafia or it's their own custom engine?

Petr Vochozka: I hope that the new game will be announced soon. We are also thinking of the final name, but it's not going to be called "Chameleon" for sure. The game will run on LS3D engine and Hitman is only a poor imitation :)

Besides the LS3D and PteroEngine (Vietcong) do you use other engines as well?

Petr Vochozka: A new, timeless engine together with a new game is now being developed in Zlin. The engine can be well compared to DOOM III for example (although we cannot compete with John Carmack of course because his work is the basis for Microsoft’s DirectX and the chips or drivers of card manufacturers). Anyway, we intend to use this new engine for exteriors, as Illusion Softworks usually does.

What about to create a racing game that would use the Mafia engine, for example similar to Gran Turismo from consoles? There is a lack of quality and realistic racing games for the PC...

Petr Vochozka: We are not planning to develop a racing-only game, although it would be quite easy. The lack of such games on the PC market does not mean that there is demand for it and that it would be successful in the future.

Your contract with publisher Take2 is going to arrive at its end soon. Are you going to change the publisher or are you satisfied with the current one?

Petr Vochozka: Three of the current eight games in development are not the subject of the contract with Take2. Yes, we are negotiating with all the important publishers. We are in a great position. Everybody is really enthusiastic to co-operate with us and we can make the choice and set the conditions because we don't want to hurry (and we do not have to!). We are not going to risk anything. We want to get only the best. This is also the concern of our staff; they are motivated by a share of the profit from the sales of the game.

We have co-operated with Take2 Interactive for 4 years and our relations have been very good so far. We are satisfied, although this does not mean that our conditions cannot be further improved.

What is the future long-term perspective of your company and when will be Illusion Softworks in profit? Do you think successful Mafia sales will make it possible or royalities from another games in the near future?

Petr Vochozka: The future perspective is quite clear - we want to focus on the best quality and gradually create new teams (probably one team per year). We want to continue in developing our technologies because our staff would not be interested in working on the same things all the time. We want to concentrate more on the consoles like PS2, Xbox and Gamecube as well. I do not know when our company is going to start yielding profit. I have to say that we have quite a lot of staff and we have not received deposits for a number of games. Therefore, it is too early to talk about it. Moreover, investments from Cash Reform in the past two years have been really big.

Stáhněte si pro Mafii: Demo, Nejstarší trailer (16 MB), E3 2001 trailer (29 MB), Gameplay videa 2x (8 MB a 2,5 MB), Videa 4x (3 MB - 6 MB), TV trailer (1,5 MB), Video 1.mise (2 MB), GameStar video (5 MB nebo 13 MB), Screenshoty, Cheaty

Související články: Recenze, Kompletní návod, Článek o přídavných modech, Reportáž z launch party, Videoreportáž (8/2002), První dojmy z prezentace hry (11/2001), První rozhovor o Mafii (6/2000), Druhý rozhovor o Mafii (9/2000), Novinky