Rift Executive Producer Scott Hartsman explains how dynamic content drives the world of Telara
As extra-planar invasion-themed MMO Rift passes the one year mark, I caught up with Executive Producer Scott Hartsman to dive deep on one of Rift’s more unique aspects: its dynamic world.
In our chat, Hartsman explains how Rift was initially conceived as a completely dynamic, unpredictable MMO, and why Trion had to step back from that ambition in the face of underwhelming playtests. What’s happening underneath the hood when a rift opens, spilling forth a planar invasion force? How has Trion turned Rift into an “entertainment on demand” experience with its instant action feature, without detracting from the unpredictability and sense of discovery that Rift’s dynamic content makes possible?
Even if you’re not a Rift player, Hartsman gives provides a great perspective on the process behind building a different kind of MMO, and how that leads to unforeseen consequences like a cataclysmic battle in the least exciting place in Telara.
The anatomy of a PlanetSide 2 battle in 2,000 words
It’s a big deal when we put a game on our cover: it’s a massive undertaking of asset-wrangling, hours of interviewing, page storyboarding, cutting, transcribing, and other tasks that make us perfect models for clichéd stock photos of “people at work.” For our PlanetSide 2 issue, I came home with buckets of good words—more stuff than we could fit in a magazine.
These are those words. I got SOE’s Matt Higby to walk me through—hour by hour—how a play for a single base in PlanetSide 2′s multi-continent map might go down. His description animates the many moving parts of PS2′s combat ecosystem, and gives a glimmer into the tough design decisions SOE has to make to produce a PvP-only massive FPS. (War) story time!
Ken Levine interview
This interview first appeared in PC Gamer UK issue 233.
BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter like its predecessors, but a less lonely one. You play Booker DeWitt, who is trying to escape the flying city of Columbia with a girl named Elizabeth before a terrifying steampunk robot called Songbird catches her. The city is a spectacular airborne flotilla of districts suspended by vast balloons – a testament to America’s cultural might, and its fondness for things that are big but not terribly useful. Our last good look at the game was a spectacular 15-minute demonstration at E3.
I spoke to creative director Ken Levine about why Elizabeth is the centrepiece not just of the story, but of the technology that drives it.
PC Gamer Podcast #299.5: Interview with Bioware’s Lead Writer Daniel Erickson
Christmas is canceled: there will be no podcast this week as we’re busy decking the halls of our magazine to get the latest issue to Santa’s printers in time. Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for Star Wars: the Old Republic, swung by the office to cheer us on and chat about TOR on its launch day. We chat about his favorite light and dark side moments, which classes are just plain evil, and why faction changes just don’t make sense in the Star Wars universe.
We hope you’ll have a fantastic holiday season full of wonder-frags and epic loots. Look for podcast #300 in the new year. It’ll be the cat’s meow.
Behind-the-scenes with Songhammer, the epic band that rocked BlizzCon’s music contest
You might not have noticed, but there was another band (on top of the Foo Fighters and Blizzard’s own Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain) worthy of your praise at BlizzCon last month: the almighty Songhammer. We sat down with the two gamers that formed the army of epic rock, wicked guitars, and WoW-centric lyrics that won third place in the Original Song Contest at this year’s BlizzCon. Between bursts of guitar riffs and giant dragons breathing fire, they told us their tale and talked about some their top songs, like “We are the Horde” and “Armies of the Light.”
Read on to learn more about this rocktastic duo and grab free MP3s of their premier songs at the end of the interview.
Heroes of Newerth director talks about mentoring
As action-RTS Heroes of Newerth prepares to introduce new features and a few surprises at Dreamhack, Director of Operations Brad Bower talked to us about how S2 is developing the game by providing more effective teaching tools for new players.
He explained how HoN’s mentoring system mimics the way we tend to learn games from friends in real-life, and how HoN’s updates will make the client itself a learning resource for new players.
GOG director explains the distributor’s new direction, how “good old” principles still apply
Last week, Good Old Games announced a shift toward games that are not quite so old. I asked Good Old Games’ Managing Director, Guillaume Rambourg, what this means for the core of the business, classic PC games, and exactly how GOG.com is going to balance its ideals and identity with the business of newer games.
He laid some fears to rest, and explained how “newer” games should not be confused with “brand new.”
Bring back the gank: How Mists of Pandaria will return old-school PvP to World of Warcraft
We had a chance to sit down with World of Warcraft’s Senior Game Producer, John Lagrave, at this year’s BlizzCon to talk about what Blizzard wants to do with PvP in Mists of Pandaria. And they’ve got some big plans to bring back the memorable chaos of huge open-world fights and group ganking alongside the ultra-serene Pandaren race.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Todd Howard Interview
This interview originally appeared in PC Gamer UK issue 232. Alongside our Skyrim preview.
Playing Skyrim made me realise just how huge, fresh and exciting it really is. I asked game director Todd Howard how far it’s come from Oblivion, and what some of his favourite discoveries have been.
Gabe Newell on his Dota 2 obsession, Half-Life protests and EA’s Origin
This interview originally appeared in PC Gamer UK issue 232. Alternatively you can watch the video interview.
Valve are constantly surprising. One month they’re making one of their most popular games, Team Fortress 2, free to play, and the next they’re running a $1 million tournament for the upcoming Dota 2.
That makes any chance to speak to company co-founder Gabe Newell a pleasure, because you never know what you’re going to get. I sat down with him during the Dota 2 tournament to talk about his obsession with his company’s new game, his thoughts on EA’s Steam-rival Origin, and what motivates him to come into work each day.
Introversion’s Chris Delay on shifting from Subversion to Prison Architect: “I wanted to build Alcatraz”
One week ago, Introversion dramatically announced that they have shifted development away from their procedural bank-heist sim, Subversion to work a completely new game for submission to the Independent Games Festival. Their new game is called Prison Architect. It lets players construct and maintain high security prisons. We got in touch with Introversion’s Chris Delay to find out why the team decided to put Subversion on hold, how they made the decision to drop a game that they’ve been working on for years, and what inspired them to make Prison Architect instead.
Exclusive Core Blaze interview reveals MMO platforming and secret boss encounters
Nobody likes a mindless grind in their MMOs, following in the footsteps of the countless players who have already optimized all the content. One upcoming MMO hoping to shatter the mold is Core Blaze, the Unreal 3-powered hack-’n'-slash from Gamania. We asked Jacky Chu, chief operating officer at developer RedGate Studios, how Core Blaze will differentiate itself from the pack. Check out his responses, translated into English.
RUSE developer Eugen explains upcoming Wargame: European Escalation
RUSE might be my favorite RTS of the past several years, and one reason for that is because developer Eugen Systems seemed to design it with wargamers in mind. It could be frantic, but it also felt a bit like what would happen if you turned Panzer General into an RTS.
So it’s fitting that their next game is explicitly called Wargame: European Escalation, and I got in touch with Eugen CEO Alexis Le Dressay to learn just how this would differ from RUSE. It turns out that Wargame will be very different, throwing out Ruse’s deception mechanics as well as a lot of RTS conventions. The result could be an even more interesting real-time wargame set in the late Cold War.
CCP chief on layoffs, mistakes: “We had the mindset that we could achieve anything.”
Last week, CCP announced major layoffs and a significant shift in priorities away from Vampire: The Masquerade-themed MMO World of Darkness and back toward EVE Online.
We had a long chat with CEO Hilmar Petursson about the changes, and where they leave CCP. He explains why CCP is narrowing its focus, and says that it was “hubris” that led CCP astray.
More Damn Kharacters – Overhaul Games’ Trent Oster on putting the HD into MDK2 HD
Before Bioware became the RPG juggernaut it is today, it made a couple of action games – the mech combat sim Shattered Steel, and MDK2, the sequel to Shiny’s surreal, phenomenally punishing shooter. A decade later, former Bioware man Trent Oster is returning to update the world of Max, Doctor Fluke Hawkins and Kurt… one of many backronyms created in those dark days when everyone thought games really could teach children to murder instead of merely making it look fricking awesome… and he’s even started a brand new digital distribution service, Beamdog, to distribute it. Digitally!
I caught up with him to ask about both his two new companies – Overhaul Games and IdeaSpark – and why now is the time to bring MDK2′s bizarre mix of comedy and shooting back to the world.
