“We’ve wanted to do Wallaru for a long time,” I was told as we relaxed in a secluded conference room with Sam Johnson, the Narrative Director of KingsIsle Entertainment. Just over a week ago, we were invited to the KingsIsle office in preparation for their test realm launch of Wizard101’s huge Wallaru Update. During our visit, we spent time with the passionate team of developers as they talked about Wallaru, their ambitious 15-year story, and expanding to new frontiers.
As we entered the office with Matthew Anderson, KingIsle’s Lead Community Manager, we were led through rows of cubicles and offices adorned with various Wizard101 plushies and video game paraphernalia. “Everyone’s excited because today is Cheese Day.” Matthew warned us. Cheese Day refers to a monthly celebration of cheese where all of the developers get together and vote on their favorite cheeses. KingsIsle’s development team are allotted a few days a week to work remotely, but it was fortuitous that we planned our visit on Cheese Day as we were told that the staff wouldn’t want to miss free cheese, and we had open access to a lot of the most integral developers.
The Magic is Growing Stronger
The camaraderie of the KingsIsle team and their internal Gamigo partners painted a picture of an expanding team that’s excited to start growing again. “We’ve grown 25% more since we were acquired.” Leah Ruben, Chief Operating Officer of KingsIsle began. She pinpointed the areas where the Gamigo acquisition has helped the team grow, with a prime example being the soft-launch of a new single-player mobile game Pirate101: Plunder Hunt. The creation of the mobile game, resurgence of Pirate101 content, and even Wallaru itself has been due in a large part to Gamigo and their support.
As we sat around a screen in the conference room, the developers booted up Wizard101’s Wallaru update, and long-time player, community hire, and Associate Designer Mercedes Fuller took the controls to show us the new level and character designs. Wallaru is modeled after the late 19th century Australian Outback. “People come to Wallaru because they want to go on walkabout, and get enlightened, so that’s why there are all these other races here.” Mercedes told us, as we ran through the world at superspeed.
Longtime players of Wizard101 will see a lot of familiar faces here like Prospector Zeke and Sandiago, but there will be an abundance of new things to see here. Most importantly, the developers want people to know that Wallaru isn’t simply capitalizing on some of the assets used in the Pirate101 Cool Ranch world, but rather the entirety of the world, however familiar, has been reimagined with Australian-specific assets.
“Wizard didn’t necessarily have a Cool Ranch.” Art Director Karl Holbert told us, referencing the Pirate101 western themed world that didn’t cross over to Wizard101. “That being said, we also did not just want to steal Cool Ranch. That period in Australia has its own unique feel, and Australia is a really cool place.” We dove into the some of the complex influences of Wallaru as we looked at the architecture around the in-game world, which included themes featuring colonialism, and paying respect to aboriginal art in the right way.
We zipped through several areas, but started with Hope Springs, modeled after a late 19th century Sydney Harbour, complete with its very own version of the Sydney Opera House. There are other unique locales and various puns that the team has slid into the design, which they’ve become known for over their 15-year journey. Players will encounter Koalas, Kangaroos, and the infamous Drop Bears that are deeply rooted in Australian superstition. We took a superspeed jaunt through the Outback, a humongous open area with caves surrounding the outer rim. Players will be taken all across the outback as part of the story, and there’s more than enough space to wander and lose yourself to the Wallaru wilderness. You’ll also be on the lookout for Dream Water, a seemingly scarce resource in Wallaru, or at least in Wallaru’s outback, and the primary reason why so many “tourists” are heading there to go on Walkabout.
“More Easter Eggs Than Any Other Bit of Media Ever Created”
One of my favorite areas shown was modeled after the Grand Budapest Hotel known as the Billabong Resort. It’s clear that the team put in a lot of work to make this area unique, and they certainly achieved the feeling of a mystery laden tourist attraction. Despite being the only player logged in and visiting the locale, it felt like a busy community hub. The area encompassed a fun, ambient, almost relaxing vibe, where the Billabong tourists are treated to their very own pink lake (is it Dream Water? Perhaps?!) and an ever-present threat of Phantasmanian Devils. “I would say that our game - and this is not trying to be boastful - I would bet that our game has more easter eggs than any other bit of media ever created.” Karl said.
Pop culture plays a big part in Wizard101 and the team doesn’t shy away from that. It’s turned into one of their biggest strengths. They utilize properties that people love in ways that show off the personality of their development team, and demonstrates that they won’t take themselves too seriously. “We have these things called emu riders.” Mercedes told us. “They look like they're supposed to be like, Mad Max little koalas on the backs of emus, and there’s an emu war.” She flipped through a few menus and we were treated to a few choice emu-laden cinematics. Just as you would expect, they are about as silly as they are charming, and it catapulted our interest in seeing more of the escalating war.
Fifteen years ago, Wizard101 could easily have been relegated to a family game, with simplistic themes, but the story has evolved and grown along with their maturing community. Now the story has transitioned into some heavy existential areas, with a once traditional hero story evolving into battling a well-dressed Cthulu inspired enemy, and in the most recent arc, dealing with a newly awakened self-aware god-like creature named Dasein. There have been plenty of unexpected twists and turns, where players eventually must come to terms with the latest penultimate moment of dealing with their own role in how the latest danger came to be.
However, the main sticking point about so many of the great stories built within Wizard101 is that, if you wish to experience the latest and greatest story arc, such as Wallaru, you’ll need to play through all the other major story arcs beforehand. This is predominantly by design, because, unlike some other games, there comes a point where, if you start to skip dialogue, you’ll be completely lost on the story aspects entirely. “We’re no longer at a point where you can skip all the dialogue.” Sam told us plainly. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be cases where you can’t skip ahead, but there will certainly be consequences, and you’ll have to complete parts of the story beforehand.
“If you’re just jumping in and you’re wanting to get to the newest content, we're slowly but surely getting there,” Joel White, Head of Product explained. “We have the level 50 elixir, which you can purchase once you've made it to 50 once. So if I've played through the game to get to level 50 after that, on any character, I'm allowed to buy that elixir, it costs $20, and it skips all that content gives you all the stuff you should get for (skipping 50 levels), and puts you right at that next section.” That also means that, if you do choose to jump ahead, you won’t be able to go back through experience the story.
A Tale As Old As (15-Years) Time
Of course, after 15 years, Wizard101 now sits at 170 levels, and catching up would still require that you play through the story at least once, which can take quite a bit of time. It’s a journey, however, and there are some players that have been playing for nearly a decade that haven’t completed the journey to level 170 simply because they’ve found other areas to occupy their time. Within the Wallaru update, KingsIsle will be adding the Guild Museum, which won’t just be for endgame, and is another feature that will undoubtedly steer you away from focusing solely on story quests.
“The Guild Museum is something that we actually teased earlier in the year.” Leah indicated. “That's something that could be more useful for somebody that's in the middle game. That's not super high end.” She went on to explain that the only requirement for the Guild Museum is that you’ll have to be in a guild, which requires players to reach level 30, which doesn’t take that much time.
Wallaru has just released in to the Wizard101 test realm, and KingsIsle is ready for players to jump in and test the game on weekdays, as the prep for their winter launch later this year. In order to participate you’ll need to be a Member or Crowns Player that has spent at least 6 dollars or more in the past 30 days. You can also find Wizard101 and Pirate101 on Steam. KingsIsle has come a long way, not just across the past decade, but just in the short time since their acquisition. We’re excited to see what other surprises Wallaru has in store this winter.
