Critical Moves sits down with Almog and Amir from TriArts Games to discuss Defcon Zero: Frontlines of Tomorrow, an ambitious RTS project that’s captured the attention of Westwood legend Tim Campbell and secured $4.5 million in funding, recorded on the very day the money hit their account.
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This episode provides an unprecedented look inside an indie RTS development studio at a pivotal moment, as TriArts Games transitions from two years of unpaid work to proper production with offices and expanded teams. The conversation explores how a psytrance DJ and gaming influencer united to create a spiritual successor to classic Westwood titles, revealing innovative mechanics like intelligent weapon priority systems, the challenges of developing through rocket attacks, and why they believe the RTS genre is experiencing genuine renaissance. Al and Timothy guide the developers through discussions of asymmetric faction design, the dangers of scope creep, comparisons to Command & Conquer, and their philosophy of community-driven development that’s already generated 12,000 organic wishlists.
Critical Moves Podcast Episode 66 Show Notes
Episode Title: Inside Defcon Zero: Developer Interview With TriArts Games
Hosts: Al, Timothy
Guests: Almog (CEO/Game Director), Amir (Producer/Lead Designer)
Episode Length: ~ minutes
Episode Summary
The sixty-fifth episode of Critical Moves features an in-depth interview with TriArts Games’ Almog and Amir, the passionate RTS veterans behind Defcon Zero: Frontlines of Tomorrow. Recorded on the momentous day their $4.5 million funding arrived, the conversation captures a development team at a transformative crossroads between indie passion project and professionally-backed studio production. The developers share their journey from unpaid two-year development cycle through 12,000 organic wishlists to securing investment from RTS-passionate backers, revealing how Tim Campbell’s endorsement validated their vision to revive the Westwood spirit. The discussion explores innovative mechanics including intelligent weapon priority systems and dynamic cover, addresses concerns about ambitious scope with 30-mission campaigns, examines how living through conflict informs design philosophy, and debates whether the RTS genre truly experiences renaissance or merely nostalgia-driven niche survival.
Meet the Developers: Almog and Amir
Almog: CEO and Creative Polymath
Almog brings an unconventional background to game development, having spent his career as a professional psytrance DJ performing for crowds of 12,000-15,000 at festivals before pivoting to game development at age 35. This musical foundation informs his approach to Defcon Zero’s audio design and feedback systems, with particular emphasis on how explosions feel rather than merely look. He describes his diverse responsibilities: “I’m the CEO and game director of Defcon Zero. Beside that and my management roles, I’m also contributing to the project with 3D art, procedural environment creation, rigging, animation for the past two years and everything related to music production and sound design.”
The career transition required returning to school at 35 to learn 3D art and game development, demonstrating commitment to realizing a childhood dream deferred by music industry success. Almog reflects on this convergence: “Everything that I did in life was intended to move me towards Defcon Zero if it’s from the music career or making festivals. It taught me so much that helped me in this project with the music side to think on a global scale and working with people around the world and a large community around the music.”
Amir: Producer With Influencer Roots
Amir identifies as a 30-year-old whose “spirit animal is bearded dragon,” serving as game producer, lead designer, and creative director. His background as gaming influencer and community manager provides crucial perspective on player expectations and community engagement. He explains his evolution: “I’m doing reviews for games for around 30 years. I’ve been to Gamescom for more than seven times. I started from reviewing games and later on I started managing the biggest Red Alert Command and Conquer group on Facebook which has 80,000 people.”
This influencer experience directly shapes TriArts’ community-first approach. Amir emphasizes: “Being a game influencer, you have to work a lot with community and understand gamers and understand games and how they work. It really helped me in this stage when I’m managing our Discord and our other socials to talk with people at their level as I did before when I was the game influencer and not as the game producer with all the titles and everything.”
The Small Team Building Big Dreams
TriArts currently operates with approximately 12 team members, planning to scale toward 20 and potentially beyond as production accelerates. This lean structure meant the technical demo relied almost entirely on single developer Eli, who handled programming and technical art solo while the team contributed assets and design. Amir jokes about Eli’s workload: “Eli must be over the moon that you’ve had this investment then because he’s finally going to get some help.”
The multi-hat wearing extends to all team members, a reality Amir frames positively: “Like most indie studios at this stage we all wear lots of hats. That’s part of building something from the ground up. Over time the team will grow and those roles will spread out to more people but for right now we’re just building it layer by layer and it helps all the decisions be aligned for the start at least.”
Tim Campbell Endorsement Story
The Surreal LinkedIn Message
The Tim Campbell endorsement represents a watershed moment for TriArts Games, validating their vision from Westwood royalty. Amir recounts the emotional impact: “The Tim Campbell moment was surreal for me. Tim had been following our work for a while, our posts, our discussion about RTS design, the way we talked about Defcon Zero and at some point that reached to him and then he reached to us.”
The message arrived in September during a particularly stressful development period, creating unforgettable context. Amir describes the moment: “The day that he sent me a message, I think this was in September, we were before so many things that happens at that moment and I will never forget that specific moment because it was so exciting for me and it took me almost an hour before I replied to him because I sat down with my wife in the living room and we watched a movie and then I’m getting a message on LinkedIn and then I’m seeing Tim Campbell.”
From Fan Moment to Professional Partnership
The relationship quickly evolved beyond celebrity endorsement into active development advisory. Amir emphasizes Campbell’s hands-off support: “Today Tim is an active development advisor for us bringing decades of experience. He helped us with his battle scars from all of the games he was in and it really help us understand what we truly want. His team never tries to control any decision since the day he worked with us and he always has our backs.”
This validation carried particular weight given Campbell’s Westwood legacy. Almog captures the significance: “We always say between us when we work that we’re trying to relive the old Westwood spirit and when Tim sent that message, it was mind-blowing for us.” The endorsement confirmed their approach resonated authentically rather than merely aping surface aesthetics.
The Permission to Proceed
Beyond emotional satisfaction, Campbell’s involvement provided crucial validation that their project “really belongs to the RTS conversation today.” For developers who’ve invested two years unpaid labour, this professional confirmation from industry royalty justified continued investment and helped secure the funding that followed. The endorsement essentially communicated: you’re on the right path, keep going.
$4.5 Million Funding Announcement
Recorded the Day Money Arrived
The interview captures TriArts at an extraordinary moment—literally the day their $4.5 million funding became real. Almog reveals: “We’re getting funded for $4.5 million. Actually, today is the day that we’re supposed to see the money in the account. We’re quite shaking here.” This timing transforms the conversation from typical developer interview into historical documentation of a studio’s transformation.
Al recognizes the significance: “We’ve caught you at a very special moment then.” The developers confirm this represents six months of work culminating in the single day separating promise from reality. The palpable excitement and nervousness infuses their responses with authenticity impossible to replicate in staged announcements.
Passion-Driven Investment, Not Traditional Publishing
Crucially, the funding comes from RTS-passionate investors rather than traditional publishers seeking commercial returns. Almog explains the arrangement: “It’s not with a publisher. The guy and his team are huge RTS fans and they’re putting this money out of passion for the genre and not because of business so the motives are good as well.” This structure preserves creative freedom while providing financial runway.
The investors explicitly committed to hands-off creative involvement. Almog clarifies: “They’re not going to be involved in any of the decisions. The involvement is more on the artistic side but only when we want to listen and they had it very clarified for us since the beginning.” This represents ideal funding for indie developers—financial support without creative interference.
From Stealth Mode to Proper Production
The funding explains TriArts’ recent communication silence. Amir acknowledges: “This is why we went a bit stealthier than usual with our updates because we had a lot of changes and we understand that the demo that we did was a tech demo that was intended to bring those funds and now we’re actually going into proper pre-production and doing everything in the best way that we can possibly do.”
The technical demo served dual purposes—proving concept to community while demonstrating viability to investors. Now funded, TriArts transitions from scrappy indie operating on passion to professionally-staffed studio with offices and expanded teams. Almog describes immediate next steps: “We actually saw just went to see the offices and started to collaborating with experienced teams and starting to get really experienced and super professional employees to work with us.”
Weapon Priority and Cover Systems Explained
Intelligent Unit Behaviour Without Removing Control
Defcon Zero’s weapon priority system addresses persistent RTS frustration—units making tactically idiotic decisions when players’ attention focuses elsewhere. Amir explains the philosophy: “The weapon priority system is there to make your unit smarter, not to take your control. It’s very important to us that the player will have the control and not the game will play with itself because then it will be a mobile game.”
Units default to intelligent behaviour, understanding optimal targets and weapon selection from multiple armaments per unit. Amir describes the benefits: “By default your units they will react intelligently. They know what are the right targets for them. They have this priority between targets and it’s given the situation. They also know which weapons to use because every unit will probably have more than one weapon. So the first response in combat actually makes sense.”
Player Override Always Available
The system carefully balances automation with player agency. Amir emphasizes: “The player has full control over that. If your units will focus on one of the targets, you can always override them instantly and do whatever you want. We don’t even take the power from the micro players. We just help the macro players there.” This design accommodates both playstyles—macro-focused players benefit from intelligent defaults while micro-intensive players retain complete control.
Timothy celebrates this philosophy: “I love your focus on eliminating frustration. That’s something that so often happens in strategy games. You look away for a moment and then your army disappears because you didn’t pay attention to it.” The weapon priority system functions as safety net, helping players win fights when attention necessarily divides across multiple fronts.
Beyond Mammoth Tank Dual Weapons
Al compares the system to Command & Conquer’s Mammoth Tank switching between cannon and rockets based on target type. The developers confirm going beyond this precedent—units not only select appropriate weapons but also prioritize threats. Amir clarifies: “It’s a little bit beyond because they will also have the priority between different enemies they encounter. They will know which enemy they will need to target first which is the biggest threat to them.”
The practical example illustrates the improvement: “A good example would be your tank is firing at an infantryman when there’s a tank behind the infantryman. It’s like, ‘What are you doing?'” Defcon Zero’s system recognizes the enemy tank represents greater threat than infantry, automatically switching targets unless player explicitly overrides. This intelligence emerges from coded behaviour rather than simplistic rock-paper-scissors counters.
Cover Mechanics and Infantry Design
Automatic Cover Seeking Under Fire
Defcon Zero’s cover system builds on Company of Heroes and Dawn of War foundations while adding automatic behaviour benefiting macro-focused players. Amir explains: “In our game units can enter automatically to cover if they’re attacked and you can do it manually too as a player, but we want that little macro thing like we had in the weapons priority when units are getting attacked.”
This automation reflects realistic behaviour—soldiers under fire naturally seek cover rather than standing exposed. Amir describes implementation: “There will be lots of cover spread around the area. They will go into that cover and it will really help us make the experience for the player easier in some points like we did with the weapon priority.”
Close Quarters Combat Integration
The cover system enables more sophisticated infantry tactics than typical RTS games. Amir reveals ongoing experimentation: “If you know CQB which is close quarter combat, it’s a really huge thing for military guys and a lot of people love those areas and I’ve been investigating those things for years because I really like those. We try to find ways to implement those little things maybe in animations, maybe in mechanics too.”
The goal involves making CQB feel distinct without overwhelming complexity. Amir frames it as “another layer for this mechanic,” suggesting cover provides foundation for more nuanced infantry combat than standard RTS games offer. The challenge involves balancing authenticity with accessibility.
Infantry Relevance Throughout Game Progression
Historical RTS games often reduce infantry to early-game meat shields rendered obsolete by vehicles and armor. TriArts deliberately combats this tendency through environmental design and mechanical advantages. Almog explains: “You will be able to use your tier one infantry even against tier three vehicles if the right environment suits this situation. You can even run away from vehicles if you’re in the open and you see a forest, you can just run inside and some vehicles will not be able to go after you.”
Amir adds realism-based justification: “Infantry will probably always be in realistic and in games meat shield for cannons because there’s still humans or foot ground units that are supposed to enter small places, tiny things and put the flag on. But if you do it correctly and you help the player use the infantry the right way it can feel less cannon fodder and more like something that I should use because they are cheap.”
Urban Combat and Tight Battlegrounds
Infantry excel in specific environments—urban areas, forests, tight battlegrounds where vehicles cannot effectively operate. Almog describes advantages: “Infantry will be super effective in urban and tight battlegrounds. They will be super effective against vehicles.” This specialization creates strategic choices about when infantry represent optimal units rather than desperate measures.
Al emphasizes the design philosophy’s appeal: “The approach is you can use the right unit for the right job and infantry remains relevant all the way through and can often be the right unit for that job.” This prevents the typical RTS progression where early units become completely obsolete, maintaining tactical diversity throughout campaigns.
Day/Night Cycles and Infantry Mechanics
Not Just Visual Variation
Day/night cycles in Defcon Zero extend beyond aesthetic variation to mechanical gameplay impact. Amir acknowledges the feature’s RTS precedent: “Day and night cycles are not new in RTS. We know that we cannot invent the genre. We looked at Warcraft full day and night cycles, it’s something that is built in with us because we play those games as RTS fans, but we like those mechanics and we saw a lot of people giving their thoughts about it and we had thoughts about it and we combined it into something of our own.”
The Aeros setting—an alien planet distinct from Earth—provides narrative justification for cycles behaving differently than familiar circadian rhythms. Amir teases implications: “Defcon Zero takes place in Aeros which is not Earth and it gives you room that cycles are not always the same and day and night is not always the same and things that can happen in the night won’t probably happen in the morning.”
Mechanical Differences Between Cycles
While developers avoid spoiling specific implementations, they confirm day/night transitions create distinct gameplay experiences rather than purely cosmetic changes. Amir suggests impact: “Those little differences that you can do with only day and night for the player can really help them to enjoy every tiny bit of this game. Even if you’re at the night, even if the day, you will always be ready for another sequence, another scene.”
This approach transforms time of day into strategic consideration—certain actions might prove more effective during specific cycles, enemy behaviours might change, environmental hazards could vary. The goal involves making Aeros feel alien and dynamic rather than static battlefield reskinned with lighting changes.
Two Factions: ERA and ARM
Why Only Two Factions
Defcon Zero launches with two factions despite three becoming common in modern RTS games. This decision reflects both practical and narrative considerations. Almog addresses the choice directly: “We actually call them ERA. It’s more rolling better. Only two factions and that was I think a lot of games now launch with three.”
However, the limitation applies specifically to the first game in a planned franchise. Almog hints at broader scope: “We already know the lore for the entire franchise, not only for the first game. We’re unveiling things as we move on because this game is the first part of the story.” The two-faction structure serves narrative purposes while managing development complexity.
Balancing Challenges
Timothy raises the practical development reality: “With the asymmetry, it’s already difficult to balance everything with two factions. Speaking from experience, when I say three factions makes it so much harder, especially if you keep up with asymmetry. It’s not just 50% more.” The exponential complexity of balancing multiple asymmetric factions against each other justifies the focused approach.
Almog reveals strategic thinking: “I think we have a little bit of a grace period here because the structure of the game that we’re building is the first game is focusing on ERA and we need to balance it against ARM and then on the second game you will have some more interesting things.” This phased approach enables deep faction development rather than surface-level differentiation across many factions.
ERA: Corporate Technological Elite
ERA represents the dominant corporate power controlling most of Aeros’s resources and population. Almog describes their position: “We have ERA which are this big corporation that they become the governing party of Aeros. They control most of the resources, they control a lot of the planet. They actually live behind a huge wall to push everybody else out because we had some kind of disaster on this planet and this planet was split into two major factions.”
Their design philosophy emphasizes precision over brute force. Almog characterizes their approach: “They are really technological and advanced and using more precision than brute force.” This suggests ERA units feature accuracy, efficiency, and sophisticated technology rather than overwhelming firepower or numbers.
ARM: Religious Survivors and Scavengers
ARM operates as counterpoint to ERA’s technological supremacy—survivors cobbling together military capability from salvage and faith. Almog explains their origin: “On the other hand, you have ARM and they are the survivors. They’re taking everything they can to build the army. They’re using a lot of old tech from the ruined older days to create their army and to create their structures.”
Their religious motivation adds ideological dimension beyond simple resource conflict. Almog reveals: “They’re actually a religious movement with a goal to bring back their elder gods.” This narrative framework justifies ARM’s persistence against technologically superior opposition—faith and desperation rather than resources and technology.
Asymmetric Design Philosophy
The faction asymmetry extends beyond superficial unit differences to fundamental gameplay approaches. ERA’s precision and technology contrasts with ARM’s improvisation and faith-driven resilience. However, developers remain deliberately vague about specific implementations, preserving discovery for players while confirming meaningful differentiation rather than reskinned mirror factions.
ARM Propaganda Mechanics
Intentionally Mysterious Implementation
One of Defcon Zero’s most intriguing teased features remains ARM’s propaganda mechanic, about which developers maintain deliberate secrecy. Al presses for details, receiving evasive responses. Almog attempts explanation: “How can I say it without spoilers again? It will be embedded in ARM in every possible way. It will work on civilians as well but I can’t really share more than that.”
This vagueness suggests propaganda functions as significant mechanical and narrative element rather than cosmetic flavour. The civilian interaction hint indicates civilian populations play roles beyond typical RTS passive resources, potentially creating Hearts and Minds-style influence mechanics.
Interactive World Design
The propaganda system connects to broader design philosophy making the game world interactive rather than static. Almog frames it conceptually: “We’re working on the world itself to be interactive. As part of the story and the lore as well. It’s not only a mechanic just to have another mechanic in the game. It’s actually part of the story. It meshes together.”
This integration suggests propaganda isn’t bolted-on feature but fundamental expression of ARM’s identity as religious movement competing against technologically superior opposition. If ARM cannot win through technological parity, propaganda and ideological conversion provide alternative victory paths.
Developer Backgrounds: Psytrance DJ and Gaming Influencer Turned Game Devs
Almog’s Festival Production Experience
Almog’s background organizing festivals for 12,000-15,000 attendees provides unexpected preparation for game development leadership. He reflects: “From the festival side it was more about dealing with a lot of bureaucracy, dealing with large teams and budgets. It really feels like everything that I did in life even though it’s not related to gaming was directly meant to get me into this moment.”
The scale management, coordination of diverse specialists, and budget oversight translate directly to game development production. Festival production’s live, high-stakes environment where failures are immediate and public also builds resilience valuable for development cycles filled with setbacks and iteration.
Music Career’s Deferred Dreams
The music career success actually delayed Almog’s game development ambitions rather than preparing for them. He explains: “That was the goal. That was the dream since childhood. I couldn’t do it because the music career exploded and it was capturing a lot of my life. Since COVID I sat down and went to school again at the age of 35 just to learn 3D art and game development and doing whatever I can to push this project.”
COVID’s forced pause enabled career pivot impossible during active touring and festival production. The pandemic created space for education and skill development that transformed childhood passion into professional capability.
Amir’s 30 Years of Game Analysis
Amir brings three decades analysing and reviewing games across genres, providing encyclopaedic knowledge of what works and what frustrates players. This longevity creates perspective spanning RTS golden age through genre’s commercial decline to current indie renaissance. He describes foundation: “I’m doing reviews for games for around 30 years, not only RTS. I started from reviewing games and I had this managing this little forum about RTS games and later on I started managing the biggest Red Alert Command and Conquer group on Facebook which has 80,000 people.”
The 80,000-member Facebook community management experience proves particularly valuable for understanding player psychology and community dynamics. This background means TriArts approaches community engagement from lived experience rather than best practices documentation.
From Influencer to Developer
Amir’s evolution from influencer to professional developer provided natural transition. He explains progression: “From then I started working on some RTS game design documents and kept developing this side. After so many years, I started working in the industry as marketing and community. Then I started doing game design much more in a professional way. Later on I met Almog and Eli and Mikail which are the other two partners and we started doing this huge game together and never been happier.”
The influencer background’s greatest value lies in maintaining ground-level connection with community rather than adopting corporate distance. Amir emphasizes: “I intend to keep that way. Even though if we’ll go to big offices and everything else we will still be on Discord. We will still answer people because that’s who we are.”
How Living Through Conflict Shapes Design Philosophy
Israeli Context and Combat Experience
Operating from Israel during active conflict provides TriArts with direct combat experience informing their RTS design in ways unavailable to most developers. Amir addresses this reality directly: “As an Israeli guy you learn a lot about combat and you hear a lot about it and you experience it so close, you learn about it a lot and I always loved weapons and being integrated with them. So I try to take the game design idea as much closer to what I know to what I learned.”
This lived experience creates different design instincts than developers whose combat knowledge derives from movies, documentaries, and other games. The proximity to conflict—working through missile attacks, operating from safe rooms—shapes perspectives on urgency, decision-making under pressure, and consequences.
Politics Excluded, Experience Retained
The developers carefully distinguish between political ideology and experiential knowledge. Amir emphasizes: “We are very strict about keeping the idea of politics out of it because we are doing a world which is not related to what we are having here and it really help us make those whole nightmares that were going on in our world left out and we enter only the good experience and fun in RTS games.”
However, lived experience inevitably influences design thinking. Amir acknowledges: “We can’t deny that living the experience it’s still there. We’ve all experienced conflict in different ways and that shapes how we think in the end of the day. It’s not the logic, it’s not the idea of ideology or anything like that but it help us as human beings and you feel a lot of pressure, decision making, consequences and it really change your mindset.”
Grounded Design Philosophy
The conflict experience drives preference for grounded mechanics over excessive science fiction abstraction. Amir explains: “When it comes to the faction and the lore, it really help you imagine every tiny bit of the game and it helps you keep the game grounded because if you go too much to the sci-fi area, sometimes people like having back. They don’t want that. They want a game which is a little bit more grounded.”
Access to contemporary military knowledge through easily available documentation creates design opportunities unavailable to previous RTS generations. Amir notes: “Today not like 20 or 30 years ago there wasn’t so many military knowledge that you can experience from YouTube or reading about them. Today it’s so easy to get into, understand what this weapon does, this weapon does, this idea that those guys are doing. So it really help you design systems which will be a little bit sci-fi, a little bit invented, but it also help you become more grounded.”
How Many RTS Games Developed Under Rocket Fire?
Almog captures their unique situation with dark humour: “How many RTS games are being developed under rocket fire right now?” This reality distinguishes TriArts from comfortable Western studios developing war-themed games from positions of safety. The question isn’t posed for sympathy but as factual acknowledgment of context shaping their work.
The development team maintained productivity despite active conflict. Amir describes: “We had times that we had to work while we were shot missiles at our country and we still work. We still went into the safe room and we kept working.” This resilience builds confidence that production schedules will hold despite challenges.
Why Unreal Engine for an RTS
Surprising Technology Choice
TriArts’ selection of Unreal Engine surprised Al, who anticipated Unity or custom engines for RTS development. The choice breaks from RTS tradition where many developers prefer Unity’s lighter weight or build custom engines for genre-specific optimization. Almog explains the decision: “Basically the technology that it offers you. I’m aware, we’re aware of the issues that community say about optimizations and stuff like that.”
Unreal Engine’s reputation for demanding hardware requirements creates legitimate concerns for RTS games requiring large unit counts and expansive battlefields. However, TriArts’ technical demo demonstrated acceptable performance even on aging hardware, validating their choice.
Optimization Proof of Concept
The technical demo served as optimization stress test, confirming Unreal’s viability for their RTS vision. Almog provides specific benchmarks: “Actually with our demo, we tested that on a Gen 3 Intel CPU with an RTX 970 and it was on low settings but it was running on 30 FPS on a very low-end computer and it was running between 60 to 90 FPS on mid-systems.”
These results demonstrate that optimization depends on developer effort rather than engine limitations. Almog emphasizes: “Optimizations, it’s a matter of if you do it right or not, basically.” This confidence in their technical approach overcame community scepticism about Unreal for RTS games.
Lumen Lighting as Killer Feature
Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen global illumination system provided primary attraction for visually-focused developers. Almog identifies this clearly: “Lumen is amazing. This is one of the main reason we went for Unreal.” The dynamic lighting system enables cinematic visual quality without pre-baked lightmaps, creating atmosphere and spectacle that drew Timothy’s praise during the interview.
Timothy specifically notes: “One of the major things about Unreal is the lighting, and you really see that. I love the fires, the shots, they look really beautiful and they feel powerful. I can imagine playing the game and feeling powerful just by the lighting effects.” This visual impact serves strategic purposes—powerful-feeling explosions and weapons enhance player satisfaction beyond pure mechanics.
Team Scalability Considerations
Initial hesitation about Unreal stemmed from single-developer constraints. Almog admits: “We were a bit scared at the beginning. We had our doubts about it for some members of our team.” With only Eli handling programming and technical art for the tech demo, engine complexity created risk.
However, the funding and team expansion change this calculation dramatically. Expanding to 20+ developers makes Unreal’s robust toolset and industry standardization valuable rather than overwhelming. Future hires familiar with Unreal require less training than proprietary or obscure engines would demand.
Campaign Scope: 30 Missions, Mod Support, and Lore-Driven Design
Ambitious But Intentional Scale
Defcon Zero targets 30-mission campaign alongside multiple game modes and user-generated content support—an ambitious scope Al questions directly. Amir defends the vision: “It’s ambitious but it’s very intentional. We already scoped so many things we wanted in the start and even if we have those 30 missions and all of those other things like campaign and multiple game modes and user generated content, our team is still growing.”
The team plans scaling from 12 members toward 20 and potentially beyond based on development progress. This growth trajectory provides workforce justifying ambitious scope rather than skeleton crew attempting impossible goals. Amir emphasizes deliberate planning: “We’re realistic about how much it cost and how much time we have in our hands. We don’t want to develop a game for 10 years.”
What They Cut
Scope management involved painful eliminations. Amir reveals: “For the first game we stepped back from multiplayer and from doing a second full faction campaign as part of that franchise planning.” These represent enormous features whose absence enables focus on polished single-player campaign and establishing franchise foundations.
The multiplayer omission particularly surprises given RTS community’s competitive focus, but demonstrates willingness to narrow scope for quality. Similarly, limiting to single faction campaign (ERA) rather than dual campaigns maintains narrative focus while simplifying production.
Pre-Production Investment
Six months invested in pre-production demonstrates commitment to planning before execution. Amir explains value: “We invested so much time in pre-production around 6 months and we are genuinely proud of what we did there because that was so much work which people don’t know about it because people who don’t develop games they probably think that you start develop and you just start walking but you need to make those huge documents and huge road maps.”
This foundation prevents feature creep and unfocused development. Amir describes documentation depth: “You have the JIRA and you have the confluence and everything around you which can be so overwhelming sometimes but if you do it right it will help you develop the game that you want.” The infrastructure supports scaled production impossible with ad hoc approach.
User Generated Content Challenges
Mod support represents the scope element Amir identifies as most challenging: “Strong game modes with intent to achieve meaningful user generated content tools which is the only thing that we aim to have a struggle with because we know how much that can be a struggle.” UGC tools require significant engineering investment while directly benefiting relatively small creator communities.
However, mod support extends game longevity and community investment far beyond developer-created content. The willingness to tackle this challenge despite difficulty demonstrates understanding of RTS community values and history of transformative mods.
Launch as Finished Product
Unlike many modern studios, TriArts commits to 1.0 launch without early access. Amir states clearly: “We see the launch as the finish line although we intend to launch the game as a 1.0 game with no early access at all. We don’t want the early access but we know we will keep expanding, updating and improving like any other game that was 20 years ago.”
This philosophy rejects contemporary normalization of paid beta testing, committing to deliver complete, polished product at launch. Post-launch support continues but doesn’t substitute for proper pre-launch development.
Lore-Driven Mission Design
Rejecting Generic Mission Structure
Al challenges TriArts about avoiding generic RTS campaign design where “every time you play the mission you start with very little, you build up your base, most of the map is taken up by enemies and you slowly build up a big enough army until you right-click to the enemy and win the mission.”
Almog rejects this formula emphatically: “Definitely not. You have mission types. Some missions are commando missions and stuff like that. But we’re trying to just bind it to the lore and have the lore dictate how the mission will look like and not build the mission and then how to put the lore inside of it. We’re trying to go really in a lore-driven way because the story is the main thing here.”
40,000 Years of World History
The developers’ commitment to narrative world-building reaches extraordinary depth. Almog reveals: “Even before we’re writing the missions lore, we’re building the universe and the world history and we wrote 40,000 years before the first game already what’s happened.” This Warhammer-esque historical scope creates foundation for unlimited storytelling.
Timothy celebrates this approach: “I love it. One of our episodes talked about narratives in strategy games and whether they were important. For a campaign, I think it’s absolutely vital that you don’t just have the story as a vehicle for here’s mission one, this is mission two. You need there needs to be some emotional weight behind why are we fighting.”
Point Anywhere and Create Story
The world-building investment reaches the point where developers can improvise narratives from any location. Amir describes this achievement: “We’re actually in a position that you can point everywhere you want in the map and create a story from there and create another game if it’s a first person or even a TV series because we gave so much focus to create a story and the universe that’s surrounding the game even before we started creating the game itself.”
This depth enables franchise thinking where Defcon Zero represents one entry in larger transmedia universe. The investment pays dividends across multiple planned games rather than serving single title.
World Bigger Than the Sandbox
Timothy articulates appeal of expansive lore: “I love it when you’re playing a game or just fiction in general, especially with science fiction, when you feel the world is bigger than the little sandbox that you’re participating in and not everything is explained straight up at once, but you do get some hints that there’s some things going on over here and over there and you feel like you’re part of something much bigger.”
This approach creates sense of discovery rather than complete information download. Players gradually understand Aeros through experiencing it rather than reading encyclopaedia entries, maintaining mystery while providing coherent world.
Is RTS Having a Renaissance?
Divided Opinions on Genre Health
The RTS renaissance question generates varying perspectives. Al references early Critical Moves episode asking whether the genre experiences rebirth, noting Brandon Castile’s surprising negative response. The developers offer more optimistic assessment while acknowledging niche status.
Amir frames it positively: “Honestly, many people talk about it as a renaissance. I think it is because if you look at how it happened with earlier RTS that were successful like back in the 2000s, it started with several good games and then it expanded to so many RTS games. I think we are in that point.”
Supporting Evidence
Amir cites specific successful titles driving renewed interest: “We saw some great analytics about the gaming industry and RTS games and I think it’s because of some really good games that came out for the last years like Total War games and Beyond All Reason and Metal Lords and other games that were really successful.” These titles demonstrate continued audience for quality RTS experiences.
The content creator ecosystem provides additional evidence. Amir notes: “I can feel it too when I’m looking at content creators. You can put them all up and you got several millions of RTS players.” This visibility creates perception of health even if absolute numbers remain modest compared to mainstream genres.
Community Loyalty and Multi-Purchase Behaviour
RTS fans demonstrate exceptional loyalty, often purchasing multiple genre entries. Amir explains: “Most of the RTS players if they have the two or three Warcraft games or Starcraft games or Command and Conquer games they will probably buy them all because they will want to play them all.” This behaviour creates sustainable market for multiple developers despite smaller overall audience.
This purchasing pattern means RTS games don’t directly compete so much as collectively serve dedicated audience. Success for one title expands rather than contracts market for others by drawing players back to genre.
Colleagues Not Competitors
The developers emphasize collaborative rather than competitive relationships with other RTS studios. Amir explains philosophy: “In matter of competition there is no competition, it’s more like colleagues today because we all will enjoy this success of one because if Defcon Zero will be success, another game that will come after that will be a success probably too because it will have more players if it will be good of course.”
This mindset treats genre growth as collective project where rising tide lifts all boats. Almog extends the analogy: “We are one of the smallest communities in the gaming world. We should stick to each other and help each other in every way.” The endangered species comparison captures existential stakes—RTS community survival requires cooperation.
Industry Collaboration Efforts
TriArts actively pursues relationships with other RTS developers rather than treating them as threats. Amir describes outreach: “We don’t let anyone talk really bad about any other RTS developers and we had a strict rule around it and we also jumped into other RTS Discord and we introduced us and we talked to the other devs and we already tried to have some collaborations.”
This echoes historical Westwood-Blizzard relationship. Amir recalls Tim Campbell’s revelation: “Back in the day, Westwood had this collaboration with Blizzard and they switched developers in some sort of way to help each other and we were amazed because of that and we were like I hope it will be the same right now.”
Command & Conquer Comparisons
Taking It As Compliment
The obvious Command & Conquer aesthetic similarities could concern developers fearing “clone” accusations. Instead, TriArts embraces comparisons as validation. Almog states: “We actually take it as a compliment for now. We also have the understanding that we expose so little of the game that it still looks like Generals but when we will show the entire vision it will take people to a completely different path.”
This confidence stems from knowing unrevealed elements differentiate Defcon Zero beyond surface aesthetics. The limited public materials emphasize familiar elements attracting RTS fans while withholding unique features preserving surprise.
Broader Inspiration Mix
While Command & Conquer provides obvious touchstone, TriArts draws from diverse sources. Almog elaborates: “When we show everything with our inspirations that we already shared with the community—inspirations from Mad Max, from the Alien franchise, Prometheus—when it’s all going to stick together, glued together to one product, it will look like something else, more of a mix of different worlds.”
This eclectic approach prevents derivative feeling despite familiar foundation. The Mad Max wasteland aesthetic combined with Alien franchise biological horror and Prometheus cosmic mystery creates unique blend transcending any single influence.
Everything Builds on Something
Timothy provides crucial perspective on originality: “There’s no such thing as entirely original art. Everything even Command and Conquer was built on Dune and that was built on something else. It was all built on chess.” This genealogical view defuses clone criticism—all creative work exists in dialogue with predecessors.
Al extends the lineage: “If people say Defcon Zero is a clone of Command and Conquer Generals, yeah, Command and Conquer Generals is a clone of Starcraft which is a clone of Dune which is a clone of Herzog Zwei and a clone of all the way back to chess and draughts and iterative design.” No game emerges from vacuum; influence and homage differ from lazy copying.
Creating Own Legacy
Despite embracing comparisons, developers insist on establishing distinct identity. Almog emphasizes: “We are inspired by Command and Conquer and we’re inspired by Generals, Red Alert and all the great games but we try to be Defcon Zero and we try to create our own legacy and our own identity and it will be revealed with time. It’s still early. We showed so little of the game.”
The limited public materials serve strategic purpose—attract Command & Conquer fans with familiar aesthetics while preserving surprises demonstrating originality. As more content releases, the unique identity becomes apparent beyond initial impressions.
Demo and Release Windows
September/October 2025 Demo Target
Al presses for concrete demo release information. Amir provides tentative window: “Let’s say that if we talk about the demo, I can give you around September, October if everything goes well. If not, it will be postponed but for you guys it will be much earlier.”
The qualifier “if everything goes well” acknowledges development uncertainty while providing target for fans. The promise of earlier access for press and content creators enables pre-release QA and publicity building before public demo.
Different From Technical Demo
The upcoming demo represents significant evolution from earlier technical demo that secured funding. Amir explains: “It won’t be the same as the demo we built for the technical. It will be some sort of the same, but not the same because it will have a little bit more mechanics. It will be of course more polished and it will have some more of the lore that we intend to give for the players. More units of course.”
This iteration focus reflects transition from proof-of-concept to actual game preview. The technical demo proved capability; this demo must demonstrate vision while maintaining polish standards expected from funded professional studio.
Pre-Demo Content Creator Access
Strategic pre-release access enables community testing before public demo. Amir describes approach: “We also want to have this demo a little bit before for content creators, podcasters and people who will help us do like a tiny QA before it releases to the whole community.” This leverages enthusiast community for quality assurance while building anticipation.
The controlled rollout prevents embarrassing public failures while generating coverage and feedback from invested community members likely to provide constructive criticism rather than harsh condemnation.
2.5-3 Year Full Release Window
For final game release, Almog provides conservative estimate: “I can say between two and a half to three years at maximum.” This timeline reflects recently secured funding and team expansion, counting from proper production start rather than total project duration.
The extended timeline acknowledges RTS complexity and commitment to quality over speed. Amir explains restraint: “We’re just getting into the offices now and starting the production all over again with a bigger team. We’re not rushing to announce because suddenly it might be two years and we don’t want just to give a date that is far too far away from us at the moment.”
Avoiding Premature Announcements
The developers resist pressure for precise dates, learning from industry failures. Amir jokes: “People won’t be like, you know, hey, wait, where are you guys? Are you the next GTA game?” The Duke Nukem Forever/GTA development hell comparison illustrates risks of overpromising timelines.
This conservative approach prioritizes realistic expectations over generating hype. Better to under-promise and over-deliver than create years of disappointment through missed targets.
Final Pitch: Why Defcon Zero Matters
For Command & Conquer Veterans
Almog directly addresses core audience: “If you grew on Command and Conquer games or Dawn of War or Company of Heroes, Defcon Zero exists for one simple reason: to bring back those feelings. We came into this project to revive the joy. As RTS fans, it was something that you all talked about, argued about, and we thought about it all day long since we were five since I started playing RTS games.”
The generational transmission goal resonates deeply: “I want my kids to sit next to me later on and watch me play RTS games like I used to play with my older brothers.” This positions Defcon Zero as legacy preservation—ensuring future generations experience joys that defined childhoods.
Respecting and Evolving Legacy
Amir balances nostalgia with progression: “The early 2000s gave us an incredible RTS foundation and we believe now is the moment to take that legacy, respect it, and push it forward with modern systems, deeper mechanics, and a world built for the next generation of RTS players.”
This philosophy rejects both pure nostalgia and abandoning what worked. The goal involves evolution not revolution—maintaining core appeal while improving systems with modern design knowledge and technology.
Made By RTS Heads For RTS Heads
Almog emphasizes authentic credentials: “We are them. We are the old school RTS heads who grew up on the best games humanity ever created. It was at the times that fancy graphics wasn’t a thing yet and was not a reason for someone to buy a game. It was the times that creativity and innovation was pouring out of Westwood Studios and others like fine wine.”
The developers’ lived experience as dedicated fans provides authority their pitch requires. They’re not outsiders attempting commercially-motivated genre entry but insiders building the game they desperately want to play.
From Ashes to Glory
Almog concludes with Defcon Zero’s motto: “Not only to create beautiful RTS games, but to create stories, experience, and pure RTS magic. And as is the slogan of ERA, so are our hearts, mind, and soul dedicated to bring back those feelings from ashes to glory.”
This mission statement captures both mourning for RTS golden age and determination to resurrect it. The “ashes to glory” arc positions their project as phoenix rising from genre’s commercial collapse.
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Episode Verdict
This interview captures TriArts Games at an extraordinary inflection point—the precise day $4.5 million funding transformed passionate indie project into professionally-backed production. The developers’ authentic enthusiasm, technical competence, and deep genre knowledge create compelling case that Defcon Zero represents more than nostalgic Command & Conquer homage. Their innovative approaches to persistent RTS frustrations—intelligent weapon priority, automatic cover-seeking, infantry relevance throughout progression—demonstrate thoughtful design rather than mere aesthetic recreation. The commitment to lore-driven mission design with 40,000 years of world history, combined with willingness to cut multiplayer and second faction campaign to maintain quality, suggests mature understanding of scope management despite ambitious vision. Most remarkably, the developers’ lived experience developing under rocket fire provides perspective unavailable to comfortable Western studios, informing grounded approach to combat and consequences that could differentiate Defcon Zero from competitors. While September 2025 demo and 2.5-3 year full release represent lengthy waits, the patient, community-focused development philosophy—twelve thousand organic wishlists, active Discord engagement, Tim Campbell endorsement—demonstrates building something sustainable rather than chasing quick returns. For RTS fans exhausted by AAA publisher abandonment and hungry for developers who genuinely speak their language, TriArts offers hope that the Westwood spirit lives not in corporate ownership but in passionate creators who remember why the genre mattered.
Next Episode: War Stories: Why Narrative Matters in Strategy Games
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