The Chronicles of Spellborn - Its Past,
Present, and Future An Interview with Marco Van Haren
Jerome "DeadAvatar" Bohaychuk,
a staff writer here at Stratics, recently had the
opportunity to inquire with Marco Van Haren, Marketing
and PR Manager for Chronicles of Spellborn, about the
past, present, and future of Spellborn. Many of these
questions involve not only the typical "dying to
know" bits and pieces of any new MMO, but also about
how TCoS came about and what the team of developers think
of and dream about as they go about creating this
enticing new game.
Stratics:
What lead to the lore and development of "The
Chronicles of Spellborn (TCoS)"? Whose dream was it?
How did the design for the post-apocalyptic world? Who
created and designed it? Where did the idea for the
artwork and music come from? What separates you from the
other MMOs that are coming out: Conan, Vanguard,
Warhammer for example? How long has the game been in
development?
Marco:
The whole idea for The Chronicles of Spellborn is based
on the fact that we weren't happy with the current MMO
landscape. Especially since the release of World of
Warcraft, many new and upcoming MMOs try to copy the
success of WoW. We have seen few tries at an original
approach. The good thing with World of Warcraft is that
it brought the MMO genre to a much larger audience. With
Spellborn we want to create a game that offers a unique
approach on MMO gameplay and the tried and tested Elf and
Orc fantasy setting. Another trend that we aren't all too
fond of is the move towards 'realistic' graphics. We
think that things don't have to look realistic in order
to look real. We wanted to create a world that is both
fresh and immersive and that requires good art direction
instead of all the latest graphic card features. Being a
European company, we opted for the European cartoon style
blended with Jesper Kyd's unique take on fantasy music.
Gameplay-wise we wanted to step away from many MMO conventions
that were created to extend the playtime, but most of the time
feel more like a chore then a game. Combat in most MMOs boils
down to hotkey bashing and hoping that your armor set is better
then your opponent's. This is all very restricted and with
Spellborn we want give freedom back to the players. Players can
wear whatever armor they think looks best. We separated the
statistic layer from items by allowing players to imbue their
items with statistic enhancing sigils. Players first select the
armor they like, and then they add statistic enhancing gems. Also
in combat we wanted players to have more freedom. We integrated
FPS style targeting that will have players target their hits and
dodge incoming attacks.
Stratics:
The lore only has two races: Daevi and humans? Why did
you design with only two races and not more? Who are the
Daevi? Who are the humans? Are they enemies? If so, what
made them enemies? Does this lead to lore for PvP?
Marco:
The lore of Spellborn mentions many different races.
During the reign of the Eight Demons, each of the Demons
created it's own servitor race. There are the Vhuul, the
Howlers, the Urvhail and many others. Most of these races
have survived the fall of the Empire of the Eight Demons.
The role the Humans play within the lore needs to be
discovered by the players themselves. The Daevi, part
human, part demon, at one point defected the Eight Demons
and formed a rebellion with the Humans. Now the two races
coexist together forming the Enclave of the Five
Sacrifices. Both races are seen as equal and fight
together for survival in a destroyed world. The PvP
aspect is explained by the five High Houses that govern
the Enclave. Each High House has a unique view on how the
Enclave should thrive and these views tend to be
discussed with more then just words when the stakes are
high.
Stratics:
Getting back to music for a second, you recently
partnered with "Within Temptation". The video
was awesome. How did this joint venture come about? Will
there more with other bands? Is the in-game music as rich
and varied as the video?
Marco: The
partnering with Within Temptation seamed only natural; the band
and the development team are both situated in The Hague in the
Netherlands and with us being big fans of their music and them
being game addicts, we had to do something cool. We created three
songs together, of which two are featured on their latest album
'The Heart of Everything'. While their music will not be featured
in the game, the original soundtrack created by Jesper Kyd is a
unique take on what we think fantasy music can be and do.
Stratics:
You describe the game as post-apocalyptic fantasy? Most
of the screenshots and movies I've seen are characters
with swords, shields, and magic - typical fantasy
characters. Besides the lore, what makes this a
post-apocalyptic setting? Is this the end of the world as
they knew it?
Marco:
What is now known as the Ancestral world was once known
as the Empire of the Eight Demons. For reasons unknown to
the player, this world has been completely destroyed in a
magical war. What is left, are hollow pieces of this
world floating in the magical residue of this war.
Players will find themselves within these hollow rocks,
called Shards. What happened that lead to the explosion
of the world is something that the players will need to
discover. By experiencing the many quests and by going
back in time to replay certain events during the reign of
the Eight Demons, players can discover what has happened.
This knowledge can be used to solve the many riddles that
will ultimately unlock new content.
Stratics: How
big is the world? Are there multiple continents and how
do you travel there? Are mounts necessary to travel
across the continent or are there teleporters? Is the
world seamless or is it built around zones? Are there
private virtual worlds (instances)?
Marco:
At release the world of Spellborn will consist of 4
Shards. Each Shard can be seen as a continent with
different zones and dungeons. One of the design goals is
to keep travel times short. Players can enter each Shard
at different locations, so when they arrive they can
select a destination close to their goal. Besides the 4
Shards there will be many other locations to visit. The
Deadspell Storm is filled with remnants of the Ancestral
world that can be visited and players can even go back in
time and visit certain locations and events in the
Ancestral world. Of course we are looking into ways that
will keep travel times manageable when we add even more
content in the future. Scholars have already found clues
that hint at ancient travel portals.
Stratics: The mini and
shard maps use a modified fog of world mapping system.
You start out without only a small part of the map
showing and more is shown as you explore. How detailed is
the map? What does the map show? Are items of interest
removed from the map as you move out of an area or are
they persistent?
Marco:
Each zone is divided in a certain amount of smaller
areas. Once such an area is discovered, the fog of war
for this area is removed. Locations of importance are all
visible on the map and are further detailed when the
players moves the mouse pointer over these locations.
Players can open any map at any moment once they have
visited this map. If they leave a certain map, all map
information will be stored.
Stratics: The boat
travel system you've created is an attractive twist. Can
you describe the system? Working on the boat is an exciting
twist. How long would boat travel in this way take? Are you
performing boat duties? Will you be fighting mobs during the
voyage? Since you can also travel by boat cabin, is travel
weighted in favor of one mode of travel over the other? Can
players own boats?
Marco: At
release players can travel between the different Shards using
Shardships. Shardships can be booked by either renting an
expensive cabin or by a much cheaper spot on the deck. Booking a
cabin will result in an instant travel, booking a spot on the
deck will result in an actual voyage through the Deadspell Storm.
During this voyage, which can last up to 15 minutes, players can
be attacked by the many dangers that populate the Deadspell
Storm. In the future we might expand on this feature by adding
guild owned Shardships and flying mounts.
Stratics: The skill
advancement system is skill-based. That implies that there aren't
any classes; that everyone can use every skill. Are there any
restrictions regarding what skill a character can train and use?
Can you describe how this system implemented?
Marco: While we
do use a skill based advancement system, that doesn't necessarily
mean that certain skills can't be archetype or class restricted.
At release Spellborn will feature over 200 unique skills. Some
skills like 'hack' and 'slash' can be used by all classes, other
skills can only be used by, for instance, the Warrior archetype,
and each class has a small unique set of skills that make each
class truly unique in combat. The strength of these class
specific skills lies in the fact that they are connected to the
body slots that are different for each class. Body slots are
class specific 'items' that can be manipulated with class
specific skills in combat. The Trickster, for instance, has a
large arsenal of all kinds of different bombs that can be used as
body slots. Selecting different body slots in combat will impact
the execution of the Tricksters class specific skills. A 'throw
bomb' skill will be different depending on what bomb is selected.
Stratics:
Rewarding game play with character statues is an
intriguing system. How does one get a statue? How long
does it stay in world? Where are they placed? Are there
any in-game benefits of having a statue erected in your
honor?
Marco:
Most statues are placed on Quarterstone's Ring of
Legends. This ring is a broad street that goes all the
way around the Arena. This is one of the social hubs of
the game where players also find the instanced Guildhall.
Most statues are connected to the Arena ranking system.
Top players are rewarded with a statue, and of course
these statues can be temporary. Certain PvE
accomplishments in the game will also be rewarded with a
statue. The first player to kill a certain boss might be
rewarded with a persistent statue. At release these
statues will have no statistical benefits, but this is
definitely something that we might look into in the
future.
Stratics: The
Personel Experience System (PeP) is designed to eliminate
frustrating death penalties. Can you describe the PeP
system? How does it eliminate death penalties?
Marco:
Dying in an MMO is already penalty enough. Instead of
penalizing players even further we turned it around and
we reward players for staying alive. Most experience
gained from combat doesn't go to the normal experience
bar, but to the PeP bar. There are five levels of PeP,
each offering increasing bonuses to the player's
statistics. Typical bonuses include higher movement speed
and increased damage. When a player dies, the PeP level
is reset to zero and the player loses all bonuses.
Stratics:
You've licensed the Unreal graphics engine. Which engine
version are you using? Why did you choose to license that
engine over others that are out there? Why are you using
a third-party engine instead of creating your own? How
much of the development system is licensed and how much
is developed in-house?
Marco:
Creating your own graphic engine is an enormous
undertaking that isn't really worth the effort if there
are existing engines available that can get the job done
as well. We are using the Unreal Engine 2.5. When we sat
down with Epic to discuss options we looked into what
engine would work best with the style and the goals that
we wanted to achieve. While we could have used the Unreal
Engine 3.0, it didn't offer any advantages for us. Over
the last years we have made some heavy modifications to
the engine to add graphical effects and to upgrade the
existing ones. Besides the Unreal Engine all other
systems have been created in-house.
Stratics: How
large is your development team? Does you development team
consist of mostly coders or content writers? How many
hours a day go into making Chronicles of Spellborn?
Marco:
The development team is about 50 peeps strong. It is
roughly divided in three equal groups; Coders, Game
designers and artists. Since making a game is far more a
way of life then a regular job, most team members work
around 12 hours a day and they love every minute of it.
Stratics: TCOS is
scheduled for one more closed, and open beta, and second quarter
2007 release. After release, how will your resources be split
amongst live, maintenance, and development teams? What plans do
you have for the future of the game - live content, in-game
events, expansion, etc?
Marco: A few
members of the team are already working on the post release
content. Because the story has always been an important part of
the game, we are working on themed patches that will expand the
many storylines and locations from the original game. As part of
the post release content you can expect to see new Ancestral
quests, new dungeons and new Shards.
Stratics:
In closing can you tell us why you love TCOS? What three
features do you love the most?
Marco:
What we love most about the Spellborn project is that we
get the chance to create our vision of what a fantasy MMO
can be. The setting, the graphic style and the gameplay
are all created with a desire to present something new.
With the Open Beta starting in the near future, we hope
to welcome you all into our world and share the many
adventures that lie hidden.
Marco van Haren
Marketing and PR Manager for Spellborn
Stratics: I'd
like to thank you for this interview.
