Spectral Games is a newer development studio based in Katowice, Poland. Members of the core group have worked on some major games including Medal of Honor, Terrorist Takedown, Code of Honor, Men of Valor and more. Currently they are working on Global Threat, a full mode for Gears of War. I won’t spoil anymore and let you read on.

[GDN] Can you tell us a little about Spectral Games? Who’s involved, what the main focus of the company is?

[RK] Spectral Games was founded on 7/7/2009 by me (Radomir Kucharski) and three friends I worked with on a couple projects at City Interactive: Bartosz Kościański, Artur Kowalczyk and Tomek Libisz, and this is our core team. another four people helps us part time.

[GDN] Spectral is working on Global Threat, a mod for Gears of War, what are you hoping to bring to the game space with it?

[RK] We love GoW and GoW 2. We think it’s the best third person action shooter ever done, and we thought it would be cool to have similar gameplay mechanics in a realistic military shooter located in the Middle East. Real weapons, real opponents. Basically, Gears of War in present time conflict, fictional but not futuristic.

[GDN] Are you looking to distribute via the networks for digital delivery or will there be a physical retail version of the game?

[RK] We started the projected as a mod for free digital distribution, but to be honest we were always hoping we could find a publisher willing to fund the production of a physical retail stand-alone game, so we showed a demo to a couple of publishers and the response is pretty good, so that actually may happen. There are many options right now and its easier to make a game than anytime before.

[GDN] What’s the main idea behind Global Threat, how will it differ from the standard Gears of War?

[RK] The story behind Global Threat is pretty simple at first and revolves around the fact that a lot of nuclear bombs were lost during the fifties and sixties. 60 nuclear weapons went missing on the American side. There is no official record for Russian accidents, but it’s most likely a similar number. Not all of those weapons were recovered. Apparently, one of those missing Russian nuclear bombs was found by the Russian mafia, which is planning on selling it to Arab terrorists. Its not clear what terrorists might want to use the bomb for, but the fact was brought to the CIA’s attention and is highly alarming. The exchange is supposed to take place in southern Georgia, which is located between Russian and Iran, that makes any intervention even more complicated from a political standpoint, so an SOF unit is secretly dispatched with a mission to intercept the nuclear weapon, and the player is a member of the team. So this is how the game starts, the action in a twist of the plot than moves to Azerbaijan and Iran.

[GDN] I understand that Spectral also accepts project work including level design, art creation, etc. Can you give us a bit more information about that aspect of the company?

[RK] Yes, if anybody needs experienced developers for a cool action game, we will be happy to help, either with art asset outsourcing, level design, making an add-on pack or even a complete project. We are an Eastern European developer so our development costs are very attractive.

[GDN] What kind of expertise does Spectral Games have in the company? What kind of experience do the principals have?

[RK] I used to work on many projects for the past ten years, including the critically acclaimed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The rest of the team worked with me on a couple games for our recent employer.

[GDN] The motto of the company is making Fragging Good Games, does that mean that the vision of the company is only focuses on FPS and TPS titles?

[RK] Yes, that’s the censored version of our motto, and yes we love playing action shooters and we want to stick to what we love and understand.

[GDN] When you’re not busy with Spectral, are you playing any games yourself? What’s your current favorite?

[RK] Of course I do, I play the new Wolfenstein now and I’m looking forward to Borderlands and CoD Modern Warfare 2.

GDN would like to thank Radek for taking the time to chat with us and we look forward to further news about Global Threat and Spectral Games.