Supreme Commander was a strategy game that got a great many things right, and it earned a ton of critical acclaim. As a result, the game's soon-to-be-released sequel, Supreme Commander 2, has some high standards to measure up against. Gas Powered Games' founder and CEO Chris Taylor is not only planning meet these expectations, he's certain that his studio will exceed them without a problem.

Though the original game was published in 2007, it only had one expansion before the sequel was announced in November 2008. The announcement took many fans by surprise, as plans for another expansion, Supreme Commander: Experimentals, had been mentioned; but these expansion plans were never seen through to completion. When Ars asked Taylor about what happened, he explained, "we were very hopeful about that expansion as well, but with the economy shifting under our feet, we instead chose to focus on the projects further along in development." However, based on what Taylor's revealed about Supreme Commander 2, it sounds like it will have been worth the wait for fans of the series.

Picking up where things left off

According to Taylor, Supreme Commander 2 will feature a story that continues the narrative of the first game, but it takes place far enough in the future to avoid confusing players new to the series. "The game story does indeed pick up after the events of the first two games, but Supreme Commander 2 doesn’t tie the plot lines together; rather, it tells the story of individuals who grew up at the tail end of the last war and during the peaceful time."

"We start 25 years after the defeat of the Seraphim, and things get interesting when the President of the Coalition is assassinated. The player takes the role of various commanders, with the first being Migraine Maddox as he learns of the assassination and has to defend an outpost from there the story unfolds."

As other RTS series have taught us, a new story means new playable factions. Many fans of the first Supreme Commander have been expecting to play as the Seraphim, which were an available faction in the Forged Alliance expansion. At the moment, Taylor won't confirm the Seraphim's appearance in the sequel, though he did admit that the United Earth Federation, Cybran Nation, and Aeon Illuminate will reappear.

"We brought back two of the original factions, the UEF and Cybran, and made some big changes on the third, which is now called the Illuminate. We definitely wanted players to be able to jump in with a familiarity of sorts, but we heavily redesigned each faction to give a fresh experience as well carefully balancing the two."

A new story to experience and new armies to control aren't the only fresh things players can expect, either. Supreme Commander received praise for its use of technical features like multi-core processing and support for multiple monitors. According to Taylor, gamers will still be able to enjoy these features, as well as a couple of new ones.

"We will still be supporting those features, and have added Eyefinity support as well, which is wild to play on with up to six monitors," he said. "The biggest thing players will notice about the game is how fast it performs, as the entire rendering engine was rebuilt from the ground up. Another huge technical innovation was the development of our FlowField system, which is a total game changer for path-finding. The FlowField system is a faster system, allowing higher frame rates, and allows the player complete immersion into the game."

More than just a game, this is a return to form

Gas Powered Games isn't content to produce just one type of game. Since the company was founded in 2002, it has produced games like Dungeon Siege, Space Siege, and Demigod, to name a few. Taylor's history in the gaming industry stretches back even further; during his time with Cavedog Entertainment, he was a designer and then project leader for Total Annihilation, another excellent sci-fi-themed RTS series. For him, the Supreme Commander games are a bit like coming home to his gaming roots.

"What was great about working on the original Supreme Commander design was that the technology had advanced quite a bit since Total Annihilation was released. If you look at the two games, side-by-side, there’s a vast difference between them but the games are still connected you know, in how they play and feel the way the games are so over-the-top and extreme."

But just because Supreme Commander is a return to Taylor's sci-fi strategy roots doesn't mean he won't be doing more fantasy-themed games in the future. When asked if he prefers one genre over the other, Taylor said that he likes both. "They both offer something very appealing creatively," he said. "I wouldn’t really want to pick, as I think it’s so much better to switch back and forth, as it keeps the creative juices flowing much better that way."

One of the biggest challenges that Gas Powered Games has experienced with Supreme Commander 2 has been that it's working on a game with high expectations established by its predecessor. According to Taylor, "that’s always a big challenge for game developers. We do the best with the time we have, and with solid planning and some good luck, everything comes together nicely."

With Supreme Commander 2 due out in March for both PCs and 360 consoles, gamers will get to see how nicely things came together for Gas Powered Games. Taylor is optimistic about its near-future release, and he's more than happy to share the credit when it comes to the game's quality. "For this title," he said, "I must give credit to the team, as they worked extremely hard and are some of the smartest people I’ve come to know in the business and this hard work really shines through in the game."