From the mind of Gooseman – the legendary creator of Counter-Strike – comes Alpha Response, a high-intensity singleplayer/co-op tactical shooter now in Early Access on Steam. Trading competitive PvP for dynamic, mission-driven action, the game puts players in the boots of elite police units facing everything from hostage rescues to helicopter assaults. Designed to be fully playable solo or with friends, Alpha Response emphasizes tactical decision-making and adaptability, whether you’re coordinating with a squad or leading AI teammates through unpredictable scenarios. We sat down with Gooseman to discuss why he moved away from PvP, the challenges of large-scale non-linear mission design, and what ambitious features are still to come before the game’s full release.
From Counter-Strike to Alpha Response – how does this game build on, or deliberately break away from, the legacy you helped create?
With Alpha Response, we wanted to make a game that targets a more casual audience that enjoys games like Payday, Left4Dead, Killing Floor and other great co-op shooters. I did inject a lot of elements that I learned from working on CS, such as the weapon economy and gunplay mechanics. I also was inspired by games such as CoD:Warzone in that I borrowed a lot of the movement mechanics in that game, such as sliding, leaning and vaulting over obstacles and climbing ledges. I feel the game combines the shooting of CS with the movement of Call of Duty.
Alpha Response focuses on cooperative and solo tactical play rather than pure PvP. What inspired that shift, and how do you ensure the solo experience is as satisfying and replayable as co-op?
I wanted to get away from PvP as I felt that it’s a difficult market to crack as there are so many established PvP games that have a huge audience that are so ingrained in a particular game. Players have invested so much time and built communities in these games and it’s hard to pull a player away from that experience. We simply didn’t have the resources to create a compelling PvP game that could compete in such a crowded market of games like CS, Valorant, Warzone, etc…
With Alpha Response we wanted to make sure the game had a lot of replay-ability by making the missions as dynamic as possible. We also implemented AI that reacts dynamically to the players’ actions and this ensures that the same mission feels different each time. We also feel that the wide variety of enemy types adds a lot of replay-ability to the game as it forces players to constantly re-adjust their positioning depending on the type of enemy they’re fighting.
What has been the most difficult part of adapting large-scale, non-linear mission design into a balanced Early Access build?
When we designed the non-linear mission design, we needed to make sure the player had a strong idea of where he needed to go next, so we implemented a lot of audio/visual cues that guide the player and encourage the team to stick together and not get lost. Another challenge of non-linear mission design is enemy spawning. We had to create a system that wouldn’t over burden the player and force him to constantly look 360 degrees to see where the enemy was coming from; So we implemented a system where enemies would drive into the missions via cars and it created an exciting moment where players could see the enemies driving in and the players had to position themselves in a spot where they could effectively engage the new enemies emptying out of the vehicles.
With threats ranging from armored vehicles to helicopter gunships and attack dogs, how do you ensure each enemy type demands unique tactics without overwhelming players?
We wanted to borrow a page out of Left4Dead in terms of their enemy design. We really enjoyed the enemy variety in Left4Dead because they had unique enemies that forced the player to engage them in different ways. You had to be aware of the enemies abilities and movement patterns. This kept the player on his toes and prevented cheesy tactics like finding a good spot to shoot from and picking off enemies. With the enemies in Alpha Response, we created a mix of enemies that will force the player to always consider where they are and encourage players to move to a more tactically beneficial spot to engage certain enemies.
The enemy variety also encourages players to work together to dispatch of the enemies in an effective manner. For example, the flying drones can be taken down effectively with a shotgun. The enemies that have shields are more susceptible to revolver or sniper rifle, which has a bonus of going through the shield.
In order to not overwhelm the players, we dynamically adjust the spawn rates of enemies when the game notices that the players are having a hard time. We also have various visual / audio cues that make it easier to locate where enemies are attacking from. The action can get very intense and we encourage players to stick together in order to survive the higher difficulty levels.
Since launching in Early Access, what community feedback has surprised you the most, and how has it shaped your roadmap?
We’ve been getting a lot of great suggestions on how to improve the game and we’ve added many features that players have requested. Many of the suggestions are minor gameplay tweaks but some of them are pretty foundational changes to the core gameplay, such as the request to add Teammate AI.
What are the most ambitious features or mechanics you plan to add during the rest of Early Access?
We have a couple of huge features planned such as the inclusion of Teammate AI, which will allow players that play singleplayer to lead a team of 3 other AI controlled police officers. This is huge feature that will require a lot of time to polish and get perfected.
We have a large open level that allows us to do cool things like drive cars, but we don’t have a mission specifically designed around the cars, so we have plans to add a mission that involves exciting car chases, and shooting from the cars.
We’re also implementing Raytracing which will dramatically improve the lighting and visual quality of our game.
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