Interviews

Put great graphics and smart code together, mix them well and you have got... Horux. Let us learn more things about this company.

Q: You say that you are a young company. When have you founded Horux and how old are the members?

A: Horux was founded on April of 2001 but previously we have published a videogame (only in Spain) called "Isometric Bomber"; afterwards, we developed a Windows version called "MaDD Bomber Xplozion!". Our games began to be developed in Pascal (programming language used in our university), afterwards we began using C++ (with Allegro libraries), even Flash Script, Java, etc, until we decided to get a 3D Engine. Almost all members of Horux are 25 years old.

Q: When have you started to use the Acknex engine?

A: Three months before we founded Horux, when we were looking for the 3D Engine. A friend of us knew it, and showed us a demo version of the engine, that was published on a spanish PC Magazine. This engine was the one we preferred because of the quality and price.

Q: You have produced many games in such a short period of time - what's your secret?

A: Sorry... I can't tell you... it's a SECRET. Hehehehe. Certainly, it's just work, a good dedicated team and no more. On the other hand, we don't develop only games. We also develop multimedia, 3D, websites, etc... Our real "secret" is that we do what we really like, and we don't mind spending all our time on it.

Q: How did you learn C-Script?

A: At first we tried some examples; afterwards, we looked at other people's code, always keeping the manual next to the keyboard.

Q: "Alien Infestation promises to be our biggest title". Why is that? What great features will we see if we buy the game?

A: Before we start answering, we must comment that it has been a long time since we actualized our website (it's our next project to do that). Alien began to be our first and ambitious project, but a Netherlander Publisher company (Xing Int) made us to finish it as soon as possible, so we finished it without getting it where we wanted. We needed more time for detailed graphics, code, etc. Actually, the game is sold in a pair of European countries, but although we aren't very happy with it, it's a good game when it comes to music, graphics and variety.

Q: All your projects look impressive. What tools are you using for your models and textures?

A: For the worlds, we use only the engine, with textures extracted from free resources, our photographs (it's really funny to take a photo from a wall... the people think we're crazy ;)  ), and 2D composition of both. For the models, we use freeware tools, and some of our own for modeling, and MED for texturing and animating.

Q: What would you like to see implemented in the engine in the near future?

A: Stencil buffer shadows would be a good option.

Q: Who has published your titles so far? Are you happy with at least one of the publishers you've got so far?

A: Our first game (Isometric Bomber) was published by Hollywood Multimedia in Spain.  They sold our game to a magazine... it wasn't so bad. MaDD Bomber was published with Crystal Interactive... our first MISTAKE.  The second one was to sign with Xing Interactive and giving them Alien Infestation and Spike, The Hedgehog... we haven't received selling information or money from them. Space Storm was a title made for pleasure... it will be FREE on our new website ;) Our last game (Lost Idols) was signed with Suricate Software.  We have been with them for three months, and, until now, we're happy with them.

Q: Please give us a few tips for the beginners!

A: First of all, we think that they mustn't work alone; they must work only on an area, as programmers, level designers, etc. This way it will be pretty easy to develop the project. The real "tip": they must LIKE it, and they shouldn't worry about spending a lot of time with making games.

Thank you a lot.