Interview: Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov on Earthrise
By Jason Weaver, Staff Writer
Published June 20, 2008
Earthrise Staff Writer Jason Weaver recently had the opportunity to speak with Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov regarding the company’s upcoming post-apocalyptic science-fiction MMO, Earthrise.
Topics covered include the game’s core features, crafting, and its skill-based combat system.
The MMO Gamer:There aren’t that many sci-fi oriented MMOs on the market, but, besides the theme, what will Earthrise bring to the table to stand out amongst all of the other current MMOs?
Atanas Atanasov: Earthrise has many gameplay aspects that set it apart from the rest of the current choices of MMO games on the market.
The game is one of the few titles that will give players a sandbox experience where the political conflict and the game economy are left into the hands of the players. We strive to give players as much freedom as possible to shape the world in these two directions.
Earthrise will also provide players will a very interesting take on crafting. Instead of creating items that suit their own needs, crafters will be encouraged to provide unique items that other players have demand for, which allows them to become influential enough to shape the market.
Player vs. Player is the heart of the game; featuring personal rivalry between players with the possibility of fully looting your opponent and grand epic battles to conquest and defend territories with strategic building construction.
To sum it up, Earthrise provides small, but important innovation in many fields of the MMO genre while remaining true to the expectations of its audience.
The MMO Gamer:You don’t go into much detail on the official website about the item creation and customization, only that it will be unlike other MMOs and potentially groundbreaking.
Can you give any more detail on this aspect of the game?
Atanas Atanasov: All items in the game will be created by players - from simple ammunition to the massive buildings in the guild-owned territories.
Only the basic items, without any special qualities will be widely available from vendors to allow restocking for those who have been fully looted in PvP combat. All other items with special abilities and powerful statistics will be made by player crafters.
Depending on what players create, the inventory choice on different servers will be unique, ensuring that crafting alone will be very rewarding experience.
In many games players decide how to customize their items and crafters only provide them with the tools to do that. But in Earthrise, end users have limited customization options and crafters actually manufacture fully customized items for use in different situations.
This is a great opportunity for clever crafters who study item manufacturing and find proper design combinations to shine and make a fortune for themselves.
The MMO Gamer: Since Earthrise is skill-based, can you elaborate more on some of the skills that will be available at launch?
Atanas Atanasov: Earthrise will feature dozens of interconnected skills for players to learn and advance in. Each skill will provide a set of special abilities used either in combat, for crafting or social activities, tactics that act as enhancements that players can slot in their abilities, and passive enhancements that advance their inherent statistics.
Skills will cover standard fare, such as ranged and close combat, using emotive interacts in combat, controlling swarms of nanobots, even psionic powers; while crafting skills will provide wide variety of technologies (known as recipes in many games) for manufacturing.
Earthrise is a game where abilities are more important than the innate strengths of the characters - it’s not what you have attained but how you use it. This opens new grounds for players to show their skill rather than just play long enough to accumulate enough gear or statistics to go through the game content with ease.
The MMO Gamer: Any plans to allow players to leave Earth and partake in space combat and/or visit other planets?
Atanas Atanasov: We don’t have such a thing planned for the time being. The action will be focused on post-apocalyptic Earth. We will let the players recover what was lost on our home planet and then think for space expansion.
The MMO Gamer: When players are offline and the character is at their “day job,” will there be an option to get a better day job and bring in more income?
Atanas Atanasov: The offline progression will offer the possibility for career development. Players can study and build a strong CV and then they will be able to take better job positions.
Our plans are to make the offline gameplay a fun and rewarding part of Earthrise without taking too much time out of the online experience for the players, so it will be quite easy to find work and to educate.
The MMO Gamer: Most MMOs ship with a weak guild interface that is missing common features (ie. ability to change rank names, guild bank, etc.) and patch them in during the following months. Will you try to ship with most of the guild features?
Atanas Atanasov: Guild management is a priority in our game and we will do everything possible to launch the game with as many features as possible.
The MMO Gamer: When are you planning for release?
Atanas Atanasov: Nothing has changed since Earthrise was announced. We are planning to release the game sometime in 2009.
The MMO Gamer: Will you maintain regular content updates post release to keep player interest and will there most likely be expansions?
Atanas Atanasov: Of course, the launch of Earthrise is just the beginning. It will not be just patches and content updates that we will be working on as our plans are to work on expansions as well.
The MMO Gamer will have continuing coverage of Earthrise in the days and weeks to come. For now, you can find further information at the game’s official website,
http://www.play-earthrise.com.
24/06/2008, 12h08
)