TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

by Garrett Fuller

With the release of Tabula Rasa delayed for another few weeks, the Ten Ton Hammer editorial team extended a Q&A invitation to the Tabula Rasa developers to explain exactly how they're handling these last few weeks of polish and what's been happening in the NCsoft studio. Tabula Rasa's Community Manager, April Burba, accepted our invitation and spent a few moments jotting down her thoughts concerning these last few weeks of beta testing. After you've read through the interview, make sure you check out our Tabula Rasa Community Site for your detailed guides and previews!

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Ten Ton Hammer: How is the game shaping up now that launch is only a few weeks away? What can players look forward to?

April Burba: We are getting pretty excited. We are smoothing out the rough edges, balancing and bug-fixing as we get ready for release. We are also ramping up for the end of beta event, and some Halloween fun during our 3-day headstart. It’s been pretty busy!

The developers behind Tabula Rasa are really trying to put the story back into the game.

Ten Ton Hammer: Tabula Rasa is really making an effort to put the story back into the MMOG genre. Can you tell us about the story-driven journey players will take as they go through the game?

April: Well, we like to leave the bulk of the story for the player to discover, but in general terms players will go through stages of understanding, like many people do as they enter a large organization as a fresh-faced noob and then advance through the ranks. Choices become less black and white, good and evil blur and you find out things just aren’t always as they seem. It is war after all.

Ten Ton Hammer: The team must be working very hard in these final few weeks. Can you give us a short blurb on what the developers have been going through now that it's crunch time?

April: Sleep is in short supply. Empty food cartons and tipped over coffee urns litter the breakrooms and hallways. Silliness has reached an all-time high. Seriously, it’s been a crazy time around here and we are all excited about shipping the game and moving to the next stage of the game’s life.

Ten Ton Hammer: With launch around the corner, is there anything you would like to say to the players?

April: Just that we are really excited about release. Once you cut a Gold Master there are restrictions on what you can add to the final shipping product due to patch size and other issues, we are ready just to be on the other side and getting back to adding more things to the game. Since development is a few weeks ahead of what the player sees, this means we are already working on things we can’t wait for you to see.

Ten Ton Hammer:  What are your plans once the game is launched? Do you have patches and expansions planned?

April: We do. We have had an information-filled week here and you can check out the Community News section of our website to see announcements about “Operations” and plans for Elder Game content. There will be information coming out about Operation 1 pretty soon after launch.

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Ten Ton Hammer is your unofficial source for Tabula Rasa news and articles!