RPS: What’s surprised you the most about Alpha Protocol as you’ve developed it? Is there a feature, an aspect, that you never had in mind that’s come to stand out?

MH: We’ve been really pleased with the way that Alpha Protocol’s conversation system turned out. By rooting Alpha Protocol’s dialogue system in a system of simple responses and giving players a limited time to respond, we’ve made conversations within the game tense but fun. Because decisions made within conversations often have important effects, it makes the role-playing going on feel urgent and exciting. It’s honestly surprising how well it works to keep the pacing and excitement up.

Beyond that, the combat system has gone through a lot of changes over the years and we settled in a really great spot that blends RPG stats and pure shooter. When we got through with balancing and tweaking critical hits and the like, we stood back and we’re really proud of where it ended up.​