July 24, 2008

Interzone’s Jeff Lyndon talks about bringing a soccer-based MMO to life
By Michael Lafferty

“We are going to use a hybrid free-to-play and advertising-supported model for initial launch in Brazil”

The world of massively multiplayer online games has seen a nice influx of titles. There have been high-fantasy titles and low-fantasy ones, shooter titles, sci-fi titles (which should not be confused with straight-out shooter titles) and even an attempt at sports titles (like UBO).

Interzone Entertainment is going to attempt an ambitious bit of MMOG fare by bringing soccer, or futebol, to the online space.

According to the press materials: “Interzone Futebol features team-based multiplayer matches, with every character on the pitch (playing field) controlled by a different player, including goalkeepers who, until now, have always been AI-controlled. During the match, players will improve their skills and unlock new skills and moves. Players will also improve their personal rankings and their team’s rankings, earn money through salary or sponsorship, and customize their character at creation, during game play, and by buying virtual items from Interzone’s online store.

“Unlike other futebol games, Interzone Futebol will have a social space for players to explore and socialize in, and can find other people to play with. The game will also have an invitation system that allows players to invite their friends to try the game and, once friends are in-game, players will also be easily able to find them and invite them to join matches.”

As someone that played the sport for quite a number of years, and still does, this seemed an intriguing proposition, so GameZone decided to get a bit more info on the title. Jeff Lyndon, VP of China Operations, was good enough to take time to talk to us about the game.  

Question: Soccer, or football, is a rapidly moving game that requires instant field recognition and reaction from the players. Any sort of lag can adversely affect the game conditions. How do you plan on reducing that potential game-killer?

Jeff: This is a terrific question to start off with Michael! This is actually one of the earliest obstacles we faced when developing our MMO Interzone Futebol. As you said, this can be a potential game-killer and I humbly suspect that it is the main reason that true massively multiplayer online sports games have not been developed.

The first measure we took against lag was choosing the right engine. We believed this problem would be significantly reduced if we were to use a mature and well-developed engine. After reviewing different engines, we decided to use the BigWorld engine. We have developers that are experienced with it and BigWorld is very responsive and supportive toward us.

To further resolve this problem, we have a special group of developers in-house that only focus on this issue. At the beginning of the project, they spent endless hours brainstorming, implementing ideas, play testing, and gathering technical and gameplay reports. After five months of intensive work on this problem, they came up with a solution and presented it to our global team. We all tried it out (at our four locations around the world) and so far it seems to work well.

Q: Will weather play a factor in matches?

Jeff: We have designs for how weather may affect a match and we have placed this feature in our future schedule.

Q: How will your leveling system work? Is there a ranking system?

Jeff: We don’t have levels, as we feel that they are not authentic. In the real world, football players are not rated by levels; they become better by practicing and playing in a specific position. In Interzone Futebol we tend to do the same. Your player becomes better in certain positions by playing and practicing more in that position.

We have an additional ranking system which tracks your performance and posts them on various leader boards.

Q: Will there be training for players to grow accustomed to the conditions without incurring the wrath of more die-hard players?

Jeff: We have games where players can play comfortably alone or with friends, getting used to the controls. Later on, they can join in our match-making system which will place them in games where they will be playing with gamers with similar levels of experience and skill.

Q: What measures do you have in place for the player who refuses to pass the ball, but rather tries to play keep-away?

Jeff: We’ve designed specific systems to encourage teamwork and make sure it is difficult to adversely affect everyone else’s game experience. Even if someone does manage to, they will face harsh consequences from both the system and the community.

Q: Will you have tournaments?

Jeff: Yes! We can’t miss out on that since soccer is all about leagues and tournaments. You will be able to play as part of a club at launch, and more complex tournament systems will be added as our player base increases and we organize community events.

Q: Can players form football clubs?

Jeff: Yes, we have a forward plan for player-run clubs and the first phase is already developed. However, players-run clubs will most likely come after launch. At the start, we have created default clubs that players can join, play for, and gain salary from. The reason behind this approach is to ensure the community has a central point to gather around, and grow a bit under a stable and unified platform. Once we hit our critical mass, we will allow players to create and operate their own clubs.  

Q: How much are you anticipating charging in your subscription model? 

Jeff: We are going to use a hybrid free-to-play and advertising-supported model for initial launch in Brazil. Players can make optional purchases of items in the Web store. 

Q: Will there be any form of in-game communication, such as voice? 

Jeff: We have plans of developing voice communication, however that will not be something we will have at launch or in the very near future. Firstly we want to focus our efforts on creating a great football game, rather than on developing extra communication options other than text chat. Secondly, if we are going to make something, we want to ensure that it reaches our quality standard. Looking at the market, there are quite a lot of voice tools already (they are free to use and have large user bases already).  

Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced when developing this title? 

Jeff: There were two. The bigger one was the design of the game itself, and we have about 100 talented developers working in our studios in Brazil, U.S., China, and Australia. The smaller challenge was working with an international team using different languages to communicate, and early on we established the necessary processes and protocols to solve the language challenge. 

On a final note, we want to mention that Interzone Futebol is a virtual world adventure which provides players with lots more than soccer fun. In our virtual world, the first city is Rio de Janeiro, and outside the stadium, we have shops, cafes, and clubs in a 3D world you can explore. We’ve also built in lots of secret things to enjoy as you enjoy life in the beach-side neighborhood of Ipanema. 

We plan to release the game in Brazil (where soccer rules!) in Portuguese by the end of the year.  Interzone Futebol is currently in closed Alpha and will be going into Beta testing soon.  An international version is planned for release in early 2009.

For more information, we encourage players to visit www.interzoneentertainment.com and http://www.interzonefutebol.comfor updated information.  Thanks for letting us talk with GameZone readers!

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