Go inside the world of RoboForge with Liquid Edge’s Mike Ward
By Michael Lafferty

You log on, and immediately retire to the confines of your cyber lab. In the darkness, you rummage about, a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein in a world gone cyber. No, you are not digging up bodies, but rather are working in the realm of cyber metal and circuitry. A little non-welding here, a tweak of the AI and a dab of paint, and you may be ready to go to try to conquer the world..

The game is RoboForge, an online game that allows players to create robots and then pit them against other players from around the world in tournaments. Players can compete for free, or enter pay-to-play tourneys with the opportunity of winning prizes and cash.

Mike Ward, of Liquid Edge Games – the force behind the forge, took a few minutes to talk about RoboForge with www.GameZone.com. 

Question: Explain a little about the concept behind RoboForge. What ideas sparked it, and how are fans receiving it?

Mike: “RoboForge ( http://www.roboforge.net) is an Internet-based 3D computer game that allows players to construct sophisticated virtual robots and train them for combat. The robots are mechanical and/or organic in nature. Players can construct virtually anything by mixing and reusing components from a library of 300 parts and from the 12 different robot ‘genres.’ Building a robot is as simple as clicking components together in a true 3D construction environment.  Components can be joints (moving servos), sensors, CPUs, energy generators, weapons, shielding or just passive limbs. Once constructed, the robots can then be trained for offensive and defensive moves (all in 3D), and programmed to think during combat (using a sophisticated but easy-to-use declarative programming interface). Wizards will allow a user to construct their first robot in minutes so they can then ‘tinker’ with the settings, adding new limbs, painting and texturing, and so on. Players can have an unlimited ‘garage’ of robots. Once ready, they can let their creation loose in an arena against another pre-programmed robot and compete in tournaments on the Internet for prizes, including cash. The robots fight in a hand-to-hand style. The movement of the limbs and damage done to each other is calculated using realistic physics. Mass-inertia and 3D torque calculations are used in the simulation engine. The robot sensor systems have scope and range. Damage is based on point of impact inertia and realistic resultant physics are calculated (i.e. limb recoil). Completely damaged limbs explode and so on. All this provides a realistic sense to the user when they watch the fight ensue.”

… as for the idea behind the game:

Mike: “The company's founder, Darren Green, was doing some contract work in Tokyo and was kicking back in his hotel room flipping through numerous channels on his TV, all in a language he didn't understand. One thing he could work out, though, a lot of people liked a game where cumbersome mechanical robots attempted to knock each other over. He thought the robots were kinda cool, but figured that they were extremely expensive and you probably needed a Dad with a PHD in robotics to build one. As a kid he always liked building stuff  (model planes, Lego etc) and he thought that the idea of a computer game where you could actually build a robot and then let it fight it out with other robots would be kinda cool (and much cheaper than doing it for real).

… and how are fans receiving it?

Mike: “Players are enjoying the real challenge RoboForge offers them. Both in the actual design, construction and moves they need to give their bots. They love being able to build absolutely anything they like – no limits. Each bot is a reflection of its creator – kind of like a work of art – but significantly more dangerous. It seems that there are plenty of gamers out there that have been looking for a truly intellectual game for quite a while. They enjoy the online interaction with members of the RoboForge community through the Challenge Rooms, Tournaments and Forums.”

Q: The world of massively multiplayer online games has had a couple of setbacks with games that were in beta falling out of the genre. Do you see it as a sign that the genre is on a downturn, or that players expect more from an online game and are not realizing it? If the latter, what do you think you offer that is wanted?

Mike: “In itself, ‘massively multiplayer’ is not really a genre of game. The success or failure of these games really depends on them delivering the players a unique, quality experience. The MMORPGs that charge a monthly subscription fee, are essentially fighting for the same dollar, which makes the entry into this particular genre very expensive and difficult. Despite this, new games are making it to market, with many more following close behind. We are quite a different game in this sense, and we do not charge a monthly subscription, so our game is not really in the same space as these games. Our players spend a great deal of their time building their creations offline, only coming online to compete against others. We are providing our players a unique, satisfying experience from the designing, building, training and competing - which we believe is exactly what they want.

Q: What does RoboForge bring, on a whole, to the genre of online games that is exciting and new?

Mike: “We see RoboForge as a new genre. It is a very much constructive and thinking game with most of the gameplay being focused on the building and testing of the robot. Players will get huge satisfaction and a sense of ownership from creating, nurturing and training a champion contender. Because the robot is autonomous we can organise huge tournaments and run them overnight. If everyone had to be there to control their robots, it could take months for us to run a big tournament. Also, to play for money, everything has to be fair. Connection speeds greatly affect how a player performs in online games. The robots duke it out on our game servers, so it’s all fair and square. No matter where in the world a player is based, Internet ping rates will not influence fight results. RoboForge is massively multiplayer with players being able to compete against each other from all over the world, not to mention the fact that they can win some cash prizes in the tournaments.”

Q: What was the biggest challenge of bringing this game to life, and how is the game going to evolve to keep it fresh? How much does fan feedback play into what the developers are working on?

Mike: “Getting funding was a big challenge for us. Since we are a new development team it was very hard to convince people to invest in such new (and unchartered) gaming space. As with any game there were a whole heap of technical issues we had to overcome, but I won’t bore your readers with these. Given the Internet-based nature of RoboForge we needed to develop the game in a language that is at home on the net and has multi-platform support – Java was it. We chose Java as it provided the best integration of 2D and 3D (RoboForge needs an unusually high level of 2D GUI integration due to the construction nature of the game). Most people associate Java with small applets that run in browsers. Java is actually much more powerful than common perception. Large advancements in speed have been made in the last few years.

“The competitive nature of RoboForge itself will keep the game fresh, players competing against real people as opposed to a computer. Real world attractants such as fame and prize money will be added incentives also. We’ve got some things in the pipeline that will see many new design options available to players.

“We always listen to what the community is saying and if it is feasible to include that as part of the game’s development then we will aim to do that.”

Q: Can you give us a little of your background in the gaming world?

Mike: “We’ve told you that the RoboForge concept was born in Tokyo. It took a few years of contemplation (read: procrastination) for the idea to gel enough to tell someone else about it. In 1997, Darren spoke to two of his programming friends (Hugh and Young) about the idea and received an enthusiastic response from them. The idea for RoboForge and Liquid Edge Games now became a reality. They spent a year designing the game in their spare time. Once the design specification was sorted, they all chipped in some money to fund the development for a year from Darren's basement. The money was used to develop a working prototype of the game (crude but functional). The prototype was then used to successfully attract funding. Four more staff members were employed and development continued through 1999 and 2000 until our targeted launch in May 2001.

“Given the games’ industry doesn’t really exist here in New Zealand, we all had very little exposure to the industry prior to starting on RoboForge. Certainly we all had an IT background but predominantly in financial systems. What intrigues us most about the games’ industry would be the creativity of the business – we all love doing what we’re doing and if we can make it pay then all the better. Games we like to play – well between the team we can honestly say we play them all, time is always a problem for us. To name a few - Shogo, Ultima Online, Everquest, Half Life, Counterstrike, of late Black & White and Max Payne.

Q: Where do you think the gaming industry is headed?

Mike: “If only I knew. Certainly I’m not qualified to answer this, especially since we’ve taken our product to market (initially at least) outside the normal distribution channels and are selling direct from the net. However, my two cents worth is that in general the industry (and consumer market for games) will continue to grow. There will be consolidation amongst many publishers and developers as they struggle to maintain earnings and shareholder value – some recent poor earnings reports do not bode well for the industry. Are the soon to be commenced console wars going to be good for the industry? Time will tell I guess. I guess we’re a good test case as to whether or not distribution direct from the net is effective in penetrating the market. If so then I think this will open up some opportunities for new and unproven (like us) developers to get there game out there.”  

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