As promised, and more than a month ago that I promised an interview he did a switch in No Man's Land Conference 2010. Sorry for the delay, but we hope that reading is worth the wait. In short (less than a month and a half, I swear) will have the English translation. And without further ado ...
DT: What has it meant for Corvus Belli Human Sphere?
Gutier: It was very important because it has been a salutary lesson. While Infinity already had a base of stable and growing market, it became increasingly difficult, not getting new customers but keep the focus of veterans. This hobby is moved by news, and the list of troops from the first book and it was not. The fan always like to see new things, and the arrival of a new book shop sparks interest. In fact, we found that with the departure of the Human Sphere increased sales of basic book of Infinity. So that with Human Sphere met both objectives: to please the loyal customers and win new fans.
It might seem that adding more rules to the game would make it harder to immerse themselves in it, but the fact is that people in this world is not afraid of the rules, what they want is a versatile product, but also reliable: many companies now appear and success is very irregular, because the situation is very difficult. So the fan thinks: "Is it worth spending my money on this game, or disappear within 6 months?" With Infinity, we are committed to take new each month, but we have taken in addition to meeting this new book, which shows that we live in the market.
DT: And what will be the strategy now?
Gutier: Of course there will be a third book covering the missing sector. But a new book that should provide more troops, skills and new weapons. The Human Sphere've included a new rule, that of Fireteams , adding a touch of freshness to the way you play, more variety and game options without having to buy more miniatures. In the third book we want to do the same: to offer a different way to take advantage of existing and new troops to leave, but without altering the mechanics of Infinity.
DT: The third book will not, then, a radical break with the game we have now, nor will our troops out of date today.
Gutier: course not. I do not say that very long term, not to make a reboot and start from scratch, as all the games. But you've seen how long it has taken to develop the Human Sphere, and presumably the third book will take the same time. Might say that this tabula rasa will take place at 5 or 6 years, but the truth is that not what we propose. Our goal now, in the medium term is to work in the third book, meet the fandom, and in the future, we'll see.
DT: Last year we spoke with Fernando Liste about campaign rules and, above all official scenarios that can be used in tournaments. What condition are these projects?
Gutier: We have been working on some campaign rules, which are under testing. So we do not want to expose more scenarios that are relevant, in terms of management and other victories, the campaign system. What happens is that right now, and seeing the success of the Infinity Tournament System, we do not disrupt the tournament with campaign rules y unos escenarios que no estén perfectamente testeados. Puede que las reglas de campaña salgan con el tercer libro, o puede que salgan antes; pero hasta no haber finalizado la fase de testeo no podemos saberlo.
DT: Entonces estáis satisfechos con el éxito del ITS. ¿Tenéis algo bajo la manga para la siguiente temporada?
Gutier: No, realmente no. Seguiremos trabajando en las condecoraciones para los foros oficiales, que creemos que es algo que los participantes agradecen, aunque desde fuera pueda parecer algo anecdótico. Son notas de color, y añaden un incentivo para quienes hacen suyo el juego and focus their participation in tournaments of ITS as a personal campaign.
also want to give more variety to the Tournament Packs, thinking of the stores have organized many tournaments and gamers. There is talk of including spare parts, weapons, bases ... In that sense it to be news.
DT: Can we expect new features in the third book?
Gutier: Of course, you will O-12. [Laughs] Well, that should not be a surprise. Many expected O-12 to the Human Sphere, and were surprised to find ALEPH. But O-12 will see the light, that is clear. It will be also accompanied by Mercenary Companies, previously tested lists of troops to be allowed in tournaments.
DT: This month (August) we will see new and Pretas Gakis. What has convinced of the need to redesign them and sell them in boxes of 4 multi?
Gutier: The truth is that different factors have finished taking the same solution. On the one hand, the profiles of troops from the race of the hungry, and Pretas Gakis have a very low cost points, and are a unit that works well in mass. However, the price of these troops, as a result, forcing the players who wanted to try to manage a horde of hungry people spend big money. That we did not like, but as they were designed, and the number of occupied parts molds, we could not lower the price. We knew that customers would prefer a cheaper Hungry, and of course want to please our customers.
There is also another reason: Gakis and Pretas are designs of 2005. We have already learned a lot in that time, and the designers wanted to improve those designs. To make matters worse, the sculptor, Jose Luis Roig, he wanted a break from their field units robotic, and carve a more organic troops.
So we all win with this step, and the time was right to exit the list Sector Army Morat, which allows for a lot of Hungry.
DT: Now is the Hungry, recently was Charon. It seems that the Army is seeing a lot reesculpidos Combined. Do you plan to continue reviewing the design of these troops, rather than, for example, of PanOceania?
Gutier: When we decided to redesign, or rather reesculpir, a troop, it is because we analysis and we see that the level of design and sculpting all level has lagged far behind with regard to our current capabilities. Year after year, the bar for the quality of modeling is higher. Some figures were well in 2005 no longer meet the requirements of 2010, and when a thumbnail will take no more is included in our plan to re-modeling. Combined Army troops there that we intend to revisit, but I can not give names. [Laughs] I can say, for example, we see that the Shasvastii meet our expectations for quality and have no intention of changing anything in that line in the coming months. But there are other forces that can improve, as happened with Ariadna Starter Pack or the Haqqislam.
DT: In that vein, the EC is one of the most problems in terms of sales. What achacáis this problem?
Gutier: Perhaps, precisely because it is an army "combined", an army combines races of different civilizations. This heterogeneity clashes a bit with the rest of the line Infinity design from the aesthetic point of view. Other factions maintain a consistent design that is clearly seen, although each troop is distinguishable from the others. In the case of EC, including weapons Morat are different Shasvastii weapons.
Human Sphere With the book we are alleviating some of this problem, because now the player who likes Exrah Morat but not, for example, can focus on the sector that you like without spending money on design it is not convinced.
DT: And ALEPH? What else has to offer the new army?
Gutier: long term, we want to deepen the concept of Post-human. There will be new levels of Ghost: Jumper and Post-humans may intervene in the battle in ways that have not yet seen. Al After all, although the Special Situations section is a public operation, the Post-humans are more media face of ALEPH. The AI \u200b\u200bknows that humans should provide an image, an inspiration, a promise of how far you can reach humanity. Moreover, the conflict in Paradiso require the Sub-section Assault to diversify. In the nearest future, the army list ALEPH along this direction.
As for the characters, Achilles and Patroclus thumbnails could perhaps be multi, but I can guarantee that they are not attachable. [Laughter]
DT: Gutier, you are primarily responsible for the background of Infinity. What are your priorities as a designer? What do you give value in an atmosphere?
Gutier: For me, the key is the credibility, credibility. Verisimilitude does not have to be true, in the same way that the truth is not always plausible. But when you create fiction you have to think "this could happen." I studied History and I can not help applying what we know about historical processes, often cyclical development of the universe of Infinity. This historical background is very important to me in the background Infinity, and I tried things that it does not occur simply "just because", but is the result of a process, which has historical consistency. Students often teach history as if people get up in the morning on January 1, 1501 and said "It's the Renaissance!" Of course the reality is not so, but is the result of a process, and So we tried that the economic, social and political real-world fiction join to give birth, for example, Yu Jing.
DT: Infinity has developed a team and have many influences. What are yours?
Gutier: I am an avid reader of science fiction, and in that sense I have many influences that I did not even notice. So when I read a book soil be taking notes, I have three notebooks full of notes in letter "Apretadita" and many of those notes will not ever get to use, but others are joined them to become completely new ideas.
My influences range from science fiction pulp "to the most current. I have read the inevitable, of course, like Asimov, Clarke, Brunner ... To give a concrete example, there are obvious influences Dune Frank Herbert at Infinity, but the influence is not a copy, Haqqislam is Dune. It is true that it is a desert environment, the Arab influence, suits that allow moisture to collect the body, is the silk, reminiscent of the species, but the similarities end there, while the influence of background Haqqislam fundamental is the golden age of Islamic history.
DT: What authors recommend to fans of Infinity?
Gutier: A lot of my teammates like Dan Simmons and Hyperion saga, including Endymion (which is not so good) or Troy . For my part, I must say that there are a batch of English writers of science fiction that are very interesting, because they work with current technology concepts, and offer a fresh look that some American authors. I really like Iain M. Banks, of course, Alastair Reynolds and Richard Morgan, who was to publish Altered Carbon at the same time when Infinity came out, and there are many parallels between his work and ours ...
There are many books out science fiction that have greatly influenced Infinity. For example, for the interested in the Second World War, Anthony Beevor is essential, because it is educational and interesting, much documented and sought to always go to the original sources. As a historian, I find very interesting because when you know something has been well documented, and it is an enjoyable read.
DT: We've seen the series of miniatures inspired by characters of Lost to Acontecimento, and now there's a new Yu Jing. When will this madness?
Gutier: [Laughs] The term "madness" is very appropriate. The study designers and sculptors working in Corvus Belli is a small space, so the task of sculpting and paint can hold a conversation. Those conversations often take paths mysterious. Regulars to the sculptor, Jose Luis Roig, modeling Acontecimento Regulars caught him in full marathon Lost, which had been recommended by our painter, Angel Giraldez, who was also very engaged. Were continually talking about it, and when you take care Roig 4 figures jungle environment specialists, one a girl, the idea of \u200b\u200bmaking the characters of Lost . They all look weird but as they were a distinct ethnic troops, he said, "Sure, man! Whatever you want. "Grave Error because I really did. [Laughs] At the end it meant that the design of the Regular vary subtly, if you look you will see that the Regular Sniper wears a panty on his head was going to be part of the uniform, but that has been lost, to make the most recognizable.
DT: How has the crisis affected Corvus Belli?
Gutier: The crisis is there, that can not be denied. But what we found is that with the crisis, rather than lose players we've lost are shops, retail outlets, especially in Spain, because many are forced to close. Players then have nowhere to go. But we made a great effort and sales in some countries have been balancing the decline in sales in others. While sales in Spain fell we could improve our presence in the U.S. market and now we also have distributors in Hungary and Russia ... If you fail to sell 20 in Spain, but you put 10 in Hungary and 15 in Russia for sales and winning. It's a shame, because we have so much Curran, forces us to divert time and resources to advocacy and management, and development crisis makes it much slower, but the prospects are good.
DT: Well, I guess that's all. Many thanks Gutier. We hope that we can apologize for steal your time, you know that everything we do for our (two) readers.
Gutier: Many thanks to you. I just hope that your hospitality and pleasant company does not have overwhelmed me enough to reveal corporate secrets large [Laughs] Greetings to all readers of the blog, hope you have been interesting!
Cassandra 
Agent 
