Who doesn't love the good thrill of an aerial dogfight? Perhaps the only thing that can make said dog fights better is to put them in a futuristic, space, sci-fi setting and send you at it zipping through the stars and meteors. Recently, Killer Betties got to ask David Rodriquez – Executive Producer – some questions about The Divine and what space combat fans can expect from the upcoming game.

What's the story of The Divine?

The in-game story of The Divine focuses on a space pilot, Zeke Auris, whom is thrust into a galactic conflict spanning several factions. The backstory to The Divine is that Earth is destroyed and the human race is struggling to survive in its previously constructed space colonies.

How important is the story to the game? Is it there merely to setup the action or will players get invested in it? Also, how will the story unfold? Cutscenes, voice work, radio chatter, etc.?

There has been a tendency in the development of many games to focus specifically on gameplay first and story last. With The Divine we're trying to merge these two aspects. I feel that without a good story there's a lack of motivation for the player to continue playing the game, but obviously the gameplay needs to be entertaining to make the game worthwhile.

The Divine is going back to the genre of space flight games, which hasn't been as prominent as it once was. Why did you decide on this particular game genre and what were some of your inspirations for the game? Was there any past series you took inspiration from or even something current such as the Viper battles of Battlestar Galactica?

There are three types of games that I played as a child which made a lasting impact on me: RTS (Command and Conquer series), space shooters (Wing Commander series), and adventure games (Myst and The 7th Guest) - ok I love many other genres as well. I like reminiscing about my childhood and remembering all the amazing times that I had growing up.

There was a time in the late 90s when the space age was everywhere in the video game industry. When Mark Hamill died in Wing Commander 5 and was never given at least a cameo in Wing Commander The Movie, a part of my gaming world was shattered. Now that EA owns the rights to the Wing Commander series I can only hope that one day they'll revive it, but until that day The Divine is my way of patching up this hole in my life.

What does the combat gameplay feel like? What type of action will gamers be partaking in (a general summation of the fighting aspects of the game) and is it more arcade based, sim, or a mixture of the two?

All the gameplay in The Divine is focusing on space combat. You'll never be on a planet. We're trying our best to make this game accessible to everyone, that's why we've made this more of an arcade style shooter.

What types of missions will players be engaging in throughout the game?

If I told you the type of missions gamers will be playing, isn't that the same thing as a spoiler? Why anyone wants to know that I don't know.

What type of weaponry will players be using within the game?

There'll be two types of weapons: primary and secondary. Primary being lasers and secondary being missiles.

Will there be multiple craft to pilot, and if so are there obvious play and handling differences between one and the other beyond a purely graphical look? If so, what can players expect?

It makes sense in a realistic sense that every ship has its own flight style. We haven't decided if Zeke has a license to pilot different classes of ships other than fighters so if anything changes we'll let you know.

Keeping with the handling, how easy or difficult will it be to pilot the ships? To properly succeed in combat, are they going to have to learn the complete layout of their keyboard or will it be a more streamlined process? If it is more streamlined, what are you doing to make things easier on the player?

We've stripped the controls to a bare minimum to make The Divine as easy to play as possible. Move the mouse to rotate the ship, left click for primary weapon, right click for secondary weapon, click another button to move the ship, and click yet another button for turbo boost. Is that so hard? We're still refining the physics of the game so hopefully gamers will like the final product.

In the past, many space combat games have suffered from long missions with little to no chance to save your progress, meaning that if you didn't succeed you were starting all over again. Is The Divine looking to implement the same type of system, or will it be more forgiving for those who fail so they don't have to start all over again?

The Divine isn't a game that is meant to frustrate a player. At the same time we're not going to make it that easy.

When players are out fighting, are they a one-man army, or will they feel like they are part of something much larger? For example, will there be any squad mates or AI assistance?

Players will have other wingmen doing their thing. We want the player to feel like every battle is an epic battle. We want them to feel like they are putting their life on the line. For right now players don't have any control over their wingmen.

Does all the action take place in space or will there be missions set on planets as well? What will players be able to expect when it comes to environments so they aren't just looking at white stars on a black sky from beginning to end?

We're trying to make space as beautiful as possible. Sure there's a lot of black, but that's why the ships have so much color

How long is the single player game expected to be?

If you had a fun experience, does the length of the experience really matter?

Is the game going to be strictly single player or will there be multiplayer as well such as dogfights?

While multiplayer is always a fun thing, there won't be any in The Divine.

A special thanks to David Rodriquez for taking the time to answer our questions!