Interviews

Today we're happy to feature an exclusive interview with developers at EA Mythic on Dark Age of Camelot. It has been a while since we last say down to chat with them and our own site manager Byrnel took the time to ask some insightful questions.

WarCry: With clustering, one of the chief complaints we hear is the "of Server" tag associated with the characters. The adding of the -x to a name before sending or inviting is one issue. Another is the inability to see the last names of people from other servers. This is especially important to the role-playing community who spend a lot of time on their last names.

Missy Hatch: We agree that this was a change that takes a little getting used to-but it was a small sacrifice to make toward better gameplay overall. To us, it made sense to accept this minor extra mechanic in order to help facilitate more lively, populated game area. Having to add -x to a name or being unable to see a last name on roleplaying servers lost out over having three times more people to play with in some areas. Besides, when was the last time you walked up to someone in real life and instantly knew his last name? It's the perfect chance to start a role-play conversation!

Read more after the click.

Today we kick off a brand new feature. Every couple weeks, we'll have five questions and answers with EA Mythic that explore Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. When possible, we'll also bring you some exclusive media from the game. Today we kick off with answers from Community Manager Richard Duffek and two exclusive screenshots!

WarCry: Every company who has ever delayed a game says it is a good thing. Why did you push back Warhammer and why is it really a good thing for Warhammer and EA Mythic?

Richard Duffek: We decided to move the release date to early 2008 to invest more time in creating the best game possible. This means taking a few extra months to make sure the final product is polished and brilliant. The team has learned a lot since starting on WAR and the initial work on the Dwarf and Greenskin pairing was not as glorious as they believed it could be. So, they went back to this pairing, conducted an intense review of their work, and implemented new ideas and content. What has emerged is nothing short of spectacular. In the Dwarf and Greenskin zones there is now more war, more Warhammer, and more of what makes WAR glorious.

By extending our development time, we'll be able to do these in-depth reviews several times prior to launch so that all areas of WAR continue to benefit from the experience of ongoing development. In the end, we'll make a better game and players will be rewarded with a truly next generation MMORPG.

Read more at the link below.

Today, we have a special treat, an exclusive interview with Jake "jneri" Neri, a Producer with LucasArts on Star Wars Galaxies, who gives us a closer look at the new Beast Master expertise system:

WarCry: In the old days, Creature Handler was seen by some as just an online version of Pokemon. How has the team dealt with that view? Was there an effort made to make Beast Master a serious, viable sideline career as well as a hobby?

Jake Neri: We weren't really concerned with how the Creature Handler profession was perceived when it was in the game more than a year ago, as the current Beast Master system is very different and far more robust. What we did focus on was how much our players enjoyed collecting their creatures and ultimately interacting with them, so that was the basis of the new Beast Master system. Because the system is contained within a profession expertise tree, we fully expect players to spend their talent points in it to grow and progress their characters' careers, while also using the resulting Creatures to adventure, explore and engage in combat.

Click below to read the rest and to check out some screenshots and an exclusive video.

Adam Mersky, the Director of Public Relations for Turbine, took some time out of his insane launch day schedule to talk to us a bit about the game's launch and how it's gone so far. The interview was conducted at 3:00 PM Eastern time.

"[The launch has] been great, really smooth," Mersky told us in a phone interview. "Everyone is very calm, things are rolling smoothly."

Mersky noted how much MMOs get extensive coverage of their launches for all the wrong reasons. Disasters, crashes, bugs and supply problems often make life hell on the opening day. At the risk of jinxing himself, Mersky said Turbine had not had those problems, although it is still early.

Read more at the link below.

Marco van Haren of Spellborn Int. took some time recently to answer our questions about The Chronicles of Spellborn. This Dutch company has been hard at work on a unique MMO using the Unreal 2.5 engine for quite some time and as they get closer to public testing, it seemed to time to check in on their progress.

WarCry: Your FAQ says "we've taken measures to make [PvP Arena Battles] more interesting". Can you explain specifically how you hope to achieve this?

Marco van Haren: Using a FPS style combat system offers the perfect opportunity to create some interesting PvP options. At release the Arena will contain 5 different map setups that will allow for 1 on 1 or group vs. group battles with options such as death matches, time trials and last man standing. Combine these option with a tournament and ladder system and a statue reward system and I think we can safely state that the Arena offers some interesting PvP gameplay.

Read more after the click.

Today in an article format "Ask Turbine" - our regular chat with key Turbine staff - we look back a bit at the beta and forward to the launch of Lord of the Rings Online. This article, based on an interview with Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel, acts as a sort of primer for the game's launch on Tuesday.

So how many people do they expect? Again, cagey attempts were thwarted!

"We've positioned the game to be the most successful since the game that shall not be named," Steefel told us, in an obvious reference to Blizzard's World of Warcraft. He added that while they expect a great reception from MMO players, they're very excited and curious to see how Tolkien loyalists react. He believes they've won many of them over, which could make LotRO the first MMO for a whole new crop of fans.

Read more after the link.

Today we debut Fallen Earth on WarCry with a brand new interview. Recently, Fallen Earth Lead Designer Lee Hammock took time to answer some questions from our own Max Taha about the Icarus Studios developed post-apocalyptic MMORPG.

WarCry: Which features will be available for clans/guilds? Which Role Play features will be available? (Apartments, Clan HQs, Emotes)

Lee Hammock: Clans will have much of the standard functionality you can expect from an MMO, such as guild chat, rankings, etc. Many of the specifics of the guild management system are still being finalized, so we don't want to go into a features list.

We plan to have player-built housing and towns, but it will not be something players can access quite some time. Players have to collect the resources to build a settlement, and that can take some time. We also have a huge range of emotes, including the ability to set a mood such as Angry or Sad, changing your facial expression.

To read more, click below.

EverQuest II is a blockbuster MMO with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. It's the crown jewel of a company that has more MMOs than any other company on the planet. Yet, to many, it is also the other MMO to launch in late 2004. We recently interviewed Executive Producer Scott Hartsman about the lessons they've learned and where they're going with this project.

"Polish means we live or we die," Hartsman admitted candidly. He talked about the time before that fateful Christmas season of 2004 when developers routinely published their "first draft" MMOs. He pointed out that budgets and marketing often directed development cycles and betas were all too often about a last gasp before launch, when in reality, a team should have finished the game before it hits beta so that they're free to iterate and react to feedback. He pointed out that they did this with Unrest.

So as the Executive Producer of a guy whose game launched right beside the king of polish, is he bitter? Not at all. Hartsman told us that WoW was a godsend for developers who had always known they released games too early, but couldn't do it any differently. Now there is an industry wide recognition and emphasis on quality that simply didn't exist before. Everyone, from testers to designers to business executives know that to make a truly successful MMORPG, it needs to be finished. Mind you, he told us this as a representative of Sony Online Entertainment, who had just published Vanguard, a game that reminded many of the state in which games were released before WoW.

Read more at the link below.

Stephanie Shaver, the Lead Designer for Hero's Journey, drops by to help debut this new home for Hero's Journey on the WarCry Network. In this exclusive interview, the first in quite some time for Simutronics, we learn about what's going on with the game - not the engine - and how things have evolved in recent months.

WarCry: One famous and controversial aspect of your company was the reliance on volunteer GMs to help build content. With the success of HeroEngine, one would assume you have more resources to work with. How will this change your philosophy on volunteer contributions?

Stephanie Shaver: Hurray! We're controversial! :D When you have a tool like HeroEngine that allows you to work long-distance with people, I think it's more like "common sense", but your mileage may vary.

In short: Aside from better organizing the groups of GMs their role as the game's builders hasn't changed. The GMs are still a key part of our development. All the areas you're seeing at tradeshows were assembled and sculpted by them. They're an amazing team of people who we want to be around for a long, long time.

Read more at the link below.

Today we have the chance to learn some things about Tale of Pirates, from IGG, the company importing this MMO to American shores. This Asian-import is in Open Beta in advance of potential launch in a few weeks.

WarCry: First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to speak with us. It's always a pleasure to sit and chat with the talent behind upcoming titles, and it looks like we've got quite a bit to discuss. We're here today to talk about your upcoming North American release of Tales of Pirates (ToP). Why don't you briefly share with us a little bit of its history and tell us the general premise of the game?

IGG: Stemming back to the olden Europeans seafaring times, the game combines the main theme of piracy with the immense history very well. The use of leading technology creates an entirely magical world where players reside in. Experience the mystery of the endless seas, feel the romantic and interesting life of a pirate. It is the one and only unique world for pirates to be in!

Read more after the click.

Jay Doherty is a character artist with Cryptic Studios and the subject of our fourth CoH Community Quiz, coming soon. Today, we give you a profile of this wacky character and what he does so that you can get your questions in for the next Q&A.

Does He have a "Persona" in the game?
Yeah, but I'm not going say. I'm not any of the signature characters. I'm usually the dead guy in the corner; not moving, cause I'm dead. Sometimes I go into the game as a box, move when no one is around, and then wait for someone to notice. If you know me it's because of my tireless efforts on the costume forums or most likely because it was foretold that the sexiest man alive would be born, his name would be Jay, and Paris erected the Eiffel tower in the prophecy of my coming.

Read more at the link below.

Serdar Copur is a producer for City of Heroes/City of Villains at Cryptic Studios. He was the subject of our most recent CoH Community Quiz. After our last Q&A, we profiled Copur and asked you to give your questions. Chosen from among those and those posted on foreign language forums, we bring you the latest Q&A.

We also have a profile live for the next community Q&A! Jay Doherty's profile is available here.

arthurh3535: What is the hardest 'programming' thing that you want to eventually add to the game?

Serdar Copur: Blue-sky questions are so much fun. The most difficult thing to develop that I would like to add to our game is a completely new database architecture which allows every single player who plays CoH & CoV to be able to play on the same game server. This means no more server selection screens, no more re-rolling because your real life friends are not on the same server as you, and no more trouble finding a group at 3:00 AM because everyone else is sleeping. It's not an impossible endeavor but my programming team assures me that there is nothing more time consuming and complicated that we could develop for our game at this point. I guess we can always dream.

Read more at the link below.

Most weeks, Turbine CEO Jeff Anderson takes some time to chat with us about Lord of the Rings Online. Usually, we feature "Ask Turbine" as a transcribed Q&A, but this week we're trying something different. The following article was penned based off this week's interview with Anderson where we ask questions that the community wants answers to. Remember, you can contribute your questions in this forum thread.

Turbine made some negative waves a couple weeks ago when they announced that they and European publisher Codemasters would employ IP blocking to ensure that players played in their designated territories. The move was not unexpected, Codemasters obviously has an interest in protecting their revenue stream, but the plan was met with vocal opposition with the community and forced Turbine and Codemasters to reevaluate their plans.

"Well we launched the plans and we were wrong," Anderson admitted candidly. He told us that part of the reason they did this was a technical one. It was just easier to make two separate clients that pointed to the separate servers and that obviously Codemasters had paid for the exclusive European rights and they needed to support that. He told us that they proposed IP blocking as a way of protecting those rights and that Turbine accepted, with the assumption that the average fan wouldn't mind.

You can read the full article at the link below.

Recently, Sony Online Entertainment let it be known that EverQuest II would be going to Russia. The move was largely unnoticed in most circles, but recently Site Manager Kenn White got to ask some questions of Laura Naviaux, SOE's Sr. Brand Manager, and David Kim, Project Manager of International Operations for SOE and Akella Online, about the localization process, what it means to SOE, EverQuest II and those who play it.

WarCry: What were some of the marketing challenges unique to the Russian market?

Laura Naviaux: Actually, not as many as you would think. In many ways, the market is very similar to Europe and North America, with less moving parts Asia, for example. Russian gamers enjoy the deeper and more complex gameplay of an MMO, so EQII was a natural fit. We did encounter challenges in creating the infrastructure. Russia is in the formative stages of getting high speed internet connections to a majority of its population; with a country so large in terms of land mass it takes time to penetrate, especially outside of the major cities. Bandwidth is also paid for by the bit so we have to mindful of patches and large downloads. Piracy has also been a big issue in Russia, but with MMOs physical disc replication isn't as harmful to the business since our products require an account key and monthly subscription fee. Lastly, Russia is so large that distribution can often be challenging, but with a leader in the industry like Akella Online we were able to overcome all of these hurdles.

Read more at the link below.

Akamai provides connects companies to their clients. The very word "middlewear" sometimes causes a glaze to come over people's eyes, but it is actually a very important part of making sure people get what they want, when they want it. Akamai is in that business and recently our own Shannon Drake interviewed Akamai Senior Product Line Manager Kris Alexander about the company and the services they provide.

If the name rings a bell, he says, you've probably run into their website acceleration business - "everything from MTV to CNN to things like Gamespot and Gamespy" - but they also deliver software for everyone from Microsoft to Sun to the Playstation 3 for the PlayStation Network, as well as the Nintendo Wii's diverse lineup of software offerings. Akamai provides those companies what Alexander calls a, "service platform" that allows them to skip the step of building all their own infrastructure, "so that they can focus on doing what they do well, which is making great games, and what we provide is everything from storing games and game-related content to delivering it, plus allowing the user communities to publish back in, providing the tools...to publish things back into the user community."

You can read more after the link.