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David Cook Interview at E3 2006 - Page 3 of 3

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Updated Wed, Jan 02, 2008 by Jeff Woleslagle

Stargate Worlds Q&A with David "Zeb" Cook - Page 3 / 3

It seems in many ways like the Stargate universe is tailor made for an MMO. There’s a ready-made travel mechanic, for example. Does the Stargate license seem like a natural fit for the MMO space to an industry veteran?

You have this great, wonderful asset. All of this stuff is all detailed out, and you don’t have to spend a great deal of time going like who are the bad guys, etc. It’s all laid out, but where the real difference is, how do you capture this, and keep true to what’s going on [on television]. If it’s not Stargate, they’re going to notice. You want to be true to the feeling of Stargate. But at the same time, you have to find ways to make it more than just a ‘that was episode 13!’ You want to make sure that what you’re doing is fresh. Also, for the people that don’t play Stargate, you certainly expect that those who are not familiar with science fiction games will play. But if you don’t watch Stargate, it’s not like you won’t know what to do. We want to keep it open and friendly and at the same time, capture the feeling of Stargate and bring people in to that who aren’t familiar with Stargate.
There are things that the Stargate universe has built into it that are so perfect for an MMO. The fact that it does have a team concept, and that if you look at the characters in the show, they do have faily archetypal roles that they need to play. Step through the gate, and you’re in someplace new and interesting. If we ever need to add content, it’s like ‘hey, we’ve got a new gate address for ya.’

We have to balance the needs of an MMO with the constructs of the game. We’ve looked at once you get into a thing, what are the ways that will move you quickly about. How can we do stuff like, what happens if you get defeated. What happens if you need to log off quickly, if we should have some kind of return home mechanism. There will be expansions in terms of ways you can travel within a zone. But again, we’re looking at using what’s there in the show and applying it in ways in the game.

Working with a license can have it's share of drawbacks, too. Do your obligations to the folks in Vancouver ever cause you to feel like your running into a creative brick wall?

One of the great things about working with the Stargate people is that they understand that there is a difference between the needs of a television and the needs of an MMO type game, and they are committed to making them both work. They want the MMO to be as interesting and involving as the series is. They’ve been very, very helpful.

One of the things that’s pretty cool for us is that we’re working on an MMO that the license is for a live, ongoing property. There’s a live team out there doing stuff. So we don’t know how it’ll all work, because we’re so far away from the exact points of that. But we definitely look at the idea at being able to not just react to stuff that they do, but to mirror things that are done, to foreshadow things that are coming, to give you more detail, more information and detail about something that occurred. So that you can watch the series, you can log on to the MMO, and say ‘Oh wait, yea, you go to that location, that’s that thing that was over in the Hectoron, we can learn more about that.’ Hopefully this opens up a lot of really interesting potential.”

Is there a heretofore unknown level of complexity associated with running two creative teams side by side, each with its own vision for Stargate’s future?

There’s always that thing you have to be aware of. That’s where just a whole lot of communication between Cheyenne Mountain and the TV production people, that’s just how you have to work with that. And find out where they intend things and see things going, and do stuff like that. And explain to them where we would like to take things. It is their license, and I would entirely expect them to be paying attention to it. It’s of value and importance to them, and they want to make sure that it treats their world correctly. It’s not like they handed us this thing and said, ‘Aw, go on. We don’t care.’

How can you apply your groundbreaking ideas about character customization into races like the Asgard?

The Asguard are one of the bigger challenges. This really does bring up one of those issues where we talk with the Stargate people, we talk to ourselves, and we start looking for ways that we can introduce that into the Asguard that make sense. They may be things that have never been seen in the show. We can do stuff in return, too; that then offers them something. But yea, the little naked Asgard are going to be interesting. We’re going to be looking for interesting ways to customize.

All of this sounds great, and we thank Mr. Cook and the Stargate Worlds team at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment for allowing us to tag along as the game continues to move from concept to reality.

We’re looking forward to it too. At this point, it’s this vast horizon of interesting options out there. It’s always a mystery in making games.

One last must-ask question: cake or pie?

Mmmmm… pie. [And the TenTonHammer team rejoices.]