With the release of the much anticipated 1.04 CSPromod release less than 24 hours away, Cadred brings you Alex Garfield's answers to your questions.

Here is what the CSP Project Director had to say.

If you haven't already, make sure you check out Richard Lewis' review of this release, here on Cadred.org - you can find it here!

Why did you decide to make CSPromod?  (IrSimba)

I first heard of the project in early 2006, and it immediately resonated with me.  I have always believed that long-term gameplay consistency is a necessity if eSports is to continue to grow in the big picture of things.  We simply cannot have the core gameplay of our titles change every few years and expect to maintain a consistent player base, spectator following, and group of recognizable professionals.  Imagine trying to play and follow the game of basketball if the court and rim sizes changed drastically every few years - it just wouldn't work.

At the same time, having worked directly with the people who fund professional gaming tournaments and circuits, I also know firsthand that we cannot expect eSports to continue to grow if our main titles have archaic graphics.  

As this relates to Counter-Strike and CSP, in 2006 I believed (and still do) that the gameplay of CS 1.6 is good enough to carry an entire sport, if it can be preserved over time and updated graphically every five years or so.  That's the long-term goal of this project, to provide the gameplay consistency necessary for Counter-Strike to grow as a sport in the big picture while also updating the game's look as the technology industry progresses.       

How do you intend to combat cheaters/hackers, seperate league plugins or will this be something you will do yourselves? (menengroth)

We will work with leagues directly to improve their anti-cheat clients.  Since CSP is 100% custom-coded, we'll be able to provide them with the opportunity to drastically improve their AC clients.

What was the with the leak? (aLm)

Unfortunately, someone we trusted on the team decided to betray us, and put a version of the game up on rapidshare.  Within 30 minutes, he deeply regretted doing so, but it was too late by that point.  There's not much to say about it other than that.  

I would, however, like people to know that what upset us most about the leak was that people were playing a very old version of the game, without dedicated server support, and assuming that it was what CSP was meant to be like.  In reality, they were playing an outdated build on listen servers which couldn't properly support more than a few players.

If Counter-Strike players have been playing this game for several years do you really think they need anything new in CS? They are used to things as they are. Why wouldn't they just buy Modern Warfare 2 or some other game. (id0l)

No, I don't think they really need anything new in CS in germs of core gameplay, and that's why the goal of this project is to come as close as possible to 1.6's feel.  What I do think the community desperately needs is a graphical update, in order to ensure an influx of new, younger players, and more sponsorship money.

I also think that the community in many ways doesn't know what it's missing feature wise - there's so much we can do with CSPromod in terms of customizability, spectatorship, and tournament functionality, and when we do implement those features, I think people will take a look at some of them and say, "How'd we ever live without these?"

Do you feel that as time has gone on the demand for CSP has reduced? (PALMRRR)

I think that within the community, people view the demand as having decreased, but within the group of industry representatives who actually fund eSports, I can guarantee you that its demand has significantly increased.  People saw that 1.6 had a lot of tournaments in 2009 and assumed that things were perfectly fine with the game on the corporate side, and that it was stronger than ever.  That's just not true, and in my role at EG I know that just as well - if not better - than anyone in eSports.  

CSP is very much needed to keep growing Counter-Strike on an endemic and mainstream level.

Are you in contact with leading counterstrike (1.6) event organizers? (Freekje)

Yes we are - just about every major tournament circuit has contacted us to establish a rapport.

Could you discuss your "If CSProMod fails, Counter-Strike dies." statement, knowing in Asia CS just exploded event wise. (Freekje)

First of all, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I ever said that word for word - I assume that you're paraphrasing one of my statements regarding how the failure of CSPromod would lead to the eventual death of competitive Counter-Strike.  If I'm wrong, apologies - I mean, that's still basically my opinion.  

Counter-Strike as a public server game will never die - a lot of people will continue casually playing 1.6, and a lot of people will continue casually playing Source, regardless of what happens with CSPromod.  But as far as professional Counter-Strike is concerned, this project needs to work, or we're in deep trouble.  I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that "CS exploded in Asia" this year.  

There are definitely a number of tournaments with merit in Korea and China for Counter-Strike 1.6, but I would hardly say that it exploded, and none of them aside from the ESL IEM Chengdu event are part of a globally-funded corporate initiative.  Many of the events for Counter-Strike we saw in Asia this year (events like eStars and WEM)  were actually put on by the same event group, which coordinated with local governments and one-time sponsors to fund the events - and don't get me wrong, they were great events.  

However, they didn't happen as the result of some massive influx of different corporate sponsors in Asia all of a sudden "believing in CS 1.6."  They happened due to some really awesome legwork by several individuals out there who've been trying to promote CS 1.6 for years.

Here are the realities that everyone really needs to face regarding the Counter-Strike community:  

1) The player base of CS 1.6 has decreased significantly and consistently each year over the past 3-4 years.  New players are not coming in, and old players are leaving.  The game is not "doing fine."

2) CS 1.6's archaic graphics absolutely, with 100% certainty, do affect sponsors' interest in supporting the game competitively.  I've seen it firsthand, I've had the conversations, it's a fact.

3) The combination of the preceding has resulted in CS 1.6, which used to be the easiest, most obvious PC game selection for any company throwing a large-scale professional gaming tournament, being excluded from the two most well-funded, mainstream-ready gaming ventures in history (CGS and MLG), as well as others.  The fact is that nowadays, given that CS 1.6 utilizes an outdated engine and has a much smaller player base, for companies looking to spend serious money, other games (such as WoW, which despite its frequent criticisms draws absolutely ridiculous stream numbers for MLG) are much more attractive.  

4) Counter-Strike: Source is of little or no interest to the same companies due to the game's community landscape, which is globally much more pub-focused and less organized eSports-wise.  When companies look at CSS, they think, "Well, if I'm not going to go with CS 1.6, and I'm going to support a team-based FPS, why don't I just support one of the newest FPS titles possible?"  So the CSS community doesn't particularly impress sponsors, and while CSS' graphics are better than 1.6's, they aren't really that impressive in overall terms these days.  We in the Counter-Strike camp should all be thanking Infinity Ward for their horrible decision regarding Dedicated Servers for MW2.  Because if they hadn't made that awful decision, MW2 would be a massive threat to Counter-Strike in the professional scene.  And I mean absolutely massive.    

So, the overall conclusion that one really has to draw from these facts is that, yeah, professional CS 1.6 is in no IMMEDIATE (meaning within one year) jeopardy of being excluded from its current set of tournaments (in Asia and elsewhere), or from the very prolific ESL Intel Extreme Masters circuit of tournaments, or the WCG, or ESEA, or any other event series that has its roots in the professional scene.  But, at the same time, the fact that CS 1.6's community is steadily declining makes it harder and harder, year by year, for such entities to justify the game's inclusion as part of a big-package corporate marketing spend.

And what's just as, if not more, important, is that CS is seeing no mainstream growth or inclusion in new, big-money circuits.  People say, 'Well, CS is doing fine."  I say, first of all, no it's not, and secondly, with all of the intelligent people who want to grow Counter-Strike into a mainstream sport, we could be doing a LOT better if we weren't faced with the obstacles of a declining community and really old graphics.     

Why wasn't Condition Zero considered as a starting point for this pro mod instead of source? Looking at all the problems with the source engine it looks like more hassle that it was worth? (beta)

Because CS:CZ wouldn't help with any of the issues I outlined in the answer to one of the earlier questions.  The graphical difference between CS 1.6 and CS:CZ is minimal at best.  Also, we weren't really able to use any version of CS as a "starting point" because no source code is available for any of them.  So our "starting point" was what you get when you open up the base SDK for the first time, and since we had to build the game from scratch, it made sense to go with the newer engine for a multitude of reasons.

How emotionally invested are you in the project? Will you be inconsolable if the game doesn't take off or will you merely shrug it off? (Mr Duck)

It represents 3+ years of my life, not to mention the combined years of the development team.  We care very much about this community, our game, and Counter-Strike in general.  We believe it will work, and it will grow CS to new heights, and that's why we're donating all of our time.

Do you regret the original release of the beta? It was such an abominable game that it seriously harmed the reputation of the game, do you think this has harmed the potential success of the project? (Mr Duck)

I absolutely regret the release of the original beta, the bugs that were unexpectedly in it, all of the hype surrounding, and I take full responsibility for all of those.  I've apologized for all of that on multiple occasions, and I'll happily say again here that I'm sorry.  

In terms of the project's reputation, there's no way that it hasn't harmed us - it's very hard to wash off that kind of association with the project's name.  But I hope that the fact that we've continued to work hard, and I've continued to put in lots of my time, despite the massive amounts of flaming and criticism, will be enough to get people to try out Beta 1.04.  And I think that if they try out Beta 1.04, the game itself will win people over.

Have any professional players come forward and expressed interest in supporting or testing the project? If not, what is being done to introduce these players, who can hugely influence community opinion, to the game? (bas)

Yes, there's been a lot of contact with players from the world's top professional CS teams, including EG and Fnatic.  Their reactions have been very encouraging, and we're hoping that after we tweak the game some more, those players will be willing to come out publicly and support the game.  I've heard people type in forums that they read that Player X and Player Y said they wouldn't leave CS 1.6 no matter what - well, the top players I've talked to haven't said anything like that at all.  And the players that have allegedly said they won't leave 1.6 haven't played Promod yet.  

I hope that the players who have privately given us praise on the game will soon come forward and act as leaders in helping their community and fan base to progress onward.

As Half Life 2 came out 5 years ago is there any real point in continuing to develop new games on that engine? Would the time and effort be better spent developing something truly next generational instead of trying to update a 10 year old game to the level of a 5 year old game? (RoyBacon)

We'd really like to stick with Valve's platform.  That's the key thing here.  We don't HAVE to, but we'd like to.  Theoretically, we could go stand-alone, but things work much more smoothly, both legally and in terms of development, if we're in collaboration with Valve.  So it made, and still makes, the most sense to be on Valve's newest engine.  

What's great about CSPromod is that, since it's 100% custom-coded, it can be ported to future engines, ensuring a graphical update with gameplay consistency.  We've done all the grunt work in coding the game from scratch so that we can keep that gameplay for years, and also refresh the graphics as newer, next-gen engines are released. 

Have the development team thought of creating new maps designed for competitive play? (Hartigan)

Yes.  Head Mapper Ted "Cashed" McIlwain and Art Director Ludovic "alba" Slangen are working on this as we speak.

Being the CS:S player I am, why do you claim CSPromod will be the bridge between the two scenes when hardly, if any, CS:S aspects have been brought in to CSPromod? (Reece)

I think it will bridge the communities because, at the end of the day, I think it's a better game than CS:Source.  And I'll be very direct about that, without meaning any disrespect to Valve or the tens of thousands of Source players out there.  CSPromod is a better competitive game than CS:Source.  The gameplay that we've built in just flat-out makes more sense for someone who's devoted hundreds of hours to honing his or her FPS skills like aiming and movement, and wants a game that rewards their skills with consistency and mechanics that actually make sense.  

CSPromod plays like 1.6-style gameplay will better graphics, a friendlier-user interface, more competitive features, less randomness and fewer netcode and config glitches.  I think that there are a lot of Source players who've played 1.6 and just got tired of the cheating, the bugginess, the bad graphics, and/or other negative aspects of the game not related to its core gameplay.  I also know that CS:Source isn't free of bugs either, and I'd like to think that overall, CSP's gameplay is more polished and smoother than either title. 

Speaking to you specifically Reese, and perhaps taking you as an example of a die-hard Source player who's considering giving CSPromod a try, I'll say this: If you like the "WASADAD" spraying-and-shooting style of CS:Source, then you probably won't like CSP.  If you don't like wallspamming, then you probably won't like CSP.  Those are two things I just can't change.  But at the end of the day, I'm hoping that the Source community, even the most stubborn, will be willing to set aside those points and give CSP a try.

 CSP is a strafe-stop-burst-tap kind of game which rewards players who've poured hours of time into perfecting their aim and skill.  I think that CS 1.6 and CS:S players alike will find it to be a rewarding, polished experience, because at the end of the day players in both communities have put a ton of effort into honing their skills.  I hope everyone gives CSP a try.