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Joe Ybarra -Stargate Worlds Update - Page 2 of 2

But lest you think that Joe Ybarra and the CME team are locked into MGM's way of doing things, the producers of the longest continuously running sci-fi show in TV history have given the devs plenty of leighway. “Brad Wright and Robert Cooper are encouraging us to add new content,” Ybarra intimated. It's a two-way relationship, though. “That's what's exciting about working with the production team, as they begin figuring out new stuff they want to do, we can start dropping it into the game.”

Ybarra also described recent deliverables of internals spaces (including an Asgard ship) rendered in full 3D, expressing his excitement that game design has evolved to such an extent that so much is available to designers during the early conceptual phases of the game. We also saw concept art detailing a city before and after the Go'auld nuked it from orbit. Players would visit the area before and after the attack by way of a timeshifting mechanic uncommon in the typically frozen universe of most MMORPGs.

How long could players expect to spend in each world? “It's going to vary from world to world. My guess is (and this is just a wild ass guess) is that, depending on how frequently you come back to it, you'll be able to get about 10 hours out of each world. But you won't be there all at one time. For example, the tutorial worlds (the level one to five areas), we expect you to be in there for two hours. Some of the worlds I've seen, there's enough content to take you up to 33 hours of gameplay. But that's not the spirit of the game. The spirit of the game is to keep you moving. I like the quests that kind of ping-pong you back and forth between worlds.”

We asked Ybarra about the challenges CME is currently facing in making not just a great game based on Stargate lore, but also an MMORPG designed to compete in today's market. First, much of the action in the series is squad-based, but gamers expect a hefty measure of solo content. Will the game be primarily soloable or group-based? “It's actually designed for solo play, but it's different if you have a group. We really want you to play in groups of four. There's different things that we'll do, XP bonuses, squad specific items. We're encouraging it, but you don't have to.” Fostering high and low level player contact, to give the game a sense of continuity, is also a challenge. “One of the great things about World of Warcraft is, as a new player, watching all these level 70s go with all their gear by and 'ooo, I want to be one of those.' How do you do that when there's a stargate, right? There's no big area where you'll be able to see these players go by. We have to find strategies that give us that ability but don't destroy the game.”

Will Stargate Worlds have fewer, larger worlds, or many smaller worlds? “Dan and I prefer to have a lot of 'middle' worlds. Our designers push back and say, 'No, we want fewer, bigger worlds.' So we kind of compromise. That's why on any given day its 'How many worlds are we going to have?' 'It's anywhere between 35 and 58', it depends on who's winning the battle that day. But obviously we have a lot of worlds spec'ed out... I think ultimately the problem is, how many of these worlds can we get tested.”

Finally, a progress report on the game. Joe Ybarra reported that CME has just started getting into full line production, with the first 3 playable content-packed worlds scheduled as an end-of-month deliverables for March 2007. Also included is the game's first “story quest,” which Ybarra described as “really exciting” for the CME team. From a publicity standpoint, Ybarra conveyed that CME is currently doing everything they've been talking about for a while now, and will have much more to show at the summer 2007 conferences.”

Return to the GDC 2007 portal.