Mage Knight: Apocalypse Interview - Part 2
We learn about character customization, the advancement system, combat, magic and more in Namco Bandai's title
February 27, 2006 - Mage Knight is WizKids' popular game of tabletop combat using collectible miniatures. Players take on the roles of powerful Warlords who pursue diverse goals that can range from the furtherance of altruistic causes to subjugation and personal glory. They do so by assembling and commanding suitably mighty armies made up of fantasy beings armed with magical weapons and items. As a result, the battles among them are epic affairs involving groups of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Trolls and colossal Draconum, the solitary, mysterious dragon warriors who relentlessly search for individual evolution. The dual challenges of conquering the land and crushing those enemies who dare to stand before you require every magical, martial and technological resource you can muster. However, the rewards for victory and success are appropriately grand. Accordingly, many leaders strive to achieve dominance, and perhaps even to become legends.
Announced in May of last year, Mage Knight: Apocalypse is Namco Bandai's action RPG set within this richly detailed property. You play as one of five guardians, heroes who have sworn to uncover and eradicate the source of an ominous evil that is plaguing the land and threatening to bring about its ultimate devastation. Guided by the Solonavi, a mysterious race possessing tremendous magical abilities, you embark on your quest to find that the forces of Chaos are led by an adversary you cannot hope to defeat alone, the five-headed Apocalypse Dragon. Your only hope is to rally support among the factions, which are frequently at odds with each other, and to recruit their greatest champions to fight at your side. With development continuing to move forward, we recently secured the opportunity to question the title's Senior Producer, David Georgeson.
Includes four exclusive screenshots
Jonric: How will character selection function? To what extent can both outward appearance and innate attributes be customized?
David Georgeson: Character creation is straightforward. You select one of the five main characters to play, customize their appearance (face details, hair color, hair style, etc.) and then launch into the game. Each of the five characters has a basic set of skills to begin the game, and how yours develops depends on which of those skills you choose to exploit.
Jonric: Within this system, how much differentiation can a given character achieve via the player making certain choices instead of others?
David Georgeson: Characters will become dramatically different through their actions. A player that loves to wade into battle swinging a two-handed axe will find those stats growing, and skills related to melee combat becoming unlocked, as he adventures. A player that stands back with a bow, allowing her sidekicks to meet the enemy in melee will find ranged attack options opening up and she'll become more dexterous.
In other words, your character grows according to your actions. Since every gamer plays differently, the characters all grow differently as well.
Jonric: Considering Mage Knight: Apocalypse is an action RPG, will there be any non-combat skills or abilities?
David Georgeson: In addition to combat-related skills, there are also trade skills within the game. The ability to imbue items within your armor and items, as well as mechanisms for collecting herbs and reagents in the wild to bring them back and brew them into potions, help keep players involved even when out of battle.
Jonric: How would you describe the combat system? Can the player control more than one character? And are there combos or other special attacks?
David Georgeson: Combat is the action in the "action RPG". In other words, you're going to spend a lot of time defeating enemies and overcoming obstacles in the game. In its simplest form, you simply click on an opponent to attack them with the skill you have selected. If you've selected a sword attack, then that's what happens. If you have a Tidal Wave spell selected, then that's what occurs when you click on the enemy. It's that straightforward.
Each player directly controls only their own character. In a single-player game, where the player has accumulated sidekicks, he can set aggressiveness levels so they know whether to Attack, Defend or Follow. Additionally, they can be directed to attack specific enemies or just all attack the same target the player is attacking.
Additionally, there are combo attacks. These attacks are triggered by the player, and then other players (or sidekicks) can join together with that player to make a multi-character attack. One example of this is the Dark Sun where the Vampiress summons a ball of energy over the head of an enemy, and then the Dwarf shoots it to make it detonate in an area effect attack. Many others will be available too, so that there are many different combination attacks based on the characters involved in the attack.
Jonric: What's the nature of magic in the game? Are there different types, and does it rely on mana or some similar commodity?
David Georgeson: Only two of the five characters (Vampiress and Draconum) use mana as you may recognize it from other games. Mana is depleted when spells are cast, slowly regenerating over time or being restored by the use of potions.
Other characters have different mechanisms. The Amazon has different stances for each of her Jaguar, Bear or Eagle disciplines. She can't change between them freely, but must instead wait a small amount of time to make the change. Her "mana" bar acts as a timer between actions.
The Dwarf uses an overheat bar. As he discharges rifles, throws grenades and detonates bombs, he accumulates heat. He must manage that heat in order to keep using his weapons, so if he overheats he has to wait a short time before continuing to fire (until it cools down).
Lastly, the Elf uses faith instead of mana. As he casts spells, his bar is depleted (much like with mana), but he regains his faith by saving the souls of the foes that are conquered. By spending a moment over a dead enemy, the Elf can absolve those souls, and his faith bar is replenished according to the toughness of that enemy.
Jonric: How significant will weapons, armor or clothing and items in general be? Will we see many types, and will it be possible to customize any of them?
David Georgeson: There are literally thousands and thousands of items and armors in this game. Besides the great quantity and variety of armors, there are epic armors (that are only unlocked once you acquire all the skills on a specific skill tree) and you can imbue those armors / weapons with magestones.
Jonric: Can players expect to face a wide variety of opponents? What were the main considerations that went into selecting and designing them?
David Georgeson: There are scores and scores of enemies in the game. Each of the six regions in the game (regions = chapters in the story) has somewhere around 15 to 20 different kinds of enemies within it. Many of them were selected from the background of the Mage Knight license; we chose them based on their political allegiances, utility to the NPCs involved in the story and player appeal.
Some use invisibility, others teleport or are fast. Many use wildly different attacks and each of the regions have multiple "boss situations" where you might be faced with gargantuan foes, city-wide invasions or highly skilled vampire assassin squads.
We use scale a lot in the game. One of the chief advantages to a "free camera" system is that we can let the player see the world from more than a top-down perspective. This lets us create monsters that are just phenomenally huge and that creates a sense of freedom when making those encounters. They vary wildly.
Jonric: To what degree do non-player characters have major roles in
the game, and are there many others in addition to the sidekicks?
David Georgeson: You bet. You only play one of the five characters you could select from at the start of the game, but through the course of the storyline, you'll meet the other four that you didn't select. At appropriate times in the story, those other "Oathsworn" will join your quest to assist the Solonavi and stop the Breaking of the Land.
In addition to the sidekicks you acquire, there are many NPCs throughout the world. Some simply talk to you, others join your quest for a short time, and others are thoroughly evil and bent on stopping you.
Jonric: What are you willing to tell our readers about the quest element? Will there be many side quests, and will they include much variety?
David Georgeson: The quests and missions in the game usually serve two major purposes. One is to give the player reason to get into hairy situations that are fun to succeed against, and the second is to reveal another section of the story so the player can begin to understand what's really going on in the Land.
We have both "main line" quests (critical to unveiling the storyline) and a host of side quests that are optional and not required. Players can easily ignore the side quests if they just want to power through the story, but they are often interesting and add depth the story. It's up to the player how much or how little they explore them.
The quests are highly varied and there really isn't a typical example, but the Solonavi often uncover fragments of clues as to the Landshatter Prophecies and they send their Oathsworn (e.g., you and your sidekicks) into all sorts of situations to uncover more details to help them decipher what's really going on.
Jonric: What guided your decisions regarding the technologies to use? What are the main features of your game engine?
David Georgeson: Our screenshots and AVIs will pretty much explain what we like about our engine. It was developed and implemented by InterServ International in Taiwan, and it's exactly what we'd hope for in this kind of game. The graphics look great, the engine handles a free camera system well, and we can push scores of units together on screen to create frenetic battle situations without noticeable slow-down. Namco Bandai is quite happy with the tech being used, and we think the world of InterServ.
Jonric: Are you doing the sound, music and voice acting in-house or externally, and where do these elements stand at the moment?
David Georgeson: Sound, music and voice acting are all done professionally out of house. The world doesn't come alive until all that stuff is inserted, and we're just starting the voice acting sessions this month, so progress is ongoing. There are something around a hundred or so characters in the game, and a lot of spoken lines - it's an RPG, after all - so we expect the game to really be vibrant once all those pieces come together.
Jonric: Since it's our usual practice to finish up with an open-ended question, do you have any concluding thoughswords?
David Georgeson: Thanks for the opportunity to talk about Mage Knight: Apocalypse, Jonric. We look forward to finishing it in the coming months so you can play it yourself.
Naturally, we're also eager for David Georgeson and his Namco Bandai team to conclude their work so we can play Mage Knight: Apocalypse and experience their action RPG interpretation of the popular property. As he noted during the initial portion of this interview, the target release date is this summer, which means we don't have too long to wait. As we settle back to hope that the time passes quickly, we thank him again for expanding our knowledge of the title.
February 27, 2006 - Mage Knight is WizKids' popular game of tabletop combat using collectible miniatures. Players take on the roles of powerful Warlords who pursue diverse goals that can range from the furtherance of altruistic causes to subjugation and personal glory. They do so by assembling and commanding suitably mighty armies made up of fantasy beings armed with magical weapons and items. As a result, the battles among them are epic affairs involving groups of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Trolls and colossal Draconum, the solitary, mysterious dragon warriors who relentlessly search for individual evolution. The dual challenges of conquering the land and crushing those enemies who dare to stand before you require every magical, martial and technological resource you can muster. However, the rewards for victory and success are appropriately grand. Accordingly, many leaders strive to achieve dominance, and perhaps even to become legends.
Announced in May of last year, Mage Knight: Apocalypse is Namco Bandai's action RPG set within this richly detailed property. You play as one of five guardians, heroes who have sworn to uncover and eradicate the source of an ominous evil that is plaguing the land and threatening to bring about its ultimate devastation. Guided by the Solonavi, a mysterious race possessing tremendous magical abilities, you embark on your quest to find that the forces of Chaos are led by an adversary you cannot hope to defeat alone, the five-headed Apocalypse Dragon. Your only hope is to rally support among the factions, which are frequently at odds with each other, and to recruit their greatest champions to fight at your side. With development continuing to move forward, we recently secured the opportunity to question the title's Senior Producer, David Georgeson.
Includes four exclusive screenshots
Jonric: How will character selection function? To what extent can both outward appearance and innate attributes be customized?
David Georgeson: Character creation is straightforward. You select one of the five main characters to play, customize their appearance (face details, hair color, hair style, etc.) and then launch into the game. Each of the five characters has a basic set of skills to begin the game, and how yours develops depends on which of those skills you choose to exploit.
the Elf uses faith instead of mana. As he casts spells, his bar is depleted (much like with mana), but he regains his faith by saving the souls of the foes that are conquered.Character statistics (STR, AGI, etc.) are all in the game, but you don't have to directly manipulate them. Instead, they will grow in relation to the kind of things you do as a character. In other words, if you swing a sword a lot, your strength will slowly get better. If you cast spells a lot, your intelligence will grow.
Jonric: Within this system, how much differentiation can a given character achieve via the player making certain choices instead of others?
David Georgeson: Characters will become dramatically different through their actions. A player that loves to wade into battle swinging a two-handed axe will find those stats growing, and skills related to melee combat becoming unlocked, as he adventures. A player that stands back with a bow, allowing her sidekicks to meet the enemy in melee will find ranged attack options opening up and she'll become more dexterous.
In other words, your character grows according to your actions. Since every gamer plays differently, the characters all grow differently as well.
Jonric: Considering Mage Knight: Apocalypse is an action RPG, will there be any non-combat skills or abilities?
David Georgeson: In addition to combat-related skills, there are also trade skills within the game. The ability to imbue items within your armor and items, as well as mechanisms for collecting herbs and reagents in the wild to bring them back and brew them into potions, help keep players involved even when out of battle.
Jonric: How would you describe the combat system? Can the player control more than one character? And are there combos or other special attacks?
David Georgeson: Combat is the action in the "action RPG". In other words, you're going to spend a lot of time defeating enemies and overcoming obstacles in the game. In its simplest form, you simply click on an opponent to attack them with the skill you have selected. If you've selected a sword attack, then that's what happens. If you have a Tidal Wave spell selected, then that's what occurs when you click on the enemy. It's that straightforward.
Each player directly controls only their own character. In a single-player game, where the player has accumulated sidekicks, he can set aggressiveness levels so they know whether to Attack, Defend or Follow. Additionally, they can be directed to attack specific enemies or just all attack the same target the player is attacking.
Additionally, there are combo attacks. These attacks are triggered by the player, and then other players (or sidekicks) can join together with that player to make a multi-character attack. One example of this is the Dark Sun where the Vampiress summons a ball of energy over the head of an enemy, and then the Dwarf shoots it to make it detonate in an area effect attack. Many others will be available too, so that there are many different combination attacks based on the characters involved in the attack.
Jonric: What's the nature of magic in the game? Are there different types, and does it rely on mana or some similar commodity?
David Georgeson: Only two of the five characters (Vampiress and Draconum) use mana as you may recognize it from other games. Mana is depleted when spells are cast, slowly regenerating over time or being restored by the use of potions.
Other characters have different mechanisms. The Amazon has different stances for each of her Jaguar, Bear or Eagle disciplines. She can't change between them freely, but must instead wait a small amount of time to make the change. Her "mana" bar acts as a timer between actions.
The Dwarf uses an overheat bar. As he discharges rifles, throws grenades and detonates bombs, he accumulates heat. He must manage that heat in order to keep using his weapons, so if he overheats he has to wait a short time before continuing to fire (until it cools down).
Lastly, the Elf uses faith instead of mana. As he casts spells, his bar is depleted (much like with mana), but he regains his faith by saving the souls of the foes that are conquered. By spending a moment over a dead enemy, the Elf can absolve those souls, and his faith bar is replenished according to the toughness of that enemy.
Jonric: How significant will weapons, armor or clothing and items in general be? Will we see many types, and will it be possible to customize any of them?
David Georgeson: There are literally thousands and thousands of items and armors in this game. Besides the great quantity and variety of armors, there are epic armors (that are only unlocked once you acquire all the skills on a specific skill tree) and you can imbue those armors / weapons with magestones.
There are something around a hundred or so characters in the game, and a lot of spoken lines - it's an RPG, after all - so we expect the game to really be vibrant once all those pieces come together.The great variety of magestone combinations makes it so that even if players had *exactly* the same items and armor as another player (highly unlikely), they would still find them unique based on the magestone combinations they've instilled into those items.
Jonric: Can players expect to face a wide variety of opponents? What were the main considerations that went into selecting and designing them?
David Georgeson: There are scores and scores of enemies in the game. Each of the six regions in the game (regions = chapters in the story) has somewhere around 15 to 20 different kinds of enemies within it. Many of them were selected from the background of the Mage Knight license; we chose them based on their political allegiances, utility to the NPCs involved in the story and player appeal.
Some use invisibility, others teleport or are fast. Many use wildly different attacks and each of the regions have multiple "boss situations" where you might be faced with gargantuan foes, city-wide invasions or highly skilled vampire assassin squads.
We use scale a lot in the game. One of the chief advantages to a "free camera" system is that we can let the player see the world from more than a top-down perspective. This lets us create monsters that are just phenomenally huge and that creates a sense of freedom when making those encounters. They vary wildly.
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David Georgeson: You bet. You only play one of the five characters you could select from at the start of the game, but through the course of the storyline, you'll meet the other four that you didn't select. At appropriate times in the story, those other "Oathsworn" will join your quest to assist the Solonavi and stop the Breaking of the Land.
In addition to the sidekicks you acquire, there are many NPCs throughout the world. Some simply talk to you, others join your quest for a short time, and others are thoroughly evil and bent on stopping you.
Jonric: What are you willing to tell our readers about the quest element? Will there be many side quests, and will they include much variety?
David Georgeson: The quests and missions in the game usually serve two major purposes. One is to give the player reason to get into hairy situations that are fun to succeed against, and the second is to reveal another section of the story so the player can begin to understand what's really going on in the Land.
We have both "main line" quests (critical to unveiling the storyline) and a host of side quests that are optional and not required. Players can easily ignore the side quests if they just want to power through the story, but they are often interesting and add depth the story. It's up to the player how much or how little they explore them.
The quests are highly varied and there really isn't a typical example, but the Solonavi often uncover fragments of clues as to the Landshatter Prophecies and they send their Oathsworn (e.g., you and your sidekicks) into all sorts of situations to uncover more details to help them decipher what's really going on.
|
 |
Jonric: What guided your decisions regarding the technologies to use? What are the main features of your game engine?
David Georgeson: Our screenshots and AVIs will pretty much explain what we like about our engine. It was developed and implemented by InterServ International in Taiwan, and it's exactly what we'd hope for in this kind of game. The graphics look great, the engine handles a free camera system well, and we can push scores of units together on screen to create frenetic battle situations without noticeable slow-down. Namco Bandai is quite happy with the tech being used, and we think the world of InterServ.
Jonric: Are you doing the sound, music and voice acting in-house or externally, and where do these elements stand at the moment?
David Georgeson: Sound, music and voice acting are all done professionally out of house. The world doesn't come alive until all that stuff is inserted, and we're just starting the voice acting sessions this month, so progress is ongoing. There are something around a hundred or so characters in the game, and a lot of spoken lines - it's an RPG, after all - so we expect the game to really be vibrant once all those pieces come together.
Jonric: Since it's our usual practice to finish up with an open-ended question, do you have any concluding thoughswords?
David Georgeson: Thanks for the opportunity to talk about Mage Knight: Apocalypse, Jonric. We look forward to finishing it in the coming months so you can play it yourself.
Naturally, we're also eager for David Georgeson and his Namco Bandai team to conclude their work so we can play Mage Knight: Apocalypse and experience their action RPG interpretation of the popular property. As he noted during the initial portion of this interview, the target release date is this summer, which means we don't have too long to wait. As we settle back to hope that the time passes quickly, we thank him again for expanding our knowledge of the title.
Minions of Mirth Interview - PART 1
Prairie Games' intriguing endeavor described as both a single-player RPG and a massively multiplayer online world
March 08, 2006 - At any given moment, it's not hard at all to find a gamer or game writer decrying the lack of anything truly new and different to play. Typically, their plaintive laments aren't completely unjustified, but neither are they concerned with painting a full and accurate picture. Instead, they do what debaters and politicians do; they offer up a point of view and selected facts that support it. As a result, we get to see the same arguments over and over. For example, we get to read yet again how various sports game franchises are barely updated from one year to the next, and how almost all new shooters are practically clones of earlier titles within the genre. What we don't get to see nearly as often is anything about releases that might break or at least bend the proverbial mold.
Prairie Games' Minions of Mirth is one such endeavor. If you follow the link to the company's site, you'll find it described as being both a single-player offering as well as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game with no monthly fee. Among the features named are 12 races, 16 classes, three realms, playable monsters ranging from Dust Mites to Blightborn Dragons, and the ability to host your own persistent world server. What you won't see is further detail, which naturally served to pique our curiosity. Since we always seek to get our information directly from the source, we set out to do so. We were fortunate in securing the opportunity to pose our questions to Josh Ritter whose functional responsibilities on this unusual venture reportedly encompassed a broad and diverse spectrum from Game Designer to Technical Director, Producer and Programmer.
Jonric: How would you introduce Minions of Mirth, and what differentiates it from other fantasy-themed games? When did it launch and how much has it evolved since then?
Josh Ritter: Minions of Mirth is the first game that can be played as a single-player RPG or MMORPG on both Windows and OSX. Minions of Mirth, the MMORPG, features official and player-run servers with no monthly fee.
Minions of Mirth differs from all other MMORPGs in the ability for players not only to host their own persistent worlds that others can play on, but to customize and modify them as well.
Jonric: To what does the title refer, and are there other key features that are fresh and different compared to other RPGs and online worlds?
Josh Ritter: The title evokes the contrast of light and dark
or good and evil. Players can choose to join either the Fellowship of
Light or Minions of Darkness realms. We've also worked to inject a
little humor into the game's writing.
A very popular feature that's unique to Minions of Mirth is the ability to play a party of up to six characters. This allows a great deal of freedom in playing the game. Players can focus on a lone character or create a mix and level them up together. It's even possible to add and remove characters at inns without ever leaving the gameworld.
Jonric: What's the story behind the project? Who is Prairie Games, where did your funding come from, and did any other parties participate in development?
Josh Ritter: Prairie Games, Inc. has a development staff of two people, Josh Ritter and Lara Engebretson. I am an industry veteran with over 10 shipped retail titles and a number of engines. Minions of Mirth is Lara's first experience with game development.
Lara and I were self-funded for a portion of Minions of Mirth's development. We took everything we had, including credit cards, and maxed ourselves out. We moved to a remote town in North Dakota to minimize our cost of living. In 2005, we found a partner to assist with the funding. In short, we all took a tremendous risk.
We contracted for some of the game's artwork. Magnus Blikstad of WiT Entertainment single-handedly modeled, textured and animated every character in the game. Minions of Mirth features two hours of original score by Ronald van Deurzen. Christophe Canon of Frogames created clothing and armor textures as well as the world map. Additionally, unlike other games, we roll community modifications into the official version. In fact, Kevin Brown, who was playtesting the OSX version, wrote most of the game's world lore.
Jonric: What's the overall setting in which Minions of Mirth takes place, and to what degree does it have a story component?
Josh Ritter: The game has three realms - Fellowship of Light,
Minions of Darkness, and Monster. There are two main storylines
depending on which realm you are playing. The main quests span levels
1-50, and there are numerous side quests available along the way. There
is an important character statistic called Presence that is primarily
raised by completing quests in each of the storylines. We are
considering adding a third storyline for the Monster realm.
Jonric: What kind of gameworld did you create? Are there many different environments? And are there rapid ways to move around from place to place?
Josh Ritter: Minions of Mirth's world is made up of diverse zones including mountains, deserts, jungles, towns, dungeons, etc. The game currently features 14 zones. There are teleportation spells and potions that quickly move you across them. There are speed increasing spells, equipment, and character advancements that allow you to travel faster. There are also flight and transmutation spells that transform characters into dragons and other forms.
March 08, 2006 - At any given moment, it's not hard at all to find a gamer or game writer decrying the lack of anything truly new and different to play. Typically, their plaintive laments aren't completely unjustified, but neither are they concerned with painting a full and accurate picture. Instead, they do what debaters and politicians do; they offer up a point of view and selected facts that support it. As a result, we get to see the same arguments over and over. For example, we get to read yet again how various sports game franchises are barely updated from one year to the next, and how almost all new shooters are practically clones of earlier titles within the genre. What we don't get to see nearly as often is anything about releases that might break or at least bend the proverbial mold.
Prairie Games' Minions of Mirth is one such endeavor. If you follow the link to the company's site, you'll find it described as being both a single-player offering as well as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game with no monthly fee. Among the features named are 12 races, 16 classes, three realms, playable monsters ranging from Dust Mites to Blightborn Dragons, and the ability to host your own persistent world server. What you won't see is further detail, which naturally served to pique our curiosity. Since we always seek to get our information directly from the source, we set out to do so. We were fortunate in securing the opportunity to pose our questions to Josh Ritter whose functional responsibilities on this unusual venture reportedly encompassed a broad and diverse spectrum from Game Designer to Technical Director, Producer and Programmer.
Jonric: How would you introduce Minions of Mirth, and what differentiates it from other fantasy-themed games? When did it launch and how much has it evolved since then?
Josh Ritter: Minions of Mirth is the first game that can be played as a single-player RPG or MMORPG on both Windows and OSX. Minions of Mirth, the MMORPG, features official and player-run servers with no monthly fee.
Minions of Mirth differs from all other MMORPGs in the ability for players not only to host their own persistent worlds that others can play on, but to customize and modify them as well.
The game has three realms - Fellowship of Light, Minions of Darkness, and Monster. There are two main storylines depending on which realm you are playing.Minions of Mirth launched, simultaneously for Windows and OSX, on December 15th, 2005. We have since patched it multiple times with new content using our auto-update feature.
Jonric: To what does the title refer, and are there other key features that are fresh and different compared to other RPGs and online worlds?
Josh Ritter: The title evokes the contrast of light and dark
or good and evil. Players can choose to join either the Fellowship of
Light or Minions of Darkness realms. We've also worked to inject a
little humor into the game's writing. A very popular feature that's unique to Minions of Mirth is the ability to play a party of up to six characters. This allows a great deal of freedom in playing the game. Players can focus on a lone character or create a mix and level them up together. It's even possible to add and remove characters at inns without ever leaving the gameworld.
Jonric: What's the story behind the project? Who is Prairie Games, where did your funding come from, and did any other parties participate in development?
Josh Ritter: Prairie Games, Inc. has a development staff of two people, Josh Ritter and Lara Engebretson. I am an industry veteran with over 10 shipped retail titles and a number of engines. Minions of Mirth is Lara's first experience with game development.
Lara and I were self-funded for a portion of Minions of Mirth's development. We took everything we had, including credit cards, and maxed ourselves out. We moved to a remote town in North Dakota to minimize our cost of living. In 2005, we found a partner to assist with the funding. In short, we all took a tremendous risk.
We contracted for some of the game's artwork. Magnus Blikstad of WiT Entertainment single-handedly modeled, textured and animated every character in the game. Minions of Mirth features two hours of original score by Ronald van Deurzen. Christophe Canon of Frogames created clothing and armor textures as well as the world map. Additionally, unlike other games, we roll community modifications into the official version. In fact, Kevin Brown, who was playtesting the OSX version, wrote most of the game's world lore.
Jonric: What's the overall setting in which Minions of Mirth takes place, and to what degree does it have a story component?
Josh Ritter: The game has three realms - Fellowship of Light,
Minions of Darkness, and Monster. There are two main storylines
depending on which realm you are playing. The main quests span levels
1-50, and there are numerous side quests available along the way. There
is an important character statistic called Presence that is primarily
raised by completing quests in each of the storylines. We are
considering adding a third storyline for the Monster realm. Jonric: What kind of gameworld did you create? Are there many different environments? And are there rapid ways to move around from place to place?
Josh Ritter: Minions of Mirth's world is made up of diverse zones including mountains, deserts, jungles, towns, dungeons, etc. The game currently features 14 zones. There are teleportation spells and potions that quickly move you across them. There are speed increasing spells, equipment, and character advancements that allow you to travel faster. There are also flight and transmutation spells that transform characters into dragons and other forms.
Minions of Mirth Interview - Part 2
Jonric: What are the race and class options, and how much latitude is there when creating and customizing a player character?
Josh Ritter: Players can select from two realms, 12 races, 16 classes, two genders, and three body types when creating their characters. The races differ greatly in their appearance and size, from tiny halflings to massive titans. Races also have strengths and weaknesses built into their starting statistics. The player is given points to spend at creation to customize their character.
Players can also unlock monster templates while playing in the Fellowship of Light and Minions of Darkness realms. Once unlocked, players can create their own monster based on the template. For instance, players can unlock Charune the Vigilant's template and play a full-sized red dragon.
Jonric: What are the primary attributes and the other major components of your character development system, and how does it function overall?
Josh Ritter: Characters have the following prime statistics:
strength, dexterity, reflexes, agility, body, mind, wisdom, mysticism
and presence. These statistics are used to derive numerous other stats
including offense, defense, mana and stamina. A character's level and
presence are very important factors in their relative power. There are
potions that permanently increase a character's prime statistics.
Characters can also use equipment and spell buffs to raise their
stat-based abilities.
Characters gain new skills and spells both by leveling and completing quests. The game also features an extensive advancement system. Advancements such as Improved Criticals are purchased with points gained by leveling. Skills are increased by using them. There are active skills, like a monk's Fury Fists, and passive skills such as Tactics Defense. There are also skills like Poisons, which allows players to create poisons and apply them to their weapons.
Minions of Mirth allows characters to multi-class with secondary and tertiary classes. This provides a great deal of customization and variety in the character. Again, the game allows you to combine up to six characters in your party.
There are confirmation dialogues at critical character decisions. In the future, we plan to allow players to change classes and possibly even realms.
Jonric: How important is combat within the play as a whole, and have you incorporated any unusual or unique features into this element? And does the game support PvP?
Josh Ritter: The game is heavily combat-oriented. Minions of Mirth's party and multi-class systems make the game quite different than other online games in terms of strategy. A single player can be in charge of tanking, nuking, and healing - all in the same fight.
Minions of Mirth also features large-scale battles with armies. These battles have attack waves, additional rules for NPCs that must survive, and require special tactics for victory.
The game supports player vs. player combat. However, on our current servers, PvP is not enabled. This means players are prohibited from harming other players. These servers stress cooperation and player vs. environment gameplay. We plan on opening a PvP server in the future. There are also community-operated servers that have PvP enabled.
Jonric: Have you populated the world with a large assortment of computer-controlled opponents to fight? And how have you addressed related issues like camping?
Josh Ritter: The opponents in Minions of Mirth are quite
varied, from tiny dust mites to huge demons and blightborn dragons.
Monsters take full advantage of multi-classing and have a good
understanding of spells, skills and other tactics.
The game does have some camping although the respawn rate and drop rates for equipment and quest items are considerably quicker than in other MMORPGs. There is also a variant system for non-unique spawns that modifies size, level, speed and other statistics. For example, you might see a Colossal Hill Giant, a Spectral Zombie or a Sickly Grizzly Bear.
The game's single-player mode is often referred to as "Massively Single Player", which means it feels like a MMORPG that you can play by yourself.
Jonric: Are there many friendly and neutral NPCs in Minions of Mirth, and what kinds of roles do they fulfill?
Josh Ritter: The game has a large number of NPCs that function as quest givers, vendors, trainers, and guards that help new characters survive. NPCs also provide a mechanic for telling the story and providing side quests.
When we set out to learn about a game, we typically have a large number of questions that serve the function of encouraging in-depth communication. As a result, it's not unusual at all to see our search for knowledge turn into a multi-part quest. Accordingly, we thank Josh Ritter of Prairie Games for telling us about many interesting aspects of Minions of Mirth so far, and we also look forward to more in the second segment of this interview.
Josh Ritter: Players can select from two realms, 12 races, 16 classes, two genders, and three body types when creating their characters. The races differ greatly in their appearance and size, from tiny halflings to massive titans. Races also have strengths and weaknesses built into their starting statistics. The player is given points to spend at creation to customize their character.
The game's single-player mode is often referred to as "Massively Single Player", which means it feels like a MMORPG that you can play by yourself.Minions of Mirth has the following races: Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Elf, Titan, Drakken, Ogre, Troll, Dark Elf, Orc and Goblin. It also has these classes: Warrior, Necromancer, Shaman, Bard, Cleric, Monk, Doom Knight, Assassin, Thief, Tempest, Paladin, Revealer, Druid, Wizard, Barbarian and Ranger.
Players can also unlock monster templates while playing in the Fellowship of Light and Minions of Darkness realms. Once unlocked, players can create their own monster based on the template. For instance, players can unlock Charune the Vigilant's template and play a full-sized red dragon.
Jonric: What are the primary attributes and the other major components of your character development system, and how does it function overall?
Josh Ritter: Characters have the following prime statistics:
strength, dexterity, reflexes, agility, body, mind, wisdom, mysticism
and presence. These statistics are used to derive numerous other stats
including offense, defense, mana and stamina. A character's level and
presence are very important factors in their relative power. There are
potions that permanently increase a character's prime statistics.
Characters can also use equipment and spell buffs to raise their
stat-based abilities.Characters gain new skills and spells both by leveling and completing quests. The game also features an extensive advancement system. Advancements such as Improved Criticals are purchased with points gained by leveling. Skills are increased by using them. There are active skills, like a monk's Fury Fists, and passive skills such as Tactics Defense. There are also skills like Poisons, which allows players to create poisons and apply them to their weapons.
Minions of Mirth allows characters to multi-class with secondary and tertiary classes. This provides a great deal of customization and variety in the character. Again, the game allows you to combine up to six characters in your party.
There are confirmation dialogues at critical character decisions. In the future, we plan to allow players to change classes and possibly even realms.
Jonric: How important is combat within the play as a whole, and have you incorporated any unusual or unique features into this element? And does the game support PvP?
Josh Ritter: The game is heavily combat-oriented. Minions of Mirth's party and multi-class systems make the game quite different than other online games in terms of strategy. A single player can be in charge of tanking, nuking, and healing - all in the same fight.
Minions of Mirth also features large-scale battles with armies. These battles have attack waves, additional rules for NPCs that must survive, and require special tactics for victory.
The game supports player vs. player combat. However, on our current servers, PvP is not enabled. This means players are prohibited from harming other players. These servers stress cooperation and player vs. environment gameplay. We plan on opening a PvP server in the future. There are also community-operated servers that have PvP enabled.
Jonric: Have you populated the world with a large assortment of computer-controlled opponents to fight? And how have you addressed related issues like camping?
Josh Ritter: The opponents in Minions of Mirth are quite
varied, from tiny dust mites to huge demons and blightborn dragons.
Monsters take full advantage of multi-classing and have a good
understanding of spells, skills and other tactics. The game does have some camping although the respawn rate and drop rates for equipment and quest items are considerably quicker than in other MMORPGs. There is also a variant system for non-unique spawns that modifies size, level, speed and other statistics. For example, you might see a Colossal Hill Giant, a Spectral Zombie or a Sickly Grizzly Bear.
The game's single-player mode is often referred to as "Massively Single Player", which means it feels like a MMORPG that you can play by yourself.
Jonric: Are there many friendly and neutral NPCs in Minions of Mirth, and what kinds of roles do they fulfill?
Josh Ritter: The game has a large number of NPCs that function as quest givers, vendors, trainers, and guards that help new characters survive. NPCs also provide a mechanic for telling the story and providing side quests.
When we set out to learn about a game, we typically have a large number of questions that serve the function of encouraging in-depth communication. As a result, it's not unusual at all to see our search for knowledge turn into a multi-part quest. Accordingly, we thank Josh Ritter of Prairie Games for telling us about many interesting aspects of Minions of Mirth so far, and we also look forward to more in the second segment of this interview.
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