Shack: This genre is traditionally PC-oriented. Have you faced any challenges with the console transition or had to scale anything down?

Joe Halper: No, actually it's going really well. There's a lot of design work that went into catering to all the different roles and upgrades--sort of like an RPG--but fundamentally you keep it simplistic and keep it centralized. There are so many weapons and vehicles and all that information to communicate to the players, but I think we did really well getting that all onto the controller. The way the players level up the roles gives players a chance to learn as they go through. You pick a role, and you start upgrading it and learning it. It's a quick but an enjoyable experience. You figure it out quickly, then you start figuring out the cool combinations you can make.

Shack: Do you essentially have feature parity between the different versions?

Joe Halper: Well, the Xbox 360 version is 32 players--32 plus, we've said--while the PC version is at 64.

Shack: So when the game ships, the Xbox 360 version will be 32 players or will it have more?

Joe Halper: Yeah, 32, but it could be possibly more. It depends what we can do with Microsoft. Right now, most console games don't do that many, so we're creating our own servers for Xbox Live. As far as Live Anywhere, we'd love to do that, but we need to focus on just getting a good game out.

Shack: How do you feel about Microsoft's current PC initiaves--not just Live Anywhere, but all the Vista and Games for Windows stuff? Will that be an improvement?

Joe Halper: Oh yeah, it'll be really good. The PCs are always going to push the limits. It'll stick around. But the big thing is, with the consoles, people are realizing they can be connected in their living rooms. That's opening up a whole new genre of fans that's going to grow to be so much more, so now it's not just the guy with the PC hardware who can enjoy that experience. Everyone can tap in and have a fun experience.

Shack: On the PS3, will that essentially be the same game as the 360 in terms of gameplay?

Joe Halper: Well, they've got the Sixaxis controller.

Shack: You'll be supporting that?

Joe Halper: Yeah. We haven't announced anything yet, but with the vehicles and the flying drones you can imagine what we're doing, and it's really cool. It'll definitely be a very similar game to the one on 360 and PC, but we're doing things to make it stand out.

Shack: Sony early on announced support for mouse and keyboard gaming on PS3, but we haven't seen too much adoption in games. Will you guys take them up on that?

Joe Halper: We've been focusing on the core of the game, but if they do allow mouse and keyboard, awesome. And then on the PC you can use your Microsoft [Xbox 360] control pad, so you can go any which way you want. [laughs] Personally, my preference these days is the controller. I played only PC games for a real long time, but that's my preference these days.

Shack: Going back to your prior experience, how has your military training experience translated over into design for solely entertainment-focused games?

Joe Halper: I used to do 3D environments, but I was always into games. I was hired by a company that developed the Javelin training system, the M1A1 training system, simulators for chemical warfare, programs to train for F-18s, F-16s, C-130s, and all these vehicles. A lot of guys in the military are younger, and you want to get all their attention, so you use games. I researched games like crazy to learn the best way to interact with these soldiers. That got me really into analyzing reward systems, how you can get people into it--like serious games. But then some of the ones I did became more entertainment then training, and they were just playing the games instead of learning. [laughs] That was cool, but it's a serious industry and it was enticing when things started to take off with Desert Combat. I was also still doing contracts for the military for quite a while, and games were such a natural fit. This industry is actually a lot more competitive, though. It's a lot more around the clock.

Shack: It's a crazy industry.

Joe Halper: It's very crazy. It's very, very competitive. The government jobs are 9 to 5. Those are intense too, but this just pushes it up a notch. This is cutting edge, top of the line, push-it-for-all-you-can stuff that we're doing. I mean it's an open world first person shooter with vehicles and characters on PS3, 360, and PC, with a studio we just created.

Shack: You guys have really grown almost overnight, it seems.

Joe Halper: We grew 500% in just fourteen months. We went from fourteen core members, to pushing 70 or 80 people now in a short timespan. We really lucked out. We're very excited, looking forward to getting the game out there and starting the next one.

Shack: Got anything on the back burner?

Joe Halper: Nothing to announce yet. ...Okay, it's Barbie.

Shack: I can't wait. Good to talk to you.

Joe Halper: Good to talk to you too.

Kaos Studios' Frontlines: Fuel of War is set to ship for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 later this year.