Yesterday's announcement
that Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
would indeed be seeing completion brought much excitement to the MMOG
community. Ten Ton Hammer caught up to Heatwave Interactive's Tim
Schubert, Producer of Gods & Heroes to find out more about the
acquisition.

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Ten Ton Hammer: Congratulations on
this exciting news! It sounds like Heatwave plans to use much or all of
the core technology and assets from the original iteration of the game.
Can Heatwave essentially pick up where Perpetual left off?
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Tim Schubert: That’s the
plan!  Our ability to use the preexisting work style="font-style: italic;">Gods & Heroes as a jumping off
point was one of the more compelling reasons for making the
acquisition.  The game is in good shape already and we’re really
excited to take it to the finish line.

 

Ten Ton Hammer: style="font-style: italic;">Gods and Heroes was well into
closed beta when the game's development went on hiatus. Do you feel
like you have far to go to turn the game into something Heatwave would
be proud to launch? Is the game concept fundamentally sound?
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Tim: There are some things we
will need to do in order to meet the expectations of the modern day MMO
player, but Gods & Heroes
has aged remarkably well.  The core concepts of the game are sound
and the features are still very compelling, but we want to take it all
up a notch and really blow people’s socks off.

Ten Ton Hammer: style="font-style: italic;">Gods and Heroes was originally
imagined as a subscription-driven game. In light of how the market has
become more open to other business models (e.g. microtransactions), are
you still comfortable with that approach?
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Tim: We have experience with a
broad range of revenue models at Heatwave and we’re considering them
all.  Our goal is to find a model that is not just profitable, but
is also appealing to our potential customers.  We really want
players to feel like they are getting a good bang for the buck.



Ten Ton Hammer: Some might consider
three and a half years a lifetime in terms of how game graphics have
evolved. Do you feel that Gods and
Heroes graphics compare favorably with MMORPGs that have just
entered the market?



Tim: Cutting edge graphics are
something of a double edged sword.  On one hand they look great on
magazine covers and high end machines, on the other hand, they can
limit your potential audience.  The amazing thing is that even
though the Gods & Heroes
engine is a little old, the game still looks great. The game was
winning awards for its quality aesthetics back in the day and the
quality of that craftsmanship hasn’t faded much over time.  After
we modernize the game engine a bit and unleash our art staff on it
it’ll look even better and will rival its competitors.

Ten Ton Hammer: Other games, such as
DDO and The Lord of the Rings Online
and most recently Mytheon,
have seized upon the cornerstone gameplay concept of style="font-style: italic;">Gods and Heroes as it was
originally imagined: the minion system. Will minions still play a heady
role in the combat? Do you have a few other tricks up your sleeve to
bring GnH back to the cutting edge of game development?
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Tim: It is true that minion
mechanics have become more common over the years, but I think style="font-style: italic;">Gods & Heroes takes them
farther.  Deciding how to best leverage the core mechanics of the
game and evolve them is one of our primary concerns at the
moment.  I can’t go into details yet, but we are working on some
really cool ideas that will ensure Gods
& Heroes serves up an MMO experience players haven’t seen
before.

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Thanks go out to Tim and his team
at Heatwave Interactive for answering our questions. It's certainly
exciting to see the game come back from what we all believed would be a
permanent end. Stay tuned to Ten Ton Hammer for more style="font-style: italic;">Gods & Heroes in the weeks and
months to come.