Q: A5 has (almost) all the features available in AAA engines. What else do you plan to add to it in the near future?

A: Next features to implement are multiserver and multisession capability for A5 Pro, a demo record/replay feature, and a new and more flexible sky layer system. We're mostly going to improve the existing features during the next 12 months. Some parts of the engine, like the mipmapping or the collision detection, haven't changed much since the first A4 days. Meanwhile the PCs are faster, and some technical solutions we've choosen 3 years ago could now be replaced by more modern concepts.

Q: We know that 3DGS is a great tool for game development but I know that many of its features (database, etc) can be used for non-game projects. Do you plan to expand 3DGS' non-gaming capabilities? How about printing?

A: We have already implement printing instructions some time ago for a customer - but they are not included in the normal releases. The strength of our product is gaming and virtual reality, and we'll concentrate on that at the moment.

Q: One of the new hot features is "camera portal". I know that we can create mirrors using it but what else can we create?

A: An example: You have a huge spaceship with a lot of rooms, bridge, engine room and so on. This spaceship is a whole level. Through a huge window or screen at the bridge you see the open space and can manoever towards a space station or fight other ships. Instead of building the space around your spaceship, you have a small "space room" somewhere in your level, with a camera looking at small spaceship models. The view of that camera is mapped onto the bridge screen through a camera portal.

Q: What's with those inport / outport instructions? What can we do with them?

A: They were intended for accessing nonstandard hardware, like VR gloves, but there's a better solution now through the SDK.

Q: I would like to be able to create small applications (an alarm clock, etc) that sits in the tray using A5. Do you plan to allow the users to choose the cooperation level of DirectDraw in the future?

A: You can set the cooperative level with the SDK. We'll watch what users do with the SDK, and if there is a lot of interest for functions like setting the cooperative level, creating windows, or placing something into the tray, we could implement this in WDL in future versions. \

Q: I really like the new wed - it has lots of great futures. What's left to be added to it?

A: A lot. The current version is just the beginning. It will become an integrated development environment (IDE) in the future.

Q: Do you plan to release the new wed anytime soon?

A: Yes, very soon.

Q: I'm wondering if A5 has "real" competition from other game developmet toolkits at this point...

A: Of course. Virtools, for instance, is a real competitor. Even products like Dark Basic or Jamagic could become real competitors one day if they manage to implement commercial features, like a compiler, a fast culling system or static shadows. The technology for BSP trees or for shadow mapping is known and well documented meanwhile. We welcome all competitors - they are the best incentive for improvements. We'll stay two steps ahead of them, of course.

Q: Do you plan to expand Conitec's headquarters in the near future?

A: Possibly we have to expand our US HQ next year.
 

Thank you, J.C. Lotter.