Welcome, patient reader, to this new episode of our developer's diary dedicated to chronicling the development of UFO: Aftermath, the game of tactical combat and strategic conquest. While the second sentence of these diaries is traditionally used for thanking our loyal fans for their continuous support, today I would like to do not only that, but more: I need to apologize to everybody at our forums for not being to able to post there as much as I used to or would like to. The development itself is now growing more intense by the day and there is only so much time on our hands. Be assured, though, that the forums are being read and hints are being taken, even if we cannot comment upon them all. Thank you again for your support.

Memoirs of the Void: The quest for a publisher
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The increased workload mentioned above is, of course, due to us having a new publisher, the existence of which I was happy to report in the previous instalment. As developer/publisher relationships and, if the e-mail I get and forums I read are anything to go by, the very process of selling the game are a source of both interest and speculation, I would like to tell you more about what has happened during most of the past year. I shall name no companies (beside those that were named already, i.e. Titus and Cenega) as I believe the names are not important, it is the process itself that we are trying to describe here.

It was just before Christmas two years ago (in 2001) when we first got a hint of the circumstances of our then publisher, Titus Interactive. Milestone payments were delayed and the approval of milestones was withheld for financial reasons. We dragged on, but the situation grew steadily worse and eventually we were told to go looking for a different publisher, discretely at first and quite bluntly later.

"Why didn't you start looking immediately when you sniffed trouble?" This is a very good question, and I am glad that you asked. Most contracts - publishing agreements - between a developer and a publisher expressly forbid the former to show his work to anyone, especially to a company that might be in competition with the latter. If the relationships become strained, you have to tread very carefully: you do not want to give the other side an excuse for cancelling the contract.

So eventually, an agreement was made with Titus, allowing us to look for another publisher (and yes, we were making discreet inquires even before that). Eventually, we reached a tentative, preliminary agreement with two companies: one was a big, independent developer, who was willing to fund the development, the other was a mid-sized publisher, specializing in the strategy genre, who had been willing to publish the game internationally once it was finished. That was at E3 and when we returned home from there, beside the unforgettable line: "It's PC and you have to think, that's nothing for us," we got from one of the other meetings, we had a really good feeling that things were moving in the right direction.

They weren't. For three months, the negotiations dragged forward. "These things take time," was the constant reply to our queries. Occasionally, some small improvement was made, a guarantee provided or increased, and some "very productive" conversation took place. But still it seemed that we were going somewhere, and the contract was just around the corner.

Then came ECTS in London, where the three of us met again. The publisher looked positively enthusiastic. They asked all the right questions about the game, they introduced us to the producer who would be working with us, and they assured us that the last few problems would be solved in the next week. The developer seemed guardedly optimistic as well, and yes, they were going to sort out the last few problems in the next week and then the contract would be signed.

It wasn't. It become obvious then that this contract was not going to happen, although we still kept hearing the same line, "these things take time." They do, obviously; much more time than we had on our hands at the time.

While all this was taking place, the development of UFO: Aftermath was going on. It was now a very different game than it was in the spring, as we had changed most of the code, the art assets and also the name during the course of development. And we also looked for other publishers. We knew then that we had to act really quickly, because our resources were quite spent at that time and we were in real danger that the whole project would have to be cancelled in order to save the company.

About this time, actually also at ECTS, we made the first contact with Cenega, a fledgling but ambitious publisher, located, of all places, in Prague, Czech Republic (in case you don't know, our own company, ALTAR interactive, is based in Brno, Czech Republic). We knew Cenega before that, of course. Among other things, they distributed our previous game, Original War, here. We also knew they has decided to become a global publisher and that they were looking for games to enhance their line-up. They were a logical choice for us, just as we were a logical choice for them.

The negotiations were tough but to the point and just before Christmas we were able to sign the deal. Let me say here that while Cenega is certainly not the biggest publisher out there, they approach and conduct were nothing but professional the whole time; in this respect they could be a model for many bigger companies it was our unfortunate lot to deal with. We have also utter faith in their ability to market the game when it is published.

All is well that ends well. This did not end yet, as we have to finish the game and you have to play it, and only then we can say if all is well. However, this was a very important step, and one that has made a good ending possible.

Next time, I shall again write about steps we are taking to achieve this.

Martin Klíma
ALTAR interactive