|
|
Originally posted by Gameloading
and interview can be found here:
"
Interview with Ju-hyun Jang, Producer, Aion: The Tower of Eternity
At E3 2006, a key member of Studio 5 (Aion's development team) walked unnoticed through the crowds around NCsoft's booth. He watched people's reactions as they experienced Aion: The Tower of Eternity for the first time. Asking a few people what they thought of the game, everyone raved about the incredible graphics and ethereal quality of the characters; there were plenty of comments that the game looked ready to release. He replied, "I can only see the flaws."
His reaction was understandable, given how much work had already been done on Aion, and how much more he knew had to be done to make it absolutely perfect. So straight after E3 the development team returned to Korea, and launched into the next phase of Aion's development.
They already had much more to add to the game, but feedback from show attendees and fans on the internet demanded more. Characters that flew occasionally weren't enough; people wanted free flight, the ability to go almost anywhere in the worlds of Aion. And if you can fly, they argued, why can't we have aerial combat? Clashes between factions in the sky, battling for the fate of Aion... so Studio 5 got to work.
Five months later, both free flight and aerial combat are in the game, and Studio 5 is working to ensure that they are a large part of players' adventures in Aion. But why is free flight so important? Where do you need to go in Aion that would be inaccessible by foot?
To understand the answer you have to understand more about the unique world of Aion, and where the game's two playable factions - the 'Chun' and the 'Ma' fit into it. To find out more, we spoke to Ju-hyun Jang, Producer for Aion.
A vertical plane
Aion's universe exists beyond the normal rationales of science. In the beginning, Aion was a single world, a hollow globe intersected vertically at its core by the Tower of Eternity. After a cataclysmic event that occurs in the game's pre-history, the top and bottom halves of the world are split in two, with the Tower of Eternity reduced to a shattered ruin.
Jang explains further: “The world of Aion resembles a globe, divided horizontally into two halves. The lower half is the world of the Chun, the upper half is the world of the Ma. So basically the world-map of Aion is not on a horizontal plane, like a traditional fantasy world; instead it's vertical. With this in mind, some parts of both worlds can only be accessed from the air - such as floating castles, and islands in the sky. Because of this, all of the player characters can gain wings."
Between the two worlds of Aion is another important location; the 'Abyss', an area of dimensional rifts where gigantic pieces of rocky debris are suspended. Left behind after the destruction of Aion's original single world, some of these rocks are used as military outposts by the Chun and the Ma.
This sets the stage for a unique Player vs Player experience within the Abyss, where free flight will be vital, and where stategic battles will be fought over massive fortresses. PvP isn't all Aion players can look forward to in the Abyss though; instanced missions will also be found here, as well as the server-controlled third faction, the battle-hungry Yong....
Q. Tell us about the free-flying function in Aion. How is it being designed?
Though I cannot discuss any specifics at this time, I can tell you we are trying to design this feature so that it has a unique feel to it.
Free-flying will be one of the most important skills players will learn in Aion. However, you won’t have to spend an extensive amount of time in the game to be able to learn this skill.
Q. There seems to have been a lot of interest in the character designs since E3. Can you also tell us something about character customisation?
A lot of people have remarked that our E3 demo characters were somewhat Western-style. This was deliberate; we built the E3 demo intentionally for overseas markets.
However, we're still committed to an art style that's globally acceptable. We've been refining the character designs, and we'll be unveiling characters soon in Korea that will be different from the E3 versions, but will still reflect that global art style.
In terms of character customisation, we will provide a very powerful character customisation tool – perhaps more powerful than anything else you’ve seen.
Characters in Aion can be very individual, right from the game's beginning. Each of the in-game professions will look quite different, but also there will be many options to change your appearance based on the equipment, armour and clothing a character wears.
Q. There seems to be a preconception about the worlds of the 'Chun' and 'Ma'. The world of the 'Chun' feels good, and the world of the 'Ma' feels evil. Is it this simplistic?
No, it's not that simple; it's not black and white, more shades of grey. A lot of users are thinking the world of Chun = good, the world of Ma = evil. But it’s not a simple concept of good and evil, or heaven and hell. The world of Chun is more alive, vibrant; the world of Ma is more somber... darker.
This is partially because of our current thinking about Aion's global environment. Right now, light streams down from outside the hollow globe to illuminate the Chun's world, but as the world of Ma is higher, it's mostly in shadow, as less light reaches it. This may change before release, but it's our current thinking.
Q. Tell us about the Yong.
The Yong are a server-controlled NPC faction, so players cannot choose to play them.
However, just because they are controlled by the server doesn't mean they are stupid; they can make choices, and players will never quite know what they are going to do.
For example, imagine a castle siege-style scenario, where one of the player factions, the Ma, is attacking the Chun faction's castle. In the middle of this siege, the Yong may appear.
When they arrive, no-one will know what they are going to do. They may have previously helped the Ma, but that doesn't matter; in the siege, they might betray them and help the Chun. Or they might help the Ma to siege the Chun's castle. Or... they might try and take the castle for themselves, fighting against both the Chun and the Ma.
The important thing to realise is that the Yong are not typical NPCs. They are the third faction in the game, and they have free will, which makes them very unpredictable.
Q. The Yong are just part of Aion's interactive gameplay systems; could you tell us more about them?
As mentioned at E3 2006, what we mean by 'interactive systems' is that the players and game world influence each other.
For instance, perhaps the Ma players on one server are generally more active in collecting minerals than the Chun players. As more Ma players dig for minerals, then they might discover a new variety of mineral. This mineral could be stronger than any mineral seen before, and could be used for the creation of various, unique items. This would be something happening on just that server.
On the other hand, what if the Chun players are more interested in hunting? They might be hunting in a location where baby dragons are appearing a lot, then suddenly find that no more baby dragons will appear - but stronger mother dragons will come out! And of course when new monster classes appear, they bring new item drops with them. There are many, many examples of how player's behaviour can trigger interesting events - all on individual servers.
These are small examples of our interactive systems of gameplay, which together will make up the unique experience of playing Aion. Every server can be different, and every player's experience can be different too.
Q. A frequent criticism of certain MMORPGs is that there can be too much 'grinding' in the game - the repeating of certain tasks for experience. Is that the case for Aion?
During development we've focused on not adding ‘grinding based on numbers’ to arbitrarily extend the lifecycle of the game.
In Aion, you won't have to repeat one quest 100 times or kill 1,000 monsters just to gain experience.
Q. Are you considering expansion packs?
Of course. For instance there might be an expansion pack making the third faction, the Yong, playable.
Q. Kinihiko Ryo is doing the music for Aion. Is the music finished?
We have received all our music from Kinihiko Ryo, and we're very happy with it. The 'Chun-theme' was in the E3 version of the game, and since we've received the 'Ma-theme'. Both themes are really perfect for the game, they strike just the right mood for both factions.
Ryo is a very passionate person. While making the music, he asked for lot of documents and information about Aion, because he believed that he has to know the game if he's going to make the music. I sometimes thought “Does he really need that kind of information?” He was that detailed!
"
Interview can be found here:
http://www.aionsource.com/forum/showthread.php?t=387
What I'd like to know is, what is everyone's opinion on combat in the sky? I think it sure opens a lot of possibilities.
no one cares about these lame Asian games.. This is going to be another stinker like Archlord no doubt. |
