Lord British, E3, and a lot of Stress Testing (1997-1998)
Due to the scale and ambition of EverQuest, Internet connection had been a long-term issue. When the project was started, the team had inherited code from Tanarus (Smedley's online tank shooter) but it needed to be adapted from the use of just hundreds simultaneously, to thousands. Unlike most games, TCP/IP couldn't be used as it was too slow, so programmer Vince Harron created a reliable UDP framework for the game to use - but this wouldn't be the last of the game's connectivity issues.
By mid 1997, enough of EverQuest was built so that expectant crowds at that year's e3 could try out Sony's ambitious online project. Showing off the city of Qeynos, Qeynos Hills, and Blackborrow, players were stunned by the level of detail and depth that the game was boasting - it was unlike anything that anyone had ever played, or would play until its release. This positive reaction did wonders for the team behind the largely unfinished construction site that was EverQuest.
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Just months after the presentation to the outside world, another landmark event took place. Origin Systems, one of the videogaming's RPG founders, released Ultima Online. The first truly titled "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game" Richard Garriott's creation was a massive step for games, and a hugely popular one too. Taking the already established series formula, this online game threw players out into a world populated by others, and allowed them to hunt for treasures, trade, and more importantly kill one another.
To say the release of Ultima Online was important is an understatement, and much of what EverQuest turned into can be attributed to the first-hand experience the development team got from playing.
"It gave us confidence that an MMORPG could be commercially viable, and it reinforced our belief that unrestricted PvP was a bad thing" Brad McQuaid recalls. The largely Player versus Environment pursuits of EverQuest came as a direct result of being "ganked" within Britannia - with the design shifting from a "sandbox" style of gameplay, to one with a little more structure, and the pursuit of building a character's level, as well as inventory, as the main focus. As it happens, this approached worked wonders, and the "duel" request system would go on to become a genre staple.
Another windfall from the Origin' title was that of crafting. Before its release in September, EverQuest was largely filled with pursuits of killing animals and beasts, and had little in the way of distraction; Ultima Online showed that the game could have other facets, while at the same time keeping the core of the experience intact. As a result, the tradeskill system was put together, and along with Bill Trost's reputation system, things were beginning to come together. Sort of like an A Team plan.
When 1998 arrived, and the development team grew to 25, a lot of the pieces of the EverQuest shaped puzzle had been sorted into place. Rosie Cosgrove designed the player characters to be akin to "Sexy superheroes" John Buckley had largely gotten the engine into a stable position, and Brad McQuaid had pushed through his ideas that "content should be king". By June that year, closed beta could begin, first to close friends and families, and then to the wider community.
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Largely the beta stages were a trial by fire for the development team. For the first time players were allowed into the game, and unlike its creators, could begin to look at ways to exploit, trick, glitch, and break the system. And that's exactly what they did. Beta testing revealed server crashing bugs, duplicating glitches, as well as a number of imbalances and general coding errors.
Rather than tearing their hair out with frustration, the developer's found this time to be an amazing view into how players would engage with Norrath. With almost every team member describing the stories, adventures, and troubles that individual players found themselves, as almost vindication for the entire project - they knew they had something special on their hands; from being mauled by a bear in Surefall Glade, to finding themselves burning alive in Lavastorm - it was as they say "all good".
It's Alive! (1999-Present)
As 1999 approached, the team at the now newly formed Verant felt pretty good about their product. It had missed several deadline dates, it had endured 3 separate development studios (SISA splitting into 989, and further into PC-orientated Verant) and yet EverQuest was as good as its initial promise. Now all that remained were the planned stress tests, and then the eventual launch on March 18th. Breathing a sigh of relief, the home stretch was in sight. Almost.
The expectations for John Smedley's online 3D MUD were modest as best. Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and "Smed" had set out to make a game they would enjoy, and could be proud of. They expected 70,000 players at a push within the game, perhaps with a 2 year lifespan. A result like that would be a win for the team, and for the newly formed development studios.
Come the day of the launch, queues had begun to form at various game shops around the world. People were eagerly awaiting the chance to get their hands on a certain game, with golden writing, and a buxom lady adorned upon the front. By the end of the day 10,000 players had logged into Norrath - by the end of the month 75,000 had. And while the team at Verant should have been smiling, big, beaming smiles, they were busied trying to turn the Internet back on in the San Diego area.
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No matter how prepared both the developers and the ISP were, nothing could have predicted the roaring success of EverQuest. By the first week of play, the entire bandwidth of the San Diego area was used. A blackout ran across the city, all because of the need to slaughter virtual orcs and crocodiles. Scrambling to fix the issue, Verant spent weeks trying to pinpoint the problem, and bringing newer and better technology in to sort the problem, the team finally got on top of the issue after 3 months of hell.
It was a baptism of fire, and a test of the player base's patience, but after months of troubles, and with a free month of game time credited to every account, things started to look up. By September the game had sold 225,000 copies - it had become a worldwide phenomenon leaking into popular culture and catapulting the gaming industry into the Internet age. Smedley's initial vision was working, but what to do next?
Even by the time that EverQuest had sold just 50,000 copies, the development team were still unsure exactly how things might unravel in the near future. The idea of an expansion or "module" was hit upon just weeks after launch as a way of giving fans more content, as well as cashing in on the successful product they had.
Ruins of Kunark was born, and given that most of its content was shelved and waiting, it wouldn't take long for the development team to get it to release. The expansion's genesis was a confusing one however: where should Verant go next? What would be the next step for Norrath? Brad McQuaid and the other producers hit upon the idea of increasing the level cap, and also giving the players more things to do, such as a new playable race, but rather than giving any more challenge above and beyond gaining enough experience to reach the coveted level 55, they simply made it harder. The amount of time to reach 51, would be double that of 49-50, and so went the progression. It wasn't the height of innovation, but it worked, and sold in its hundreds of thousands.
By the time that Kunark was released, the success of EverQuest was well and truly solidified, and before long, Verant was purchased back into the Sony flock, merging with Sony Online Entertainment. Brad McQuaid was made Vice President, and John Smedley president of Premium Games. It was a long way to climb for two budding developers who started out as independent game makers.
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After the April launch of Ruins of Kunark, the developer's soon turned their attention to the more story-orientated Scars of Velious, and further to graphical overhaul of Shadows of Luclin. This would mark a bi-annual release of expansions, which would run until 2008. Another notable event occurred in 2000 however, and namely that of the game's direct sequel EverQuest 2. Original designers, developers and programmers were relocated to the new project, and work began on creating on the next Norrathian adventure.
The development of EverQuest 2 however, wasn't to be as charmed as its predecessor, as Brad McQuaid, tiring of not being involved in the daily processes of game making, decided to form his own company Sigil, and took a lot of the original team with him. What came of that is another story all together.
18 expansions later, 450,000 subscribers on, and a million memories of Journey Man Boots, Crushbone corpse runs, and Blackburrow trains, EverQuest was a spectacular combination of groundbreaking design, ambitious planning, and a hefty slice of luck. It changed the online world, it formed a genre in its wake, and its legacy can still be felt today. With EverQuest Next in development, and with EverQuest 2 still very much active, the original Norrathian adventure isn't quite as shiny, quite as gleaming, but for the nostalgia, the memories, and the adventure, I think many of us can take the time to remember just what a special game it was.
