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  Report In! Marek Spanel – CEO Official    

A Report In! featuring Marek Spanel BIS CEO has been published on BIS Dev Blog . Here are some extracts :

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here: the launch of Arma 3. To celebrate this massive milestone, we checked in with Bohemia Interactive’s founder and CEO, Marek Španěl, to talk about the past, present, and future!

We're often asked to let some of our people talk about what it's like to develop a game at BI. 'Report In!' gives you a more personal perspective on our team, a more detailed look at the way we go about our work, and fresh information about our ongoing projects.

As founder of Bohemia Interactive, Marek is one of the architects behind the successful Arma series – setting out a vision which now seems more relevant than ever. Combining ambition with a passion for original games, Bohemia Interactive has meanwhile become a recognized player in the gaming industry. The road to success has not been without struggle, however, with the most recent example being the detainment of two Bohemia Interactive employees on the Greek island of Lemnos. Fortunately, this year has been much more positive. The Arma 3 Alpha and Beta were welcomed by overwhelming support from players, and DayZ is shaping up to be a thrilling new experience. Time for a SITREP from the man in charge.

Past

For the newcomers among us, let’s start with a little bit of history. How and why was the Arma series (starting with Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis) originally conceived?

We began by working on the game code itself, which resulted in a proof of concept named ‘Poseidon’. This game later became Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (and was much later renamed to Arma: Cold War Assault). It basically all started in 1997 as a home project I was working on with my brother Ondrej Španěl. After developing for Atari computers for years, we finally made the transition to what seemed to be a more mainstream platform: PC. Our goal was to create a 3D vehicle simulation game in an open world. Five years later, influenced by many inspiring people and rejected by some of the biggest publishers, our first Arma game was released by Codemasters in 2001. It became a massive success worldwide.

Fast-forwarding a bit, after more than a decade of Arma game-making, what experience or challenge has been the most meaningful?

We started releasing our first content updates in the summer of 2001. We called those ‘add-ons’ at the time, but nowadays they would be referred to as DLCs. We always worked hard to support the modding community by releasing tools and sample content. This was in no way a small undertaking for a team of our size (we were with 10 people in total), but it more than paid off in the end. To us, seeing the creations and response of players, was and remains extremely satisfying and rewarding.

Arma 3’s development started in 2010. Could you tell us some more about the first stage of its development?

Originally, we were playing around with the idea of bringing the authenticity of the Arma series to a more sci-fi futuristic setting. This resulted in a couple of experiments, even along the lines of Arma meets aliens. However, as I suspect, many of our player base will be relieved that we ultimately decided to adjust the direction. Even though Arma 3 still takes place in the near future, with some prototype tech and vehicles, the game is much more faithful to our previous installments. Our obsession in space exploration is now vested in Take On Mars.

And then, a widely reported event in the media has been the arrest of two Bohemia Interactive employees on the Greek island of Limnos on suspicion of espionage. What is the current legal situation?


There hasn’t been any news since they were released on bail in February, but from what we know, the case is still pending and at some point the court should make a decision. It’s great for us to have our friends and colleagues Ivan and Martin back working with us, and we sincerely hope this whole unfortunate incident will be over soon. Now the only thing we can do is to wait.

On a more positive note, Arma 3 took a new development route with the Alpha and Beta. What were your motivations behind this decision, and how has the early-access approach benefited Arma 3 and your company?


We had always wanted to go for this approach, since we don’t believe it’s possible to properly test a game of this magnitude without involving our players. The rise and evolution of digital distribution has enabled us to do so. We tried to balance this new method for everyone: early adopters got the game at a much lower price, and we received their support and feedback before the game was officially released. There’s no doubt that Arma 3 benefited tremendously from the early-access program.
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Have a look at the full Report In! Marek Spanel – CEO

  September 14th, 2013 - 17:46 By Old Bear   Comment (0)  

 
 
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