Interview by: Dave VanDyk

In a nutshell, what will existing Darkstar One fans have to look forwards to in the new release?

They can sit in their favorite chair and enjoy this fast-action-flight-game in Full HD with a perfectly adapted Xbox controller. They will have dozens of hours of exploration, story and combat all set in a huge universe, while they also customize the DarkStar One (your ship in the game) as if it were almost an RPG character. Players can tweak the ship design to suit their style of play, there's no one-size-fits-all style of play in the game, you can follow the story, or make your own adventure in space.

Broken Alliance is primarily being heralded as an Xbox 360 title. What was behind the decision to move the franchise to a console-exclusive platform, and is there a chance it will make a return to PC?

On the PC, the space-action genre has been nearly ignored by the industry and users for many years now. The PC just doesn’t feel like the right platform for Darkstar One now. However, with the success on the 360, we might think about continuing the series – and this would definitely extend to the PC, too.

What was the inspiration for the customizable approach to gameplay? Being able to pick an upgrade path for your ship and stick to it really had an impact on what kind of experience you'd get in the original game (particularly early on - I remember gleefully bolting as many turrets as possible to my ship the moment those options became available), and it sounds like this paradigm will be even more interesting in the new release.

In all the classic space-combat games likes Privateer 2 and Freelancer, you had to buy a new ship if you wanted to use more or different equipment. And if you decided to choose a slow cargo ship with no fighting abilities, then this was a decision you took once in the game, and you were nailed to a certain gameplay for hours. We wanted to change that up for DarkStar One - Broken Alliance, giving players the flexibility to swap out ship parts on a whim, and try out dozens of different gameplay styles until they found one (or more) that they liked.

Broken Alliance is primarily being heralded as an Xbox 360 title. What was behind the decision to move the franchise to a console-exclusive platform, and is there a chance it will make a return to PC?

On the PC, the space-action genre has been nearly ignored by the industry and users for many years now. The PC just doesn’t feel like the right platform for Darkstar One now. However, with the success on the 360, we might think about continuing the series – and this would definitely extend to the PC, too.

Another point – in a role playing game, you identify with your hero, as you are moving and fighting with it. However, in a space game, this “character” is your ship. Buying a new ship is like walking into a town with your battle dwarf and leaving it with a warrior, just because you want to try other weapons. A gameplay style like this kills your identification with your character.

When developing the game, we felt that the user should never be forced to completely replace his ship whenever he wants to upgrade it. We wanted it to be so that the user can add new abilities while keeping the old ones. And we wanted to design it so that the user can do fighting, pirating, bounty hunting and trading at the same time in the game, without constantly having to replace his ship.