Colony Studios chats about making MMOs in today's market

"Our philosophy is that we want to have the right amount of style mixed with the right amount of pizzazz, but gameplay will always trump"

Colony Studios opened its doors publicly to toss its cyber hat into the ring of massively multiplayer online game developers.

Behind CEO Michael Wallis, what sets this team apart is the depth of experience it brings to the market. These are serious developers with a collective resume that includes many of the top-end (or triple-A) MMOs, including World of Warcraft, EVE Online, City of Heroes, Dark Age of Camelot, Lord of the Rings Online, Everquest, and Ultima Online.

Wallis has been part of the development and shipping to retail of more than 23 titles and together this team has been part of more than 70 titles that have shipped to retail. The mission statement of the company includes the tidbit that the team came together for "the express purpose of developing next-generation, massively multiplayer online (MMO) products." The first project, though it has been stated it will be have a science-fiction based theme, is still under wraps (detail-wise), but GameZone contacted the company to get a feel for what they think it takes to create a viable MMO in today's market.

As you are not talking about the specifics of your title yet, let's talk generalities of the MMO genre. It has evolved quite a lot since the modern era began in the late 1990s. What do you still think is missing in terms of immersion?

Michael Wallis: Immersion is in the eye of the beholder. One player may think walking around a crowded promenade on a starship is immersive with the hustle and bustle of merchants and players all trying to get your business. Other players find PvP to be the ultimate in immersion pitting their skills against an actual human opponent. Still others find watching a sunrise crest over a mountain range to be total immersion.

It’s hard to gauge what is lacking in terms of immersion in the MMO genre because of this. But, to answer your question, we feel that immersion is in the details. If we provide a robust game that doesn’t skimp on the details we will also provide an immersive experience.

Death penalties have been the focal points of some discussions. What do you consider appropriate and why?

Michael: Risk and reward are always going to be powerful motivators within the MMO genre. What we need to be careful of is that we don’t promote cowardice but at the same time we need players to feel a sense of tension within the game.

We have yet to explore how we intend to tackle these issues but we feel we will come up with elegant solutions to that age old problem. J

Graphics versus gameplay. The North American market has been focused on the pretty pictures but the success of the Wii console has shown that great gameplay mechanics outweigh the eye candy. What do you think it will take, in terms of MMOs, to leap that hurdle?

Michael: Can’t we have both?

Our philosophy is that we want to have the right amount of style mixed with the right amount of pizzazz, but gameplay will always trump. Besides, graphics are such a subjective topic. Take, for example, World of Warcraft’s graphics. WoW’s graphics may not be pushing the envelope in technical terms but they work amazingly well for that game. Some people love WoW’s look while others like a more adult-looking game. All we intend to do is make a great looking game that plays better than anything else out there.

PvP is an aspect that either works or doesn't - there is no gray area. What, in your opinion, are the hallmarks of good PvP gameplay?

Michael: I’m not sure I agree that PvP either works or it doesn’t in that you can have some great PvP battles which mean absolutely nothing in terms of the overall game, but I wouldn’t call that a failure. If I am having fun while PvPing then PvP in that game is a success in my eyes.

Hallmarks of good PvP for us are reason, stakes and balance.

Reason: What’s the reason I am playing this game? Is it to have fun, to show other players my skills, or is it part of a greater overall purpose that affects not only me but other players I know and group with.

Stakes: What are the stakes involved? Will my success in PvP have any repercussions on my overall community?

Balance: Well, this is a no-brainer really. Balance must exist…otherwise fun cannot.

Your (as yet unannounced) game will have a sci-fi setting. With most MMOs treading fantasy concepts, why did you opt for sci-fi and what do you think science fiction brings to the table that the other setting lacks?

Michael: The sci-fi genre allows us to give the game a truly epic larger-than-life feel. We want players fighting over entire quadrants of territory, planets, systems, etc. All are up for grabs and all an integral part of the game. Besides, who wants to kill a solitary goblin when you can destroy an entire planet instead!

EverQuest II invested a lot of time (and required a lot of disk space) for sound elements. How important do you think they are to a game? How do you plan on attacking that aspect in your game?

Michael: Well sound is obviously important but do you really want to hear “Come to gaze upon me have you?” each and every time you get close to a particular NPC? We hope to find the right balance of voice acting and integrated voice chat.

Besides, in space, no one can hear you ask for a group.

There are some that appreciate the backstories created for a game and some that just click through those segments as quickly as possible. How important do you think lore is to the foundation of a good MMO?

Michael: We feel strongly that our backstory needs not only to be cool, but presented clearly and elegantly to the player. We don’t intend on assuming that the player will read window after window of prose describing the epic plight of alien race X. What we intend to do is use a mix of mediums: cutscenes, text, game play, and voice acting to relay the backstory to the player.

What are your favorite MMOs and what do you think makes them stand out for you?

Michael: Tough question. I have sampled most of the Western MMOs, as well as a cross section of Asian MMOs such as Lineage II and FF. But the MMOs I have stuck with for longer than a year include Ultima Online, Everquest 1, DAoC, EVE, Everquest 2, and EVE again.

What made those games stand out for me:

Ultima Online: It was the first. I was amazed seeing large gatherings of people all carrying on simultaneously, sometimes working toward a common goal, sometimes killing each other. J The whole concept of open PvP, for me, was born with UO. I loved that feeling of anxiety and anticipation when someone unfamiliar would approach — are they friendly or are they coming to gank me?

Everquest: Ah the grind. It was brutal, but I loved it. I loved the guilds, the grouping, how players would train one another. J This literally was the dungeon crawl experience. Finally, raiding brought on a whole new level of organization and coordination among the players.

DAoC: Large-scale RvR at its best! Relic raids and probably the best dungeon ever created, Darkness Falls.

EVE: I’m partial to this one, of course, but the pure player-based economy and open-ended PvP are what has kept me in EVE for as long as it has. The best part about EVE is that out in 0.0 space, anything goes.

Your company has a lot of experience in creating MMOs, but the market is somewhat saturated. What do you think you bring to the table that will come across in your title and allow your game to stand apart from the crowd?

Michael: At a high level, I’ll say our skill system, our open-ended faction system, and our end game. Ultimately, the end game is where all players strive to be, and ours will be rich with player-created content and a warfare system on a galactic scale. We also want to point out our emphasis on the community aspects of the game will not be overlooked.

For more information, we encourage players to visit www.colonystudios.com to keep up to date with our latest announcements. Thanks for letting us talk with GameZone readers.

And thank you for the time to talk.

Share | Digg This | Glink It

---