This House of Commons Developer Chat was conducted on August 3, 2005

Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of Hero’s Journey! Please send your questions to [QT]Ishu or [QT]Looker - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on http://www.stratics.com shortly after the chat. We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.

simu-melissa - Hi. I'm Melissa Meyer. Producer of Hero's Journey. I'm really glad to be here.

SimuJhyrryl - Hello, I'm Mike Paddock, Lead Game Systems Designer. Hope we can answer some questions for you all. :)

simu-melissa - I'd like to point out some of our GameMasters have joined us tonight. THo they're silent. :)

Brekkee - *nienhuisr* Question: If we are interested in both the World Building GM and the Dev GM positions should we apply to both? Or can we just apply for the Dev GM position? Also how long untill we will start hearing things about new GMs being brought onboard?

simu-melissa - If you're interested and qualified for both positions, it wouldn't hurt to submit an application to both. Our hiring process is slightly different for GMs on each team, so you'll be increasing your chances. The teams really are fundamentally different in their focus. One has a strong technical bent, while the other is far more artistic. So it's not terribly common that you'll find people who straddle that fence. I'm not sure how long it will be until you start hearing about new hires ... but ... In the last three weeks we've braught in about a dozen new GMs. And I hope to bring in another 5-10 in the next couple of weeks. We're hiring very rapidly.

SimuJhyrryl - And don't think you have to be a trained programmer with degrees in computer science to be qualified for Dev. Any kind of scripting experience is a good education for what we do.

Brekkee - *Nekojin* Is there a feline race, and if so, how graphically emotive is it, in terms of ears and tail?

simu-melissa - Yes, there will be a feline race! The race is called the Suwari ... and they come in two varieties: feral, and a more domestic type. Our Art Director is very fond of cats, and has done a lot of work to bring a lot of motion and E-motion into the tails and ears. The suwari of Elanthia are of the small and agile variety ... they're quick on their toes. They would bring to mind a rogue far more than a muscular warrior. The Suwari as a race are currently in development, and they've been a real joy to work with. But because we're currently working on them, now is the best time to provide us with feedback on how you think they're going.

SimuJhyrryl - You can see one here: http://hj.okratas.com/modules.php?set_albumName=Heros-Journey-Screenshots&id=hj_22&op=modload&name=g allery&file=index&include=view_photo.php

Brekkee - *Nekojin* Will the experience system be similar to what we see in other MMORPG, or will it be something newer/different such as the system in Dragonrealms?

SimuJhyrryl - Experience in HJ is similar to other games, but is only one type of reward for doing things in the game. We'll also be introducing a new concept called Hero Points. Hero Points as a reward are much more interesting than experience, because you spend them to improve your abilities, or those of your items or pets.

Brekkee - *Azzkabar* What will the monthly fee be?

simu-melissa - You can expect the monthly fee to be on par with the current industry standard.

Brekkee - *Renian* Since HJ takes place in Elanthia's future, will we see metals and materials that were in other games such as Gemstone IV, which takes place earlier in Elanthia's history? (Ex. Imflass, Vultite, Razern...)

simu-melissa - While we like to reuse our world, it is meant more as an homage that a continueing story. We try not to be limited by the designs of our other games when we create a new one. For instance, you'll see some rather dramatic differences in races and in professions between GemStone and DragonRealms. The question is rather awkward to answer specifically, because metals are not as important in Hero's Journey as they are in GemStone IV. The mechanics for how items are handled and enhanced are radically different. It's very possible that the metals do exist in the world, but I wouldn't expect them to be a regular and important part of gameplay.

Brekkee - *Andragon* Will HJ be released in Europe and have you found a publisher yet?

simu-melissa - We are designing HJ for localization, and we plan to take it to Europe, but the details are yet to be seen. We are currently looking for a publisher.

Brekkee - *GSIII-Zee* As a former player of Gemstone 3, who loved the role that PvP played in the game. What kind of PvP will we see in HJ and will it allow open PvP (like Gemstone did) or will it be more of an 'agreed pvp' such as Guildwars.

simu-melissa - The free form, community-monitored PvP found in GemStone III would probably not work well in a mass market game. We recognize the fun, and the roleplaying opportunities that PvP can offer. On the other hand, there are a lot of community and balance issues that need to be considered if you wanna do it right. For the time being, we're not talking a whole lot about our PvP plans. It's something that many people care passionate about, so we wanna give it the care and consideration it deserves.

Brekkee - *Goretash* How do you plan on combating the usual pitfalls of MMORPGS: lack of long-term content, imbalances in PVP, wonky economies and exploiting?

simu-melissa - We'll start with the first. We will be launching Hero's Journey with 50 levels of content. But the launch is only the beginning, so-to-speak. Already we have a team of over 40 development GameMasters. That team will be growing to a size of over 100 GameMasters by the time we launch. It is unbelievable how much content that such an army of productive and passionate developers can deliver on a weekly basis. And better yet, if we feel we need to increase the rate of our development, we can choose to expand to an even larger team. We are not limited by the number of talented people who are willing to move to our development office. We can hire people from all over the world. And from their own homes they have access to all the training, tools and support they need to build an amazing game. But the best part is that all of these GMs are people who come right out of the community ... So they know what the community wants and needs. They will be there to make sure your experience is the best it can be. And they're eager to talk to you about it. Even now. ;) Aside from GameMasters, Hero's Journey has the capacity to dynamically update all content without the need for a patch. The only time a player will experience a patch is when we need to update the engine. Whcih will happen far far less than adding new content, or making changes to gameplay. Now, I'll hand you over to Mike for the other parts of the question.

SimuJhyrryl - Where to start with wonky economies? The issue is recognizing that we aren't handing out treasure as part of some closed economy that needs to balance itself against other economies, we're doing it to reward success. Balancing the economy is really about providing the players with fun ways of using their rewards. So there's no one thing we're doing to keep the economy from going wonky, it's lots of little things that are fun to do. That's not to say we aren't doing a lot of math to keep things sane, though. :) But I'm not going to go into that, it'd just be boring. Regarding exploitation, that's another thing I can't spend a lot of time going into. Talking about it means giving people who like to exploit, the information to do it better. But I will say that we're very conscious of exploitation. We've got years and years of experience at dealing with exploiters. And we're using that experience to help us build a better game.

Brekkee - *Makkah* Any time frame for screenshots of the Stonebourn and the Togs? Also, any sort of larger-scale PvP planned?

simu-melissa - There's no timeframe on screenshots for the stoneborn and togs ... though you'll begin to get some glimpses of the stoneborn archetype soon. As I mentioned in a previous question, we're not talking much about PvP yet.

Brekkee - *[I-C]Fatalist* Hello!! What has Hero's Journey got to offer in terms of endgame content, will it be a continual struggle for items or will the be a lot of diversity? and how will the game handle expansions or additions in future, many thanks!

simu-melissa - Sorry, was thinking about the question. Hero's Journey is taking a very different approach to items and inventory than you see in other MMOs. It is possible to look at a Hero's Weapon as a character in-and-of itself. You'll choose the weapon, be able to customize it's appearance, and you'll ahve the opportunity to advance that weapon. As you adventure you'll come across new customization and item abilities which can be applied to your weapon. And if you have a favorite ability on your weapon, you can choose to invest Hero Points in it and enhance that ability ... or purchase sub-abilities for it. Alternatively, some of those sub-abilities may only be unlocked through special quests.

SimuJhyrryl - I'll note that earlier Melissa mentioned that we're releasing as a 50-level game, which is true, but our design account for 100 levels. What isn't 100% decided yet though is how you'll access that. It may be through expansion, or it may just be released as the game goes along. Our toolset allows for either, really well. :)

simu-melissa - Or perhaps a mix of both.

SimuJhyrryl - Right. So you'll see GMs constantly producing new content for the game, without the need for an expansion.

simu-melissa - Back on items ... I think what I'm trying to express is that a Hero will have a lot of investment in his own weapon. It won't be uncommon for someone to buy a new weapon, or build a new weapon. But, this isn't the type of game where you're changing weapons every 2 days. Building a good weapon takes time and investment. But it's very rewarding ... and it truly becomes something that compliments the hero.

Brekkee - *[I-C]Fatalist* Hello, I think Hero's Journey is looking quite excellent thus far. The game offers a great deal of diversity to players, do you think that this could perhaps overwhelm some players, where other MMO's set out the path more clearly and allow you various ways to achieve your target, this could be perhaps a bit too fickle?

simu-melissa - We are of course, promoting our customization options very heavily. But we understand that not everyone is interested in spending 2 hours in the character manager. ;) There will be quick options for determining the appearance of your character. In terms of character abilities, we hope that we have paced the game appropriately ... So that the learning curve is very gentle. We're truly aiming for a game which is easy to play and enjoy, but takes a while to master.

Brekkee - *Aegeus* Is the HJ staff being paid as full-time professionals or is Simu going to rely on full-time players to be part-time coders? If both are being used, what percentage of the staff is being paid for full-time positions?

simu-melissa - We have two varieties of GameMasters: in-house employees and off-site contractors. Our in-house employees are, of course, full time. Our off-site contractors work part time. We compensate our contractors with a share of revenue from each product. So they are all professionals. The difference is that they work off-site and part-time.

Brekkee - That will wrap it up for tonight. I’d like to thank the developers for coming! The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly on http://www.stratics.com