Interviews

You may remember a few weeks ago, we ran the announcement that Earth Eternal is in development. Well, the game caught our eye and we decided to catch up with Matt Mihaly from Iron Realms Entertainment to discuss their project in this exclusive interview.

WarCry Network: Your website notes that no one will ever be forced to pay to play your games. What then is your business model?

Matt Mihaly: Well, we're all independently wealthy from our gun-running days, so we simply don't need to take money from users.

Someday, that would be fun to be able to say, modulo the gun-running bit of course. Since we have to pay mortgages and such, what we'll actually be offering is probably more than one option. One will be some variation on the free-to-play model we use in our current games in which you can pay for virtual stuff, but never have to pay for that stuff as you're able to get it simply by playing. Paying for it is a shortcut, albeit a substantial one.

The other model we'll have is a pretty standard subscription model, likely at $5/month. We recognize that there are people who just dislike the other model, so we'd like to offer our players a choice.

You can read it all here.

Green Monster Games is easily the most talked about company with no announced game projects out there. It's hard to ignore a company founded by Curt Schilling (Boston Red Sox), R.A. Salvatore (author) and Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn). We recently spoke to two ex-EverQuest II people in Steve "Moorgard" Danuser and Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder about the upcoming things from their company.

WarCry Network: At a high level, what are some of the things you see in the current crop of MMORPGs that you really like and might want to see in your project?

Steve Danuser: World of Warcraft has proven that an MMO can appeal to a much wider audience than many thought possible, and one of the keys to that is a level of polish beyond anything the industry had seen before. The biggest lesson is not to try to be everything to everyone, but rather to decide on the key elements of your game and then refine the heck out of them. You can be sure that GMG will bring this same philosophy to our game.

Ryan Shwayder: Quality and polish. That's the big deal for me personally. There are definitely other aspects of games that we'll either integrate or, more likely, adapt, but talking about those would reveal a bit too much information. ;)

Click below to read the rest.

Star Wars Galaxies lead designer Thomas "Blixtev" Blair from SOE took some time to answer a few quick questions we had about some upcoming entertainer upgrades to Star Wars Galaxies.

To go with that Q&A, we are also carrying a little video that shows the whole thing in action, which can be seen in the article to follow.

WarCry: Why did the development team believe it was a good idea to add holographic band-mates and what do they add to the game from a more practical point of view?

Thomas Blair: "We're putting the band back together." This famous line underlies many people's assumptions of what a group of entertainers would be doing. The band or dance troupe enables multiple players to perform special flourishes (these are the more exotic or unique moves and musical notes) for any performance. This feature gives a single player a way to perform with a band and experience the fun of singing or dancing with a set of backup singers or dancers playing with them. As to the practicality, it is one more way to give the entertainers another opportunity to do what they do best, entertain!

Click below to read the full interview.

Last week, WarCry had a chance to scoot down to EA Mythic's Fairfax, VA offices and see Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online and Warhammer Online. In the first of these three articles, we look at news from the lands of Camelot.

At the event, EA Mythic released news on what they're doing this year and their latest content initiative Camelot Campaigns.

Each campaign is slated to last six months, across three patches and rolled out in new installments every two weeks. These are not traditional live events, but rather epic encounters and quests that players can enjoy either as they unfold or go back later and work their way through.

In the first campaign, the dragons of each realm become restless and the players must react to them and their minions as they actually go out and alter the world's landscape. For example, a dragon may one day show up over some part of Albion and burn the town. The players will then have a quest to repair it.

Click here for the full article.

Bonnie Wang, the Product Communication Supervisor for Voyage Century, has answered a slew of our questions on the recently released online pirate game.

WarCry Network: Voyage Century has just launched. How did the beta roll-out of the game go? Were there any major surprises?

Bonnie Wang: The beta began on Dec.22nd. In the first hour that registration was open, thousands of gamers signed up for accounts hoping to participate in the game's beta test. During the past two weeks, over 500.000 gamers helped Voyage Century on its way to becoming one of the best MMORPGs. The community is passionate and has been a tremendous source of information and feedback for the development team. Now, the beta is being carried on smoothly and successfully. The open of the third server in such a short time is really a big surprise for both players and development team. The Double Exp Event is also a surprising gift for the players.

You can read more by clicking below.

Aaron Cohen, the Producer of Ultima Online, spoke to WarCry Network recently about Ultima Online. The aging grandfather of the modern MMO genre is still chugging along, now under the direction of EA Mythic. Find out what they're up to in advance of their big event this week.

WarCry Network: Ultima Online has been a staple of the industry for years. From a developer perspective, how has time treated the game?

Aaron Cohen: Being around for nine years does two things, one positive, one negative. The negative is that your graphics, UI and overall production values look more dated every year. Looking old clearly hurts your chances of attracting new players, which leads to your game getting smaller. That's a pretty big negative, and it's the reason we are putting so much effort into Kingdom Reborn.

On the other hand, the positive of being around for close to a decade is a pretty big positive. You get nine years of content, features and depth. Every dev team to work on UO has lift two or three significant features, giving UO an extremely wide variety of things to see and do. It's a big game, which is one the reasons why it's still around and thriving.

Our goal with Kingdom Reborn is to make that nine years of development much more accessible to new players and elder players alike.

Click here for the full Q&A.

We recently gave away three batches of keys to the Scions of Fate beta. As we await another round, those of you who do not yet have some should take some time to check out this Q&A our own Shannon Drake did with the development team.

WarCry Network: Scions of Fate is actually a re-named and localized version of the popular Korean game, YulGang: Balance of Power. There's been much discussion over the years as to the difference between Asian and North American players. Have you changed much in Scions of Fate to appeal more to the western audience?

Scions of Fate: Scions of Fate, formally named YulGang: Balance of Power, also known as Yul-Hyul-Gang-Ho Online in Asian countries, uses new system called OSMU (One Source Multi Use). Frankly speaking, it means that game will have the same source as Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and etc. versions. The reason behind the implementation of the OSMU system is to provide the users with more frequent updates of the game. To sum it all up, we can say that all the Korean updates will be released here as they come out because changes wont be necessary since the sources for all the international clients are the same.

You can read it here.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning recently took home the hardware as the most anticipated game of '07 in our awards and today we have a chance to present an exclusive interview we did with EA Mythic's Josh Drescher, an Assistant Producer on the title. Expect random interjections from Director of Community Relations Sanya Thomas.

WarCry Network:: Warhammer is not the typical serious fantasy intellectual property. For those who do not know the IP, can you explain some of the things that set it apart from a more traditional medieval fantasy setting?

Josh Drescher: Yikes. That's a doozy of a request. Do you have a week or three?

Warhammer isn't about beautiful people rising up to defeat a great evil for the last time. It's about grim, superstitious people frantically attempting to breed quickly enough to make sure the Empire will have enough soldiers a generation from now. It's about REALLY believing that your scarecrow can tap into the dark power of Chaos and that that bird over there really IS talking to you. It's about bitter, working class people with chips on their shoulders and soccer hooligan mushrooms that like to break things, crush things and cover things with poo. It's about posh dandies with swords and drug-addled aristocrats with a thirst for blood and RIDING ON THE BACK OF A DINOSAUR. It's about a war that will never end.

It's packed to the brim with social commentary, weird historical references, strange European in-jokes about archery, manic aversion to the color blue (in places), sex, drugs, slapstick comedy, grim reflection on the human condition, religious fanaticism and just about everything else you can imagine.

Warhammer is a fully-realized hobby experience. It's books, miniatures, comics, pen and paper RPGs, PC games and - of course - Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Warhammer is the last hobby you'll ever need.

You can read the full Q&A here.

We have a brand new section as Star Trek Online on WarCry debuts here today. To celebrate, Perpetual Entertainment Executive Producer Daron Stinnett answered a whole bunch of our questions in this new interview.

WarCry Network: Greed and money were not a driving force in Star Fleet. How do you envision the economy working in game? Is an ideal like this even something you will try to translate over?

Daron Stinnett: When we originally pondered this question, STO had a more hard-core focus on Star Fleet than it does today. But even then we realized that if we didn't provide a fully functioning economy, players would just come up with other, less convenient means of exchanging goods and services. Fortunately, the Star Trek universe provides no shortage of examples where economy plays an important role - even within Star Fleet itself.

Click below to read them all!

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is in Open Beta and on a path to launch at the end of the month. Sigil Online's Nick Parkinson took the time to answer a few of our questions about the game that people want to know as it marches towards the market.

WarCry Network: Of the issues left to solve, what do you feel is your biggest hurdle between today and the launch of your game?

Nick Parkinson: Performance and server stability are the big ones, as they usually are at this stage in development for any MMO. Some of this stuff you just can't test properly until you've got the kind of numbers that only come with late phases of beta. So there's still some kinks to be worked out in this area, but we're not too worried.

The full article is here.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is in Open Beta and on a path to launch at the end of the month. Sigil Online's Nick Parkinson took the time to answer a few of our questions about the game that people want to know as it marches towards the market.

WarCry Network: Of the issues left to solve, what do you feel is your biggest hurdle between today and the launch of your game?

Nick Parkinson: Performance and server stability are the big ones, as they usually are at this stage in development for any MMO. Some of this stuff you just can't test properly until you've got the kind of numbers that only come with late phases of beta. So there's still some kinks to be worked out in this area, but we're not too worried.

The full article is here.

Carolyn Koh's CES reports took her into the Perpetual Entertainment booth as she got an exclusive look at Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. Richard Zinser, Perpetual's VP of Game Services, gave her the run through in this article-format interview that looks primarily at squad combat.

Minions may be obtained through quests or hired (for a one time fee). Either way, they remain with you. Your first will be the reward of a quest and your myth creature minions will be too.

"Free minions will be far and few between. Most of your minions would be hired. They will be the same level or close to that of your character, and will gain experience and level up with you."

At other levels, you will be able to hire and equip your minions in towns or main camps. Unless things change during beta, care and feeding of your minions is in upgrading their equipment and bringing them out to play.

You can read more here.

Carolyn Koh, our intrepid reporter on the ground in Las Vegas, met with the big cheese Brad McQuaid and Paul "GM Vladimir" Luna from Sigil to discuss the upcoming Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. This article takes a look at what's coming through conversations with the two men.

Vanguard is essentially a game of choices. It is designed as a social game much like EverQuest was and provides incentives to players to do things together, but also allows a player to solo if they choose to. Some adventure and quest content will require a group or groups of players to defeat, likewise players working together to gather resources, for example, open up opportunities with the combination of their skills to obtain better raw materials that they as a solo harvester may not be able to do.

Carolyn Koh is covering CES for WarCry and in her first report back she talks to Scott Hartsman, the Senior Producer for EverQuest II. Through him, we get an update on the status of SOE's flagship title.

"This is not a zone for the faint of heart," claimed Scott. The Estate of Unrest follows the theme of the first Adventure Pack in that it tells a story. The ghosts of the family that lived in the Estate tell their story and provide quests. Scott waxed lyrical over the integration of sound effects and music. "I love the sound effects in the abandoned nursery, the sound designers have managed to mingle hints of lullabies with stuff that really creates an eerie atmosphere."

Click here to read more.

Cheyenne Mountain Senior Producer Dan Elggren sits down to answer some questions about Stargate Worlds in this exclusive interview. Announced a few months ago, SGW places players in a world drawn from the famous TV franchises Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.

WarCry Network: Every developer I've ever spoke to who tried to do guns with RPG mechanics said the task was a nightmare. How are you going to get guns to feel right in your RPG?

Dan Elggren: Stargate Worlds is not a first person shooter. We want combat to be fast and deadly, but not to the point of one-shot kills. Like the show, we are making combat in Stargate Worlds exciting and filled with constant action. We are tailoring the mechanics of our system to bring this to life within the game.

There is no doubt that it's a challenge for our team, but we are confident that we will do it right.

Click here to read the full interview.