Stargate Worlds - Dev Chat Log
The guys from Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment dropped by today to talk to MMORPG.com users about Stargate Worlds in our most recent Dev Chat.
[MMORPG]Taera:Greetings and welcome to MMORPG.com's Live Chat on irc.forthegamers.org! I'm your host, MMORPG.com's community manager Laura Taera Genender. Joining us today is the Stargate Worlds team!
[MMORPG]Taera:Our guests will do their best to answer as many questions as possible, but due to limited time and a high volume of inquiries, they may not be able to answer every single one. Users are limited to one question at a time , and you will be notified if your question is rejected or discarded.
[MMORPG]Taera:Now it's time for introductions! Feel free to start sending your questions to DevBot while our guests introduce themselves! To submit your question,
[SGW]Elggren: Hey I am Dan Elggren. I am the studio Head for SGW and a long time fan of Stargate. Looking forward to hearing what you guys have for us tonight.
[SGW]Steven: I'm Steve Garvin, Story Editor for SGW, very excited to be here. I work on all the story stuff.
[SGW]Brian: Hi, I'm Brian Heins. I'm a Senior Content Designer for Stargate Worlds.
[SGW]ledaye: This is Chris Klug, I'm the Creative Director for the project, which means heading up the story, world, and system design effort.
[MMORPG]Taera:gatebuzz asks: Are there plans for large-scale live events - with a live GM in-game? Will these be GM powers be limited to CME staff, or do you plan to recruit from the community?
[SGW]ledaye: We have many Live Events planned for the game, both in support of the story as well as events just for the fun of it. We love live events, and will do as many as we can.
[MMORPG]Taera:Raleighgamer asks: Will character appearances be customizable or will there be premade faces?
[SGW]Elggren: We will offer the player a range of options to customize the player character. This customization will carry through the life of the game.
[MMORPG]Taera:Seeceo asks: Will there be a housing system?
[SGW]Sean: We're all very interested in the idea of controlling space in the universe - planets, ships, etc. - but at the moment, we don't plan to launch with a housing system
[MMORPG]Taera:BudongChow asks: Which platforms is Stargate Worlds going to be avalible on?
[SGW]Elggren: We will launch on the PC originally. Where we go after live will depend on the love from the community
[MMORPG]Taera:Flawless187 asks: Will there be any siege system , or something like that?
[SGW]ledaye: When we deliver PvP, there will be combat spaces, but the exact nature of those spaces is still uncertain. The basic idea is that they will tend towards 'meeting engagement' types of spaces, but anything is possible.
[SGW]ledaye: Sieges per se haven't been investigated in detail, no.
[MMORPG]Taera:blkjag asks: crafting give us an example of how it will work from resources to finish products
[SGW]Brian: That's a big question for a short time period, so I'll do my best to give you as much info as I can right now. :)
[SGW]Brian: The basic crafting system as 4 branches of technology.
[SGW]Brian: Players will need to level up in the different branches to gain access to additional blueprints and things to craft.
[SGW]Brian: You'll be able to reverse engineer drops from the game to learn blueprints and to gain resources that you then use to build.
[SGW]Brian: Different races in the game have access to different parts of the crafting tree.
[MMORPG]Taera:KrisConway asks: Is it going to be a first person view? Or third person?
[SGW]Steven: It's a third person viewpoint with the ability to zoom in and out... Close to first person, but there is no pure first person view supported...
[MMORPG]Taera:Baldr asks: will the Gou'uld, Jaffa, and Op-core be in the same faction?
[SGW]Sean: You can expect to see goa'uld, human and Jaffa characters working together on the same side....
[SGW]Sean: Now anyone who knows the show will ask....
[SGW]Sean: exactly how is that possible with the stargate universe....
[SGW]Sean: humans and goa'uld don't normally get along so well...
[SGW]Sean: and that is part of the story you will be playing in SGW
[MMORPG]Taera:lordnyx asks: how will guildhalls be used in SGW?
[SGW]ledaye: If you mean guildhall as a physical building, there are no plans in the initial release of the game to support places where guildmates can gather.
[SGW]ledaye: However, we intend the deliver guild tasks, which means cooperative efforts that guild members can join in.
[SGW]ledaye: That is important to us, and we're weaving in many ways that players can support each other . . .
[SGW]ledaye: in combat and outside of combat.
[SGW]ledaye: At some point we might have special guild locations, but not at the moment.
[MMORPG]Taera:Jayna asks: Doesnt incentives to play PVP (player vs Player content) just equal forced pvp?
[SGW]Brian: Our goal is to provide challenging and exciting gameplay to our players, and we hope that our plans for PVP will do just that.
[SGW]Brian: Our incentives will be there to entice players who normally don't PVP to experiment with that style of gameplay. We hope they'll have more fun than they expected!
[SGW]Brian: But players who don't enjoy PvP experiences will not be forced to do so.
[MMORPG]Taera:brian72282 asks: After reading about the graphical techniques being applied to your game and seeing screenshots on MMORPG.com, are you worried that the requirements may be a bit too high for the average gamer?
[SGW]Elggren: We want to make sure that SGW is available to a large install base. Using the Unreal engine gives us the ability to build the worlds quickly to a high qaulity. We will be taking significant steps to ensure that we do not alleviate the lower end systems.
[MMORPG]Taera:leovinous asks: will classes be level driven or skill based
[SGW]Brian: Well, anyone who has played an MMO knows that there is a certain amount of player skill involved in coordinating group tactics and the most effective use of your abilities.
[SGW]Brian: Our game uses levels to measure player advancement and provide paced rewards and increases in power.
[SGW]Brian: We hope to provide plenty of opportunities for player skill to take part without requiring twitch-combat.
[SGW]Brian: Especially with how our players respond to our mobs' AI and the interesting combinations of mobs in an encounter.
[MMORPG]Taera:Archetype asks: Hello. I was wondering what your plans are for PVP, and more speecifically if you are planning on implementing an FFA PVP server? Thank you!
[SGW]ledaye: Our launch plans include at least one FFA server, but with the majority of servers being non-FFA. Ultimately, we plan to deliver something similar to the 'battlegrounds' in other games, where set-piece conflicts can occur.
[SGW]ledaye: But that will not be there at launch. Those battlegrounds will be instanced, and they will range in size.
[SGW]ledaye: As dictated by our unfolding fiction.
[MMORPG]Taera:Eric_ asks: will SGW fully utilize dx10, dual/quad cpu's, SLI, etc?
[SGW]Elggren: Unreal gives us a lot of the bells and whistles that you would expect from a high end system. We will be supporting some really cool visuals in the game at the same time supporting a large audience.
[MMORPG]Taera:Liliane asks: Does every player archetype have they own kind of tutorial or starting areas?
[SGW]Sean: With SGW, there is huge massive giant boatload of background from more than a decade of the TV show
[SGW]Sean: So it is very important to be able to not only give players a tutorial about how to play the game but also what the history of the SG universe is.
[SGW]Sean: So we are putting in a lot of effort to allow you live a really compelling starting experience
[SGW]Sean: feel what it is like to be a fresh faced recruit at the SGC
[SGW]Sean: or a Goauld ruling over their enslaved humans and jaffa
[SGW]Sean: So, the short answers is: yes, you will have a starting zone tailored to your archetype
[MMORPG]Taera:Jaymach asks: With the previous announcement that Stargate Worlds would run side-by-side with the show, and the shows subsequent cancellation, is there any chance that you'll instead work side-by-side with the Stargate novels and comics in order to link the different mediums together?
[SGW]Steven: We have worked pretty closely with the guys on the show to have our game fit comfortably within their fiction. But we also expanded upon their stuff in ways they responded to. The comics and novels haven't been part of that equation so far.
[MMORPG]Taera:Jrod asks: Hello there,You guys have said that there will be Puzzles in the game.What type of puzzles will they be and what effect will they have on the gameworld?
[SGW]ledaye: Well, saying there are puzzles is too limiting. Call them mini-games. Think 'Bejewejed' in the game space.
[SGW]ledaye: So, the games essentially simulate many things.
[SGW]ledaye: Sam Carter fixing the engines.
[SGW]ledaye: Daniel translating ancvient texts.
[SGW]ledaye: And with that as the starting point, they also expand the game space.
[SGW]ledaye: They allow gamers who don't like combat to advance.
[SGW]ledaye: And perform functions that make them valuable to their guildmates.
[SGW]ledaye: We're looking to do more than provide puzzles.
[SGW]ledaye: We're looking to deliver an entertaining alternate path to advance, and also allow the game to potentially be played through alternate mediums.
[MMORPG]Taera:HolmstN asks: How much emphasis is being placed on truly immersing a player in the Stargate universe, and along with that, Role Play both by the players and through the game world itself?
[SGW]Steven: We are really focusing on creating an immersive experience, from the way we have developed the story, to the types of choices we're making regarding the way we deliver quests/lore/information
[SGW]Steven: The goal is to provide the player with an experience that feels like the show and, beyond that, feels like living the chosen archetype
[SGW]Steven: So, to be quick, we have placed serious emphasis on immersion
[MMORPG]Taera:gatebuzz asks: How do you plan on releasing story content in a timely fashion - will there be (say) weekly critical missions to run?
[SGW]Sean: The story we are planning to deliver in SGW is really epic....
[SGW]Sean: What we launch with is only the first piece of a massive on-going story
[SGW]Sean: Our plans have always included post-launch content pushes....
[SGW]Sean: Now, weekly is probably a bit more than we can do -- our writers do need to sleep sometime...
[SGW]Sean: But we are planning to get our new content to you in a very timely fashion - a cliff hanger is best when you get the resolution fairly soon!
[MMORPG]Taera:Grimsly asks: What will SGW do to break the pez dispenser quest mode of character progression that MMO's have given us for the past 10 years?
[SGW]Brian: Well, our content is structured around a central storyline that advances as the player advances through level.
[SGW]Brian: Each quest advances the overall goal the player has in the game, and each one is focused around making the player feel like a hero.
[SGW]Brian: We've focused on taking the time to design our content such that you're not completing kill 5 pigs missions, as we call them.
[SGW]Brian: Instead, your actions are directly influencing the fate of the world you're on, as well as the overall universe.
[SGW]Brian: Truly, we want to capture the experience of the show and allow players to live it.
[SGW]Brian: Another thing we're doing to break the pez dispenser approach is to have quests that the players don't have to ask an NPC for. So rather than always clicking on an NPC, players will be able to combine items in the world and solve puzzles to generate quests for themselves and their group members.
[MMORPG]Taera:hadz asks: What is the planned ratio for instanced versus non-instanced content?
[SGW]ledaye: We chose to instance content when we need to control the player experience. So, if you're talking to an NPC and that NPC asks you to join them to fight an enemy, that experience might be instanced (for example).
[SGW]ledaye: However, normally, we like open worlds.
[SGW]ledaye: So, approximatelyt our ratio is 80/20, using the tech only to deliver the best experience for the player.
[MMORPG]Taera:esgagd asks: The series is very episodical, will there be missions that act in the same way? As in you may need to complete several different tasks to complete a sort of substoryline as would happen in an episode.
[SGW]Steven: We're very interested in presenting the show experience within the MMo space. Our story is filled with relatiosnhips between other elements of the story, with characters both from the show and new etc. There will be connections between missions and these connections will have meaning.
[SGW]Steven: Without getting too specific, the short answer to your question is: Yes. The desgin is all about capturing the nature of the show in a cool, fun, playable way.
[MMORPG]Taera:Tyr asks: Will there be an in-game message system other then chat- as in a mail system or some way to communicate with contacts that are offline?
[SGW]Brian: We do have plans to utilize an e-mail system for in-game messaging - this IS a sci-fi game, after all.
[SGW]Brian: Beyond player-to-player messages, we've also talked about using in-game e-mail for story-related purposes. . .
[MMORPG]Taera:CiRioN asks: the combat system, what currently available games have you pull influence from to design SGW combat system?
[SGW]ledaye: Our combat system is fairly unique. To me, the motif is 'control the battlefield." We've talked about it as 'ranged comabt using cover,' but our goal is to put the player in the mind-set of using his weapons and skills to engage the enemy.
[SGW]ledaye: So, when we got it up and on its feet, it really felt new to us. A weird fun combo of MMO-style combat . . .
[SGW]ledaye: with first-person shooter elements, but much easier to play.
[SGW]ledaye: The influences are really squad-based combat systems, both in the computer game space as well as old board games.
[MMORPG]Taera:VPellen asks: Do you have any Unique Selling Points planned yet, to speak of?
[SGW]Elggren: Well the big one of course is that we are a game based on Stargate.... :)
[SGW]Elggren: That along with some of the many cool features that the team has been chatting about tonight
[SGW]Elggren: The Combat is a unique entry into the MMO genre that we fill will pull many new users into the game
[SGW]Elggren: Along with the great story
[SGW]Elggren: The amazing universe that we are building
[SGW]Elggren: And a host of new features that I am just going to hold in the back of my pocket for right now
[MMORPG]Taera:Raleighgamer asks: Can you give us details on the faction competition? Will player participation in PvP and PvE events alter the environment of the SGW universe in a noticable way?
[SGW]Steven: Player actions will make a difference in the game. If your question is more about my faction holds this world and you have to take it from us, we're not that game. We do plan for PVP elements to materially matter, the degree to which it will I cannot really detail here...
[MMORPG]Taera:Spaceman asks: Will Ascension be part of the game?
[SGW]Brian: At the moment we have more than enough options open to us just dealing with the physical universe in Stargate.
[SGW]Brian: Though we definitely talk about Ascension at various points in the game, and use it to comment on the conflict inherent in our universe, we don't currently plan to provide players with a path to Ascension.
[SGW]Brian: Who knows what will happen two years from now? :)
[MMORPG]Taera:blkjag asks: explain how puzzle will work toward leveling, and will it vary among the difference archstype?
[SGW]ledaye: Mini-games allow archetypes to gain experience, and thus gain levels. Certain archetypes use mini-games more than others, as you might expect (scientists, for instance). But we have in the works a system that links mini-games with social gameplay in a unique way that I believe is truly cool and allows players with different gameplay styles to support each other.
[SGW]ledaye: So, mini-games aren't just 'tacked on' but are part of how you level.
[MMORPG]Taera:Xavier_WER asks: Will the world be open, where you can really explore every nook and crany. Or will it be closed in where you cant actually get to every location that is visible
[SGW]Sean: Well, with Stargate, you literally have the whole universe at your feet.
[SGW]Sean: Or at least the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies....
[SGW]Sean: Trying to build an entire universe that you can explore is a big part of what we're doing....
[SGW]Sean: We want it feel like you are roaming the gate network, hopping from planet to planet [SGW]Sean: There where be places you see that you cannot get to...at least at first!
[SGW]Sean: But when you come back to the world...you might find things startingly different
[MMORPG]Taera:zxny asks: With as many major mmorpg's under way or coming soon. (IE:Age of Conan, Star Trek Online, The unconfirmed bioware mmo, the unconfirmed bethesda mmo) what really makes Stargate:Worlds stand out in your opinion versus the others(can't say because it's stargate! :P)
[SGW]Elggren: You are right. We can't just say it is Stargate. Unless we make a great game it does not matter what label we put on it. If you look at each of the above games they each have a really cool universe and gameplay that is appealing.
[SGW]Elggren: We are looking at SGW to stand out in the crowd. The universe that we create and how the story pulls that universe together is just the tip of the iceberg.
[SGW]Elggren: We look to have compelling minute to minute gameplay that no one will see in any other MMO to date.
[SGW]Elggren: Yeah, Stargate does bring some really cool gameplay elements that no one else will have.
[MMORPG]Taera:Nuada asks: Is it possible to hide your faction/archetype from other players? EG: Can a goa'uld pretend to be a human without them knowing directly? SGW]Brian: In general, no, though we're still discussing how the ability for a Goa'uld to pass for a human or a human for a Goa'uld can impact our PvP gameplay. There's some interesting possibilities there, but we need to make sure that if we allow it, we do so in a way that prevents griefing.
[MMORPG]Taera:Odinseye asks: will there be a fishing system?
[SGW]Brian: I think calling it a fishing system is too limiting.
[SGW]Brian: Really, we're looking to develop an entire suite of games around the fishing genre.
[SGW]Brian: Stargate: Symbiote Fishing Bananzaa!
[MMORPG]Taera:Thank you for joining MMORPG.com and forthegamers.org for the Stargate Worlds Dev Chat, and thank you Devs for your time and your answers! Logs will be posted on MMORPG.com asap!
