Our own Richard Duffek has just completed his interview with Stephanie Shaver, a Designer for Hero's Journey - the upcoming MMORPG from the creators of GemStone III which promises to deliver an intense RPG experience. A preview of the article is below:
| MMORPG.com: |
[From Harelin] Will Hero’s Journey introduce any features never before seen in previous MMORPGs? In other words will you be taking the road most traveled or the road least traveled so to speak? Or maybe a middle road between the two; not really looking for specific features or anything here, just a general idea of the intentions you have with the game. |
| Stephanie: |
 Our intentions are to make the best game ever, but that's a given.
We definitely intend to innovate, but not so far off the map that you won't be able to identify the game as massively multiplayer roleplaying fantasy. I don't think there's anyone on development that doesn't play an MMORPG of some sort and isn't passionate about what makes those games fun.
We want to instill a sense of wonder and fun into the game, and we know that you can't get there by rehashing what everyone else has done in the past. We know what we like, and we definitely intend to bring in the cool stuff and our accumulated years of experience as game designers.
We also intend to winnow out the not-so-cool stuff that we feel bogs down our experience in other games. I can't disclose exactly what we're doing or how, but these are concerns we have taken into account when we design. | |
To read the full interview, click here.
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I have to say, I loved GS3/4, DR, MO, and the other Simutronics games, but I think they might be biting off more than they can chew with this game, and the fact that they're looking for Devs and Level Designers on a "Might be paid" basis makes me even more nervous.
Wish was a game recently that tried to do the whole "Dynamic Content" thing. Didn't go past Beta. Of course, the point and click interface was cumbersome as well, but I have to wonder just how much money Simu has to throw at this game and to hire GMs.
If it works out like they claim, it looks fantastic, even if the graphics aren't quite as nice as some other recent games, especially in avatar detail.
Anyway, I'm definitely going to check this one out in Beta (did the survey already) and hopefully in Retail too. I'm just not very optimistic.
Just from looking over current screenshots, theres already a huge difference between all the characters, almost no two look alike. Cant wait for this one!