World of Darkness was an MMORPG that so many hung their hopes upon. For a vast many reasons, it never came to be. But that hasn't stopped a group of the macabre setting's fans from making their own supernatural horror MMORPG. Enter, Project Dogmat. We caught up with the indie MMO's design team ahead of their upcoming Kickstarter to talk about the game, its design goals, and what CCP has to say about the project.
MMORPG: Can you give us a brief introduction into what project Dogmat is?
Regent: At Prelude Games Factory, we're creating a new MMORPG with the atmosphere of modern gothic punk & horror. Project Dogmat (pronounced Project Dogma in English) is a dark allusion to the real world, and its history and appearance are often similar to our reality. It has the same cities, the population preaches the same values and opinions, but its inhabitants gravitate towards the more sordid displays of human nature. The existence of supernatural powers at the top of the food chain – vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and so on, - is the most significant difference between this world and ours.
MMORPG: What other projects have your team members worked on?
AiryKai: Well... we still haven't had any major game projects. For some team members this is the first experience of such activities. Others participated in the development of many small games for mobile platforms. We’ve gathered our team from various backgrounds and communities whom have a lot of talent, and who are passionate about this game. We decided to channel their abilities on the right track to realize our dream.
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MMORPG: Will Vampires be the only playable race in the game or will we see lycanthropes?
Regent: Players will be able to play as Lycanthropes eventually, Hunters (think modern day badass Van Helsing), humans, etc. However, to start we will be allowing only vampires/humans at launch.
MMORPG: Are you concerned that your game may end up too similar to ideas that exist solely in the world of White Wolf and that CCP could take action against you for infringing upon their IP?
Regent: No. Simply because our ideas are our own and we are not using any of their IP content or likenesses. CCP moves fast on these type of things, they've shut down other projects in the past that were blatantly remaking their game by using the same terminology, characters, races, etc. Before we decided to make our project an MMO, we went a diff route but that route we chose to keep the familiar terminology, etc. CCP wasn't shy to let us know so we scrapped it. Thus, Project Dogmat was born. Ours creation is our own at this point. The only thing similar in our game is the genre which is why CCP hasn't done anything yet.
MMORPG: You mention on your site that the world is alive and reactive. Can you give us some examples of what you mean by this?
AiryKai: First of all, we are trying to create a world that can live and breathe even without the players logged in and when they are, react to the players accordingly. Our factions in Project Dogmat, NPC’s, etc. will have their own goals and priorities. Much of which you can see just by observing within the world as they try to achieve it independently. Interesting A.I., no?
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MMORPG: How do the different organizations play a part in the game, such as the Cruor Corp or the Orthodox Theocracy?
AiryKai: These are fractions (Sabbaths) in our world. They are not controlled solely by the players. But players can join one of these factions to act in the best interest of said faction. This will affect the overall balance of forces in the world and the future development of events (‘Live Events’ as well). Consider this an informal state within the vampire community.
MMORPG: You have a combined "control system" that is a combination of camera lock third person shooting and mouse look with hotbars. How does that work?
AiryKai: Our main purpose in this direction is the creation of a convenient control system with using a mouse+keyboard or with a gamepad. This, in some way can impose restrictions on control. We wanted to solve this problem, so the “control system” in our project will differ significantly from that usually adopted in this genre of games. Primarily this means a combined system of governance that are prevalent in the action-adventure game. As for example the famous Assasin's Creed.
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However, at the same time, we don't want to create a fully targeted control battle system. Here you really have to shoot, fight and aim just like in real life, take aim at the enemy and apply vampire abilities. A lot of our game decisions and “holding the players hands” will be interesting—in that, to see the players response. Because we won’t be doing much of that. ;)
MMORPG: What engine are you using, and why did you choose this?
AiryKai: Unity 5. Because this engine gives the most opportunities for indie developers. Contrary to popular belief, Unity 5 has excellent optimization, the friendliness to the developers and profound opportunities for expansion. At the same time, the level of graphics capability, it is not much inferior to the giants such as UE or CryEngine.
MMORPG: Are you going to be conducting a sort of "early access" for interested folks, given the indie nature of the project?
Regent: Yes. When our Kickstarter launches, a lot of information will be coming available.
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MMORPG: When can we expect to learn more?
Regent: Once we launch our Kickstarter campaign. The success of our project, how quickly certain things are made, etc. will greatly depend on the success of our game.
