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

Questions by Cody “Micajah” Bye, Managing Editor

To look behind the scenes is very person's dream. You hear about "backstage passes" and "behind the scenes" documentaries, and people are always willing to pay hundreds of dollars more for these perks. The editorial staff at Ten Ton Hammer feels exactly the same way, so we devised a set of developer questionnaires that we've been methodically sending out to the various MMO teams to see how their past has influenced their present experiences. In this week's developer profile, we sat down with Lineage 2's producer, Tim Tan, to see what made him into the leading MMO developer that he is today!

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Ten Ton Hammer: As the producer of Lineage 2, what sort of responsibilities do you have with the crew? Do you basically manage time spent on projects, or do you pick up odd jobs every now and again?

While working on Lineage 2, Tim takes on a little bit of everything.

Tim: Honestly, it’s a little bit of everything. We’re a pretty well-oiled machine here at NCsoft; we have lots of departments and a lot of different groups who are in charge of different things. If I don’t have anything to do personally, that typically means that all of our departments are getting their work done and driving the Lineage 2 product forward.

Every once in awhile I do pick up odd jobs, but a lot of it is communicating, interacting, scheduling, setting dates and times, and just making sure everybody is on task and getting things done.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is there a particular genre of game that you play regularly? Do you mainly stick with massively multiplayer games, or do you spread your interests around to other products?

Tim Tan: That’s a really cool question. I personally like all kinds of games. There are way too many games to say that I’ve tried everything out there, but I think I can say that I’ve tried every genre of gaming, from collectible card games to tabletops to pen and paper to console to MMOGs.

That said, I do play a lot of MMOs. It’s almost like a job requirement. I do try to stay up to date with consoles, and I play a lot of collectible games as well. I really try to play all the games that are necessary to stay up to date with the industry, but I play a lot of games for fun as well.

Ten Ton Hammer: Do you have any all-time favorites?

Tim: All-time favorites, let’s see….. *thinks*

Ten Ton Hammer: This is the one that always stumps people because most of us have five or six games that we just love and adore.

Tim: One of my favorite games ever was the original Bard’s Tale. That was a long time ago. I remember playing it on an old 286 computer where the monitor only had two colors. But it had the basic elements of an RPG and you had several ways of dispatching monsters. So it’d definitely have to be right up there in the roleplaying game category.

The first game that I felt took time away from my life because I wouldn’t realize what time it was would be Civilization. The original Civ was definitely a classic game and it deserves to be in my “favorites” list.

Ten Ton Hammer: What game are you playing right now and what were your reasons for exploring that game?

Tim: I’m definitely playing – and I think everyone is playing it – is Team Fortress 2. I really felt the urge to play this game simply because there’s a ton of people playing this game. My curiosity drove me to check out the game.

Ten Ton Hammer: Do you have any hobbies outside of gaming?

Tim: I don’t have as much time to participate in them as I did in the past, but I still really enjoy sports. I played basketball for awhile, and for a long, long time I was a martial artist. I even taught for awhile.

Ten Ton Hammer: How did you get started in the video game industry? What sort of life events led you to video game development?

Tim: Basically, I’ve always loved games and I got an opportunity through a friend to come out to Austin and start off in a quality assurance department. I had friend working in the industry and working at NCsoft, so out of the blue I decided to change things up.

Tim's passion for gaming helped bring him into the video game industry.

So I got my start in QA, which is a really great place to start if you enjoy the game industry and want to get an idea of how things work. Once you’re in, you can start working your way up.

In previous jobs, I was always trying to go down that project management path, and the producer position is very similar to the project manager sort of career you can find in other jobs. You’re really in-charge of and doing a little bit of everything.

It was kind of a fluke, but it really stemmed from a passion for games.

Ten Ton Hammer: What kind of schooling did you receive? Was your educational focus directed towards game development at all?

Tim: My background is actually in electrical engineering with a minor in computer science. That sort of schooling helps, but when I got my degree I had no idea that I was going to be doing gaming in the future.

However, the degree did give me the sort of problem solving skills necessary to figure out ways to get around common problems. It especially helped in the quality assurance field because you’re looking for defects and issues. You really have to know how to reproduce the steps to get to the problem and possibly fix it.

Ten Ton Hammer: How has your gaming history influenced your work on Lineage 2?

Tim: I don’t have any specific examples of things I’ve directly applied from previous games, but I know that my experience has influenced some of the decisions I’ve made and the overall flow through various steps in each project.

Ten Ton Hammer: Why should the massively multiplayer gamer play Lineage 2? How would you recommend the title to them?

Tim: It’d be nice to know a little bit about the person. *laughs* But in general I’d tell them about the player versus player combat. We are a very open-ended game; if you want to go out there and hunt, you can. Some people like to group while others like to play solo, but either way other games out there have limitations. For example, you might be playing for a certain faction or race. In Lineage 2, you don’t have that sort of hindrance and if you enjoy that sort of freedom L2 is for you. We give you a way to deal with griefers.

Other aspects include the tight knit clan system that we’ve developed in the game. If you want any sort of continuity in your game, our clan system really out does most other games. If you want the large scale combat, you definitely need to look at Lineage 2. Whether it’s castle sieges or basic PvP, no game does it better.

I’d then talk to the person about staying power, because in Lineage 2 there’s always something to do. The content will never end. There’s always more to level, more to get, more items, more skill, more people to kill, more quests to do. You’ll never run out of things to do.

Finally, the political system is just fantastic. The intrigue involved with that is actually a part of the game. We take the normal clan drama and integrate it into L2. You need to pick your friends wisely and choose your battles carefully. If you decide to fight someone, make sure you can deal with the consequences of that decision.

The best part of the industry, for Tim, is interacting with the players and changing the game to suit their needs.

Ten Ton Hammer: As my final question, what do you think is the best part of being in the MMOG industry and what kind of advice would you give to someone who wants to break into the field?

Tim: The best part of the industry is definitely the community. It’s all about interacting with players, getting their feedback, and seeing what you can do to improve their opinion of your game. Everyone has an opinion on what makes a great game, but actually being in a position where you can take that feedback and apply it is fascinating. Trying to make the right decisions to help the overall group rather than the most vocal players is always a fun challenge.

To address the second part of the question: If you’re really interested in gaming, keep that passion and don’t be afraid to start from the bottom. Quality assurance and customer support are integral parts of our game, but it’s also a way to get some great insight into the industry and determine how things work. You get to know how the game works, how the processes work, and how to interact with the player base. From there you can grow and move up.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is there anything you’d like to tell the players before we sign off?

Tim: Nothing major, I just really appreciate all the players in Lineage 2 and hope everyone is still having a good time. We’re working hard to make sure that the world continues to be a great place for everybody.

To the players who haven’t played Lineage 2 or haven’t played in a long time, I hope you take a chance and look at the game.

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