|
|
Lyra-Stone - 9/20/04
|
Recently I got a chance to sit down with Lyra-Stone, PR lead
for Reclamation, and speak a little bit about character advancement.
Take a peek at how it went, hope you enjoy -Raven
|
| |
| Raven: We have all seen the
general Reclamation information released over the past few months.
Today I'd like to delve a little deeper into a topic that will
interest the vast majority of the MMORPG community. Player advancement.
In just about every game on the market today, "leveling"
is the primary goal. Is this any different in Reclamation? |
| |
| Stone:
I don't think that it is so much that leveling itself is the primary
goal of most games, but more that getting through the content
offered is the goal. And with most of these games their content
is static, with new stuff available with a patch or expansion.
One of the methods for slowing down consumption of content is
levels, since it takes a developer months to prepare new content,
and literally hours for players to complete it. The only thing
to stop immediate consumption of all the content, and therefore
limiting their playtime and monthly income, is to throw in some
levels. In Reclamation, we do things a little differently. Levels
are there, I mean what would an RPG be without them? But the main
focus of our game is interaction, and obviously roleplaying. Because
of this, our content is dynamic, evolving as the players interact
and create large stories and smaller stories all weaving into
each other. A level doesn't stop you from roleplaying or interacting,
being part of the world, grouping with others. Instead levels
are pretty much there for those that want them. Gaining 'power'
in levels isn't a necessity by any means, but it can be fun in
itself, and obviously help for combat. |
| |
| Raven: With that said, how would
a player that is able to play say only a few hours a week compare
to a 'power gamer' who can play quite often in terms of Content
available to them? |
| |
| Stone: Well the casual player
will certainly not have the levels that the power gamer will,
yet that's not really a big roadblock. It's unrealistic to think
that someone who plays 1 hour a day and someone who plays 12 hours
a day can really keep pace with each other in terms of level advancement.
But I doubt that the casual player's goal is to be the uberest
level there is. Reclamation is a roleplaying game, first and foremost.
Any player can come in, stay in character, interact with those
around them and have a good time, levels not required. They can
also be involved in the stories going on around them, the things
that make up the game itself. It's really a matter of looking
at MMORPG persistent world's differently. We've taken out many
of the things people have come to know of 'RPG's' single player
and multiplayer. We took those things away, like good NPC's (not
monsters), canned quests, and simple click and walk away combat.
The game isn't a stairway to level 100, it's a persistent world
waiting to be explored, populated by actual players, taking your
character in the direction you want, and just being part of the
world. It turns out that in this kind of situation, with the right
setup, you get a pretty exciting game world, with a lot of things
going on that anyone can get involved with. So to compare the
power gamer to the casual gamer isn't fair. If both are good players
who stay in character, they can find the same fulfillment. |
| |
| Raven: Lyra's first production,
Underlight, was often seen as a niche game. With main systems
of character advancement for the vast majority of MMORPG's removed,
how do you see Reclamation as moving away from a niche description
and appealing to a broader player base? |
| |
| Stone: Let me quickly address
the point that the systems of character advancement aren't removed,
they're just different. In place of canned quests players actually
tailor quests to you as another player. But, as far as the rest.
I think that in the beginning it was fine for MMORPG's to try
to grab everyone, shoot for one million subscribers. I don't think
that's a lasting trend. I don't want to be cliché and call
this a saturated market, but it's a crowded one. In a crowded
market where everyone's selling the same thing, the best thing
you can do is carve out a niche. We'll be providing something
others don't have or want to risk providing: an enforced roleplaying
environment. We know that there are a lot of roleplayers out there
who play other games and try to roleplay in small groups, we know
there are people who've yet to try true roleplaying who will enjoy
it, we know there are people uninterested in roleplaying who will
try our game and find out they enjoy it. Reclamation is still
a game with lots of cool game mechanics and spells and classes
and combat and guilds and monsters. We just threw in the added
bonus of roleplaying. That will separate us, as well as our unique
gameworld concept and advancement ideas. So yeah, we're looking
for a niche, but I don't want to confuse that with alienating
anyone. Anyone can get into Reclamation and roleplay, it's easy
and fun. |
| |
| Raven: Switching gears just
a bit, briefly how do orbits in Reclamation compare to traditional
levels, and can we expect any caps or limits on the advancement
system? |
| |
| Stone:
Orbits are levels, in fact they've become sort of more traditional
with Reclamation. When you get enough experience to gain an orbit,
you'll be able to use a level up button which gives you two points
to distribute to your stats. This is an orbit, you don't get the
orbit until you've distributed your two stat points. This allows
you to hold off on placing stat points until you're sure what
you want to do with them. The limit right now is 99 orbits. |
| |
| Raven: You touched on the ability
for players to tailor their own quests, rather than seek out NPC's
for such purposes. Will any player be able to do this, at any
given time or is this limited to certain 'elite' characters? |
| |
| Stone: All players are going
to start with the ability to give other players quests for the
lower level arts. They start with the art Minor Plateau (a plateau
is each level of an art) and are able to quest for plats from
1 to 19. Those who excel at, are interested in, and pursue this
type of play can go on to become teachers who will be able to
grant higher plateaus and actually train others in new arts. There
is going to be a limit on how many times a single person can go
to a single teacher, however, to encourage more interaction. The
best part about this is that your quest to go to a dangerous area
and kill a monster didn't come about from some canned dialogue
that anyone else can go and do as well, receiving the exact same
canned dialogue, it came about from interacting with another person,
who made this task just for you. You like killing things, so you
get to kill things. Or maybe you like to spy, so you get to spy
when that kind of thing is available. It's all unique and dynamic.
It's unlikely that two people will get the same quest for the
same thing, or even the same quest ever! |
| |
| Raven: While the main focus
of Reclamation is not leveling in the least bit, it is still ever
present. This system seems very heavily reliant on the player
base, do you think that this ever becomes a hindrance? |
| |
| Stone: I won't pretend that
it can't. Obviously it could. Although I don't think that there's
much chance of anything being totally game-breaking, we're prepared
for a lot of things. Having run Underlight for over 6 years, we've
seen a lot from players, by no means everything, but a lot to
watch for. But I don't think that a majority of players play to
break a game, they play to have fun. As long as a majority of
players still play for that reason, then it is easy to keep things
running smoothly. Cheaters become only a minor nuisance in this
kind of atmosphere, something we can deal with quickly. Other
kinds of issues are actually solved by the social nature of our
game. I know of only one true way to break a game, and that's
any game, no players. That's not something I'm worried about in
the least. We're making this game from our vision, our experience,
and with the help of a great community, I don't think we can do
much more than that. Hopefully by doing that we'll turn out the
best game we can make. But, besides all that, and being ready
for problems, I'll tell ya, there's nothing better than the creativity
of players. They are going to make Reclamation by their creativity
and that's what it's all about. |
| |
| Raven: Over time players are
certain to hit a ceiling in their characters advancement. While
there is a wealth of dynamic content from the players each and
every day are there plans for any formal alternate advancement
systems within Reclamation such as Tradeskills? |
| |
| Stone: Well, there are a number
of things, I don't really see them as "alternate advancement
systems" so much as just being the game itself. It's all
integrated so that you're not like opening up yet another window
to view your alternate advancement skill points or anything like
that. There's always the guilds, these are a very important part
of the game, and any player could end up one of the rulers of
one, or work their way up the ranks. Becoming a teacher could
be considered an alternate advancement path. Plus there's forging.
We haven't really gotten to talk a lot about it, and I don't plan
to right now, but this is the method for players to create items.
Aside from that, everything is really up to you, there's not going
to be a farming skill and a mercantile skill, these just don't
fit the world we created. There will be plenty of opportunities
to continue making progress on your character. |
| |
| Raven: I think we've covered
most traditional items pertaining to character advancement. Is
there anything else in general that you would like to add? |
| |
| Stone: I think that that's the
longest interview, for my answers anyway, that I've ever done.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me. |
| |
| Raven: It is much appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to be here. |
| |
| |
|
|
| |
Back
|
|
