Smoking Gun Interactive has a big secret.

Former Relic developers founded the Vancouver-based studio last year, announcing Smoking Gun's arrival with a mysterious viral campaign that referenced the apocalypse and astronomy.

Over a year after its initial unveiling, SGI announced a "multi-year, multi-million dollar" funding injection that would facilitate studio expansion and development of its still-unannounced game.

Edge spoke with John Johnson, former producer of Relic's Company of Heroes franchise and current CEO/creative director of SGI to discuss the funding and the mysterious new IP he's working on. 

How about a status update on the game? Can you name it? Offer details? Anything to do with astronomy and the end of the world?

We are still in the early stages of development, so at present we’re not yet in a position to release details on exactly what we are creating for our debut release.  We cannot give away any details on its setting or structure, but what I can say is that thanks to last year’s teaser announcement campaign at exoriare.com, you do have some insight into the way we work and you’re getting warm.  What’s read between the lines must stay between the lines for a little while longer I’m afraid.  Let’s just say that revelations will be forthcoming shortly…

The new funding--can you give more specifics on the terms, total amount?

The terms of the agreement were very favorable.  Coming into this, there were a few really key things for us. We wanted the creative freedom to build the very best gaming experience and studio we know how, and this deal really does give us that opportunity. We wanted the freedom to explore different business partnerships as we develop our first title and this deal preserves that freedom.  And finally, we wanted to maintain control of the company and its business and find a partner that was just as passionate and motivated as we are to building Smoking Gun into a successful independent studio.

Who were the investors? How did the deal come around?

We spent a lot of time looking for the right partnership locally in North America and overseas.  It was really important for us to spend the time, to find the right partners.  When we met the group of investors locally here in Vancouver BC, it just clicked. They are all individual investors that came together as a group, and many of them have built their own destiny and companies, so they understand our passions and motivations. We’re hugely excited to have their backing, and they really bring a lot of experience to the table.

How big is the staff at SGI currently? What are the plans for expansion?

We have a core team of 15 right now, and are looking to round it out to around 20 in the next month. This staff comprises of our seniors and leads and includes some amazing talent any many familiar faces.  Our goal right now is to stay small and focused while we continue to lay down the foundations for the first title and the studio.  We plan to double our staff in 2009, and finally peak between 70 to 80 soon after.  We’ve acquired new studio space that we’ll be moving into early next year to handle that growth.  We’re quite excited as the space is amazing, it overlooks the mountains and English Bay and is close to the beaches with a brilliant rooftop deck for team parties.

Long term we are contemplating on opening up a satellite studio in another province here in Canada and have had some offers of support from governments in that area. There are some really beneficial tax credit programs available in other areas and we’d like to ensure our business is focused on taking advantage of those programs.

You've said you're a multiplatform company that will develop for consoles. You've also said you want to continue to push the strategy genre. What has been missing from console strategy games that you hope to add? How can it evolve when the input's a console controller?

I think some games have been quite good at putting the PC-centric strategy experience onto console, but few if any have been critically successful.  I don’t think the PC strategy experience is necessarily what a key segment of the console market is looking for.  We’re taking some of the core aspects of the strategy experience and merging that with proven successful designs that work well on console.  We‘re also innovating on how players will interact with their games in the future.

Do you think Company of Heroes fans will like the new game? Are you sick yet of people asking you about Company of Heroes?

We put a hell of a lot of passion and love into Company of Heroes, so no we don’t get sick of people asking.  Yes, I think Company of Heroes fans will like our product. Company of Heroes appeals to a broad range of people because it delivers an emotionally rich experience.  People love a great experience, and that’s what we’re building.