Frozen Synapse interview

Interview & Video: We speak with Paul Taylor of Frozen Synapse, about his game, indie games development, and the importance of social media.

If you've heard of Frozen Synapse, you're likely already a fan. It's a unique - in look and execution - tactical game set in a non-specific near future. Its top down viewpoint is rendered in bright, futuristic colours but the tactics and execution of the game as super gritty.

Essentially, players are 'dealt' a random squad - you could have shotgun wielders, machine gunners, snipers or more. You plot out each turn's movements as the enemy does the same, then, when you execute., both sets of actions go off. It's all about planning, prediction, and who can use their weapons to best effect.

If you can't quite get your head around it, here's the latest trailer.

Neat, huh? And man... we love that music. Makes the whole thing feel like some Ghost in the Shell tactical network visualisation!

In fact, we're so intrigued by the game, we had to talk to one of the guys making it, Paul Taylor.

ATOMIC: Why the top down, really techno angle? Is that a matter of style or simply because it's an easier way to present your game?

Paul Taylor: Both! We originally wanted the game to be viewed from a "side-top" perspective (or "The Chaos Engine perspective", as we called it!) but that made our concept artist cry, so we changed it.

The current viewpoint makes the game clear and readable, but we also happen to think the combination of 3D and 2D looks pretty neat.

A: We understand a lot of work's still going into the Campaign mode - what kind of direction is that taking?

PT: At the moment, we're working on different possible mission types. This just simply involves setting up and playing a huge different number of situations to find out which ones work. At the moment, it's looking like there will be a lot of flexibility, so you can have the sort of missions that our community have been asking for.

After that, we'll be working on the progression and the narrative which will link missions together.

We're definitely not going for the X-com-style base-building and stat management direction; although that will disappoint some people, we're going to be doing a few original things that we think our community are going to love. There will be a lot of use of generative content, so there should be a lot of replay value.

We're really focussing on the in-mission gameplay: if you're even slightly into the game we want you to get excited about playing a new type of mission; that's the goal.

That's all I can say for now!