GZ Interview: Executive Producer Matt Wilson opens the gates of Mythica for an inside look

Executive Producer Matt Wilson opens the
gates of Mythica for an inside look
By
Michael Lafferty

"This isn’t Highlander … when it comes to godhood, there
can be more than one."

The world of man has slipped through your fingers, leaving few
traces of that former life. There was a time when the lands knew your name, and
songs were sung to your glory. But now, you are a fallen hero, a memory … or
maybe not. As one road ends, another begins – though this time, it is a path
from the valley of legends to the halls of the immortals.

If you walk this path well, you will ascend into godhood.

When Mythica was shown at E3 in Los Angeles in May, the din
naturally associated with the event was increased by the sounds of jaws hitting
the floor. Stunning to look at, this massively multiplayer online role-playing
game from Microsoft Game Studios, is rich with game play and redefines how
fellowships will work together in this game genre.

Based on Norse mythology, the game places players in the role of
a fallen mortal hero who has been called to Valhalla. Odin has granted you
immortality and enlisted your aid to combat the Chaos that is spreading
throughout all the planes of existence. But there is also something more at
stake here – as you progress through the battles you will uncover forgotten
details about your past life.

Success in these wars means glory and godhood.

Stepping into this realm will indeed be a rich experience.

Players will be able to customize their characters for a unique
look, and as you move along, you will gain followers or worshipers. The game
features a hybrid of class- and skill-based systems. Players will choose a
Patron God, which in turn determines what skill trees are available and what
physical and mental attributes the avatar is blessed with. There are two types
of Patron Gods – the Aesir (physical) and Vanir (magic). There are eight general
classes and within each class family there are more specialized classes.

For example, Thor is an Aesir patron, and in particular, the
patron of berserkers. As berserkers progress in power and stature, they stop
wearing armor and begin sporting tattoos and symbols on their bodies. The class
is one of power and offensive battle skills.

Mythica is a deep, involving and amazing vehicle that is slated
for release in 2004, and could be one of the titles that not only resets the bar
graphically on the MMORPG genre, but redefines the rules of game play.

Matt Wilson, Mythica’s Executive Producer, took time to talk
with GameZone.com about this highly anticipated title.

Question:
This is a game that was absolutely stunning
graphically at E3. After picking my own jaw up off the floor, I began to wonder
‘how did they do that?’ So, how did you do that? What engine are you using? How
did you manage to render such incredible depth in terms of lighting and shading
and character animation into this game?

Matt: The Mythica Engine is all homegrown. Our Client
Team, led by Bruno Silva, built the graphics engine completely from scratch. Of
course, they first looked at what other games were doing, but decided the
available engines either didn’t meet Mythica’s needs, or were too intrinsically
tied to their particular games. It took the Client Team about three years to
develop the Mythica engine, and we’re all extremely proud of the results. After
all, it had quite a challenge to meet—generating entire planes of existence for
the very Immortals to travel!

In addition to the Mythica Engine itself, a number of other
technical efforts went into the game. Our character animation is handled by
another talented team, led by Robert Smiley, whose mission is quite simply to
create the most realistic, astonishing detail possible. One success came when we
pushed the boundaries of mocapped data as far as possible; although mocap has
traditionally animated the PCs and more humanoid characters, we’re taking it to
a much wider variety of creatures. So even the lowly Hulderfolke now have
emotes!

We also incorporated the Havok 2 Engine to animate character
"danglers" — the swinging or dangling parts of a character’s costume, such as
the Pyromancer’s skirts or Demonologist’s chains. Matt Lee heads that part of
the animation process (among many other things), which we feel goes a long way
toward bringing the characters more vividly to life. You’re an Immortal after
all — you’ve got to dress to impress!

Q: This may well be the game that redefines the concept of
fellowship roles in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG, or
MMP for short). Can you explain the rationale behind this format?

Matt: If you mean our focus on class-specific roles
within a fellowship, then yes, that is something in which we strongly
believe…and I’d be glad to go into the rationale.

In any MMP, we feel success must come (in large part, though not
exclusively) through promoting effective group play. In Mythica, we’re doing
this through a number of systems, including chat, guilds, and the specialized
classes.

In a structured class system, your character has a clear role to
fill in any given party. Of course, that role is entirely yours to choose, based
on how you prefer to play. We feel you should have a strong sense of your
character’s role and that your class is best at that role — to know that your
character has an effective and distinct way to contribute to a party. This is,
by the way, why we don’t support a jack-of-all-trades class. Not only do
jacks-of-all-trades encroach on everyone else’s role, but their own skills are
diluted across several different classes so that they play at relatively lower
levels of challenge than their peers.

Of course, if you’re going to implement a class-based system,
your game play must be tailored to support it. In Mythica’s Private Realms, for
example, you’ll find goals, challenges, and rewards for each of the various
classes, and the best success will be found by well-balanced parties working
together. In addition, different classes can add their magic energies together
to cast powerful, collective Ritual spells, far surpassing the power of any
individual character. Of course, solo players will still be able to explore,
adventure, and continue the path to godhood; but in order to really pursue the
"multiplayer" aspect of this MMP, we put considerable thought and attention into
systems that support balanced group play.

Q: How many character classes are there, and are there
different races?

Matt: There will be eight classes, and the nature of each
will be determined by its patron god. Choosing your class will be simple…first,
you’ll select either a Physical or Magical focus. Each of these primary foci
contains two general roles, representing the Order and Chaos disciplines. Each
role in turn contains two specific classes, for a total of eight classes
overall.

We’ve already introduced the Physical classes, from Order’s
Warrior and Berserker to Chaos’ Huntress and Trickster. In demos and interviews,
we’ve also mentioned the four Magical classes—the Druid, Stormwright, Pyromancer,
and Demonologist. In days ahead, we’ll be exploring these latter classes in much
greater detail.

The general focus of game play is your progression from Immortal
to God; this happens largely through your interaction with the mortal factions.
Help these factions, and you’ll gain worship, skills…and more and more of their
physical characteristics as well. So while your actual "race" doesn’t change,
you will develop the appearance of either your Human, Alfar (elves) or Dvergar
(dwarves) worshipers. The more you are worshipped by a faction, the closer your
appearance becomes to theirs.

Q: If this is a pursuit to godhood, and you have four
characters working together, will all advance together, or will some sacrifice
for others?

Matt: Part of the beauty of a polytheistic setting, such
as Norse mythology, means having plenty of gods. Every player character is on
the path to join them. The way isn’t easy, nor will everyone make it, but those
with enough courage and skill can all find their way to the top. This isn’t
Highlander … when it comes to godhood, there can be more than one.

Q: Is this game strictly player-versus-environment (PvE) or
are there player-versus-player (PvP) elements in it? Is there a crafting system
of any kind, or do characters merely level up combat skills?

Matt: There will be some PvP, but only in a limited
setting. When designing the game, we felt that we could really only implement
one combat style (PvE or PvP) in a truly complete and meaningful way. We went
with PvE. This echoes our goal of supporting cooperative group play, and of
achieving a sense of community and heroism against the evil creatures of the
world — especially the Fire Giants.

However, we also want to include some elements of PvP — not as a
primary system, but as an additional activity for players to experience. As you
may have seen in our FAQ, the use of limited PvP goes all the way back to our
source material, the Norse myths. After all, the immortal warriors brought to
Asgard battled each other every morning as practice for Ragnarok! In Mythica,
we’ll also have limited PvP battlefields for players to use.

Q: How is the chat system set up? Is this a game of
individuals banding together or will there actually be guilds or allegiances and
prolonged co-joined efforts? Will the game have live events? Will new content
stream in or will there be down times and patch days?

Matt: Our chat system is another aspect of the game which
was built from the ground up. Full details haven’t been released, but let’s
start now by saying the system will better organize chat into different channels
— friends, guild, and world channels, for example. As with the classes, chat
should help to promote a system of cooperative and rewarding group play. Guilds
will certainly be a big part of this as well, and you should even see instances
where multiple guilds work together to complete epic goals.

Other content will indeed include live events, although it’s too
premature to go into details or specifics at this point. However, we can say
that additional content is planned through both ongoing patches and expansion
packs.

Q: The game takes place in the era of ancient Norse
mythology. In terms of the existing world and its evolving nature, how much is
accurately representative of the mythology and how much is developer’s
imagination within the parameters of that mythos?

Matt: Mythica was never designed as a "Viking simulator",
or, for that matter, even as a "Norse mythology simulator." We did feel Norse
mythology made for an absolutely rich and compelling foundation, as have other
modern fantasy authors and designers — it’s the basis of everything from
Dungeons & Dragons to Lord of the Rings. At the same time, we didn’t want to
limit ourselves to just the "gospel" of the myths, so to speak. We wanted to use
them as an underlying influence — as a starting point to shape the myths in our
own creative direction.

The Mythica gameworld is definitely based on Norse mythology. It
encompasses the known gods, the creatures, and the planes of existence; those
familiar with this myths will definitely be familiar with the Mythica gameworld
as well. However, while the elements are all there, they’re presented in a way
which is unique to our game.

As an example, I’d point to our interpretation of the Fire
Giants. Or our version of Grendel — artist rk post used key phrases from the
original text to assemble a creature which has simply never been seen this way
before. Imagine a huge, lamprey-like mouth, arm crudely reattached, and
proboscis used to drink the blood of men. Creepy, and oh-so-cool.

Q: While classes such as archer have some wondrous gifts, the
true power in this game — based on E3 observations — seems to be magic. Is this
perception false or does the game lean heavily in that direction?

Matt: In Mythica, true power comes from your status as an
Immortal, much more so than your particular class or method of fighting. In
fact, this is the very theme we’re trying to present in every aspect of the
game. For one, combat is larger than life, frenetic and very, very destructive —
a fact which holds true across all the classes. In the E3 demo, you saw the
Pyromancer cast massive, fiery effects. But you also saw the Warrior grow to
giant size and pound out earthquakes with his hammer. Other powers may be more
subtle, but no less effective. Consider how the Huntress can cloak herself to
sneak into otherwise inaccessible areas, or how characters can possess and use
heavy siege weapons to destroy enemy fortifications.

Believe me, magic is there, and in frightfully powerful form.
Characters can work together to cast Ritual spells, able to wreck absolute
mayhem. But life as an Immortal involves all sorts of power…magic, physical, and
otherwise.

Q: This game sports a lot of new concepts to the world of
MMORPGs. Aside from the fellowship aspect, what other gameplay elements do you
think will have the biggest impact on players?

Matt: I’d have to go with our Private Realms. Mythica
creates private instances of adventuring spaces, unique to you and your party
alone. If you’re going to become a god, there should be some perks to the
position — with Private Realms, you’ll be able to experience the game in a way
that really does make you the hero of the story. There’s no waiting in line, no
griefers to deal with (even Thor wanted Loki off his back!), and no camping the
same spawn point as hundreds of other players.

The Private Realm technology not only allows us to isolate
individual parties, but also to provide each one with truly dynamic and
handcrafted content. In the Private Realms, we feature such elements as in-game
cinematics, destructible environments, multiple and complex goals — a whole host
of features which would be practically unfeasible in a traditional public space.

Q: Will this game have an open or closed beta and when might
that happen?

Matt: Both. We’ll start with a closed Beta, then slowly
open it to the public as we’re able. As far as timeframe goes, we’ll start the
process at the end of this year or early next year. We really can’t wait to
invite our players into the game, but we also must make sure it’s in a state
where their attention and feedback can be best appreciated. That’s in everyone’s
interest. And for those looking to participate in the Beta, we suggest taking an
active role in any of our fan sites—we do read the message boards there, and
participate in the threads as time permits.