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
style="font-style: italic;">9Dragons.
alt="Steven-Elliot Altman" title="Steven-Elliot Altman"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="150" width="113">
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?
style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Altman
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">: 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?
style="font-weight: bold;">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?
style="font-weight: bold;">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.
alt="Deep in Meditation" title="Deep in Meditation"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="113" width="150">
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?
style="font-weight: bold;">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?
style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Altman
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">:
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.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our 9Dragons Game Page.
