Henrik Nystrom from Star Vault AB candidly answers GameSNAFU's questions about their current project, Mortal Online
GameSNAFU would like to thank Henrik and the Star Vault staff for taking the time to answer our questions about this exciting game. Full PvP in a fanatsy setting never sounded so good!
Q: What game engine does Mortal Online use?
A: Unreal Engine 3, together with other third-part technologies.
Q: We know from the Mortal Online website that it has an expansive and intriguing back story. How will the quest lines in the game follow it?
A: First of all, I want to make it clear that there are no regular "quests" in MO, just like there are no "levels" or generic "experience points". We have chosen to embed the majority of the lore in the world itself for you as a player to discover, if you are interested, instead of reading about it beforehand or getting it fed to you by NPC’s with flashing exclamation marks over their heads.
What we do have, are very big quests in the form of riddles and chains-of-events spread about in the world that will often involve several players or guilds, and from time to time affect the development of the world. These quests will start slowly even from day one, and we have some deep events planned for the players - where their actions will get reflected back upon the world and the rest of the future players. We’ve even presented clues for some of these events before the game starts, one is embedded in the countdown image on www.mortalonline.com
Q: How much of Mortal Online's game play will be focused on PvP?
A: The entire game is developed with PvP in focus. This doesn’t mean there is no PvE only that our game is built on PvP with added PvE - not the other way around which is very common in other MMO’s. In other words, we make sure every game feature works well with the open PvP.
Regarding PvE, we have not put that much effort into AI, and as I stated before there are no "pick a hundred apples"-quests to guide you through the world. However gathering, mining, exploring, hunting, crafting and the like are important to us and make for a lot of PvE content.
Q: How "hardcore" will the PvP be? Will players be able to "loot" the corpses of the players they defeated?
A: There will be full PvP and full loot for all players everywhere at anytime. This means there are no areas where you can or can’t fight other players, although attacking innocent players in towns that have guards will have consequences. Also, the flagging system means that you are free to kill anyone you like, but if you go about murdering innocent people you will be labeled as a murderer for anyone else to see.
Q: What kind of death penalty if any will there be in Mortal Online? Will a PvP death hurt more than a PvE death penalty wise?
A: No matter how you die (in PvE or PvP) the penalties are the same. You will drop all your items for anyone to loot (you may of course try to retrieve them yourself if there’s time). You are dead, meaning you will have to get back to the world of the living, and that’s not always easy. Moreover, if you are flagged as murderer you will have special penalties when you die, but we are currently experimenting with the specifics.
Q: Risk versus reward is always an issue in games that contain a PVP element. What kind incentives are there going to be to entice players into getting involved in PVP?
A: Full loot. Fighting over resources. Protecting or attacking trade-routes and caravans. Guild wars. Bounty-hunting. To name a few.
Q: About crafting, will most items used by players in the game be craftable? If so how will they compare with looted items and equipment?
A: Our goal is to have ALL usable items craftable by the players. Crafted items will be better than the vast majority of items dropped by mobs or found in the game - however you will have to learn how to craft certain items by studying items dropped by mobs to be able to copy the design and/or refine it. There will also be unique items in the world, sometimes very powerful, but it’s up to the players if it’s worth the risk to actually carry around and use those items.
Q: Again about crafting, what types of items will be able to be crafted?
A: Again, our goal is to have everything that can be used by the players craftabe. We have started with weapons and armor and will soon move on to the large number of tools (used for gathering, mining, refining crafting etc). Next up will be clothes, food and decorative items. Also, we are working on player housing.
Q: Can you elaborate more on "Deva Skills"?
A: We don’t want any single player to be able to have all skills at the same time. This would make the game more character-skill oriented and grind-based than player-skill oriented, and it would reduce the need for communication and cooperation among players. At the same time, we don’t want you to be stuck in just one piece of the game - we want you to be able to train different races and character builds on your account. This is where the Deva skills come into play:
The Deva is essentially your account and your characters "shared soul". Some of the skills in the game are Deva-skills, meaning they are shared between your different characters. This means that instead of having to grind through the same tasks you have already done with your other character over and over again, some skills (mostly those of learning-skill type) will be shared between your characters.
Q: How large is the game world going to be? Will it take a long time to go from one end to the other?
A: The first continent we are launching is about 64km2, not including undergrounds and dungeons. It’s pointless to compare "scale" to other games if you don’t know their speed and means of travel, but in MO, jogging from one end to the other (horizontally across) in a straight line, if that was possible, would take you approximately.. 40 minutes? And although it’s hard to say how large the world will feel until it’s filled with real players, right now it feels very big. The 64km2 is currently entirely seamless and has no instances, something we really hope we will be able to keep for release. The rest of the documented world consists of 5 more continents of similar size.
Q: You say that your flagging system is very "complex". Are you planning to simplify or refine it in Beta?
A: The game is built around the flagging system and it is very complex on the inside, as it has to cover all kinds of weird situations and exceptions. It is pretty basic and self-explanatory ingame though. The flagging system is there both to keep order and excitement in the game for the players, without it the game would end up playing more like an Unreal match. We want people to think one more time before killing someone else. Is it worth it? Can I do it or will I get hunted after this action? This is what the flagging system helps out with.
Q: "You decide the path and goals of your progress, and where your actions are reflected back upon the world." Is that not what every other MMO claims? How is Mortal Online different from the others?
A: I think every MMO says that your actions will be reflected back on your character, but I can’t recall many that claims you will affect the world? I guess there are a lot of ways to simulate that, like having the different NPC’s in the world say different things to you depending on your alignment for instance. Or by having quests were you are "the chosen one" supposed to "save the world", although all other players are also the chosen one and are doing the same thing. However, that kind of feedback is mainly client-sided, meaning it doesn’t really affect other players or the actual world.
In MO we have a "persistent" world, a world that globally remembers events and affect all players. If you kill the big monster it will be dead for all other players too, forever. If you build a house, every other player can see it and interact with it. And so on. That said, the main focus of MO is the gaming experience and excitement, and it cannot be compared to "simulator/virtual worlds"-MMO’s like for instance Wurm Online or Entropia Universe, although persistence-wise it’s definitely a big step in that direction.
Q: Is the game on schedule and could you tell us if you have a release date in mind yet?
A: The game is on schedule but we do not have a release date yet. As an independent company we have always planned on first releasing only the fundamental core of the game to make sure there’s an interest in it, thereafter immediately continue the development with the rest of the large number of planned features. As things look now, with the interest in the game and our rapid progress in development, we find ourselves wanting to add more and more of that planned stuff in before releasing the game. But we’ll see.
Q: Finally, is your company working on any other projects they could tell us about at this time?
A: At the moment, and hopefully for several years to come, we are only focusing on Mortal Online.
Once again, thank you Henrik. We look forward to a long relationship between GameSNAFU and your studio and wish you nothing but the best for Mortal Online.
