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Massively speaks with Black Prophecy development director Simon Bachmann
by James Egan Apr 24th 2009 at 5:00PM

Massively is watching the influx of sci-fi MMOs very closely and we're happy to point out that gamers will soon have a number of options for space-based gameplay. While gamers will be flying and dogfighting in Jumpgate Evolution this summer, there's another dark horse in the running for your play time: Black Prophecy, a sci-fi MMO in development at Reakktor Media.

Whereas the reigning sci-fi MMO title EVE Online has a well-deserved reputation for appealing to a hardcore audience, Black Prophecy is decidedly more casual. This is a design decision that Reakktor feels will keep their game accessible to a wider audience, although they state that hardcore players will still find the content is engaging on a collective level. We fired off some questions to Reakktor Media's Simon Bachmann, development director on Black Prophecy, about what the game will offer sci-fi fans and some of what we can expect from Black Prophecy's gameplay.


A recent interview with Reakktor Media's CEO Kirk Lenke hints that Black Prophecy is designed to be friendly to casual gamers, as opposed to a title like EVE Online which has traditionally appealed to "hardcore" sci-fi MMO gamers. What are some of the elements of Black Prophecy's gameplay that could be appealing for the casual MMO gamer? And are there less casual elements to the game for those seeking more depth?

We have focused on designing the character advancement gameplay in a way that does not force players to spend weeks or months just to reach a single goal. This allows players to jump into their cockpit and enjoy the game alone or with their friends whenever they want to, without the necessity to excessively grind their way through the game like it is daily routine in other comparable games.

Together with the action-paced real-time combat system, we are specifically serving the target group of the casual gamer but still offer more in-depth content for hardcore gamers. An example for this is the clan system where clans will be able to build own clans stations that can be flexibly expanded with numerous different station modules. With such a station as home base, clans can then participate in the daily battles for resources and of course honour and glory for their faction.

Is Black Prophecy purely ship-based, or will players have avatars as well?

In Black Prophecy, the ship represents the actual player character, which can be assembled with numerous different ship parts and weapons. It's quite similar to how you would equip your character with body armour in an MMO with 3D player avatars. In addition to this, players will also have a 3D avatar of their pilot which is fully customisable and will appear in dialogues with NPCs or in conversations with other players.

Can you tell me about the perspective that players will have in Black Prophecy while flying in space? Will the game be experienced through first person views from within the cockpit, or the more standard third person view of the ship and its surroundings?

Black Prophecy will offer both perspectives for the player to choose from. The third person perspective puts you behind your ship with the regular HUD elements. The first person perspective comes in two different ways. The player will be able to choose either between a fully designed cockpit with the regular HUD elements or the standard first person view with the regular HUD elements, but without the cockpit graphics.

The recent trailer for Black Prophecy showed some rather stunning scenes of flight and combat in space. Will flight in the game have dynamic joystick-style control, or click-to-move?

The decision to use a real-time, physics-based combat system was made very early in the planning phase. In Black Prophecy you will have full control of your ship in ways of using the classic WASD keyboard setup and mouse, as well as game controllers. An explicit support for joysticks is still a topic to discuss whereby we will involve our community to hear their ideas and wishes.

I've read that advancement in Black Prophecy will be tied to the completion of missions. Will players level up in Black Prophecy as with many other MMO titles, or will their advancement be tied to unlocking new levels of equipment or technology?

The skill system is quite similar to commonly used systems. The player receives experience points by performing specific actions, such as killing NPCs or accomplishing missions, and levels up within the maximum level range. With increasing level, the player gains access to better version of items such as ship parts and weapons.

The advancement is tied to missions insofar that important missions like the story missions are only available from special NPCs in designated mission hubs. Once the player has completed these missions, the next mission hub will be unlocked and appear as a warp destination on the star map. Mission hubs are also explicitly designed to fit the player's level within a specific range to guide the player through the character advancement. Next to the story missions, these mission hubs will also offer regular missions that either play in instances or open world sectors but again are limited to players within the appropriate level range.

Will Black Prophecy have player-vs.-player combat which can occur anywhere, or will PvP take place in specific zones, servers, or missions? Will PvP be tied in to a character's advancement, as with PvE mission content?

Open PvP areas are definitely on our schedule but are still heavily works-in-progress, and for that reason we are not able to provide any information at the current time.

PvP will play in instances but also in open world areas where players receive specific PvP missions. Within these missions, objectives can be assigned to single or multiple team members which support strategic approaches of the players and require good teamwork. Like in PvE missions, experience points are distributed for the completion of a PvP mission and so they are a possible way to advance your character.

Black Prophecy's lore paints a picture of epic conflict. In humanity's future, players can choose to be one of the biologically-superior Genides or the technologically-superior Tyi, thus choosing one side in the struggle between these opposing factions. Will the players and their clans (guilds) have the option of neutrality and playing on their own terms, or by design will everyone in Black Prophecy choose a side in galactic conflicts?

During the prologue missions, the player is introduced to the story and learns more about each faction. At the end of the prologue, the player will be driven into the situation where he has to join either side or be lost in the depths of space forever. This decision determines the player's fate and cannot be reversed. Please understand that we cannot go into details any further as we do not want to spoil the story.

As both player factions face a common threat, the ancient Restorer alien race, will it be possible for players from opposing factions to work together to survive?

This goes very much into the further story of Black Prophecy and cannot be revealed yet. We could tell you more about it, but then we would have to make you disappear forever on one of the Tyi blood moons or in a Genide ore mine.

On the business side of bringing this title to market, gamers looking forward to Black Prophecy were concerned this past summer with the 10Tacle Studios insolvency. Has this had an impact on Reakktor's Black Prophecy development?

As a subsidiary company of 10Tacle Studios, Reakktor Media also had to file for insolvency. This brought us into the situation where it was unclear if the company could be saved and whether or not the development of Black Prophecy could continue. But thanks to our excellent CEO Kirk Lenke, who managed to handle the insolvency without having to lay off a single staff member, and the strong will of our team to stick together and get through these bad times, we are again looking forward to a bright future. With 10Tacle Studios gone and new, strong investors behind us, we are eager to finish our work on Black Prophecy and take on future projects.

The latest game trailer states that the Black Prophecy beta is coming soon. Any word on when players will begin to fly as Black Prophecy's beta testers?

From our side we are ready to start the beta and understand that everyone is eager to jump into the cockpit but without having our publisher on board yet, we are unable to give you an estimate at the current time.
http://www.massively.com/2009/04/24/...irector-simon/


Citation :
Having raised a collective eyebrow at the few glimpses of space MMO Black Prophecy that have emerged over the past few months, we thought it might be time to have a quick chat with Reakktor Media’s community manager Chris Schuett. Beyond the jump Schuett discusses the real-time combat nature of the game, and claims that player starships in the game could have “millions” of possible configurations.

RPS: What sort of experience will Black Prophecy hold for players? Can you describe what a player might be doing in the first couple of hours within the game world?

Schuett: Black Prophecy is meant to push up your adrenaline level with fast-paced real-time combat action, be it PvE or PvP wise. While your character skills give you access to better versions of items like ship parts and weapons, it is up to your personal skill whether you succeed in a battle or become just another piece of debris in the depths of space.

Within the first hours the player will be introduced to the game through the epic story missions, but can also play regular missions, get used to the ship and its functions and of course socialise with other players for further common activities. While the first epic missions serve as an introductory, further missions will involve the player more and more into the blazing conflict between the opposing parties.

RPS: How does the “MMO” aspect of the game manifest itself? Is there a level-based structure as in World Of Warcraft? Are you expecting huge many-player raids or PvP battles? And what about the economic side of the game? Will there be trade, crafting and so on?

Schuett: We are definitely aiming for large scaled PvP battles between players and clans. Especially as PvP will play a big role in Black Prophecy’s endgame. On top of the regular PvP, players will be offered special PvP missions where mission objectives can be assigned to single or multiple team members in order to accomplish the mission. Within specific boundaries, we will also make it possible for low level players to take part in PvP missions with higher level players.

The economic part of the game will be limited to player to player trading and modification of items such as ship parts, weapons, station modules, etc. Even though we see a complex economy as an important aspect, we are setting the focus on action related content and features for the release version. Despite that, an extension of the game’s economy features with a future game update is definitely envisaged.

RPS: Can you explain how the modular ship system works and how it related to play progression? Do you “level up” to create better ship types?

Schuett: Unlike other MMOs, your ship represents your player character. This means that you can assemble your ship with numerous different ship parts (wings, engines, cockpits, etc.), like you would equip your character in an MMO using 3D avatars as player character. With increasing experience level you gain access to better versions of equipment and can assemble your ship as the situation requires. Overall, we are speaking of millions of possible ship configurations.

Next to the ship, the player will also have a fully customisable 3D Avatar of the pilot which is being shown in dialogues with NPCs or in conversations with other players.

RPS: How is the game structured? Is it a room/jumpgate model of space? Or something different? And will it be sharded? Are there limits on PvP?

Schuett: While important sectors like mission hubs or any other gathering places will be persistent, the major part of the game will play in instances to allow players to enjoy the story and missions alone or with their friends, without interference from other players. Nonetheless fans of open world PvE and PvP also won’t miss out.

The final decision about the server configuration being single or multiple sharded has not been made yet.

RPS: What aspect of the game are you currently most excited about? What is it about Black Prophecy that players should be excited about?

Schuett: First of all our team is extremely excited to see the game shaping up piece by piece and everyone is keen to continue the work on Black Prophecy. It happens quite often that members of the development team are surprisingly impressed when they see the quality and atmosphere of the game in one of our regular company wide play tests, even though they play the game on daily a basis.

The main aspect our players can be excited about is definitely the breath-taking real-time combat that will bring back good old Wing Commander memories. Other aspects are the flexible modular system for ships and stations, the clan system and of course the unique and dense atmosphere within the vibrant and complex universe created by our sci-fi author Michael Marrak.

RPS: Thanks Chris!
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009...lack-prophecy/
Citation :
RPS: How is the game structured? Is it a room/jumpgate model of space? Or something different? And will it be sharded? Are there limits on PvP?

Schuett: While important sectors like mission hubs or any other gathering places will be persistent, the major part of the game will play in instances to allow players to enjoy the story and missions alone or with their friends, without interference from other players. Nonetheless fans of open world PvE and PvP also won’t miss out.

The final decision about the server configuration being single or multiple sharded has not been made yet.
"oui mais non, mais oui, mais peut-etre que..." vive la com.
Une autre pour la route qui confirme une nouvelle fois l'utilisation (abusive ) d'instances. :/

Citation :
Reakktor is well known for Neocron, a sci-fi masterpiece that remains a landmark in the past MMOs panorama. Now the next target is a flying one, and the competition will be very interesting with EVE Online and especially with the upcoming Jumpgate Evolution. We told with Kirk Lenke, CEO of Reakktor Media.

GS: Could you talk about the game’s background, including races and classes?

In the 26th century, mankind has expanded across the galaxy, yet only few of its colonies are controlled by Humans. The true rulers are the cybernetically enhanced Tyi and the biogenetically perfected Genides. Their striving for total control over all human species drives them into the territory of an ancient alien race that does not tolerate other cosmic civilisations: the “Restorers”.

To survive this war and uncover the motives of the alien’s destructive behaviour, the player is forced to join one of the two dominant human races. Their search for the origin of the Restorers becomes a race for survival of all three human species.

Black Prophecy’s setting and background story has been created by the award winning sci-fi author Michael Marrak. Like none other, Michael succeeds in letting the player immerse into a complex and vibrant universe with its spectacular atmosphere.


GS: Giving a first glance to the teaser, BP looks similar in many ways to EVE Online and especially Jumpgate Evolution. What are the main features of the game able to beat the sci-fi competitors?

Unlike other games, Black Prophecy’s focus is set on action-paced real-time combat and straight-forward gameplay without the necessity to invest excessive amounts of time to achieve goals within your character development. Furthermore we put very much emphasis on making the player vs. player combat as attractive as possible. To this effect, Black Prophecy’s mission system will offer various different PvP missions in which specific mission objectives can be strategically assigned to one or more team members.


GS: How much of Neocron we’ll find again in BP, especially about the clan system?

Even though both games are completely different in their setting and game play we remain true in our way to create extra-ordinary atmospheric virtual worlds. Features that have been successful in Neocron will also be ported to Black Prophecy as much as they fit into the game play and render technically possible, such as the mentioned clan system.


GS: What’s the state of the game right now?

The game is currently in the early beta phase where the preparations for the upcoming closed beta have already begun.


GS: The graphics looks stunning. Could you talk about that? What’s the graphics engine implemented in BP?

For Black Prophecy we have licensed the Gamebryo graphics engine that has been modified for our needs and requirements. Black Prophecy’s network engine has been completely developed from scratch by our development team and is specially dimensioned for massively multiplayer online games.


GS: The game will be PVP oriented or there will be solid PVE contents?

Black Prophecy will of course have solid PvE content as it is the major part of the character development. While it will be possible to already participate in PvP quite early, the PvP orientation will become fully apparent in the endgame where PvP combat in various forms will become daily business.


GS: A casual player will be able to enjoy the game?

Definitely, it is our stated aim to also appeal to the casual gamer by making the game as easy and intuitive as possible to play.


GS: EVE online awaits “the ambulation” of the character since years. We will be able to see our alter ego in BP?

For the beginning it will be only possible to create a 3D avatar of your pilot which will appear in dialogs with NPCs or in conversations with other players but the so called “station walking” feature is definitely something we would like to see in Black Prophecy. Though this is not planned for final release version, we have plans to offer it as part of a future game update.


GS: What about instances in the game? How big will be the game’s universe?

Major parts of Black Prophecy will play in instances as we see this as the optimal way to let players enjoy the game without being disturbed by others. Of course there will be also open world areas where players can enjoy both, PvE and PvP content.

At the current time we are unable to provide details about the overall game world size as the game is still work in progress but we will see to provide further details in the near future.


GS: BP will be released only for pc or for consoles too?

Originally it was planned to release Black Prophecy for PC and XBOX 360, but the console version has been stopped by our former mother company, 10tacle Studios, in the past. The release of a console version in the near future seems quite unrealistic now as the porting to the XBox 360 is much more difficult to accomplish as it would have been in the beginning of the development. Nonetheless a console release of Black Prophecy is not completely ruled out.


GS: Could you talk about the music and soundtrack aspects of BP?

We have considered several kinds of music that we deemed suitable to support the setting and atmosphere of Black Prophecy at best. In the end we have decided to use a classic orchestral soundtrack without any electronic or synthetic elements.

The music itself was composed by Dynamedion who truly did a fantastic job. The themes and pieces have been worked out, composed and finalised in close cooperation with us over a period of about one year. The final recording has been realised in cooperation with Genuin Music Production Leipzig and the Brandburg Staatsorchester.


GS: How the character progression and evolution will work (skills, attributes, etc.)?

As the character system is still work in progress we can only reveal as much as that it will be a classic role-play system where skills give you access to better versions of items. Therefore, success or failure in combat is very much in the hands of the players in terms of utilising the ship and its abilities.


GS: What about crafting and ship’s customization?

The player can completely customize his space ship over the course of his career. He has the choice between hundreds of different Modules, with up to millions possible variations for his Ship. Furthermore, the modules can be customized through modifications, allowing the player to create a strongly individualized ship. A classical crafting system is not planned for the release version of Black Prophecy but could possibly be part of a future game update.


Thx to Reakktor for the interview.
http://mmorpg.gamesource.it/Articolo...-Online-2.html
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