Questions
by Cody “Micajah” Bye, Managing Editor
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Answers
by Robert Hill, Senior Producer, Trion World Network
Although there have been a handful of science fiction based MMOGs
released in the past few years, science fiction aficionados have
typically been the odd man out when it comes to games based in
alternate universes. The fantasy genre has kept a firm grasp on the
vast majority of the market, but the future isn’t without
hope. The Trion World Network, along with the SCI FI Channel, are
putting together a sci-fi game that may truly satisfy the hardcore
science fiction fans around the world.
Continuing on our coverage of the recently announced Trion/SCI FI MMOG,
Ten Ton Hammer’s Cody “Micajah” Bye asked
several questions to the game’s senior producer, Robert Hill,
who was incredibly excited about the opportunity to work with the SCI
FI Channel and has confidence that his team will put together an
amazing online experience. If you're interested in learning
more about the project, make sure you check out Ten Ton Hammer's
interview with Adam Stotsky from the SCI FI Channel!
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Ten Ton Hammer: To start,
how did you decide to partner with the SCI FI Channel to make an online
MMOG? What sort of opportunities does that present to you as an online
game developer and publisher?
Robert Hill:
3 of the top 5 media companies in the world invested in Trion in
2007. We really wanted to take advantage of those amazing
relationships and the opportunities they afforded us. We felt
we had a really strong rapport with the people at the SCI FI Channel
and they turned into the natural choice for Trion’s first
media company partnership.
From a development standpoint, right off of the bat it gives Trion a
chance to work with top television talent. The SCI FI Channel
knows how to tell a fantastic story and we can really take advantage of
that within our game. For online games that need to create an
immersive world, this is a great asset.
It will also benefit us by getting knowledge of our product out to an
existing television audience, many of whom might not currently be
playing games. The SCI FI Channel is a particularly good
audience for us as their audience already enjoys fantastic universes
and settings that most current gamers expect. We think there
is just a great crossover between what they do and what we do.
Ten Ton Hammer: The
integration of the various forms of media – TV, movies, and
games – has been a process that has taken years to get right.
How will Trion make the true integration of the various forms of media
a reality?
Robert: We
are approaching this much differently than the traditional IP license
model that has dominated the industry for years and feel that our new
approach will yield much better results. We have a true
partnership where great ideas from the TV show will make it into the
game and great ideas from the game will make it into the TV show.
The TV show and the game are both being produced from the start with
foreknowledge that they will coexist with each other rather than trying
to retrofit one to the other We can fulfill the
needs of both types of media from the ground up without sacrificing
what makes each great. This should make a much more
compelling and entertaining super product for both audiences to enjoy.
Ten Ton Hammer: What sort
of experience does Trion have with building MMOGs? The press release
mentions that the development team has plenty of previous history with
that genre, but are there any particular examples you can list for our
readers?
Robert:
Trion has many individuals who have shipped dozens of single player,
multiplayer, and MMOG games. With experienced people from
such large online companies as NCSoft, EA, and SOE; we have the
advantage of knowing what to do and not do when it comes to all aspects
of online gaming. Some of the most difficult technical
problems for this genre have already been solved by the various teams
in the past which is a huge benefit.
For the SCI FI Channel project in particular, we have assembled people
that have worked on EverQuest, EverQuest II, PlanetSide, and EverQuest
Online Adventures. Not only have they shipped multiple
MMO’s, they have been some of the few people that have also
done so on a console, which is no small feat.
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Ten Ton Hammer: In the
press release, it’s mentioned that Trion has a
“multi-device game platform and premier development and
publishing talent will break new ground for the future of transmedia
entertainment.” Does this mean that whatever game we see
emerging from Trion will be available on consoles as well as PCs?
Robert: The
Trion platform gives us the advantage of being able to reach all sorts
of devices beyond the PC. We are doing most of the heavy
lifting server side, freeing our clients to take only what they need to
deliver quality experiences tailored to strengths of each hardware
platform.
That said, we have not announced all of the platforms that we are
currently looking to support but our intent is that if it has a
broadband connection, we would like to publish for it. PC is certainly
part of our future and we just announced that we can publish for the
PS3 and hope to make more such announcements in the future.
Ten Ton Hammer: What
should the Ten Ton Hammer readers and fans of the Sci Fi Channel expect
from the Trion World Network over the next few months? How will this
project progress and when will we start seeing details?
Robert: We
have a lot of work to do under the hood between now and before we are
ready to share specific details.
