Elite Forces: UNIT 77
MEET THE DEVELOPERS

The key to the success of Elite Forces lies in its intriguing script, a careful attention to detail and the fine work of a team that delivers the most spectacular game play experience to the portable platform.

Those responsible for Elite Forces are no strangers to the world of video games: their experience working with large licensors comes as a result of their knack for creating great playability and unique technical mastery for hand helds. We are talking about Abylight, a company with huge success in the Spanish and international game scene.  We spoke with Nacho Garcia, its director, about his latest development for Gammick: Elite Forces.

Who are you and how did Abylight come about?
Four partners and employees at Bit Managers, with a long track record of developing primarily for Game Boy, founded Abylight in 2004.

After making eleven cell phone games here we are once again developing a portable game for Nintendo, with a team of 12 people.

Why a game about war?
In DS there’s a lack of action games, and for action games the theme of war and action go hand in hand. In all respects, its warfare set pieces are wildly imaginative and visually stunning, almost comic. It has a breezy and often humorous tone.

What does Elite Forces contribute to the Nintendo DS game scene?
Within its genre, it’s unique to this platform, designed exclusively for it and not an adaptation from another larger console.

Here’s a neat concept: you can casually pass the time very well firing shots in the dentist's waiting room. It’s an adrenaline rush.

What were your references when it came to tackling the design of this type of game?
Dozens of papers on technical analysis, mission designs and playablity. There are many pieces to fit together and many people involved.

How do you capitalize on the all the potential possibilities of Nintendo DS?
DS is considerably more powerful than Game Boy Advance with whom we have worked previously.

That has enabled us to make a game with some scenarios of respectable size, apart from the fact that the game is, of course, 3D and is handled entirely with the stylus. We have also made a specific emphasis on the sound.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced up to now in developing Elite Forces?
Having maps so large and so much 3D action, the toughest part technically has been to constantly maintain the frame rate. Adjusting the playability with so many variables in play has not been an easy road.

Elite Forces… is it more for those with the easy trigger or those more prone to tactical and strategic thinking?
Of course it’s basically an action game, but it has moments that require thinking before acting.  Therefore one must have a –not-so-easy trigger.

The fact that you have four characters exponentially mulitiplies the game possibilities.  How does this work into the game?
Each character has their own abilities, and this creates interesting situations throughout the missions. The player will discover when it’s best to bring the heroes together or utilize them individually in order to take care of something specific. There is a kind of "puzzle" in the middle of the action.

Finally... Will saving the world be fun?
Yes, but very dangerous. Just ask the first 76 units that tried...

MOMOTARO JOINS ZOMBIE BBQ

Gammick Entertainment and Enjoy Up present the second playable character of Zombie BBQ: Momotaro.

Storyland is infested with zombies! Little Red Riding Hood has whipped out her weapon and is locked and loaded, ready to end the threat of the undead. But she will not be alone: Momotaro, the peach boy who’s recently arrived from Japanese folklore, will join her on this dangerous crusade. But… what powers and secrets does this legendary character hold?

Momotaro is the second selectable character in Zombie BBQ. He can access the arsenal of weapons in the game, and shoot their enemies… whenever he has snatched enough weapons from his enemies' cold dead hands! From a lethal laser rifle to a sawed-off shotgun and moving up to an incredibly powerful flame thrower or 'Zombie BBQer', Momotaro will have at his disposal plenty of firepower to take on enemies such as the ferocious Granny, the undead Gretel and Pinocchio, the puppet who wanted to be a zombie boy. Not only that, while Red Riding Hood uses her trusty machine gun as a weapon by default, Momotaro launches sharp ninja stars that will spell certain doom for many of the classic characters that will rise from the grave.

You must choose: Will you control the devastating power of Little Red Riding Hood and her firearms? Or master the deadly precision of a classic Japanese legend like Momotaro?

Can you save fairy tale land or will you let its creatures live an unhappily-ever-after-life?

The story begins this October!

 OUR LAST HOPE

Gammick Entertainment and Abylight announce the development of Elite Forces: Unit 77 for Nintendo DS ™.

A series of mysterious disappearances of high profile personalities from the worlds of science, industry and entertainment reveal a horrific global terrorist threat. With the clock running and the lives of the hostages and millions of others in danger, the international community’s last hope lies with an extremely covert and highly specialized military team: Unit 77. Made up four professionals who are the best in the world at what they do, Unit 77 must combine skills to stop massive world destruction by the hands of terrorists.

Elite Forces: Unit 77 is a game of action and strategy in which the player must wisely use the abilities of all four members of Unit 77 and they are: Bill "The Drill" Matic technology specialist and legendary hacker; Kendra Chase, ex-government black-ops agent and the most accurate sniper on Earth; TK Richter, jet pilot and explosives expert, and Dag Hammer, a hulking heavy artillery soldier capable of incredible physical feats.

The group must infiltrate the bases where terrorists hold the famous hostages, each base set up in one of the most treacherous and remote places on Earth. Unit 77 must battle their way through inhospitable jungles, scorching deserts and endure harsh and deadly arctic conditions as they fight to rescue the hostages and defeat the terrorists.

The countdown has begun, and it’s time for the few and the brave. Will you become a terrorist’s victim or do you have what it takes to be on the team of Elite Forces?

Elite Forces’ success lies in the intense storyline created by one of the United State’s most exciting thriller writers: Glenn McAnally.

Elite Forces follows a highly-trained team of soldiers’ desperate attempts to prevent disaster on a global scale. Terrorists have kidnapped world reknowned personalities to use as pawns in order to launch an attack that will destroy most of the free world. The world’s only hope lies in the United Nations’ most secret weapon: the four members of Unit 77.

Besides a playability that catapults one into the action and impressive visuals, Elite Forces’ success lies in the intense storyline created by one of the United State’s most exciting thriller writers: Glenn McAnally.

Glenn, let’s talk a little about your career as a novelist and screenwriter.

How did you make the foray into writing video games?

I had come off a great experience writing my first thriller novel Endangered and while I was promoting that book and finishing up a zany children’s book, I was thinking of doing some kind of story for young adults. That was the time I was approached by Gammick Entertainment who was familiar with my work and asked how I felt about writing for a videogame.

What opportunities does writing the storyline for a video game offer that is not offered when writing for other mediums such as books, movies and TV?

With video games there’s a speed to market mentalility that puts projects on the fast track to get into the hands of consumers. For me that translates to seeing my work brought to life faster and more vividly than ever. Leaps in technology have made videogames as intense as anything you can see on the big screen and there are more exciting developments on the horizon and I would like to be a part of that.

What has surprised you most about working on a videogame?

The greatest surprise for me was how a scriptwriter has to pack a lot of information into very little space so I have to choose my words very carefully.

What have been some of your references at the time of conceiving Unit 77 from Elite Forces?

I researched a lot about shadow operations that are in many branches of the United States government. The Delta Force for example. I know covert operations are done all the time but no one ever knows about it until years later that’s how secretive these specialized units are. They have to be secret because they often have to detach themselves from any US involvement because they may participate in missions that are not officially sanctioned by the US.

What has been your level of detail in describing all the aspects of the unit’s vehicles, weapons, etc in Elite Forces?

I want to make the scenarios believable with authentic detail. Therefore I make sure I do my homework. Players are very sophisticated these days so if I have a player shooting forty times with a Beretta 9mm without reloading the player will roll their eyes and lose interest in the game. You have to research specs of hardware the unit uses because whether a computer can get internet access in the jungle can have a major effect on the storyline. For me a lack of realism in this type of game lowers the playablility factor.

Who is your favorite hero in Elite Forces?

That would have to be Bill “The Drill” Matic because he can cause more damage with a few strokes of his keyboard than with a whole aresenal of weapons.

Elite Forces presents a military crisis within the context of international political conspiracy. Your plot is dense, the type any player can enjoy?

Elite Forces is designed for any player to enjoy. Players want a good story because they want to know what they’re fighting for and a reason behind their actions. I have created a storyline that is a bit more complex than the average shooter title. As the player advances from one level to the next, they will find themselves faced with moral dilemmas. Unit 77 will do some amazing things and wind up in unimaginable situations and it takes a lot of detailed backstory to explain how it is plausible that Unit 77 would wind up in such situations.

And finally. Do the good guys win at the end?

That’s all going to depend on whether the player thinks quick, looks fast and keeps firing.

Glenn McAnally is a professional scriptwriter and the prolific author of thrilling novels such as Endangered.