"The Next Counter-Strike"

After graduating from Simon Fraser University, Minh went to work for Valve on various Counter-Strike related projects, the biggest of which was supposed to be Counter-Strike 2. But things never really got off the ground, the project ended up being put on the shelf, and Counter-Strike 2 died there. But the pressure was there for him to do something big; pressure he didn't care for. So Minh and Valve agreed to part ways on good terms (he still keeps in touch with people there), and he started his own project soon afterwards. Then he promptly fell off the video gaming map. "I moved into my parents' basement since I had to save money," he recalled. "And for two years, I worked as much as I could." Minh moved to Vancouver and continued the new project with a small 5-man team. But things were difficult for him as he now had to come up with an entirely brand new game on his own, from coding to map-making, with no pre-existing game to rely on. Add in the fact that Minh didn't have a regular support staff to help him and the one-year project Minh envisioned died a horrible death.

Minh moved to South Korea in April 2008 after a friend put him in touch with a South Korean businessman with capital who was looking to get into the video game industry. The new partner provided Minh with an office and some capital to form a new company, allowing him to hire another programmer and some part-time staff. Now over a year later, Tactical Intervention is nearly complete. For Minh it's been a labor of love, the game he wanted Counter-Strike to be but was never able to make happen or call his own. "I enjoyed Counter-Strike," Minh recalls, "but I wanted to have my own game. I was never able to put in all the cool features I wanted because the people who played Counter-Strike would [complain] about all the changes. They liked the game as it is."

I had the opportunity to look at Tactical Intervention when I visited Minh's office in the western part of Seoul. On the surface the new game very much resembles Counter-Strike in appearance; both games run off the same engine so the graphics haven't progressed much. "Graphics-wise, I know it's not the best," said Minh. But the game is definitely his baby as he is finally able to introduce some of the elements he wanted to put in Counter-Strike into TI.

One big game play change being introduced in TI is the appearance of hostages. Expect active civilians within the map that run around, react to events happening around them (bullets flying by), getting in the way, and being used by terrorists as human shields. Another element is introducing dogs -- not little Chihuahuas that the civilians carry but big dogs, German Shepherds or Rottweilers that players can command. The demonstration I saw had Minh order a dog to attack a terrorist. The dog quickly ran to the terrorist, jumped up, and attached itself to his arm. A split second later, Minh dropped the terrorist with a few quick shots.

Official Website[www.tactical-intervention.com]