Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Questions by Cody Bye, Managing Editor of Ten Ton Hammer
Answers by Cinco Barnes, Creative Director, and Gary Gattis, Executive Producer

Massively multiplayer online gaming publishers are on the rise. With Electronic Arts jumping into the foray with both feet, the market just became a lot more crowded, yet several older companies still hold an incredibly formidable upper hand in the grand scheme of things. Out of all the publishers, NCsoft is experiencing the largest amount of growth in such a short amount of time by opening up development studios all across the United States. Recently, the ever-growing MMO publisher signed a deal with Space Time Studios, an independent studio that is set to release its first game with the help of the Austin-based company.

Featuring a prominent line-up of veteran developers, Space Time Studios is set to create an MMOG world that combines both science-fiction and fantasy for what the developers have called their “dream game.” To learn more about this up and coming studio, Cody “Micajah” Bye sat down with Space Time’s creative director, Cinco Barnes, and executive producer, Gary Gattis.  In the interview, both men talk about the future of their upcoming MMOG, why gamers should be interested in their development studio, and how potential employees can join the Space Time team. As some icing on the rhetorical cake, the Ten Ton Hammer team also managed to nab three exclusive pieces of never-before seen concept art - the first of its kind available for public consumption!

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Ten Ton Hammer: First off, can you give a brief description of Space Time Studios and what you’re currently working on for MMOG fans that may not be familiar with your development team? Where have you worked previously and how experienced is your crew to the MMOG market?

Cinco Barnes and Gary Gattis contemplate Cody's questions.

Cinco Barnes: Space Time Studios is working on what I’d term my “dream game:” an epic science-fantasy MMO with fast real-time combat, wicked weapons and vehicles.

Gary Gattis: Our team has a great history… Cinco and Anthony (Sommers) have worked together since QA/ CS waaaaaay back in the old Origin days, Jake (Rodgers) and I both worked at Digital Anvil many years ago, and all four of us worked together on various aspects of Star Wars: Galaxies and SWG: Jump to Lightspeed. That’s just the founders… our team has an amazing amount of experience building, shipping, and running MMO’s as well. Collectively we have shipped three MMO’s under our belts (Ultima Online, Shadowbane, and SWG) as well as a vast multitude of single-player titles.

Ten Ton Hammer: Where is the Space Time Studios MMOG in its development phase? How long have you been working on it? Will we see any announcements regarding game information in the near future?

Gary: We prototyped for a year and have been in pre-production for about a year. This means that all of our processes, tools and pipelines are complete for any and everything you need to make content. We’re a very tool-heavy shop, and making one of these things requires mass-production capabilities as well as intense collaboration. We love working with NCsoft, and at the same time we are an independent studio. We have to know in our hearts we can pull off the job, and not just produce a lot of smoke and mirrors. It’s not sexy at times, but it is damn powerful when you figure out how to push vast amounts of assets through the pipes.

Ten Ton Hammer: In a February 2007 interview with Gamasutra, Richard Garriott talked about the background of Space Time Studios and how you guys are predominantly from the old Origins and Star Wars: Galaxies teams. How much have you leveraged your previous experiences in making your new sci-fi MMOG? What are the advantages and disadvantages to bringing together a team that has worked on previous sci-fi projects?  

The Space Time team is thrilled to be working on their own independent IP.

Cinco: There were always aspects of previous intellectual properties that we wanted to change to better-suit the realities of gameplay. An existing sci-fi universe can have rules and regulations that must be held above the needs of gameplay – and thus, if you come up with something that would really rock, but it doesn’t fit with the existing fiction… the idea’s dead. At Space Time we’ve given ourselves the opportunity to prove out lots of things we always thought would be awesome. Although we start out by developing fiction for areas and activities, we let bad-ass gameplay develop on its own and then integrate the ideas back into our fiction when we’re satisfied.

Gary: Yup – we love the freedom of doing our own IP.

Ten Ton Hammer: The description of your undisclosed MMOG states that the game features “a unique combination of space flight and role-oriented (RPG-style) combat.” Does that mean in-space dog-fighting will have an “auto-attack” mode? Or are you suggesting you’ll have both face-to-face RPG style combat and dog-fighting?

Cinco: Dog-fighting with real-time weapons is the cornerstone of our combat experience – and it is balanced with a suite of character-defining abilities (similar to what you might expect from your favorite online RPG). There is no ‘auto-attack.’ Instead, we have a really innovative navigation system that has yielded a cool mixture of raw player skill and strategic abilities.

Ten Ton Hammer: When players look at the broad spectrum of sci-fi MMOGs, the games typically fall into two camps – space-oriented and ground-oriented. Even Star Wars Galaxies has limited off-planet scenarios and their spaceship combat isn’t an integral part of the game. You’ve stated that the game will have a space flight option – does that mean the game takes place primarily in outer space? Or are you going to have ground and space based adventuring?

Gary: Space flight and space combat will be an integral part of our game… it is what we are passionate about and what we know best. It is safe to say that the game will take place primarily in outer space. At the same time, we feel that a strong avatar component is essential as well. In a vehicle game, you don’t want to think “I’m that tin can” … you want to think “I’m the guy IN that tin can.” *smiles*

Space flight and space combat are an integral part of the Space Time MMO.

Cinco: We’ve got some very nice surprises up our sleeve to help with that perception.

Ten Ton Hammer: After perusing several of your blogs, the Ten Ton Hammer staff happened upon an interesting notion in the design blog, “Mouth Money.” In it you stated that each idea the team comes up with must go “too far,” meaning that it’s got to be fun at its core but absolutely eccentric in practice. Why was that route decided upon when you were creating your fictive universe? Wasn’t staying in the realm of “hard sci-fi” enough to entice players? How has the fiction and design changed since that notion was implemented?

Cinco: The whole point of directing the team to go “too far” is so that we all focus on delivering vivid illustrations of emotion and dramatic points-of-view, instead of detailed mechanical predictions of the future. Our game is not about explanations of technology but about manifestations of raw emotional energy. Going “too far” is a great tool for breaking the bonds of what has gone before and establishing what you, as an author / game-developer, really feel in your heart. This method continues to work great for us!

Ten Ton Hammer: In your estimation, how will the Space Time Studios MMOG differentiate itself from the other MMOGs on the market? What about the sci-fi based MMOGs? What sort of overall goals do you have for the game?

Cinco: Aside from the combat, which is radically different from what you see in other MMOGs on the market today, some of our biggest differentiators are the incredible sense of freedom and the fun of flight. We also have a very special combination of avatar and vehicle gameplay that is most definitely new for MMOs.

Ten Ton Hammer: It’s been said in a number of interviews with prominent developers that the fantasy MMOG is dead; yet there continues to be development studios that are interested in that genre. How was it decided that Space Time Studios was going to make a sci-fi MMOG? Do you truly think fantasy MMOGs are coming to the end of their lifecycle?

If you're interested in working for Space Time Studios, check the link below.

Gary: We pitched a couple of different IP’s to our publisher, this was the one that both they and we were most excited about. I think fantasy MMOG’s will be around forever, because the genre is such an ingrained part of our cultural experience. Our game is not pure sci-fi either… science fantasy would be a more accurate description.

Ten Ton Hammer: You recently announced that you’d hired David Levy as your Visuals Director for the MMOG project, but it was also noted that you’d increased the size of your team by 25%. Why was the expansion necessary? Are you still looking for qualified individuals? Are there any other notable hires that you can tell us about?

Gary: We are ramping up for production, so our studio will continue to grow for awhile. We’ll probably max out around 65-70 folks. So yes, we’re always looking – please check out http://www.spacetimestudios.com/jobs.html for the latest roles we are seeking to fill. I think every hire is notable… we are so proud of our team, they are amazingly creative and professional and we feel very fortunate to be able to continue to hire and grow at a time where it is extremely competitive in the marketplace.

Ten Ton Hammer: Finally, is there anything else you’d like to share with the Ten Ton Hammer readers regarding your studio and your upcoming MMOG?

Gary: Just that we are more excited about this project than we have ever been in our lives. We truly feel we are on to something that is going to knock your socks off, and we can’t WAIT to show you more!! Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you guys a little about it.

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