the Corporation interviews David Allen from Artifact
posted at 3:01 AM on Sunday, July 9th
Welcome to Day Two (of two) of The Corporation's interview with the CEO of Artifact Entertainment, David Allen. If you missed Day One, check it out here. In case you don't know and are also too lazy to click the Day One link, Artifact Entertainment is the development company behind the upcoming MMORPG Horizons.
To what degree will players be able to alter and control the game's world?
An extensive degree. We feature 'organizations' that players can join or create, which includes businesses, guilds, religions, and more. The world is very dynamic; players can partake in government activities, and even pass laws.
How will Horizons handle PvP?
While we haven't released all of the specifics, PvP will be a very important part of HORIZONS since in the end, it's the players that make the game. With the deity and religious system, new players will be completely protected for a period of time from murderers. Also, those who choose to PKill will be held responsible for their actions; if one kills another player; that entire player's family, and possibly even the associated organizations (depending on the circumstances) that player is a member of will be able to hunt down and kill that player. We will have a community feeling like nothing nobody has seen before. Murderers that become very well known will find AI issued trackers and legions tracking them down, dispatched from the empires. There's so much more I could go into, but I'll save that for the next design spec update to be released.
Concept Art
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Horizons has been called the most anticipated MMORPG in history. Did you expect this kind of excitement? Did you do any kind of marketing to help fuel the fire?
Actually, yes and no. We knew that players would get this excited, we just didn't know that it would be this soon. We haven't done any marketing at all as of yet.
Horizons is slated for release after UO2 and Shadowbane. How do you think this will affect the expectations for Horizons? How will it affect its success?
We're not concerned about UO2 and Shadowbane. While they have the potential to be great products, they are not HORIZONS. In addition, there is plenty of room for multiple top-notch MMORPGs out there, so we're focusing on the game rather than worrying about competition (even though we are very aware of our competition, as we should be).
How has Horizons changed since it was originally conceived? To what do you attribute these changes?
It's been more 'molded' than changed. These changes came around by the people involved in the project bringing new ideas and concepts; however the core of HORIZONS has pretty much always been the same.
What issues are currently being debated in terms of the game's direction?
Nothing really; we're just finalizing everything. Most of the guts are complete as far as design and implementation goes. We are still finalizing things like Psionics, real-estate, governments, and economy; but that's to be expected.
Concept Art
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What will Horizons need in order to be successful?
The players, and their support.
Where do you see the gaming industry going in the future?
MMOGs will be the future; and in a few years time, we will see worlds of hundreds of thousands of people coming alive as the high bandwidth and technology spreads.
Do you think consoles will ever be able to support MMORPGs?
Absolutely.
Any final remarks?
Just a thanks to all of the players who have supported HORIZONS. I believe this is the first project of this magnitude that has ever been designed that actually worked with the player base to make a better product. We plan on continuing with the player interaction (we should have the player quest/story submission web site up shortly), and will focus on not making the mistakes that some other companies have in relation to the way they treat their players/customers. Those are our goals.
Thank you for your time, Mr. Allen. Best of luck with Horizons and whatever projects you and your team choose to undertake in the future. We (and the rest of the world) are waiting eagerly. |
