Telling a Hero’s Story

A Report from the Industry Panel: "The Development of RPGs"

Peter Molyneux, Dr. Raymond Muzyka, and Hironobu Sakaguchi - if you’re an RPG fan and don’t know these names, you’d better start Googling them because someone’s going to find out. Between these three men, more roleplaying evolutions have been achieved than perhaps any other trio of men on the planet. Titles like Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Wizardry, Populous, Black and White, Fable, Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect have all reached the hands of gamers through the efforts of these three individuals.

At GDC 2007, Microsoft initially gathered the three legends to showcase their efforts at the Games for Windows and Xbox 360 suites; but after the day was done the three kings of the RPG industry sat down with a bevy of media reporters and answered a few questions regarding the future of RPG development.

While the panel was focusing on RPGs as a whole, by the end of the talk the focus had turned to the future and how MMORPGs are influencing the industry. One thing that was apparent between the three men was the enthusiasm they held towards the realm of online gaming.

Molyneux, in particular, was very engaged with the process it takes to develop a massively multiplayer game. “It’s really something that is very intriguing to me,” Molyneux said. He noted that it was a lot of work for developers, but he was equally interested in the options it gives players. “The ability to show-off, to work with, and to play with your friends and other people online makes me very interested in the genre,” Molyneux said. 

In an interesting twist, Molyneux explained that he wanted to say more, but that he was “very, very gagged.” What does this mean? As a reporter, when people say they are “gagged” it means that they are either working on or contemplating creating or pursuing the concept to some degree. With Molyneaux’s record for creating blockbuster games, it would be in a publisher’s best interest to pursue that medium with Molyneux. If the man could integrate the sort of in-game character creation that was established in Fable with the MMO medium, a whole new level of character customization would finally be available to the MMO customer.

This is not official news, but I know I’ll be looking for something on the MMO front from Molyneux in the near future.

Dr. Muzyka was equally gagged when he hinted about the upcoming Bioware MMO. To the discerning ear, it sounded like Dr. Muzyka is thoroughly focused on bringing the single-player storyline to an MMO environment. He discussed the idea of having character really become immersed in what is going on around them, and they – as a company – were looking at what truly makes an RPG, therefore translating this thinking into both the single-player and multi-player experience.

On another front, one of the reporters in the crowd questioned why RPG developers had not attempted to make a focused multiplayer experience that a group of friends could enjoy but was not truly massive and was more linear in scope. Ray jumped on this question again, saying simply that their new MMO was “attempting” something like this. Being fairly experienced MMO gamers Jeff Woleslagle and I both wondered how a MMO could both be massive and linear at the same time, but if there was a company that could achieve that sort of gameplay, it is Bioware.

At the end of the panel, there was an amusing moment when the question concerning MMOs was translated for Sakaguchi. The developer of Final Fantasy XI chuckled, looked into the back of the room and pleaded with a Microsoft official to allow him to pursue an MMO. “Please Shane,” he said, grinning and laughing.

“Anything you want,” the official said. Again, although this is just things that were exchanged on the cuff during a press function, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a MMO title from Sakaguchi in the future.

Disagree with my diagnosis or interested in possible upcoming titles from these developers, than just email me your thoughts!