Delve into the world of Master of Orion 3 with Quicksilver’s Alan Emrich
By Michael Lafferty

Space is not necessarily the final frontier of Star Trek mythology. After all, it exists to be explored – that much is true. But the real adventure is internal, as people discover who they are, and what they are capable of while exploring that vast realm.

In the world of gaming, space programs have featured a 4-X style of gaming – the four Xs standing for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. Infogrames and Quicksilver are adding one more ‘X’ element to the genre: eXperience.

The game is Master of Orion 3, a strategic chess match where players take on the role of ruling a galactic civilization. The dictators and presidents of various planets under your control are merely puppets to be used and discarded at will. Using political, administrative, or economic skills is a must, and a little espionage wouldn’t hurt either.

The hook is that the game is supposedly easy to jump into, and hard to win. It is a turn-based game, with limited amount of ‘power’ being exercised in each phase of the conquest. How the empire grows is directly in the hands of players.

Alan Emrich, of Quicksilver, took some time to answer a few questions about the program, which is slated for release in the first quarter of 2002.

Question: The Master of Orion series has had a long history. Starting out as Star Lords before being redubbed Master of Orion, the game has undergone numerous face-lifts along the way. What will be new and different about Master of Orion 3? Does it make new strides in terms of the technology used in the design of the game, or make innovations in the RTS genre?

Alan: “Well, Master of Orion III (MOO3) is not a "technology showcase" product, per se. Nor is it a real-time strategy game in the way that term is used today.

“Although MOO3 uses its share of spiffy technologies and truly breath-taking art, it has been a design-centric project. That is, the ‘star components’ in the package are the game design and story design elements themselves. That they're getting such wonderful support in their presentation from the graphics and technology end is a blessing, indeed, but they are strong supporting roles in this product (as opposed to starring roles they receive in so many other products).

“Also, MOO3 is a turn-based strategy game. Granted, space battles will be conducted in real-time, but even they will not be the pulse-pounding click-fests of traditional real-time games. MOO3 is designed for the thoughtful, deliberative player who is seeking a special kind of immersion into the traditional 4X genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate). Thus, we've added a 5th X to the list (eXperience) and tried to keep a player's role in perspective. To that end, a player cannot micromanage everything all the time in MOO3. Although you can do ANYthing on a given turn, you simply won't be able to do EVERYthing during a single turn. Some things will have to wait, others you'll have to trust to the Leaders in charge of those areas. Most of the time, you'll MACROmanage a civilization's activities and try to steer the Ship of State along a general course rather than select every item for every build queue on every planet in every system of every sector that you've colonized. And with the expanded amount of playable real estate in MOO3, believe me, you'll THANK us for not forcing you to micromanage all that stuff!”

Q: What is the core plot for this game? Is it linear or non-linear?

Alan: “The core plot is linear up to the point where the game commences. From there, it's up to the players. There's an overarching ‘Antaran Mystery’ to solve (with various possible outcomes, including ‘we never did find out’), the desperate New Orions trying to hold on to their increasingly precarious position ‘in the middle,’ the influx of nomads from the rim and the pressure of barbarians pushing toward the center... plus lots of classic space opera plot devices introduced by way of the novel Events Engine in the game. All of these come together to keep spinning the players' experience with each repeated playing so that, hopefully, we avoid the situation where the game becomes predictable or staid.”

Q: This seems like a game where fans have had a huge impact on the product being delivered. What were the major suggestions of fans that have been incorporated into the program?

Alan: “Well, the fans have contributed a great deal, but the product isn't delivered yet so it’s hard to say what will make the final cut. The fans brought us things like ‘Team Play,’ and helped up hone the Ethos (Religion) Model in the game. They've made invaluable contributions here and there about the parts of the design we've been able to share with them, including sending us lists of names for the star map, spy code names, etc. They've been great play testing the ‘theory’ of the design as we've shared it with them and challenging our assertions to make sure that those are things we REALLY want to do in MOO3.”

Q: The multiplayer side of a lot of RTS games has taken the short shrift they usually end up with a 'capture the flag,' or 'king of the hill' scenario? What will the multiplayer side of MOO3 be like?

Alan: “Well, because MOO3 isn't a real-time game at its heart, multi-player victory conditions can be considerably more robust than mere 'capture the flag' and 'king of the hill' style victory conditions. There are actually two kinds of winners in each game of MOO3. There is the first person to reach a climax to the story (Lone Superpower, Galactic Senate President, Legitimate Heir to Orion Throne, or Discover the Antaran Mystery) and then there is the person who scores the most POINTS in five categories (the aforementioned Climax, plus History, Legacy, Perception, and Reality). It's a very nuanced recipe of ingredients that go into Victory Point soup; we hope players will find it very satisfying to know that so much of what they're doing counts."

Q: What part of the creative process brings you the most joy?

Alan: “Discussing the design with the fans.”

Q: What is your favorite part of this program, and/or what do you perceive will be the most welcomed aspect of it by the public?

Alan: “It's hard to single out a favorite part. The game has been completely designed to be new from the ground up, so ‘the whole’ is very important. There are numerous novel concepts in strategy gaming either introduced or re-introduced in MOO3 that players will only be able to judge in total. Hopefully, they'll like the pacing of the game best of all. That will certainly be one of our greatest challenges to ‘get right’ during play testing.”

Q: How user friendly will this game be? What kind of learning curve will it have, and will players new to the series and/or genre be able to succeed early in their experience with the program?

Alan: “The game is designed to be quite user friendly. Between a UI system that gets you in whatever neighborhood you want to be in with no more than two clicks and information feedback given to the players in varying degrees of depth (depending how much a players wants to know about a given area of play) called the ‘layers of the onion approach,’ I think we're on the right track. We're trying to keep the new player in mind at all times, so every aspect of the game is presented initially at a high level of information (i.e., and ‘overview’) sufficient to make an informed decision. But for players who want to pop the hood and tinker with the engine during
game play, we allow them to do that as well. No one HAS to do that, but if you really enjoy, say espionage, there's a deeper sub-game in there that you can delve into if that suits your fancy.”

Q: How about some background information?

Alan: “I've been working in the game business since 1975. Obviously, that was before personal computers (we only had the player's brains to rely upon back then). Fortunately, the principles of good game design don't change whether you're making a paper or silicon product. Those are just changes in the medium that a game is presented in, and while a good design adapts to its medium, it must remain at its core a good design based on solid game design principles.”

Q: Where do you think will be the near future of the genre? Where do you think it will be in 5-10 years?

Alan: “If I could answer that, I wouldn't be sitting in an office wearing a t-shirt. I'd be sitting on a mountaintop wearing robes. Whatever the future tends in game play, gamers, or game media might be, there will always be a human need to play and enjoy them, and we'll be there to satisfy it.”
 
 

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