Cavadus
Sat, 28 Jun 2008, 14:30
Well, they've released the second part of their interview. The bit about the mini-factions is pretty interesting actually. And they also mentioned an in game stock market. Not bad.
Also included is an interview with one of the producers, enjoy!
ERHQ.de: What advantages and disadvantages do players have when joining a minor fraction instead of the main factions?
How will the gameplay between the minor and major factions look like? (i.e. PVP, team missions, etc...)
Masthead Studios: Minor factions (a.k.a. Organizations) are different from Major Factions (Continoma and Noir). Players join Major Factions in order to take part of the grand conflict between the government and the rebels. Depending on what side they take, NPCs will have different behavior towards them and certain quests can be completed in different ways. The cost of insurance – the authority that allows players to retain their property when killed – is tied with player’s loyalty towards the party that ensures them that right. The main storyline is based around Continoma and Noir. Organizations are different. Organizations are guided by their own personal interest and the feud with other organizations, and they constantly give minor quests. Each Organization is affiliated with either Continoma, or Noir, or they stand on neutral ground, but often Organizations that side with Continoma will war between each other. Organizations are based around strategic knowledge that they specialize in. These design technologies are closely guarded and given only to people who are loyal to that organization, in the form of favors. Players who gain reputation towards a faction will be allowed to receive such exclusive designs, usually powerful enhancements for available technology. Reputation is like currency – each time a player receives a favor from an Organization, his Reputation towards that organization drops and he has to work hard to recover it.
ERHQ.de: Will there be instanced zones and how will they influence the gameplay?
If there will be raidable instanced zones, what will be the goal to fight through these?
Masthead Studios: Again, Earthrise will feature an open world, which will not be instanced. The goal for completing a dungeon and killing the boss at the end would be to finish a quest or get some craftable resources, to gain experience and skills or simply to brag about it. The best items in the game will be made by players, so raiding a boss to get the best item in Earthrise will not happen.Read the rest of the interview here. (http://earthrise.onlinewelten.com/articles,id143,2.html)
To begin, we’d like to thank you, Nikolay for taking some time to speak with us. During our last interview (http://www.stratics.com/php-bin/show_content.php?content=26871) with you, which took place at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, we learned that you’ve had an extensive education in and lots of experience with illustration for both books and games. I don’t imagine you have much spare time with working on Earthrise, but are you working on any side projects that go back to your roots with book or game illustrations?
Unfortunately as you mentioned I don’t really have much spare time. But sometimes when I get home and don’t have anything else to do, I continue working on some personal projects that help me stay up to date and evolve my art in various styles and aspects through making interfaces, icons, board-game style illustrative artwork, etc. I think it is very important to refresh your artistic style and methods, or you run the risk of getting stuck.
We also learned that Earthrise is your first MMO. Now that you’ve been working on the game for a while, are you planning on continuing to work with MMOs or online gaming in general?
Working on a MMO is more intense and I think that there is a lot of a place for innovation. I plan to stay in the online gaming because of the challenging projects and the creative atmosphere.
Is Science-Fiction based artwork your forté? What other art styles or genres do you enjoy?
It was definitely the Art of Vallejo that got me started, so I can not say that Science-Fiction based artwork is my primary artwork style, but I like it a lot. Honestly I can divide the styles I like into three major groups.
The first one is more realistic art; this would be like the work I do in Earthrise and what I prefer to use for game development because of the detailed concepts and good outlook. As a fan of the Art of Covac, Vallejo, Brom and Giger I think they are a good fit, especially for this type of game.
The second one is more Illustrative, seen in some fantasy and comic books like the art of Paul Kidby and Josh Kirby, and Olivier Ledroit with his contributions to Requiem. When you have fantasy elements this is the best way to illustrate, but when you have to remain closer to the real world views and how a setting will look after a couple of hundred years this is not most appropriate style.
Third is the classic art from Leonardo da Vinci and some of my other favorites like the art of Salvador Dali and Jeronimus Bosch, all of these I really enjoy.
Lately, there’s been a lot of speculation and talk on various message forums and at our House of Commons dev chats regarding the hot topic of vehicles in Earthrise. Last time we spoke, you mentioned that the Mech would be a surprise for later… any news or juicy gossip that you can share with us yet?
Hmm Mechs... I think that they are a very interesting part of the game and give it very nice feel, especially when you’re walking close to one of them; the power and the weight of the Exoskeleton are truly palpable.
Players will need a lot of resources to “drive” the Mechs, as they use fuel, and even to craft them. I think that mostly the high end players will enjoy this type of vehicle. The huge exoskeleton mechanoids can be used for at least two major things: they can be easily loaded with construction material for quick transfers; this is perfect for relocating materials to other territories owned by the defeated team in territorial combat. The exoskeletons can also be used for direct fight and in some areas of the Island there will even be some pretty big creatures which the player can engage.
What is the art team currently working on for Earthrise and how is that coming along?
Currently most of the studio is working mainly on the Starting Island (Our start location in the game), we are making a lot of concepts, overpaints of the completed models, walking and testing each piece of the Island, consulting with the Game Designers, making sure there is nothing to be missed. And with the Character Team we are still working on the Main Character, making faces and different races, dozens of Armors and for some fresh air – weapons and pets.
Often people find that they themselves are their own worst critics. Is that true for you? What do you find people - whether it’s the public or the other Earthrise developers/designers – are criticizing or praising about how the game’s concept artwork and game screenshots are coming along?
In our team this is ”the” subject of discussion. Everyone in the team is constantly discussing the screenshots; what they like and what they don’t like. I think each one of them is very interested in what we put in the Net, what is standing for us in other sites, etc. This is great because we go through each zone a couple of times and we are able to polish it to make sure we put the best screenshots possible online.
The Earthrise team just recently released another set of gameplay screenshots last week. Any new concept artwork on the horizon or have you switched gears to begin churning out other graphics?
As I said before, we are planning to add more and more concept art and screenshots and look forward to releasing new stuff when the time comes. We continue to bring updates and new artwork to our fans, both through the Earthrise Web site and the recent addition of our monthly newsletter.
In our previous interview, you said that the biggest challenge for you was the sheer scale of Earthrise. Is that still the case? What other challenges have you come up against since then?
The main challenge remains to be the large scale of the game and the expansive world that has to be filled with content. We have already made improvements to our technology and added some really cool texturing tools to our engine which speeds up the work for our level designers a lot.
If there was any other MMO, either currently available or in production, you could work with the art team for, which would it be and why?
It’s hard to say exactly because I think that working on Earthrise gives us a lot of freedom and everything we want to make/work on for now. If we were to work on something different, it should be something challenging with Next Generation graphics, of course, and another game that encompasses the overall taste of the team like FPS or MMO Horror.
Any advice for those aspiring game artists or designers among our audience that might be looking to break into the world of creating art for online games?
Work hard and don’t be afraid to post your works on forums. You will be noticed when you achieve the necessary skills. The most important thing is to stay focused on one particular skill and to be the best in it, not to loose focus on what you are doing and most important – be different.
Stratics Central wishes to extend our sincere appreciation to Nikolay for answering our questions! Stay tuned as we bring you more exclusive interviews with the talented people behind Earthise, one of the most promising titles on the horizon!
Original Link (http://www.stratics.com/php-bin/show_content.php?content=28004&name=Earthrise)
Also included is an interview with one of the producers, enjoy!
ERHQ.de: What advantages and disadvantages do players have when joining a minor fraction instead of the main factions?
How will the gameplay between the minor and major factions look like? (i.e. PVP, team missions, etc...)
Masthead Studios: Minor factions (a.k.a. Organizations) are different from Major Factions (Continoma and Noir). Players join Major Factions in order to take part of the grand conflict between the government and the rebels. Depending on what side they take, NPCs will have different behavior towards them and certain quests can be completed in different ways. The cost of insurance – the authority that allows players to retain their property when killed – is tied with player’s loyalty towards the party that ensures them that right. The main storyline is based around Continoma and Noir. Organizations are different. Organizations are guided by their own personal interest and the feud with other organizations, and they constantly give minor quests. Each Organization is affiliated with either Continoma, or Noir, or they stand on neutral ground, but often Organizations that side with Continoma will war between each other. Organizations are based around strategic knowledge that they specialize in. These design technologies are closely guarded and given only to people who are loyal to that organization, in the form of favors. Players who gain reputation towards a faction will be allowed to receive such exclusive designs, usually powerful enhancements for available technology. Reputation is like currency – each time a player receives a favor from an Organization, his Reputation towards that organization drops and he has to work hard to recover it.
ERHQ.de: Will there be instanced zones and how will they influence the gameplay?
If there will be raidable instanced zones, what will be the goal to fight through these?
Masthead Studios: Again, Earthrise will feature an open world, which will not be instanced. The goal for completing a dungeon and killing the boss at the end would be to finish a quest or get some craftable resources, to gain experience and skills or simply to brag about it. The best items in the game will be made by players, so raiding a boss to get the best item in Earthrise will not happen.Read the rest of the interview here. (http://earthrise.onlinewelten.com/articles,id143,2.html)
To begin, we’d like to thank you, Nikolay for taking some time to speak with us. During our last interview (http://www.stratics.com/php-bin/show_content.php?content=26871) with you, which took place at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, we learned that you’ve had an extensive education in and lots of experience with illustration for both books and games. I don’t imagine you have much spare time with working on Earthrise, but are you working on any side projects that go back to your roots with book or game illustrations?
Unfortunately as you mentioned I don’t really have much spare time. But sometimes when I get home and don’t have anything else to do, I continue working on some personal projects that help me stay up to date and evolve my art in various styles and aspects through making interfaces, icons, board-game style illustrative artwork, etc. I think it is very important to refresh your artistic style and methods, or you run the risk of getting stuck.
We also learned that Earthrise is your first MMO. Now that you’ve been working on the game for a while, are you planning on continuing to work with MMOs or online gaming in general?
Working on a MMO is more intense and I think that there is a lot of a place for innovation. I plan to stay in the online gaming because of the challenging projects and the creative atmosphere.
Is Science-Fiction based artwork your forté? What other art styles or genres do you enjoy?
It was definitely the Art of Vallejo that got me started, so I can not say that Science-Fiction based artwork is my primary artwork style, but I like it a lot. Honestly I can divide the styles I like into three major groups.
The first one is more realistic art; this would be like the work I do in Earthrise and what I prefer to use for game development because of the detailed concepts and good outlook. As a fan of the Art of Covac, Vallejo, Brom and Giger I think they are a good fit, especially for this type of game.
The second one is more Illustrative, seen in some fantasy and comic books like the art of Paul Kidby and Josh Kirby, and Olivier Ledroit with his contributions to Requiem. When you have fantasy elements this is the best way to illustrate, but when you have to remain closer to the real world views and how a setting will look after a couple of hundred years this is not most appropriate style.
Third is the classic art from Leonardo da Vinci and some of my other favorites like the art of Salvador Dali and Jeronimus Bosch, all of these I really enjoy.
Lately, there’s been a lot of speculation and talk on various message forums and at our House of Commons dev chats regarding the hot topic of vehicles in Earthrise. Last time we spoke, you mentioned that the Mech would be a surprise for later… any news or juicy gossip that you can share with us yet?
Hmm Mechs... I think that they are a very interesting part of the game and give it very nice feel, especially when you’re walking close to one of them; the power and the weight of the Exoskeleton are truly palpable.
Players will need a lot of resources to “drive” the Mechs, as they use fuel, and even to craft them. I think that mostly the high end players will enjoy this type of vehicle. The huge exoskeleton mechanoids can be used for at least two major things: they can be easily loaded with construction material for quick transfers; this is perfect for relocating materials to other territories owned by the defeated team in territorial combat. The exoskeletons can also be used for direct fight and in some areas of the Island there will even be some pretty big creatures which the player can engage.
What is the art team currently working on for Earthrise and how is that coming along?
Currently most of the studio is working mainly on the Starting Island (Our start location in the game), we are making a lot of concepts, overpaints of the completed models, walking and testing each piece of the Island, consulting with the Game Designers, making sure there is nothing to be missed. And with the Character Team we are still working on the Main Character, making faces and different races, dozens of Armors and for some fresh air – weapons and pets.
Often people find that they themselves are their own worst critics. Is that true for you? What do you find people - whether it’s the public or the other Earthrise developers/designers – are criticizing or praising about how the game’s concept artwork and game screenshots are coming along?
In our team this is ”the” subject of discussion. Everyone in the team is constantly discussing the screenshots; what they like and what they don’t like. I think each one of them is very interested in what we put in the Net, what is standing for us in other sites, etc. This is great because we go through each zone a couple of times and we are able to polish it to make sure we put the best screenshots possible online.
The Earthrise team just recently released another set of gameplay screenshots last week. Any new concept artwork on the horizon or have you switched gears to begin churning out other graphics?
As I said before, we are planning to add more and more concept art and screenshots and look forward to releasing new stuff when the time comes. We continue to bring updates and new artwork to our fans, both through the Earthrise Web site and the recent addition of our monthly newsletter.
In our previous interview, you said that the biggest challenge for you was the sheer scale of Earthrise. Is that still the case? What other challenges have you come up against since then?
The main challenge remains to be the large scale of the game and the expansive world that has to be filled with content. We have already made improvements to our technology and added some really cool texturing tools to our engine which speeds up the work for our level designers a lot.
If there was any other MMO, either currently available or in production, you could work with the art team for, which would it be and why?
It’s hard to say exactly because I think that working on Earthrise gives us a lot of freedom and everything we want to make/work on for now. If we were to work on something different, it should be something challenging with Next Generation graphics, of course, and another game that encompasses the overall taste of the team like FPS or MMO Horror.
Any advice for those aspiring game artists or designers among our audience that might be looking to break into the world of creating art for online games?
Work hard and don’t be afraid to post your works on forums. You will be noticed when you achieve the necessary skills. The most important thing is to stay focused on one particular skill and to be the best in it, not to loose focus on what you are doing and most important – be different.
Stratics Central wishes to extend our sincere appreciation to Nikolay for answering our questions! Stay tuned as we bring you more exclusive interviews with the talented people behind Earthise, one of the most promising titles on the horizon!
Original Link (http://www.stratics.com/php-bin/show_content.php?content=28004&name=Earthrise)