WarCry Interviews Aaron Cohen
We have an interview today with Ultima Online Producer Aaron Cohen where he talks about Kingdom Reborn, the new 3D client for Ultima Online. This interview was conducted before E3, so we apologize if a few of the questions show their age. Nonetheless, the whole remains informative.
WarCry Q&A: Ultima Online
Answers by Aaron Cohen, Producer
Questions by GameGoddess
WarCry: Why did you choose to have no beta forum for closed beta and open beta?
Aaron Cohen: We did have a closed beta forum, and the folks there were absolutely fabulous in the amount and quality of feedback they gave.
For open beta, people are posting in the open forums for all to see, to discuss and to debate.
There was a short period where we were in closed beta and had quite a few players who weren't on the closed boards. That period was about getting more bug reports in and early indications of what we were going to see when we went into open beta. It was very useful and allowed us to discover and fix many bugs before we opened the floodgates.
WarCry: People don't seem to be happy with the new backpack. Is there any chance of having the old style that the player could organize?
Aaron Cohen: There are some people who'd like to see improvements to the freeform backpack and we are taking a look at what's possible. That goes for pretty much every issue with Kingdom Reborn. We are listening. We are making lists of requests. We are working out priorities for what to add next and what to put off until later. We don't have that list finalized quite yet, as we are just in the first week of open beta.
WarCry: Will the 2d client disappear when KR goes live? If not, what is the timeline for phasing it out?
Aaron Cohen: The legacy 2D client will be with us for quite a while. As has been the plan since this project was announced, we will keep it and support it and give it love until the player base chooses to move onto KR. I expect that is in the distant future. There is no set date.
WarCry: KR is much darker than the 2d client. Will it lighten up?
Aaron Cohen: We are seeing quite a difference between monitors and video cards. On some set ups, KR looks quite bright. On some, not so much. We are working on some lighting models and techniques that could make a difference. This lighting change will also add a few cool things, like rain and snow. This will be in an upcoming patch.
WarCry: The profile is gone. Will it return when KR goes live?
Aaron Cohen: Yes. This will be added within the next two patches.
WarCry: Will players be able to resize the chat window?
Aaron Cohen: Yes. Also within the next two patches.
WarCry: It's very hard to see things in the foliage now. The trees and grasses blend together. How will you improve this?
Aaron Cohen: We are looking at a few solutions that could help with that. Can't give you a specific answer quite yet, but we are working on it.
WarCry: Many are comparing KR to Third Dawn. Do you think it will be more accepted?
Aaron Cohen: To be fair, there are also many who are quite pleased with the new client, and many who think it has huge potential once a few issues are cleared up.
The answer is yes, it will be much more accepted than the Third Dawn client. But for those who love the 2D legacy client, it's not going anywhere for quite a while.
WarCry: Will there be a customizable interface?
Aaron Cohen: Yes, but the level that we'll be exposing to players is being debated. We don't want another situation with cheat programs proliferating. On the other hand, we do want to give players some freedom to shape their experience and how they interact with the game.
WarCry: Are there any plans for more emotes like in many of the other games out now?
Aaron Cohen: Yes, but just a few. These will be revealed soon.
WarCry: Will we be able to use UOA? Will there be features like UOA has within the game?
Aaron Cohen: The UOA that works with the current client will not be usable with the new client. And we have built many ease-of-use features into the KR that hopefully lessen the need for a third party app. And we will keep on adding features as players request them.
That's one of the great things about having this new technology platform to work with. It's easy to add stuff. It's easy to provide options and multiple ways to do things. In a year or so, KR will have functionality that no one has yet thought of simply because we can add functionality so quickly to it.
WarCry: People are complaining about fuzziness. How are you addressing this?
Aaron Cohen: This one also has to do with what monitor and what video card you are using. It also has a lot to do with aspect ratio. If the game is stretched at all, things get a little pixelated. Unfortunately, that's a downside to being forced to draw the game tile-for-tile to match an existing map.
There are some solutions we are exploring, particularly around giving the option to maintain specific aspect ratios, which helps a good deal.
I do recommend experimenting with windowed versus non-windowed mode. And try out different resolutions. If you are on a lower end machine, try running in 800 X 600, which doesn't look as nice, but should play much faster.
If you are on a higher end machine, try the higher resolutions, and you should find things become very sharp, especially if you are playing in a 4:3 aspect ratio.
WarCry: Are you worried that with a decade old game it might be a bad idea to mess with what was already there and you might alienate the hardcore fans you rely so heavily on?
Aaron Cohen: With the 2D client not going anywhere for a while, the decade old version of the game is very much available to those who want it. In fact, we hope to make a few things much better for players of 2D and of KR.
I think it is worth mentioning that many of the older hardcore players have embraced KR, and as we keep adding features to it, more will do so.
And yes, I know there is controversy and passion around the KR-vs-2D discussion, and that's exactly what we expected. It's an iterative process, where we are committed to making continual improvements, and I'm sure the players will be more than happy to commit to keep telling us what to improve. (Now, if only they could all agree, but that would be asking a bit much.)
I think what would be a truly bad idea is to not embrace change, take a risk, and try and bring the great game of UO into the future. We built Kingdom Reborn because we love UO, and because some things about it were going to have to change in order for it to have a future.
Did we make all the right calls? Probably not, but judging from the many positive responses and comments, I think we made quite a few. As for our mistakes, the beauty of an online game is that you get to keep making it better. And that's exactly what we're going to do.
Comments? Let's hear them.
Permalink
WarCry Interviews Aaron Cohen
We have an interview today with Ultima Online Producer Aaron Cohen where he talks about Kingdom Reborn, the new 3D client for Ultima Online. This interview was conducted before E3, so we apologize if a few of the questions show their age. Nonetheless, the whole remains informative.
Answers by Aaron Cohen, Producer
Questions by GameGoddess
WarCry: Why did you choose to have no beta forum for closed beta and open beta?
Aaron Cohen: We did have a closed beta forum, and the folks there were absolutely fabulous in the amount and quality of feedback they gave.
For open beta, people are posting in the open forums for all to see, to discuss and to debate.
There was a short period where we were in closed beta and had quite a few players who weren't on the closed boards. That period was about getting more bug reports in and early indications of what we were going to see when we went into open beta. It was very useful and allowed us to discover and fix many bugs before we opened the floodgates.
WarCry: People don't seem to be happy with the new backpack. Is there any chance of having the old style that the player could organize?
Aaron Cohen: There are some people who'd like to see improvements to the freeform backpack and we are taking a look at what's possible. That goes for pretty much every issue with Kingdom Reborn. We are listening. We are making lists of requests. We are working out priorities for what to add next and what to put off until later. We don't have that list finalized quite yet, as we are just in the first week of open beta.
WarCry: Will the 2d client disappear when KR goes live? If not, what is the timeline for phasing it out?
Aaron Cohen: The legacy 2D client will be with us for quite a while. As has been the plan since this project was announced, we will keep it and support it and give it love until the player base chooses to move onto KR. I expect that is in the distant future. There is no set date.
WarCry: KR is much darker than the 2d client. Will it lighten up?
Aaron Cohen: We are seeing quite a difference between monitors and video cards. On some set ups, KR looks quite bright. On some, not so much. We are working on some lighting models and techniques that could make a difference. This lighting change will also add a few cool things, like rain and snow. This will be in an upcoming patch.
WarCry: The profile is gone. Will it return when KR goes live?
Aaron Cohen: Yes. This will be added within the next two patches.
WarCry: Will players be able to resize the chat window?
Aaron Cohen: Yes. Also within the next two patches.
WarCry: It's very hard to see things in the foliage now. The trees and grasses blend together. How will you improve this?
Aaron Cohen: We are looking at a few solutions that could help with that. Can't give you a specific answer quite yet, but we are working on it.
WarCry: Many are comparing KR to Third Dawn. Do you think it will be more accepted?
Aaron Cohen: To be fair, there are also many who are quite pleased with the new client, and many who think it has huge potential once a few issues are cleared up.
The answer is yes, it will be much more accepted than the Third Dawn client. But for those who love the 2D legacy client, it's not going anywhere for quite a while.
WarCry: Will there be a customizable interface?
Aaron Cohen: Yes, but the level that we'll be exposing to players is being debated. We don't want another situation with cheat programs proliferating. On the other hand, we do want to give players some freedom to shape their experience and how they interact with the game.
WarCry: Are there any plans for more emotes like in many of the other games out now?
Aaron Cohen: Yes, but just a few. These will be revealed soon.
WarCry: Will we be able to use UOA? Will there be features like UOA has within the game?
Aaron Cohen: The UOA that works with the current client will not be usable with the new client. And we have built many ease-of-use features into the KR that hopefully lessen the need for a third party app. And we will keep on adding features as players request them.
That's one of the great things about having this new technology platform to work with. It's easy to add stuff. It's easy to provide options and multiple ways to do things. In a year or so, KR will have functionality that no one has yet thought of simply because we can add functionality so quickly to it.
WarCry: People are complaining about fuzziness. How are you addressing this?
Aaron Cohen: This one also has to do with what monitor and what video card you are using. It also has a lot to do with aspect ratio. If the game is stretched at all, things get a little pixelated. Unfortunately, that's a downside to being forced to draw the game tile-for-tile to match an existing map.
There are some solutions we are exploring, particularly around giving the option to maintain specific aspect ratios, which helps a good deal.
I do recommend experimenting with windowed versus non-windowed mode. And try out different resolutions. If you are on a lower end machine, try running in 800 X 600, which doesn't look as nice, but should play much faster.
If you are on a higher end machine, try the higher resolutions, and you should find things become very sharp, especially if you are playing in a 4:3 aspect ratio.
WarCry: Are you worried that with a decade old game it might be a bad idea to mess with what was already there and you might alienate the hardcore fans you rely so heavily on?
Aaron Cohen: With the 2D client not going anywhere for a while, the decade old version of the game is very much available to those who want it. In fact, we hope to make a few things much better for players of 2D and of KR.
I think it is worth mentioning that many of the older hardcore players have embraced KR, and as we keep adding features to it, more will do so.
And yes, I know there is controversy and passion around the KR-vs-2D discussion, and that's exactly what we expected. It's an iterative process, where we are committed to making continual improvements, and I'm sure the players will be more than happy to commit to keep telling us what to improve. (Now, if only they could all agree, but that would be asking a bit much.)
I think what would be a truly bad idea is to not embrace change, take a risk, and try and bring the great game of UO into the future. We built Kingdom Reborn because we love UO, and because some things about it were going to have to change in order for it to have a future.
Did we make all the right calls? Probably not, but judging from the many positive responses and comments, I think we made quite a few. As for our mistakes, the beauty of an online game is that you get to keep making it better. And that's exactly what we're going to do.
Comments? Let's hear them.
Permalink