Bring Out Your Devs is normally a VIP supporter exclusive show for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, but thanks to it being the holidays, Visionary Realms has decided to drop an exciting episode for those interested in the MMO today on YouTube. The discussion talks to former EverQuest designer and current senior programmer on Pantheon, Steve Clover, about MMO game design and much more.
The video is an older episode in the Bring Out Your Devs series by the Pantheon developer, but that doesn't make it any less relevant or an engaging discussion. Clover is known for his work on EverQuest, and has worked on other titles such as Vanguard in his career as a MMO developer.
The discussion is rather informal, with this being the first episode in the VIP exclusive series. The show seems aimed at getting the fans of the MMO to know the developers who make the games we love, diving into the past of the developer and what they are working on with the current Pantheon development.
As such, this episode of Bring Out Your Devs breaks down some of Clover's influences, from reading The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit when he was younger, to being able toy with is friends old Apple II as a gateway into programming his own games. Clover also goes into how Brad McQuaid, Visionary Realms' founder and a driving creative force behind EverQuest, having met McQuaid on an old internet bulletin board. From there, they started hanging out, working first on WarWizard, and then onto their time at Sony Online Entertainment working on EverQuest.
The show also dives into design philosophies, including fearing death in games and breaking down some of the design philosophies of the Near-Death status in Pantheon, taking its cue from EQ. It's an incredibly informative discussion with one of the visionary developers in our genre, and well worth a listen, even if you're not that interested in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen itself. You can check it out in the embed below.
