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Determining the Future of the Dragons

An Interview with 9Dragons’ Steve-Elliot Altman

Questions by Cody “Micajah” Bye

Answers by Steven-Elliot Altman, Lead Writer and Game Director for 9Dragons

On May 9th, 2007, the world was introduced to its first martial arts-based MMORPG, 9Dragons. Think of the world of Hero, House of the Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or even Jackie Chan’s classic Drunken Master. In-game you can rise from a beggar on the streets to become a master of martial arts as you train with some of the greatest masters of ancient China.

As a free-to-play game, 9Dragons initially made headlines due to the background of its publisher, Acclaim, and how the company was using the free-to-play game model to resurrect itself form the game development grave. Much of Acclaim’s success rests upon the popularity of its first few games, and 9Dragons seems like a great start to the resurrection of the company.

Being the ever interested reporter, Ten Ton Hammer’s Cody “Micajah” Bye wanted to check in with the development team at 9Dragons to determine how the launch of the game went and what sort of plans they have for the future. To answer the questions posed, Acclaim tapped Steven-Elliot Altman, a best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and the lead writer, loremaster and game director of 9Dragons.

Steven-Elliot Altman, Lead Writer and Game Director for 9Dragons

Ten Ton Hammer: Congratulations on the successful commercial launch! How has the response been to the 9Dragons release thus far?

Altman: Thanks Cody, we’re all very proud of 9Dragons here at Acclaim. New players have been steadily streaming in, and the number one comment we keep getting is that people can’t believe 9Dragons looks and plays this good, and it’s free to play. That’s exactly what we wanted to hear.

TenTonhammer: How was the mood in the Acclaim offices before the commercial launch? Have you guys had a bunch of work since the release, or has it been a bit calmer?

Altman: The game was working well, and we were confident. We silently released a few new features, like our Item Mall, under the steady watch of our fearless CTO, Neil Malhotra, and then the staff went out and had a drink together. When we came back, we read good responses from our community on our message boards and saw players running around in-game wearing new decos. A few pats on the back later we issued the press release that 9Dragons had gone commercial. The aftermath has been pretty calm. We’re all about fine tuning at this point.

Ten Ton Hammer: 9Dragons is an imported title; did that change your feelings surrounding the launch of the game?

Altman: Yes, it means we have our Korean development partners to celebrate with! It’s actually a very good question. The fact that 9D was successful overseas was what drew Howard Marks, our CEO, to partner on the game. That it’s now appealing to the Western market is cause to celebrate for us as well as for them. I’m very proud to have played my part in the “remastering” of their original story for Western audiences to appreciate. We’ve all done so much work on 9Dragons on both sides of the pond that it no longer feels imported. We feel it’s “our” game in the true sense of the word.  

About 100 new quests are about to enter 9Dragons.

Ten Ton Hammer: News concerning 9Dragons has been pretty sparse since your launch on May 9th. Could you just give our readers and your players a quick update on what you guys have been working on since release and how things are continuing to improve?

Altman: Sure thing. Now that we’ve stabilized the game following the influx of new players and the mechanics that allow the game to generate income to sustain itself, we’ve turned our attention to creating new content. Two new maps have been created that dwarf anything players have already seen in-game, and they have just entered alpha test stage. Third level roles are being tested with all sorts of new Kung Fu for players to train and master. About 100 new quests are about to enter the game, and we’re developing new items for the Item Mall based on player demand. Yeah, I guess we’re keeping busy.

Ten Ton Hammer: There have been some comments by players that some of the in-game ads are actually preventing them from playing the game, such as an ad blocking their “Revive Here” window and other such interferences. In-game ads are here to stay, but how are you making them so they interfere with the gameplay as little as possible?

Altman: We tailored the ad system so that it should not interfere with gameplay at all. Ads appear when you are transitioning from map to map or zone to zone (and death too is a transition, grasshopper) or when you’re meditating. But it’s a learning process for us as well as the industry, and the players themselves have helped us decide how and where to place the ads. We expect them to continue in that capacity. Our community has been behind Acclaim from the start on viewing ads in return for having free games.