Interview with Brian Green of NDS: Meridian 59

Recently, I had the pleasure to sit down with Brian "Psychochild" Green to discuss Meridian 59, the oldest MMOG in continuing commercial release. On the verge of releasing a brand new graphics overhaul and a continuous stream of content updates, I had to stick Brian with some questions about his history, the game, and how he feels about the MMOG genre in general.

Mystery: To begin, can you please tell us who you are, and what you do?

Brian: I'm Brian Green, often known online as Psychochild. I'm one of the co-founders of Near Death Studios. My partner is Rob Ellis II, known as Q in Meridian 59. I do most of the coding, Rob does most of the art and level layout. We share responsibility for various other aspects of the business. We've both been in the industry for many years, working on Meridian 59 for most of those years.

Mystery: How long have you been in game development? How did you get your start? Do you look back on your life and imagine that this is what you thought you would be doing in 2003?

Brian: I've been a game designer all my life, but just didn't know it. :) I made a lot of silly little games as a kid, writing them down on paper with a friend. I got into programming early and wanted to copy the games I played on my consoles at home.

I got into online game development in college, first playing then programming on text MUDs. I did that for about 6 years before I got my job at 3DO working on Meridian 59 in 1998, based mostly on the strength of my knowledge of MUD development. I've been working on online games professionally since then.

Did I have any idea I'd be where I am today? Absolutely not. I think on a subconscious level I knew I wanted to be a game developer, but I didn't dream about being one growing up. It wasn't until college that I realized, "Oh, people get paid to make games!" I never imagined that I'd get a job making games. I never imagined that I'd be working primarily on online games. I never imagined that I'd start my own business. However, I am very happy with my position now!

Mystery: Dr. Bartle, in his book "Designing Virtual Worlds", details an agonizing process of development for MMOGs that includes at least a three year development cycle, millions of dollars, and no assured market for your game when it's finished. Why would anyone in their right mind be interested in starting another endeavor like this?

Brian: The obvious answer is money. For all the costs, for all the problems, you could bring in a lot of money if you are successful. It's also the "hot new thing" to do.

For us, however, the answer is a little different. We've worked on Meridian 59 for years and wanted to save the game we love from oblivion. Meridian 59 has been overlooked by a lot of other players, and that's a bit of a shame. Meridian offers a lot of options that other games have only recently begun to offer. For example, we have in-game mail where players can write messages directly to other players that are offline. The game world is interesting and unique, and it offers a great sense of advancement without forcing people onto the "treadmill" you find in other games.

We relaunched the game and are working on improving it out of a desire to share the game with others rather than a trying to become rich. Obviously we'd like to eat and keep rent paid, though. :) But, we could certainly be making more money applying our knowledge and experience in a larger company.

Mystery: What have you been working on, specifically, for the last couple of months?

Brian: We've been working on new content for the game. I've been coding up new items and Rob's been working on new areas for an upcoming content patch. We've also been working towards the release of the new graphics engine and client. I recently added server-side support for colored dynamic lighting, which allows us to place lights automatically in the world.

I think my favorite accomplishment obviously has to be working on the new graphics engine for Meridian 59. Bringing dynamic lights and hardware acceleration to the game is very exciting! It's great to see a game I love to play get a little facelift in the graphics department. The gameplay is excellent, so improving the rendering engine is a very exciting for me as a fan of the game.

Mystery: The proliferation of non-PC platforms in the game industry has yet to really hit the MMOG industry, probably because of the market for PCs and the common requirement for a keyboard in order to really take advantage of the game's interface. Do you have any plans to port your interface to other platforms? How about the proliferation of wireless handheld devices
-- are there any aspects of your game that translate to the limited medium of PDAs?

Brian: Given Meridian 59's relatively modest requirements, we have thought about porting the game to handheld and wireless platforms. It's an option we're still investigating at this point.

Wireless platforms are hard, because they usually make text input a lot harder than if you use a keyboard. This means that communication and community are hindered as people cannot fully play the game on the wireless devices. However, I think there might be a market for programs that let you do some things offline, like buying and selling resources or crafting, via a wireless device.

Personally, I think that consoles will probably eventually dominate the online RPG market. Console games always sell more, and not having to deal with the messy issues of the PC to get a game working is very appealing to many people. Personally, however, I like the freedom and ease of development that the PC offers.

Mystery: Have you had any direct interaction with your fan-base? Any interesting stories you can share?

Brian: Oh, certainly! I've met with fans many times and have made some good friends within the player base. I think the most interesting thing that happens is when you finally get to place a face with a name you've seen online. Seeing the person behind the character is a great experience, and it's really cool to finally meet someone you've talked to many times in the game.

The main lesson I've learned is that people are different online than offline. It's interesting to find out that the talkative person you know is really shy offline. It's often easy to forget that there are real people behind the names in the game.

Stay tuned for Part 2!