ALFA: Antiterror is a turn based tactical combat simulator that lets the player control Russia's special operations force through a four episode campaign based on the real life experiences of former Alfa members. Here's the third part of an exclusive developer diary from Alfa Antiterror project producerYaroslav Astakhov!

It has been almost a month since our previous progress report, which gave you the idea of how the research and collection of information and materials for the game development had been conducted and let you gain insight into the way the characters, weapons and vehicles had been created.
All these items were created by utilizing real patterns and examples, so you can expect an extraordinary realism even in tiny details. Overall the game is totally based on the real events of our life.

We were deeply impressed by the bravery of Russian Special Task Force ALFA and this game represents an attempt to enlighten the severe routine of their job. We admired creating a game, precisely reproducing the historical events, which had been shocking our country during last 15 years. That's why possessing such materials and ambitions we just couldn't create unrealistic game!

The realism reveals itself virtually in everything. With new features implemented the game is taking on a definitely new look. Below is a list of features shown on the screenshots:

- true ballistics and combat distances
It means that the bullet trajectory is calculated in accordance with the authentic physical model, i.e. everything is considered – angle, distance, weapon used. Thus you won't be able to pull the trigger and kill your enemy at a distance of half of the map – the bullet just won't fly that far! Moreover, the game fairly calculates ricochet not only on walls and vehicles – the bullet can easily rebound from armour or even a helmet.


- realistic physics
This feature provides real physics of interaction between objects. To give an example - grenade burst and character; a body fall from high building, interaction between grenade and level.

- realistic levels and operations
The game's campaign is the set of tactical missions based on real events; the levels are created with the use of original maps and aerial-shooting.
Setting in the game – present time, accordingly all maps, levels, characters, weapons and environment will be absolutely real. The maps represent various places of our planet, mainly the Middle East.


- authentic weapons and equipment
There are more than 100 types of hand weapons available in «ALFA: antiterror». All weapons imitate armaments adopted by Russian spetsnaz. Together with Russian arsenal the game offers weapons made in other countries (USA, Germany etc.), for example Colt, H&K, Beretta and many others. In addition to weapon there also other types of equipment will be available including several kinds of body armour and helmets with different degrees of protectability, agility and camouflage.


- realistic models of vision and hearing
Our game also features realistic models of vision and hearing. It means, for instance, the type of landscape can influence the way your commandos hear and see. Other factors – the time of the day, camouflage, plants, buildings.

- realistic injuries
Each character can be killed even with one shot! So you won't face such situations when a few bullets lodge in your commando, and then he just gets up and kills 15 terrorists! Moreover, the soldiers react to various wounds differently – a serious injury to the head as well as heavy bodily injury means death; a bullet wound to legs compels from your commando to fall, and injury to the hand essentially affects his ability to shoot.

- realistic environment
The game provides clear textures, accurate models, highly detailed objects, photorealistic textures and more! It's worth mentioning our tree & grass technologies – real 3D trees and grass detailed up to the last leaf. We also implemented the unique technology of soft shadow. What does it mean? Take a look on the screenshot below!


To implement all these features we used graphic engine, created special for the game (it is our own engine, which we've been developing for the last couple of years)

The engine employs the latest technologies. Here are the few technologies used:

Physics - Basic Physics, Collision Detection - based on Meqon
Lighting - Per-vertex, Lightmapping
Texturing Basic, Multi-texturing, Mipmapping, Projected, compressed texture
Shaders Vertex and Pixel
Animation Keyframe Animation, Skeletal Animation, Animation Blending
Special Effects Environment Mapping, Billboarding, Particle System

These technologies helped us to create stunning special effects (e.g. hitting the surface – there will be different effects/bursts/flares for snow and ground etc.), which we used for collecting an extensive library of special effects!

related links: Movie Trailer (39MB), Development Diary #1, Development Diary #2, Alfa Antiterror Q&A, Game Factory Interactive (East European publisher)