Alfred Hitchcock once said "there are three things that make a great film: a good script, a good script and a good script." This is also true of games. At the heart of every great game is a great game idea. I have this quote written on my PC at work, to remind me daily that no matter how cool your technology is, it’s never an end in itself. Technology enables gameplay. Every game Elixir ever makes will remain true to this belief. Having kept quiet about Republic: The Revolution for the last year, I can finally talk about it. It’s for you to decide whether or not I’ve been true to this vision.

I first thought of the game five years ago. I was at college and as students do, I was enjoying another one of those lazy afternoons spent talking and drinking coffee. On this particular afternoon I played an obscure board game based on a power struggle within a banana republic. At that time the TV and newspapers were full of powerful and graphic images of Russia’s invasion of Chechnya. It prompted memories of reading about the attempted coup in Russia in 1991 and realising how insignificant the man on the street is in the scheme of things. And then I began to ask myself about the people who make history, the men who shape the courses of our lives. Who are they? How do they become what they are? What really happens behind the scenes? I then read a short story in Will Self’s Grey Matter, which has as its premise the idea that everyone in London is really a follower of one of eight people, whether they know it or not. The story was absurd, but very cool.

Over the course of the next few weeks an idea began to crystallise in my mind. When I think of a game it always starts as an idea like this. I let it sit in my head for a few weeks and it evolves. I always try to boil down an idea into something that’s called a ‘High Concept’ in the film industry. Despite the ugly, overblown terminology it’s an essential idea and one I apply to game design. A high concept is basically a game or a film explained in a single sentence. This is the heart of your game. If you can’t explain why it’s going to be cool in a sentence, don’t expect anyone else to understand what you’re on about. Republic: The Revolution is a game in which "You’re a powerful faction leader and you must oust the President of the Republic……by any means."

The next stage is the most important. Explain the game to people you respect and see if they like it. This can be painful; I’m sure even Miyamoto has had game ideas that didn’t cut it. That’s why you need the opinion of sharp people who aren’t afraid to tell you the truth. The reason is that everyone thinks they can design games. I was once driven from London to Guildford by a taxi driver who was convinced he had the gaming equivalent of the alchemist’s stone. He was making a mechanised tabletop golf game in his garage and wanted to make it into a computer game. Sim Garage Golf anyone?

Another example of this can be found in the new Star Wars film. Throughout the whole film I found myself cringing every time Jar Jar Binks appeared or opened his mouth. George Lucas no doubt thought he was creating C3PO of the Nineties, a kooky, yet endearingly crap alien hero. I’m sure he thought it was a creative tour de force. Unfortunately, no-one else did. What he really could have done with was someone to say to him at an early stage, "George, this is a crap idea." Or even better, "George, I think it would be great if Maul chops Binks’ head off with a light sabre in Scene 2." Throw your idea to the wolves and see what happens. There are lots of ideas – be sure that yours is exceptional.

I took trusted friends and explained the game to them. They loved it. But could it be done? Simply put, no, not then anyway. What I had in mind was light years ahead of the available technology. To do this game would require a quantum leap in AI and graphics technology. And not just to do it, but to do it properly. What was the point if you couldn’t create the entire country and populate it with thousands of real, breathing people? I didn’t want people to be abstract black dots, wandering randomly across the player’s screen. I wanted husbands, students, house-wives and drunks, each living separate, plausible lives. Equally, it had to be done in 3D to do the world justice. I was dreaming. I filed the idea away in the back of my mind. It just couldn’t be done. Not at that point in time at least…..

A year and a half ago I finally got the chance to make this game. I found an engine programmer in Tim Clarke capable of creating the infinite polygon engine we’ve called Totality. With this technology we could model an entire country in 3D, down to the moss in the cracks in the pavement. Dave and I formulated an artificial intelligence technique that would allow us to have a million people in our world (hitherto a couple of thousand had been the limit). Most importantly we had the chance to do it. How many developers have the chance to make an original game?

A game takes two life-sapping, monastic years to make. When you’re at the start it can be daunting, which is why you must be sure of two things. One, your game idea must be good. Two, you must believe in it. And that’s the easy bit. Now making it happen, that’s a different story altogether….

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