Premier Dev-chat.

*** MBJ has joined #rptavern.
MBJ: Evening. Just setting up my machine at home so I can drop by here.And to answer the questions that you are probably thinking:
1) Yes, this is really Mark Jacobs
2) Yes, to prove it one of you can send an email to my office address if youwish to check. :)

Wraithstorm: Ooh, Mark, I've gotta ask. Does the race you choose decide yourrealm? Or is it possible for someone like a Dark Elf to work side by side withsomebody from the Empire
MBJ: Ah, that would be telling, wouldn't it. :)
Wraithstorm: That's kinda the point, but I'll leave it. =P
MBJ: I will say though that it would be a foolish move on our part todesign a game with all these races to choose from but not allow any of them toactually work together. How is that?
Mista_IBN: vague… like a true dev member ;)
MBJ: See, now you know it's me! :) I think if you really think about myanswer, it's a lot less vague than it seems.

Mista_IBN: Any news on the next newsletter? One more before year's end?
MBJ: We hope so, we've got a lot happening but we hope to have a newsletterchock full of goodness out this month. As I pointed out in some posting, we'vegot a major internal milestone due this month and everybody is working hard. Wewant our people to take a lot of time off at the end of the year (they need it)so we are a little bit curnched right now. Between that and the plague that hasbeen runnning through Northern Va. and our offices, it's been interesting. :)
Mista_IBN: milestones are gooood
MBJ: Yeap, milestones are the way to go. We're running on a stricterschedule this time around.

Mista_IBN: How long was DAoC in DEV before release?
MBJ: DAoC began (officially) in Dec 1999 but really didn't get startedfor a bit after that. It took us a while to get even close to fully staffed upbut we still pulled it off in 18 months. The team this time is triple the sizeof the DAoC dev team. :) Yeap, we're the only dev team to create and release alarge-scale MMO in that time

MBJ: As I said in one of my posts, we have to do a great job on thisgame, everything depends on it. I like that kind of pressure. :)

Mista_IBN: what else is Mythic doing? I haven't been keepin up, dropped thatRoman one, right?
MBJ: Yeap, Imperator has been postponed, it's a shame, I loved that idea.We may still do it but not now. Other than DAoC, the only other thing we arecurrently working on is WAR.

Denkim: Do you think you might ever do a 40k game ?
MBJ: We love 40K and we would love to see what we could do with that downthe road as well.

Garthilk: What about the console rumors, you guys interested in them?
MBJ: In terms of consoles, I can tell you that MS and Sony and Mythic areall rather cozy right now. :) It's no secret that I believe this gen of consolescould have a major impact in terms of MMO gaming. So, it would be foolish forMythic not to look at it.

Denkim: A bit you should know about us MBJ. We are really nosey.
MBJ: That's fine, I can be stubborn. :)
Garthilk: Yeah we're resrouceful little goblins aren't we.
Kaitos: Always finding better ways to get ourselves into more trouble...
Denkim: Aye. we'll find anything we can get our greedy little hands on.
MBJ: Hehe, and I respect that. I'm a digger too. :)

Wraithstorm: on that note, you have anything to say on balancing gobbos?
MBJ: Well, the balancing of the races is going to be interesting. I cantell you that much. I'm not being evasive, it's something we are still figuringout how to do well.
Kaitos: Well, do you expect a newbie goblin to be able to compete with a newbieorc in one on one?
MBJ: Keep in mind one problem We expect that the races will not be evenlyplayed. That is a simple fact of life. So, if an RvR game which relies on havingrelatively balanced team sizes has unbalanced team sizes, that would present aproblem. Now, there are many ways to deal with that, including possibly allowingcertain races to have certain advantages over other races or conversely, racesthat should have advantages in the material might not have as many advantages.Again, this is not the solution, but just one of the things we are looking at.So, if I said that 1 Orc = 1 Dwarf = 2 Goblins = 1099 Halflings, I'd probably bewrong by the time the game ships. Well, except about the halflings. :)

Mista_IBN: You guys pro-expansion pack? Meaning more races upon expansions?
MBJ: I love the smell of expansion packs in the morning. :) When you seethe basic game world layout, you will go Ah, I see what they are doing and whyexpansion packs won't be hard at all. See, take DAoC for example. When we didall of our expansion packs we never added a new realm, why? Because it wouldhave screwed up the entire game balance. With WAR, we knew, right from the startthat there would be a lot of races that we wanted to add to the game and that byadding them we could do things like we did in DAoC. Thus, we had to come up witha solution that allowed us to add races for the packs without mucking up theworks. And we did.

Wraithstorm: Third question of the night, and probably last: Will there beplayer controlled realms? For example would a big enough company be able to takecontrol of a province in the Border Princes?
MBJ: I couldn't answer that without giving away a lot more about thegame. I can say, without any fear of contradiction, that what we have in thedesign so far if a lot more than I've seen in any MMORPG to date

Chrisgooding56: any hints on the kind of spec you'd need to run it?
MBJ: Chris, like everything else we've done, it will require a good rigbut not the top-of-the-line that other games require

Denkim: I was hearing something about a Physics card...
MBJ: We are currently working with the folks at Aegia but we haven'tdecided exactly what will go in yet. Real-world physics is the least of myproblems right now design-wise. I want to make sure that the game can supportenough players with a high enough framerate to make it fun. Luckily, we have alot of talented people who are working hard figuring out how to do that. We justgot a version with a nice increase in framerate today. :)
Denkim: So... you've got a alpha up allready?
MBJ: Yeap
Chrisgooding56: now that is sweet news
Mista_IBN: how's it look?
MBJ: Pretty good so far. The GW guys were pretty surprised at what weshowed them when they came a calling last month.
Denkim: I'm not suprised. From the little I've heard on the forums, it's soundlike you are on the right track toward a great GW game.
MBJ: Den, I think we are and more importantly, the guys at GW think weare. That's one of the things I know I harp on the forums, the fact that GW andMythic are working really closely together on this game. They have gone out oftheir way to give us their time and efforts in helping us come up with what weneed to make this a great WH product.

Denkim: How many GW people do you come into contact with (through any sort ofmeans) per week?
MBJ: Den, depends on the week. It could be one or two or much more. Myguys work with different folks at GW, and we meet regularly over in England orhere. Put it this way, everybody that we are dealing with represent the bestthat GW has to offer just as the guys that GW interacts with are the best thatMythic has to offer.
<Darth vader voice> There will be no understaffers this time. :)

Mista_IBN: Just curious, whatta you think of that Namco game (the Warhammer RTS)?
MBJ: Mista, I'm looking forward to it. I love RTSes and I’m hoping thatthey do a great job with it. In one of the great irnoies, I actually play a lotmore RTSes these days than I do RPGs. :) I've heard good things about the Namcoguys that are working on it as well as the devs, so I'm hoping it will be great

Denkim: GW is going to have quite the collection of games...
MBJ: Hehe, this E3 should be renamed, E3- Warhammer and everything else!:)
Mista_IBN: It’s kinda early, but ya'll planning a big show?
MBJ: Not too early at all, yes, we are planning a major booth
Mista_IBN: I guess it's only what... 6 months away?
MBJ: Yeap For the WH fan, there will be a lot to see. Between THQ, Namcoand Mythic there will be a lot of GW product.

Mista_IBN: As for WAR, I assume the major races of the Fantasy world will makecameos even if not playable races?
MBJ: Mista, actually, probanly not. Think about it. If we spend resourceson doing the races that are not in the game now (mostly for sure), then we wouldhave to cut out stuff that we would use a lot more throughout the game. So, wehave to choose.

Mista_IBN: MJ, you guys got in touch with (Link: www.mmorpg.com)www.mmorpg.comyet?
MBJ: We know those guys quite well. We've been keeping a very low profileand will continue to do so until next year.
Mista_IBN: (next year is only 25 days away)
MBJ: Yeap. I've got a marketing meeting tomorrow where we will bediscussing that exact thing Mista. :)
Xaria: We saw 'too early hype' with the first attempt
MBJ: Yeap, and that's one reason we are keeping a lower profile now.

MBJ: Hehe, you want confidence. Mythic is betting everything on WAR'ssuccess, that's confidence. :) In gambling parlance, Mythic "doubled down" whenwe put Imperator on hold and put the team on WH. And then added more people tothe team. That's confidence. The nicest thing about Mythic and WAR is that inorder to succeed it doesn't have to be as big as WoW or anything like taht

Tanar: Any comment on WAR being DAoC with warhammer avatars?
MBJ: Tanar, MUAHAHAHAHA
* Tanar grins
MBJ: Well, let me be as clear as I can be about the WAR = DaoC +
No way in hell. :)
How's that?
Truly, the games are soo different, it's not even funny. Put it this way, we'vebeen doing games at Mythic for 10 years, I've been doing games for almost doubleof that. We have invented a bunch of stuff over the years, we have improved abunch of stuff, we've done a bunch of dumb stuff and we always learn from ourmistakes and from the mistakes of others.

Chrisgooding56: Just wondering, but has there been any discussion into how guildalliances etc... might work such as just agreements or if there will be some ingame structure?
MBJ: Chris, no, not yet, we haven't addressed that now.

Mista_IBN: Have you guys tackled classes yet?
Garthilk: Careers!
MBJ: Mista, oh yeah, heavy duty work done on careers
Xaria: Is game going to be career based or level based? I know at one point youhad posted something about looking into the career based deal
MBJ: Xaria, all I'll say that that I really liked the career system inWHFRP :) However, keep in mind that we don't want to clone that system for tworeasons:
1) It would be impossible to make all the careers fun
2) It would take at least 3 times the alloted development time to get them rightfor all the races in the game.

Chrisgooding56: Any hints on how big a role religion will play?
MBJ: It will play a role, how big we are still working out

Chrisgooding56: well as tanar asked can we expect to see Karl Franz or someequally famous figure in WAR?
MBJ: Ah, that would be telling. (In other words a good question which Imust dodge)
Jay: well, if WAR is 'out of the timeline' then it should really have it's ownfigures, no?
MBJ: Jay, some, absolutely, but ah the Emperor...
Keep in mind when I said it was out of time, what we want to do is create enoughnew fiction that we can do the things we need to do to make a great game but notenough that you a GW fan would look at WAr and go huh?

Garthilk: Here's a history Q Mark, How did the idea behind WAR begin and whoapproached who? What were those first initial meetings like?
MBJ: Garth, fine question. Okay, here's pretty much how it went:
I've known the GW guys for quite a while now. A very good friend of mine (PaulBarnett) has been working with them for quite a while. Through him, I wasintroduced to some of the GW people who asked if they could come by for a chatto see how Mythic did things in regards to DAoC (this is when they werebeginning the Climax project) They came by, we answered a bunch of questions andsaid TTFN. Then, the project with Climax was cancelled and they asked if Mythicwas interested in doing a WH game. We said we would be interested in partneringwith them but we couldn't do it on our own (at the time). Many months went byand then it look like Mythic and Namco were going to work together on a WH MMO.Things didn't work out there and Mythic decided that we could do it ourselvesnow. So, we spoke to GW about it, talked for many months, and then we negotiateda fine deal for both sides.

Denkim: So, were you guys really excited about it through all that, or were youjust kinda like: Meh...
MBJ: Den, hehe, with what I'm spending on the game, I better be excitedabout it. :)


Garthilk: Speaking of other projects Mark, Imperator. You were quoted as sayingImperator was simply not meeting that triple-A games standard. I know this is atough question, but being a die hard Imperator fan, what couldn't you do toImperator to make it AAA quality, that you think you'll have the ability tolater?
MBJ: That was easily the hardest decision I had to make. I was a die hardIO fan as well. As to what can we do later, well, we have learned a lot abouthow to make games through IO's failure (to date). It forced us to take a longhard look at how we had to do things today (as opposed to the old days) and tomake changes where necessary. If we hadn't made the mistakes we made with IO,I'm not sure that we could have made as great a game out of WH as I beliebe wewill be able to. So, I'm hoping that once we are done with WAR, we will be ableto put the same resources into IO and make it really great. IO, as it was, wouldhave been okay but I don't think it would have ended up great. Given theinvestment needed these days to make a MMORPG, good doesn't cut it.
Garthilk: Thanks for the honest answer Mark, I know it was a difficult decision,I'm glad to hear so much positive has come out of it.

Xaria: and with technology moving ahead in leaps and bounds, you can do thingsnow you couldn't do a year ago.. no?
MBJ: Xaria, yes

Xaria: What components do you think are needed to make a game great?
MBJ: Xaria, the keys to MMO success are probably fun, stability and morefun.

MBJ: I always tell people, that they need to wait until two weeks afterthe game comes out to declare it "The NEXT GREAT, AMAZING AND WONDERFUL THING!"
Xaria: only two weeks?
MBJ: Yeah, by then it usually has crashed and burned or it looks likeit'll be fine. That's why I try not to over-hype any Mythic game. The difficultbit is balancing the fact that players want to get excited about a game withreality. I want players to be excited about WAR but I want them to be excitedfor the right reasons. Not just because some marketing spin came out. The rightreasons would be:
1) The IP excites you
2) What the developer has done to date has excited you
3) What the developer has shown to date has excited you
4) That the developer is painting a realistic portrait of the game and is notpromising "A 5) That the developer is actually talking about the game systemsand not in generic
6) That the developer is talking positively about the product without bashingthe competition
Those are good reasons to get excited, not the nonsense I hear from somedevelopers

Mista_IBN: in a recent post you said the game won't be DDD. SOME areas will bethat way, right?
MBJ: I think that is a safe assumption Mista.

MBJ: It's going to be an interesting development cycle on WAR and I'mhoping that when all is said and done, we will have created a great game. Thatis one reason I'm posting and reading the boards. I've always believed it wasimportant to talk to the community.

Tanar: So Mark...here's a question: Level restrictions on PvP. Any, None,Reprocussions on High "levels" killing low "levels
MBJ: Tanar, well, depends. I certainly don't want new players gettingkilled by griefing vets. However, I also don't want new players to be griefersby doing things to vets or in areas where they shouldn't be withoutreprecussions.
Tanar: Something similiar to the WoW zones being "Alliance" or "Horde"controlled...and changing controlled areas based on RvR battles?
MBJ: That would be telling. :)


MBJ: Well folks, I'm still recovering from the plague so it's time for meto hit the sack. Thanks for chatting with me. <bow>
*** MBJ has signed off IRC (Quit: ).

 Morceaux choisis :

Wraithstorm: Est-ce que la race que le joueur choisit au départ conditionne son appartenance à une faction ? Un elfe noir pourra-t-il coopérer avec un humain de l'empire ?

MBJ : Sans pouvoir trop en révéler, je dirais qu'il serait stupide de notre part de proposer autant de races sans faire en sorte que certaines d'entres elles puissent oeuvrer ensemble.

...

Mista_IBN: Doit-on s'attendre à recevoir une nouvelle newsletter d'ici la fin de l'année ?

MBJ: Nous espérons être en mesure de publier une newsletter ce mois-ci. Comme je l'ai précisé, nous travaillons actuellement sur un point crucial du développement que nous devons clore avant la fin de l'année. Tout le monde travaille dur en ce moment. De plus, nous voulons accorder du repos à notre personnel pour la période des fêtes (ils en ont besoin). Ajoutez à cela la vague de peste qui à parcouru nos bureaux et vous comprendrez que nous sommes actuellement débordés.

...

Mista_IBN: Combien de temps a duré le développement de DaoC ?

MBJ : DaoC a débuté officiellement en 1999 et le développement s'est étalé sur 18 mois. L'équipe WAR est trois fois plus importante que l'équipe DaoC de l'époque. Oui, nous sommes les seuls à développer un jeu d'envergure dans des délais si courts.

...

Wraithstorm: Avez-vous quelque chose à déclarer sur l'équilibre des races. En particulier sur les gobelins.

MBJ : L'équilibre des races est un point intéressant. Pour ne rien vous cacher nous nous demandons toujours comment gérer le problème efficacement.

Kaitos: Pensez-vous qu'un newbie gobelin soit capable de rivaliser avec un newbie orque ?

MBJ: Cela inclue un autre problème. Nous savons pertinemment que toutes les races ne seront pas équitablement jouées. Certaines compteront plus de représentant et c'est normal dans un MMO. Cela dit, dans un jeu RvR, cela pose problème. Une des façons de corriger le tir serait d'accorder certains avantages à une race par rapport à une autre. Ce n'est qu'une des solutions envisageables qui sont à l'étude. Si je disais maintenant qu'1 orque = 1 nain = 2 gobelins ce ne serait probablement plus vrai au moment de la sortie du jeu.

Mista_IBN: Vous avez annoncé des extensions. Doit-on comprendre que des races seront ajoutées ?

MBJ: Quand vous verrez le monde de l'édition de base du jeu vous comprendrez pourquoi l'ajout de races et d'extension sera chose aisée. Dans DaoC nous n'avons jamais ajouté de royaume car cela aurait dénaturé le jeu dans son ensemble. Pour WAR les choses sont différentes. Nous savions dés le départ que nous devrions inclure de nouvelles races et nous avons conçu le jeu en conséquence.

Wraithstorm: Les joueurs seront-ils à même d'agir directement sur le monde ? Par exemple, est-ce qu'uneéquipe suffisamment importante sera en mesure de prendre le contrôle d'un province des principautés frontalières ?

MBJ: Je ne peux pas répondre à cette question sans en révéler trop sur le jeu ! Tout ce que je peux dire c'est que ce que nous avons prévu dépasse de très loin tout ce qui nous a été donné de voir dans un mmorpg.

Chrisgooding56: Quelques indications sur le type de machine requis pour faire tourner le jeu ?

MBJ: Comme tous nos jeux, il faudra une machine à la hauteur. Mais pas forcement le top du top en matière de hardware. Une machine correcte suffira.

Denkim: J'ai entendu parler de l'utilisation de carte « PhysX ».

MBJ: Nous travaillons en collaboration avec AGEIA mais rien n'est encore décidé pour le moment.

Les effets physiques sont le cadet de mes soucis à l'heure actuelle. Pour le moment nous devons nous assurer que le jeu sera capable d'afficher un maximum de joueurs en conservant un nombre d'image par seconde correct. Heureusement, nos équipes sont compétentes. Aujourd'hui, nous avons eu le plaisir de tester une version qui affichait un nombre de fps significativement en hausse.

Denkim: Doit-on comprendre que vous en êtes déjà au stade des premières versions alpha ?

MBJ : Oui.

Mista_IBN: A quoi cela ressemble-t-il ?

MBJ: C'est très encourageant. Les gens de Games Workshop ont étés assez surpris de ce que nous avons pu leur montrer le mois dernier.

...

Denkim: Avec combien de salariés GW travaillez-vous ?

MBJ: Tout dépend de la semaine, parfois un ou deux voire plus. Nous nous rencontrons régulièrement que ce soit en Angleterre ou ici même.

...

Denkim: (a propos du rts warhammer de namco et en parlant de l'E3) : GW va avoir presque toute la collection de leurs jeux adaptés en jeu vidéo !

MBJ: Héhé, cet E3 devrait être rebaptisé "E3 Warhammer plus le reste !"

Mista_IBN:Vous projettez de frapper un grand coup pour l'E3 ?

MBJ: Oui, nous prévoyons d'être très présent et de marquer les esprits.

...

MBJ: En parlant de confiance. Mythic joue tout sur le succès de WAR. Si c'était un jeu, on pourrait dire que nous avons joué quitte ou double avec le report d'Imperator. Nous avons transféré l'équipe existante et nous avons encore ajouté du personnel au projet ! Ca c'est de la confiance !Le point rassurant est que le jeu n'aura pas à connaître un succès de l'envergure de WoW pour assurer sa pérénité.

Tanar: Qu'avez-vous à déclarer concernant les rumeurs: WAR=DAoC avec des avatar warhammer ?

MBJ: Mouahaha ! Laissez moi être aussi clair que possible : WAR = DaoC+ : Jamais de la vie !

Les deux jeux sont vraiment trop différents. Chez Mythic nous faisons des jeux depuis plus de dix ans et j'en fait depuis deux fois plus longtemps. Nous avons développé des aspect novateurs et nous avons beaucoup appris de nos erreurs ainsi que des erreurs des autres.

Chrisgooding56: En ce qui concerne les guildes. Seront-elles laissées à l'entente formelle des joueurs ou seront-elles intégrées au système de jeu ?

MBJ: Nous ne nous sommes pas encore penché sur cet aspect.

Mista_IBN: Vous êtes-vous occupé des classes ?

Garthilk: Les carrières !!

MBJ: Mista, oh oui, nous avons beaucoup travaillé sur les carrières.

Xaria: Le jeu sera-t-il basé sur les carrières ou sur les niveaux ?

MBJ: J'ai énormément apprécié le système de carrières du jeu de rôle. Nous nous pouvons en faire une exacte réplique pour deux raisons :

1. Il serait impossible de rendre toutes les carrières fun à jouer (nous sommes dans un mmorpg)

2. Adapter l'ensemble des carrières à toutes les races multiplierait le temps de développement imparti par trois.

Chrisgooding56:Quelques mots sur l'importance de la religion ?

MBJ: La religion jouera un rôle, nous travaillons encore sur son importance finale.

Chrisgooding56:Devons-nous nous attendre à voir Karl Franz ou d'autres personnages connus dans le jeu ?

MBJ: J'en dirais trop si je répondais. (Autrement dit, voilà une bonne question que je dois esquiver)

Jay: Puisque WAR se situera « hors du temps » le jeu devrait inclure ses propres personnages non ?

MBJ, Jay, en partie oui... mais... l'Empereur ...

Nous projetons une période spécifique pour le jeu car c'est un bon moyen d'inclure les éléments qui rendront le jeu fascinant. Nous écrirons par conséquent une trame spécifique mais nous ne changerons pas le monde radicalement non plus ! Vous, spécialistes du monde de GW, ne serez pas dépaysés.

Garthilk: Comment le projet WAR est-il né ?

MBJ: Je connais des employés de GW depuis des années. Quand ils ont commencé leur projet en collaboration avec Climax ils sont venus nous voir pour parler de DaoC et de ses mécanismes.

Puis, quand le projet initial a été abandonné, ils nous ont demandé si Mythic serait intéressé par un projet Warhammer. Nous avons répondu qu'un partenariat pourrait nous convenir mais que nous ne pourrions pas mener un tel projet à bien sans aide. Plusieurs mois passèrent et tout semblait indiquer que GW et Namco allaient créer un MMO. Finalement ce ne fût pas le cas et nous avons décidé de mener à bien le projet. Après négociations, nous avons signé un accord satisfaisant avec GW.

...

Xaria: Selon vous, quels sont les ingrédients nécessaires pour faire un bon MMO ?

MBJ: Je dirais le fun, la stabilité et toujours plus de fun.

MBJ: Je dis toujours qu'il faut attendre deux semaines après le lancement d'un jeu pour le déclarer bon.

Xaria: Seulement deux semaines ?

MBJ: Oui en général pendant ce délai le jeu à l'occasion de s'écraser en flamme ou de prouver son potentiel.

Je veux que les gens attendent WAR mais pour les bonnes raisons, par pour le marketing.

Ces bonnes raisons sont :

1. La propriété intellectuelle.

2. Ce que le développeur a accompli jusqu'ici

3. Ce que le développeur vous a montré à ce jour

4. Parce que le développeur à réussi à faire ce qu'il a promis.

5. Parce que le développeur parle actuellement du système de jeu et pas du jeu en général.

6. Parce que ledéveloppeur parle positivement de son produit sans enfoncer inutilement la concurrence.

...

Tanar: Que pensez-vous des affrontements haut lvl contre newbie ?

MBJ: Je ne veux pas que les newbies se fassent massacrer par les vétérans. D'un autre côté, je veux encore moins que les nouveaux puissent nuire aux autres joueurs sans devoir craindre de violentes représailles.

...

MBJ : Mes amis, je récupère toujours de cette vague de peste ! Il est temps pour moi de me retirer. Merci d'avoir bavardé avec moi.

« MBJ s'est déconnecté ... »

Voilà les points les plus intéressants, si certains points non traduits vous interpellent n'hésitez pas à demander des précisions sur nos forums.
Je vous laisse décortiquer tout ça et je vais m'acheter de nouvelles mains ...