GZ Interview
6/26/02

Dark Age of Camelot expands Realms with Shrouded Isles expansion
By Michael Lafferty

The mythology of the times of King Arthur is alive and continuing to flourish ­ thanks, in part, to the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Dark Age of Camelot.

But just when you thought the mythical lands of Midgard, Albion and Hibernia were interesting enough, wait because they are about to get much better. Mythic Entertainment will be releasing an expansion for Dark Age called Shrouded Isles. The expansion promises more intrigue, more quests and more territory.

For those who have not heard of Dark Age, it is an online fantasy role-playing game set in Europe’s past. The game brings together elements of Arthurian legend, Norse mythology and Celtic lore. Players can engage in player-versus-player combat for territory, and there is also siege warfare, quests, and monsters to battle. The game also has a crafting system in which players can take part in the economical aspects of the virtual world.

How popular is this game ­ in a word, very. Log in at odd hours and you will see thousands playing. And the game is only going to get bigger as Mythic expands into other markets.

Matt Firor, lead developer at Mythic Entertainment, took time to talk with GameZone about Dark Age and the expansion pack.

Question: Before we talk about the expansion pack, Shrouded Isles, let's backtrack a bit and talk about Dark Age of Camelot. What kind of numbers do you have in regards to people playing, number playing during peak hours (and when are the peak hours), and number of servers currently online to handle the game's fans?

Matt: "We announced in May that worldwide we now have over 200,000 active subscribers. This makes is close to the number two competitive game and we have yet to ship in most of the Asia Pacific region. We will have shipped in Australia, New Zealand and Japan by the end of July. We're also launching in Korea in late summer fully localized into Korean. As I'm sure you're aware the Korean market is huge and we expect to draw a large number of subscribers.

"By visiting www.camelotherald.com  at any time you can see the status of our current 18 servers in the US. We peak at about 30,000 players in primetime in the evening in the US. By visiting www.camelot-europe.com  you can see the 9 servers we have up in the UK, France and Germany. www.daoc.it  shows you the two servers that are currently running in Italy. Soon you'll be able to see the server status at http://www.daoc.co.kr. 

"As you can see Dark Age of Camelot has a strong and growing international presence. We plan to continue to pursue the worldwide audience wherever there is demand."

Q: Obviously from the name of the expansion pack, you are adding territory. Tell us a bit about the new realms?

Matt: "We're not adding new ‘realms’ — instead, we're adding territory to each of the three existing Realms (Hibernia, Midgard, Albion). These new areas are islands found off the coast of each realm. Each of the islands has a mystery associated with it — usually one that inolves the ancient history of the realm involved. Players will find that if they want to find more about the history of their realm, they'll have to travel to the new island and explore a bit.

"An example of this is that the new territory added to Albion is the fabled island of Avalon. Avalon is no longer a friendly place, though — once a part of Arthur's Realm of Albion, Avalon has been taken over by a race of creatures bent on the total subjugation of Albion. Not to go too far into the backstory at this point, suffice it to say that the enemies of Arthur have allied with these creatures and it is up to the players to liberate Avalon. The other two realms will have plots of similar complexity."

Q: Does this expansion include any kind of graphics upgrade?

Matt: "Absolutely. We are upgrading to the newest version of the Netimmerse graphical engine, which will give us all the features of DirectX 8.1 — better bump mapping, in-memory texture swapping, animation blending, much more realistic lighting, water effects, reflective surfaces, and any other graphical feature that you would expect from a current-generation game. The end result for the player will be a significant upgrade in the look and feel of the game."

Q: What are the most striking features of Shrouded Isles?

Matt: "In addition to the graphical upgrades and the three new islands themselves, Shrouded Isles will introduce three new player races (one per realm), and six new character classes (two per realm). These new races and classes are intended to give players the chance to play more varied characters — these new races and classes are a bit edgier than the current ones."

Q: Does Shrouded Isles expansion contain the original game, or will players have to own the original game before they can load on the expansion? Do the expansion pack and original game interface well?

Matt: "We're still deciding if we'll ship the expansion as a standalone package which includes the original game or as an expansion which requires you to own the original. The expansion will extend the original game seamlessly."

Q: Since it has come online, what has been the most significant challenge of Dark Age of Camelot? What have you learned about the world of MMORPG? What would you change about this genre? What has provided the biggest sense of accomplishment?

Matt: "We've learned that no matter how much thought is put into a feature, players will find a way to figure out exactly what the best/most powerful combinations are, whether it be character development, combat styles, spells, et cetera. Looking back, we wouldn't change much at all — hindsight is always 20/20, and we feel that we launched with as stable and fun a game as possible."

Q: For those who may not be familiar with this game, can you quickly give us an overview of PvP play, and/or the honor system the game has in place?

Matt: "Our take on PvP is called "Realm vs. Realm" combat. In Dark Age of Camelot, when you first create a character, you pick which Realm the character will play in: either Albion, Hibernia, or Midgard. Everyone in the Realm that you choose is your friend, and you cannot attack them. Everyone in the other two Realms is your enemy and can be attacked. Each Realm has a frontier area, where players from the other two Realms can invade, which is where the Realm vs. Realm combat takes place. If you stay in the "home" (i.e. non-frontier) area of your Realm, you are safe and cannot be attacked, because players from other Realms cannot get to you. In addition, there are several items of power called "Relics" that players can steal from enemy Realms. Relics have magical and combat bonuses that are awarded to the Realm that holds them, making them a focal point for RvR combat."

Q: How would you say Dark Age of Camelot differs from the other major fantasy online RGPs on the market?

Matt: "The fact that it is based on myths and legends that everyone is familiar with is one of the primary differences between Camelot and other online RPGs. When a new player first enters Dark Age of Camelot, he needs no education on the world — everyone knows about King Arthur, and to a lesser extent, Viking legends and Celtic lore. Another major difference is the built-in Realm vs. Realm combat that gives a reason and a purpose for fighting other players. We wanted to avoid the all out confusion and chaos of other online RPGs' PvP systems."

Q: Microsoft has done a complete overhaul of Asheron's Call, while EA keeps adding expansions to its Ultima game. Does Shrouded Isles significantly change or add to the world of Dark Age, or is it more along the lines of Ultima's expansions?

Matt: "Shrouded Isles is a content update, along with a new engine — define that how you will. The new islands are much more graphically diverse than the existing world, since they utilize the new engine, which allows for more terrain diversity."

Q: What is the release date for the pack?

Matt: "Shrouded Isles will be released in November 2002 in the U.S."

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