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Space Jockeys Take Note

How many of you remember the golden age of space gaming? When the Wing Commander series still amazed reviewers and Descent was a wholly joystick-based game? Or who can forget the epic dogfights that players of X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter would engage in over the gaming networks? Many of you probably lost some amount of time playing one of these award-winning games, yet the current gaming climate seems to hold no love for the desk-bound space jockey. Thankfully, this will be changing in the very near future with the release of Jumpgate Evolution. Not only are the developers at NetDevil putting together a solid space combat simulator, they're also integrating those mechanics into a massively multiplayer game. Cody "Micajah" Bye recently tracked down Jumpgate Evolution producer Hermann Peterscheck to discuss some general questions regarding JGE.

Hermann: Anyone that has worked on MMOs for the last 5-10 years knows that the "rules" for making a successful MMO have changed drastically. If you have been on a project that ended up not doing very well, you know these lessons even better. I believe that a game that was successful in 1997-2001 would likely fail in today's market – just as a car built in 1997 would unlikely compete with ones built in 2008. A lot of the things we are doing are a result of living though those changes and learning those lessons. The justification is in the result. One of the worst things that can happen to an MMO is that they feel "empty." It's the kiss of death. The way you make your game full is by attracting lots of players to it. So, the goal is to design a game that appeals broadly in a general sense. Then, you have to make deep experiences which tend to appeal more narrowly.

• Jumpgate Evolution Bi-Weekly Interview #1: The Basics
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