[Jordan] What’s wrong with video games today? I know as gamers we all have things we don’t like, but I’m interested in your perspective just as a gamer, and as a developer, what bugs you about today’s games? What’s the first couple of things that jump to mind in terms of what you’d like to see change?

[Cliff] Almost everything. I find big budget games almost unplayable. They are jam-packed with adverts, publisher logos, unskippable cutscenes with silly stories, stereotype characters and appalling voice acting. The games treat me like an infant during tutorials and increasingly there is no demo for me to try.

Many have DRM that doesn’t work, but makes playing a legit copy harder. They can take ages to startup, they often lack decent mod support, and many PC games are lazy console ports released months too late. That’s for normal PC games. MMo’s are almost always a grind-fest designed to waste as much of my time as possible, and are incredibly fake and non-immersive. Everything is about ‘leveling up’ and earning gold, rather than having fun and enjoying the experience. Don’t get me started on facebook ‘games’.

[Jordan] Talk about your habit: how long do you work on a project each day? Is it seven days a week? Five days a week? I imagine as someone who is virtually a one-man studio, you don’t have a lot of room for procrastination…

[Cliff] Definitely seven days a week. I can’t think of the last day I didn’t do *some* work, unless I’m physically on holiday. I even checked and replied to work emails in a cafe in a costa-rican rainforest, and in a hotel lobby in New Zealand. I probably work about 8 hours a day on average, but it’s hard to be specific, because some stuff blurs the surfing / gaming / working line quite a bit.

[Jordan] So it far it seems your games trend towards the strategy genre… what are some of the other genres you’d like to work with that you haven’t so far?

[Cliff] I like a lot of genres. I love a decent FPS game, and I would love to do an MMO, but I know that it’s not viable to compete in those areas at all. Strategy and sim games are the sort of thing I play the most, and I love working on them.

[Jordan] Is there a dream concept or project that you’d like to work on, but find yourself limited on in terms of resources? Basically, if you were given a huge studio, and unlimited budget – what would you make?

[Cliff] Yes, I have an idea for that. I’ve kept it a secret for years, and it’s still a secret. One day hopefully…

[Jordan] What are some of your favorite games of all time? And also, what are you currently playing?

[Cliff] Currently I’m playing Call Of Duty 2 Multiplayer again, which I was addicted to for ages, and Company Of Heroes. I’ve finally stopped playing Just Cause 2, which becomes a bit samey after a while. Fave games of all time would include Elite, Call Of Duty 4, Company of Heroes, Sim City, maybe Galactic Civilisations II.

[Jordan] You’ve gotten some media attention for a couple of things, very commendable things, that you did, that didn’t really have too much to do with your games – and, I don’t really want to get off topic into those things too much… all I want to ask is this: at any point has it bothered you, or does it concern you that you might get to be known as ‘the piracy guy’, or the ‘Mark Rein guy’ and not be known first for your games?

[Cliff] It does a bit, because primarily I’m a game designer and programmer. The thing is, the press will ignore 4 press releases about your games or your next project or whatever, and just print the one where you call someone a jerk or rant about piracy, or where you publish your sales figures. Then, people assume that’s all there is about you. All the big PR I’ve got hasn’t been from anywhere but my blog.

My blog is just my online diary, it’s not really a PR offensive, but it’s been going a very long time and quite a few people read it, so if I suddenly rant on there or innocently type a comment about business, or DRM or any other topic, it gets picked up on. I don’t really mind that, because I hate the fact that most people in this industry are tight lipped and controlled by PR departments. I say exactly what I think, without editing, and it’s good for people to be able to read that.

[Jordan] What’s next for Positech Games? What’s the next game we can expect from you?

[Cliff] That’s the big question. It really depends on how the campaign add-on for Gratuitous Space Battles does. There may be one additional race to add to the game too. I really need to start the next game pretty soon, but I have several different ideas in my head and haven’t made a final decision yet. It will be some sort of strategy/sim game though.

[Jordan] You’ve been exceptionally generous with your time, sir. Thanks for taking the time to chat.