Incredible Interview

Jeff Lapkoff, programming guru of Incredible Simulations Inc. found the time in his busy schedule to give us a few pearls of his wisdom and talk about Medieval 2 and other things. My thanks to Jeff for taking the time to talk with us.

Q) What is it that keeps you wanting to be independent? It seems almost certain that any of the larger war Gaming companies would love to have you on board.

A) The best response is that it boils down to a matter of control. Being independent you can choose what areas to cover and you also have the power to say when. I do have to ask though, what large wargame companies are you thinking of? Are there really any left? You wouldn't call SSI or Talonsoft wargame companies anymore would you? It sounds strange, but HPS Simulations may be the largest pure PC Wargaming Company left and we've been affiliated with them for about 5 years.

Q) How do you find the time to work with EdenSoft and work on Medieval 2?

A) It's somewhat difficult but you get used to it. Let's see.... it's crossbows on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and Artillery for the rest. :-) In all seriousness, our involvement with Edensoft's Red Thunder project is winding down, so now there's more time devoted to Medieval 2. By the way, let me add that when I use the term 'our' or 'we', I'm not speaking of an invisible friend, but of my design and development partner for the last several years, Dennis Bishop.

Q) Speaking of Medieval 2; why did you choose the particular scenarios that you have listed on your site? What is it that makes these scenarios particularly good fodder for a strategy/war game?

A) Well, among Medieval enthusiasts there was a large degree of interest in some of the early Renaissance period battles and the beginning of the use of powder weapons. These battles starting in the early 1400s to about early 1500's could not accurately be represented by the Medieval I system. So we're adding powder weapons, archer stakes, and other cool features-- not only to make these battles possible to represent, but also to upgrade the game system itself. Considering that Medieval 2 will also ship with all the Medieval 1 scenarios, it will actually represent the greatest collection of Medieval period battles ever published in a single gaming system-- paper or digital.

What makes them good fodder for a wargame? Well 'smash-mouth' Dark Ages and early Feudal battles aside, strategy did evolve on the Medieval battlefield.

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