War of the Ring

Warcry: Do you think War of the Rings will be mostly played by the RTS-players or RPG-players?

Ed: I'm thinking that the game will mostly be played by RTS players. It's and RTS through and through. We've spent lots of time on multiplayer game balancing just so the RTS player wouldn't be disappointed. On the single player side, it's true we've created a fun set of missions from the Tolkien history and laced more story throughout, but our focus remains on making a great RTS.

Warcry:Do you think your game will be able to (strategically) measure it self with other RTS titles that will be released at the same time?

Ed:Interesting question because, inadvertently, it leads to a bit of a philosophical answer. Right now, the world is awaiting games such as the Age of Mythology Expansion and the new Empires game. Both of these games are fundamentally different from the game we are making. Those games appeal to the builders among us. Like Rise of Nations, they focus on the infrastructural portion of the RTS equation. Games like Battle Realms, Warcraft, and War of the Ring focus on the flip side of the equation. This means that in our game, the player will win based on how well he understands and uses his units and the environment. Neither game style is wrong, they are just different.

Right now, The RTS category and the Strategy category is way to glutted with a wide variety of titles which should be broken down into subcategories. Right now The Sims is right along side C&C:Generals in the Strategy category which seems odd given how completely different those games are from one another. I think as more adults become game savvy we'll see a refinement of those labels.

Lastly, from a quality perspective, I think we measure up really well. Liquid has always done everything in its power to bring you the best games. That belief grows everyday.

Warcry: WarCraft left a great legacy to most of the modern RTS games. How much influence from WarCraft can be recognized in your game? What concepts of your game are original?

Ed: When we built Battle Realms, we did so from the ground up. I had worked on Command & Conquer, Red Alert, and even games like Siege before that. So there was a lot of good stuff there too. The same can be said for War of the Ring. That product comes from us. No cloning or copying. That said, we have all played just about every RTS that has come out; every one of them with at least one good idea or enhancement. We would be fools to say that we didn't learn from that, but what we created. We created from our minds. So I guess that in some ways you could say that we believe all the concepts in the game to be original. Depending on how far back you pull your perspective though, you will definitely see similarities between other RTS's. (we too build units, harvest resources, click on enemies to attack them, etc.) But like a good chef, we've chosen new ways to blend those things which we've seen before and bring new ingredients into the mix.

Warcry: There are two sides that the player can choose to play: the good side or the evil side. How convincing is the evil side in being evil and what is the key to success for the evil side?

Ed: The motivations of the evil side are as they are in the books; to destroy the elves and other good folk and take over the lands. The evil side will corrupt the lands that they take over and the mission types range from destroying the enemy to assassinating key figures.

Warcry: Will players be able to "rush" each other when playing online, or have you taken precautions to prevent a "rush" strategy?

Ed: Loaded question. We've tried not to completely do away with the "rush" strategy. It is after all a viable strategy. What we've tried to do is balance the units capable of it so that the cost of doing so is balanced. Every troop in the game has a purpose which makes every unit in the game worth building and "balanced" with respect to the others. If by "rush" you mean the abuse of a poorly balanced unit, rest assured that that won't be there.

Warcry: Tell us about the warfare; will troops be able to make formations? What kind of micro-management will there be when going to battle?

Ed: Troops will be able to be locked in the formation of your choosing. We are doing it this way because most formations from real world combat don't work in this style RTS. So the player will be able to make the group look like whatever he wants and then lock them that way.

In terms of micromanagement, it will be mixed. Some units, like the Gondor Swordsman will have little micro, other than any dancing that you do for the sake of keeping him alive. Other units are in the middle like the Giant Spider, who has the ability to stun its current target or spray an area stunning a whole group. A third group will benefit greatly from micro, like Legolas, who had three different abilities which he can use in addition to being a great archer.

Warcry: Liquid's previous RTS game, Battle Realms, had unlimited resources on the map. When the resources emptied, they would reappear again after an amount of time. Will this be the case in War of the Ring? Will players fight to control resources on the map? One of the resources in the game is called the "fate" resource that you can earn from successful battles. That is not a "physical" resource, is it?

Ed: The "physical" resources are "Food" and "Ore". Food is the biological resource which is the main resource for the creation of units. Ore in the "inorganic" resource used primarily in the creation of upgrades and buildings. The third resource "Fate" is accumulated through combat and is used for the purchase of hero abilities and "Fate Powers". Fate Powers are especially powerful effects which modify the battlefield to your advantage.

Warcry: What can you tell us about the multiplayer features of the game?

Ed: You should expect 8 player multiplayer with a number of different gameplay styles... Elimination, Capture the Ring, and Catapult are just three of the 5 we have planned.

Warcry: Successful games are often made addictive. They have these "catchy" things that gives the game a long re-playability. Can you tell us about some of these catchy things that you, just like all game developers, have added to your game?

Ed: I could, but then our competition would know our secrets. Not a good idea when you're trying to take over the world. BWAAHHHHAHHAHAHAHAH!

Thank you for your time Ed!

References: http://www.lotr.com/frame_warring.jsp