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Exclusive: Dragon Empires Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
06/04/2004
In development for the last 5 years, we take a look at Codemasters first foray into MMORPGs…
Set in the fictional world of Fortitude ā“ a land ravaged by war and presided over by dragons ā“ Dragon Empires is Codemasters' revolutionary player versus player Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) for PC. With MMORPG becoming more popular, together with the fact that Codemasters is always the industryās perfect barometer for picking the perfect title for the appropriate trend, Dragon Empires looks set to entice strategy gamers. Due this summer Dragon Empires is already garnering a huge following entranced by its deep folklore, based on a back story devised by renowned science fiction and fantasy author Piers Anthony. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Peter Tyson ā“ Community Manager for Codemasters.
TVG: Dragon Empires has been in development for a long period. Are you reaching your goals and have there been any major changes in the original concept and vision? What makes this offering unique?
In terms of the original concept Dragon Empires has evolved a lot. At first the game was quite different to what it is now but the development of our unique world engine and the introduction of the lore concept changed the game significantly. We detail how the gameās progressing regularly at www.dragonempires.com.
We believe the end result is really special and something that gamers will find refreshing. We have a beautiful world to explore that is free of zones and constantly impresses with how gorgeous everything looks. We have hundreds of quests where players have choice in how they complete them, we have a complex player-driven economy and we let players decide the fate of the world.
Letting players change and influence the world is important to us. From the most inexperienced ānewbyā to the leader of the biggest clan, everyone has some influence. Players buy and sell off each other on the market, which changes price and tax take, clans vote to support or undermine each other and city fights change who rules towns and cities across the world.
Also we are seeing more and more features added daily. Just yesterday I climbed a mountain and discovered I could gather rocks and ore, which is something small but new. Consequently, weāre all quite excited about how the game is progressing and each successive build sees something new and fun to interact with.
TVG: Can you tell us a little about the makeup of the team?
We have around 40 people on the team with around half being experienced Codemasters people and the other half being new arrivals here at Codemasters that bring specific expertise and skills, say database or server programming.
TVG: Online gaming has never really been big in the UK or the rest of Europe compared to the US and Korea. Do you see that changing dramatically and what would you say are some of the reasons for lack of enthusiasm?
Language barrier is a problem, as is access to broadband. However, there are now a lot of online gamers in the UK, France and Germany as well as Scandinavia and the other territories are catching up. Dragon Empires will be released just about globally so weāre definitely not just focusing on European gamers. I think we have something that will appeal to gamers everywhere.
TVG: If you had to sell the Dragon Empire experience, what would you say are a couple of its real positive and innovative features?
Firstly I would say we have a great Player vs Player combat system. You donāt have to fight when you first start playing but there are incentives to get involved. Whatās more it is easy and risk free to start to learn. Anyone, for example, can start a large scale battle ā“ called a āBlood Circusā - and challenge one to five other friends (or groups) to a timed battle. This is a lot of fun and you lose nothing if you die.
Once you feel more confident you can join a clan and fight to capture or control cities and even head into the wilderness as a bounty hunter or outlaw and go hunting other players who are doing the same.
Also what the team has done especially well is integrate politics, combat and economics all into a harmonious whole. For example, if your clan is trying to weaken the clan who rule the city next door (so you can take over their city) you can do so by encouraging other clans to vote against them. You can go out and fight and beat them regularly to improve your clan status and drop theirs and you can āencourageā other players not to trade in their town, dropping their tax take and ranking. Each of the three systems is linked with the other, which gives players a lot of flexibility in how they go about playing the game.
Dragon Empires offers more gameplay choices and player interaction within the game world, than any other MMORPG !
TVG: To many it is hard to get their head around a MMORPGs experience. In terms of the elements on offer how intensive is the combat for instance and how detailed and complex can the trading be?
Both of these elements are accessible but offer a deep playing experience in Dragon Empires. Rather than just walk up to a monster with your best weapon and hitting āattackā you have to decide which weapon you will use (you might carry several for various situations) and which secondary skill item to carry at the ready. Secondary skill items, carried in the off hand, let you access the powers your secondary skills give you. Obviously, if you carry a two handed weapon then you donāt have easy access to your other skills (you do have access to a lot of damage though!). Fortunately it is very easy to switch weapons and items and so you can quickly, even mid-fight, change what you are wielding. This lets players try a variety of tactics and weapons and will be very exciting in PvP combat we think. Whatās more there arenāt the traditional level restrictions on weapons (instead the amount of energy you burn using the weapon will change) which gives rise to even more tactical options.
Trading is also done in an innovative way. In Dragon Empires you can take part in trading and the economy in a number of ways. If you fancy you can explore the world, find resource points and gather grain, ores, wood and other items to sell back at town. If youāre not keen on that you can trade goods between cities earning both gold and even experience points if you take a contract. You could just sit in town buying resources and using an Aurachrome to turn these into items to sell. The great thing about Aurachromes is they work whether you are online or offline which takes away the boredom of endless double clicking. Simply set it up and walk away. These are just a few ways the average player can get involved with trading.
TVG: What kind of intuitive learning curve will the game have and what sort of options will present themselves at the very beginning?
Right from the start players will be invited to start a series of new player quests. These small quests give training, information and some nice rewards and gently introduce players to the world. These quests all take place in and around the starting city the player chooses, this way the player gets a real feel for the area they appear in. Once the initial starting quests are done the player should feel at home using the market, the interface, getting into combat and so on. Over time as the player continues to advance there will be further training quests which introduce the player to more advanced topics.
TVG: What are a couple of the initial main objectives for the player and what is the main long term one?
The initial objective is to explore, go up a few levels, do some quests and make some friends. Over time I expect many players will move into joining clans and getting involved with the world politics. Those who donāt do that will still be able to explore, take on tougher monsters, do advanced quests and delve deep into dungeons.
TVG: Can you tell us what you believe are some of the qualities of the world and that of the races? Have you gone for size and detail or are there more important aspects?
The world of Dragon Empires, Fortitude, is a large one. More than 500 square miles in size it is comprised of nine different terrain types ranging from desserts, to alpine forests, to swamps to wasteland. Players can explore long beaches, climb mountains thousands of meters high or travel through dense forests. The world feels truly epic and grand.
Whatās more, itās largely hand created. While the shape has been generated by computer every square inch has been touched in some way by a designerās hand. This approach gives a rich interesting world full of surprises like hidden paths that lead you up to a lake nestled in mountains or a desert oasis in the middle of rolling dunes.
As for races, we have three. Humans, who tend to be more magical than the other races due to their origin. The Dragonblood who are a fierce race of warriors and the Shadow who excel at skills involving stealth. The Dragonblood and Shadow are offshoots of humans although exactly how they came about is shrouded in mystery.
TVG: How different will the actions, tasks and general feel of the game be when you assume the different roles of fighter, trader, crafter or a mage?
Each race has access to five classes and they will each play differently due to their unique combination of primary and secondary skills. Mages will also play very differently to martial classes. For example, mages have to bind their magic to items they carry like wands or staffs. These can change the performance of a spell (give it more range, faster casting, less cost, etc.) and so switching between a selection of items with spells bound to them will be important for mages. Mages also get to unbind spells at any time and change how they are set up, this lets them experiment with different combinations of weapons, spells and tactics.
As for crafting, anyone can take this skill. It simply involves completing a series of quests in-game to unlock and then further quests to advance your skill. This way anyone can learn to craft if they want without having to restart a new character.
TVG: Does DE offer interest and appeal at both levels: the novice who wants a couple of hours of fun a week and the ardent gamer who wants to spend hours on line? Could you give 2 shorts overviews for both types of players?
Very much so. For the novice there are many interesting quests that donāt involve sitting for hours waiting for a monster to spawn or walking all over the map. Thereās crafting, which they donāt have to even be online to do, and there are great PvP options like the Blood Circus which gives you some intense five-minute action (and the chance of a wagered reward). Casual players can also get involved with clans and not feel left out. As the battles for city ownership are scheduled and of limited duration the casual player will have good notice of a fight and know it wonāt take forever to play out.
The experienced player has all of these options and more: advancing high enough to fight the tougher monsters, go into more complex dungeons, become more involved in clan politics and work to advance the clanās position (or undermine the enemyās position).
