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Runescape Interviews: Lead Designer Mark Ogilvie
MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller recently spoke with Runescape Lead Designer Mark Ogilvie about the game, its success and more.
By Garrett Fuller on November 27, 2009
Runescape Lead Designer Mark Ogilvie tackles the bulk of this interview, while Jagex Co-Founder Paul Gower chimes in with one special answer. Runescape is, of course, the browser based free-to-play sensation that has continued to attract untold numbers of players over its long history.
| MMORPG.com: | RuneScape remains one of the top free to play MMOs out there. What keeps the game going so strongly? |
| Mark Ogilvie: | Having a classless system within the game means we can offer a player real choices rather than forcing actions on the player based on an arbitrary decision they made some time in the past. Saying "we have a rich variety of gameplay content" is an easy thing to say, but when you look at lots of other products out there, you have to create a multitude of characters to experience it all. That's something we don't do in RuneScape. That means that, so long as you have the skill levels, you can do anything you like. In terms of technology, we have the same approach to accessibility and have entire departments dedicated to making the experience as high quality as possible, irrelevant of the specs of your computer. Our release strategy means that players are receiving new content almost every week, ensuring that there is always something new to engage players. My personal favourite strength of RuneScape is the quest content, which really is the greatest range of epic adventures and fantastic journeys I have seen in an MMO. |
| MMORPG.com: | Talk about the changes to Herblore that were made in the game. How can players take advantage of the potions? |
| Paul Gower: | The potions will be useful in any situation where you want to give yourself that extra edge in combat. Boss monsters are often a popular place to use potions; they're challenging enough that every advantage counts. The Fight Caves, Corporeal Beast, God Wars, Bork and the Barrows are just a few of the popular examples. These days, we've got a wide variety of both solo and group monsters to take on to suit your appetite for danger. We now also allow the potions in safe minigames - there's plenty of people who want to use them there. Want to make sure you're not knocked out of your clan war? Using the super prayer potion to keep your protection prayers topped up for longer is going to help. Playing a game of Castle Wars? You're often going to want to do a lot of damage very quickly to someone carrying the flag, so the extreme strength potion will help to maximize your hits. |
| MMORPG.com: | So what can we expect with RuneScape in the near future? What plans do you have for the game over the holidays? |
| Mark Ogilvie: | Holiday events are always exciting for us to produce, because we get to have some real fun with the players. Not everyone likes wacky gameplay with cosmetic rewards, but we certainly enjoy making them, Xmas is no exception. We're also planning to release sequels to two of our older storylines and some guild-oriented content in November and December. |
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| MMORPG.com: | Looking forward to 2010, how do you see RuneScape growing? |
| Mark Ogilvie: | We're really trying to focus on higher levels and endgame content at the moment, so I see a great deal of next year's updates being suitable for those players with 70+ in skills, including content for the uber-levelled players (90+). |
| MMORPG.com: | How has PvP grown in the game with all the minigames, do you see players fighting a lot? |
| Mark Ogilvie: | PvP took a bit of a hit a few years back when we decided to change the way players fought each other outside of our 'safe' minigames. I feel that, after two years of tweaking and polishing our 'PvP worlds', we're *almost* satisfied with the model we have now. We're still discussing internally the money-making aspect of PvP (and our players are very vocal on this subject) so I wouldn't say were finished, but we're pleased in general with how things have worked out. In terms of specific minigames, we try to introduce different styles of PvP content so that even players with no interest in combat or risk can still get involved with fast-paced team activities, such as Stealing Creation or Fist of Guthix. Ensuring each minigame has a different focus means that we can offer the variety that you find with the rest of the game. |
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| MMORPG.com: | There have been some great upgrades to RuneScape in the past, as browser technology increases; can we expect more graphics upgrades with the game? |
| Mark Ogilvie: | Yes! We're working on new technologies to improve things like magical effects in the game. I can't say too much about this one at the moment! |
| MMORPG.com: | Is there a message you have for fans and players going into 2010? |
| Mark Ogilvie: | In the immortal words of Party Pete, "Make shapes, not war... and happy new year!" |
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The link redirects to mmorpg.com... eh.
The link is broken.
I'd have to agree that the quests in Runescape are quite 'epic' and feel like proper adventures, especially the quest chains for zones. (For those who don't know the game, you could compare a quest in runescape to an epic questline in an MMO like LoTRO, some are very large and have a ton of content in them)
Sorry guys, it helps if I actually turn the article on :)
Live now.
I'm actually impressed with Runescape. I just subscribed to it a few days ago, and have been having a lot of fun when I'm on it. The quests aren't shallow, like they are in the AAA games, and there's such a variety of activities and skills to work on. So I feel like there's more depth in this game than most AAA games out there.
For those wondering, I've played MMO's since 2002, with the start of DAoC. I'm almost exclusively a P2P gamer, but have tried several F2P games without any success. I'm also 29 years old, married, and have a 7 year old for those wondering if I'm just a kiddie fanboi of Runescape. So yes, a MMO veteran who is a mature adult actually enjoys this game. Who knew?
My first MMo was Runescape classic so I have a soft spot for it to this day. I eventually got to the point where the grind outweighed the fun factor but only after years of casually playing the game.
Have fun with it theres lots of low level quests to eat up plenty of time in members.
The grind can become a problem, and I am general annoyed by browser games in general. However, Runescape overcomes these problems with a great deal of grace. There is more thought and depth in Runescape than in most AAA titles, it is true. It is a great example of what dedication and perseverance can do for a game. It has consistently grown and evolved, and it always is for the better. I do not play it that much, largely because of the grind, but the world that exists, and the stories it tells, are better than most.
Sorry, but there are only a few skills in the game that require u to "grind" for lvls. And even when u look at the "grinding" u have to do for those skills, and then look at the majority of other MMO's...u would be saying that runescape doesn't have grinding.
RS main - ihaveurnose.
Slayer. Hitpoints. Runecrafting. Agility. Mining. Prayer(maybe).
Those r the only skills that require u to "grind" imo. 6/24 skills..very little grinding in the game, and for the most part those skills only become a "grind" once u reach lvl 92 (since u have to get the same amount of xp from 92-99 as u had to get from 1-92).
I have to agree with everyone on this post, RuneScape can't be compared to any other MMO on the market, due to the fact it has a huge amount of content compared to anything out there.
Just think that from 2003-2004 this game has been updated every week with new content for the players to enjoy. Now that's 5 years worth of weekly updates, which easily translates with a gigantic amount of gameplay available to every player.
They also cracked down the Real World Trading problem and they are continuously fighting against macroers and hackers. Recently they have helped one notorious phisher get caught by the police for stealing accounts through phishing websites.
The quests here aren't like the ones in any other MMO, they contain riddles, mind puzzles and challenge every bit of logic you have in your brain in order to complete them, sometimes you just have to look up a guide for them in order to complete them as some of them are really hard core.
Overall this is a great game which will continue to advance and it's one of the few MMO's out there without a huge amount of bots and without RWT, these 2 reasons are enough for any honest player to give RuneScape a try.
I'm not crazy about browser based games either, but with the latest update to Runescapes graphics, they've enabled non-members to have the game as large as your window, so it looks like you're playing it in Windows mode. Members can play the game fullscreen.
Love it or hate it you cannot argue that RuneScape has become a huge success. It is still one of the few true browser only games that you can pick up and play on pretty much any computer.
They have stayed strong to their roots and have been true to such mechnics that appear 'ground breaking' in most new mmo releases. Thats not to say its perfect as its not, its handling of group based content and PvP content does leave alot to be desired but I think there is much mmo developers could learn from looking at this unique game.
Really nice article. Runescape beats WoW 10-0. Trust me ;)
Runescape is, as stated by their own developers, a game for children coming into player MMOs.
And, chap, that was truly spoken by a guy that's never played WoW. Trust me.
I simply couldn't ignore this post. I'm pretty sure that RS only started doing 1 update a week in 2007, maybe 2006 at earliest. Also, they're "crack down" on RWT was the worse update to hit the game (necessary and needed..maybe, but i'm sure they could've figured something else out). The quests I agree with, unlike the majority of other MMO's the quests from runescape are actually "QUESTS" not hunts that are labeled as "quests". And ur right, there aren't a "huge" amount of bots but u are very wrong about "..and without RWT...", as RWT is still very much alive. Even with the removal of wildy and free trades, there is still RWT going on. No game dev's will ever be able to stop RWT, even if there was no way for players to interact amongst each other, ppl would still be doing RWT. The only real way of stopping RWT (and again, this goes for any game) is to permanently shut down the game.
However, even though I hated the removal of wildy and free trades I still find myself coming back to RS every 4-8 months. I may only play for 1 month before finding a new game(s) to try out, but RS definitely beats any game I've played so far.
::EDIT::
@devour
Though RS' original aim was at children, there are thousands of ppl that are 20+ (i am 19). And thousands of those 20+ ppl even have a wife and children. So if u were trying to say that RS is a game for children, u are wrong. It's a game for any1 over the age of 13...although that is somewhat regrettable, as many 11-14 yr old players are quite annoying with their immaturity.
I simply couldn't ignore this post. I'm pretty sure that RS only started doing 1 update a week in 2007, maybe 2006 at earliest. Also, they're "crack down" on RWT was the worse update to hit the game (necessary and needed..maybe, but i'm sure they could've figured something else out). The quests I agree with, unlike the majority of other MMO's the quests from runescape are actually "QUESTS" not hunts that are labeled as "quests". And ur right, there aren't a "huge" amount of bots but u are very wrong about "..and without RWT...", as RWT is still very much alive. Even with the removal of wildy and free trades, there is still RWT going on. No game dev's will ever be able to stop RWT, even if there was no way for players to interact amongst each other, ppl would still be doing RWT. The only real way of stopping RWT (and again, this goes for any game) is to permanently shut down the game.
However, even though I hated the removal of wildy and free trades I still find myself coming back to RS every 4-8 months. I may only play for 1 month before finding a new game(s) to try out, but RS definitely beats any game I've played so far.
::EDIT::
@devour
Though RS' original aim was at children, there are thousands of ppl that are 20+ (i am 19). And thousands of those 20+ ppl even have a wife and children. So if u were trying to say that RS is a game for children, u are wrong. It's a game for any1 over the age of 13...although that is somewhat regrettable, as many 11-14 yr old players are quite annoying with their immaturity.
Weekly updates have been part of RS atleast since RSC.
I know, because I was there.
Not sure if they really kept up with it after Summer of 2006. But I have every reason to believe they have.
The constant tweaking and re-jiggering the game to fix what they broke in an earlier updates can hardly be considered "updates". They've been adding very low-quality content on a regular basis, but there have been no real "update" updates that other MMOs are used to. Despite being profitable for half a decade, the world Runescape is still very tiny with little-to-nothing for players during the last 3/4 of their leveling experience.
And to the player who said only 6/24 skills are a grind: are you on crack? They are ALL a grind that has no equal in any other game I've ever played. Even the fastest skills, cooking and fletching, require you to stand in the same spot doing the same thing over and over again for hundreds and hundreds of hours.
That, my friend, is a grind.
And for this Jagex fellow to say that he thinks PvP is pretty much where it should be shows just how out of touch they are. The company "fixed" their PvP by implementing a mechanic that allows people to stand around doing nothing, risking nothing, and making huge sums of in-game cash. All with Jagex's tacit approval.
They did do away with Real World Trading, but they wrecked the game for many in the process.
Runescape is what it is, but releasing junky useless updates on a regular basis is a poor substitute for releasing 1 or 2 bits of top notch new content every few months like real games do.
LOL Yea cause no other MMO comes out with so called "useless" updates and hypes them up beyond oblivion...I guess a COMPLETE graphic overhaul is a terrible update for a game....Go away, your views are obviously askew from crying SOOO much about the PvP and RWT updates....No one cares.