Not too long ago I was informed that Jack Mamais, who played various roles such as Lead Tester and Producer on the Mechwarrior 2 and Heavy Gear franchises (not to mention Lead Designer on Far Cry and Crysis) had joined the faculty at SCAD (my current home). I couldn’t help but drop him a line and ask a a few questions.
Flechs.net: What kind of research or pre-planning did you and/or the team do for Mechwarrior 2?
Jack Mamais: I joined the team that created Mechwarrior 2 while it was already in progress so I’m not sure what planning they did. For Ghost Bear and Mercenaries I used the Battletech source books and spoke a great deal with many of the paper and pencil developers like Bryan Nystal.
F: Most would agree that the gameplay and narrative was fantastic. Despite this, was there anything you feel wasn’t as successful as desired or intended? (Particularly things that might not have been addressed in later versions).
JM: I felt that Mechwarrior 2 and Ghost Bear were much too linear with regards to storytelling. We fixed that and had some non-linear play in Mercenaries, which I was very happy with.
F: What aesthetic qualities from Battletech did the team make conscious efforts in preserving, which were intentionally downplayed?
JM: The source books were used for most of the game’s artistic details and we tried not to stray to far from them. Only the limitations of the platform stopped us from making it perfect.
F: Between Mechwarrior 2 and Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries you moved from Senior Lead Tester to Director, a position you continued to fulfill on Heavy Gear I & II. What early experiences led to such a long and deep involvement with these two ‘mecha series?
JM: I simply love science fiction and giant robots so my passion drove me to work on all these titles. I was also new to the games industry at the time (Activision was my first real game job) so I worked all the time and when the good breaks came, I was ready for them.
F: It’s fitting that the “Mechwarrior Living Legends” community mod is built on Crysis (on which you were Lead Designer). If you were working on Mechwarrior 2 today, how would (or wouldn’t) the technology impact your approach?
JM: I am thrilled by Living Legends, It plays great and I’m proud to have inspired this mod team. Personally, I would make the world as breakable as possible in order to sell the large size of the ‘mechs and their ultimate destructive power.
F: Finally, and on a related note, several months ago a Mechwarrior re-boot (aka Mechwarrior 5) was announced by Jordan Weisman and Piranha studios. In their interview they talk about focusing on information availability; the ability (or inability) to track enemy units in dense environments and what have you. What do you think about this twist? If given the chance to do something experimental or novel with a Mechwarrior game what might you be interested in playing with?
JM: I love this idea. Every single tactical element you can put in the game you should. I personally would add much more involvement with Dropships. I would allow players to fly them and deploy them into battlefields. I simply love the aerospace elements of the Battletech Universe and I think they should play a much bigger part.
F: Thanks for your time Jack!
