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Jon Selin - Dreamlords Interview - Page 2 of 2

Selin hopes to do more with the customization end of the game. A dreamlord avatar is, in my opinion, really cool looking to start with, a superhuman-sized soaring apparition with flowing streamers (for lack of a better word) in lieu of legs. Lockpick will soon add a choice between a handful of avatar models at the start of the game.

Another important change is ratings. Unlike ratings in games like the Battlefield series, ratings are not simply a scoreboarding tool. Instead, the battlemaps where players fight are governed by ratings to compel better developed players to pick on someone their own size. Or one size greater, since special enhancements can be unlocked when a dreamlord is successful against a numerically stronger opponent.

In sitting down to play the game, you soon discover that the storyline is purposefully vague. There was a cataclysmic event, everyone's in what Selin called “the true dark ages.” No one knows what's going on, and the denizens decide to call you forth- a desperate move, and probably against their better judgment. The game offers three races- the Thul (brutish, shamanistic), the Nihilim (intelligent, cold, morally ambiguous), and the Covenant (religious, having the strength of their conviction). Selin related that these races, while not as “tiresome” as the usual suspects of fantasy RPG races, offer something familiar to those seeking a certain playstyle.

It might come as a surprise that, unlike in most other games, the action is really isn't along racial lines. Instead, the action is broken down along the lines of player organized “convergences” (akin to guilds), allowing players to exploit the strengths (and cover the weaknesses) of each individual race in the broader context of large-scale battles. Selin told us that if we were to read the backstory, this would all make sense in the lore, but also admitted that a reading of the lore is “pretty impossible” since it's sort-of scattered around the Lockpick offices at present.

We've mentioned that avatars are equip-able, but a players armies can also be equipped with gear crafted by the player or looted from a fallen enemy. The equipment given to one member of the army (say, a rusted sword) is applied to all members of the army. Having a properly equipped army is critical to a player's success in the game; Selin stated that players that failed to understand this would be wiped out early.

No one can ever fault Lockpick Entertainment for a lack of ambition, and that the game is launched, looks great, and has enjoyed near 100% server uptime since launch is an impressive accomplishment for a development concern operating with fewer than 30 employees. Even if you're not excited by Dreamlords, keep your eye on Jon Selin and the crew at Lockpick – they bring a level of concept-level intelligence and energy to an fairly inflexible genre that we haven't seen since EVE Online busted onto the scene in 2003.

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