"My modding experience helped me to literally learn all the basics about game design and internal game processes", he says. Based on the title and your description it seems like it. The other proposal was to make a game about the American Civil War, and it was one of my favorites also. But with all the other minor things we added, the perceived results were aesthetically pleasing.”. So I was very fond of the game industry, and I was searching to find something there.”. The same principle applied to their control scheme. I'm most interested in the game's AI, though, since that's where the Darthmod packs really excelled. Thomadis is quick to point out that the idea was not wholly original But he thinks Ultimate General: Gettysburg handled the execution better than anyone before. The gamble paid-off. Modding has taught him how to get everything working together in sync without bugs, how to balance gameplay, how to track and fix errors and how to find what players want from their game. In addition to carefully adjusting the colors so everything seemed to pop and contrast pleasingly, the team also tried to create a really lavish, detailed game map. Thomadis' story is a little different. And you do it? We suggest you try the file list with no filter applied, to browse all available. You cannot do everything with one unit and not have a penalty.’ This is what the ‘condition’ factor simulates. "I wish though I could return to the past and change my overreaction, because honestly I had great time modding the fantastic Total War games.". Ultimate General could even expand into Napoleonic warfare, since so many of the combat dynamics are similar. As a child, he would even sketch the kind of combat he found so riveting. And other simple games. "Due to Darthmod's popularity I hoped for a closer collaboration with Creative Assembly (as for example Valve closely had cooperated with modders and content creators). Whichever one you're facing will behave according to that personality's preferences, and it's hoped stuff like elevation, morale and fatigue will be the deciding factors in a battle, not unit type. He needed something that players could almost pick up on the fly, but which would also make armies behave roughly like their Civil War analogues. An upcoming strategy game set during the famous 1863 battle, it's nothing if not ambitious. He had been able to deliver what he wanted, when he wanted. For the design itself, Thomadis needed something that was simple while also being convincing. "I felt very disappointed at that time", he says. Thomadis still wishes the game were a little more realistic than it is. He wishes they’d modeled limbering and unlimbering artillery at launch, though he plans on adding that feature with a patch. With Ultimate General: Gettysburg, Thomadis had none of that firepower on his side. Creative Assembly's loss might be PC gaming's gain, though, because Thomadis is taking his experience with the Total War series (and a love of military history) and applying it to a brand new game of his own. I wanted always to have historically accurate things. Or else you see huge penalties of morale and condition,” Thomadis explains. The uniforms were perfect, the unit sizes were enormous, the formations were life-like, and the sound was like being there. If it was this era that Game Labs required, I would do it and enjoy it,” he says. A real-time strategy game for PC and tablets with unique AI and gameplay set in the American Civil War. The experience they pick up working with a particular game, or a particular engine, can see them snapped up by the company that actually owns it. TheDarkKnight. An upcoming strategy game set during the famous 1863 battle, it's nothing if not ambitious, given this is Thomadis' first title and he's working with a small team. So I didn’t think about it much. With Ultimate General: Gettysburg, Thomadis had none of that firepower on his side.