Though relatively undersung, Trion Worlds' Defiance is one of this year's most interesting - and risky - releases. Not content with merely being a massively multiplayer action title on console, it will coincide with a new Syfy TV series - events in the show will have an impact on the game's world, and vice versa. It's an unprecedented move. None of that would matter much if Defiance wasn't entertaining by itself, of course, and thankfully, what we've seen of it is quietly promising - frantic on-foot and vehicle combat married to a sizeable assortment of unlockable skills and gear options. OXM spoke to Nathan Richardson, vice-president of development and executive producer, for more.
Do you see Bungie's Destiny project as a threat or a sign of a trend towards SF MMOs?
I don't think it's a threat at all, I think it'll broaden the audience and introduce people to massive collaborative experiences as well as make online gaming more approachable. It's at the point where "MMO" is very much associated - and even stigmatised - with a certain men-in-tights deep-and-wide subscription type of game.
There is a place for massive online experience which doesn't have that learning cliff and is more a transmedia experience. I believe both Destiny and Defiance will be examples of where we're trying that out, breaking new ground and there is more than enough room for us, and others.
Is the word MMO something of an albatross for console development?
There is no denying that doing MMOs on consoles is difficult. When they were envisioned, the massive online model with aggressive evolution of the game and dynamic universes wasn't part of their core purpose. This has discouraged a lot of developers, going the paths of less resistance and sticking to other platforms.
That being said, what's commonly associated with the word "MMO" has a lot of connotations on consoles and even the most known games of the genre are experiences which would be a really poor experience on consoles. So yes but I think everyone is also just waiting for the answer to the question, "what is a massive online game on console?"
What's your current thinking on cross-platform play?
There is great opportunity in cross-platform play, as in some cases, more people in the same universe increases the value of the universe to a player. It's Metcalfe's law essentially, the same that applies to the fundamentals of the internet.
There is also the notion that cross-platform play has to be the same experience. This isn't true. You can have different platforms, which are entirely different gameplay experiences but are still all contributing and participating in the same world. It doesn't have to be a direct "port". And that doesn't even cover transmedia, such as a TV show and game created from the bottom up to be intertwined.
So yes, ample opportunities, as long as people stop thinking that the same world on two different devices doesn't have to be identical - just interlinked.
Is the end of the console lifecycle really the best time to launch an MMO?
There are certain benefits from being later in a console lifecycle than in the beginning. The platform and infrastructure is more mature, there are more consoles connected and there is more freedom to try new things. It's also that at the end of one, it's the start of the next and you can try to influence what the next generation will take look at as part of their value proposition. If massive online games are compelling on the current generation, perhaps it gets a bigger role in the next generation. One can always hope.
How did you get around Microsoft's aversion to regular patching?
I think it was less aversion and more a platform that was designed for specific purposes, of which, the business models and velocity of evolution in massive online games didn't fit so well. It does what it was designed for well but for us, it was a challenge to make it all fit. We found a way which we believe works for all parties.
Will there be an in-game shop?
Yes, one of the things was that we didn't want to have subscriptions while still constantly evolve the game with a full 150 person development team. That's a challenge if you don't have a continuous revenue stream so both expansions to the game and an in-game shop are there to be able to fully materialize that long-term online model.
PvP consists of deathmatch and team deathmatch. Are these separated from the main game? Do players take their existing loadout into these or do they have standardised classes?
In Defiance, these are all part of the same world and you take your loadouts seamlessly between all the game modes. What you achieve through a mission or a deathmatch with other players stays with you. We wanted all the activity to complement each other, not compete.
Are there other PvP or arena modes?
The different game modes are part of your path as a player, the types and number of players in them constantly grow and you can also seamlessly enter many of the game modes, straight out of being on a mission and enter into a 16 vs 16 player vehicle team deathmatch map, back to the mission, go on a 4-player co-op mission, then your group encounters a massive 70 person arkfall in the open world against huge bosses, after which you enter the mercenary shadow war where you have a 100 players against each other over multiple capture points. We wanted it to be one large contiguous experience instead of waiting around in different lobbies.
How large is the playable area of the game?
It's about the size of the greater San Francisco area.
Are vehicles available throughout that area?
Vehicles are available everywhere, you always have one close by. It's a big part of how you fast travel. We have different types of vehicles, some are only available in certain game modes but in general, they play a big part in many aspects of the game.
The game sounds like a multiplayer version of Rage and/or Borderlands. Is that a fair comparison?
We certainly have elements in common, especially the open world, the character progression and such. But what makes Defiance totally unique is the fact that we are entirely a server-based, connected, online game. We provide a huge seamless world and game experience for you and your friends where you can meet new people from all over the world and form lasting bonds. This world doesn't go away when you are not online, it is constantly evolving and changing over time and to tie in with the TV show which is something that hasn't been done on this scale before.
It's not just that seamless path through the game and it's modes and the massive scale enabling us to create large 100 person game modes, its every time you play Defiance, it will be different, because the online community is really what forms the backbone of the experience.
How do Microsoft's TV plans affect Defiance? Will Defiance appear on Xbox TV?
TV show rights are very complicated beasts and they are very territory specific so [Microsoft's TV plans] aren't affecting the show or the game.
Will Defiance support Smartglass apps?
No, we aren't supporting it directly at launch.
What's been your favourite moment in closed testing and why?
Seeing the large game modes really materialize, where you have huge groups going against the massive bosses and the teams competing overland for the capture points. It just changes everything when you take the open world and mission experience and then, you scale it all up.
The people around you are a positive addition to your gameplay experience as they aren't just in your way, they are there as team-mates or competitors, then you can move out of that with friends and go into a co-op instance. Just seeing that all click was awesome.
Why wouldn't a game like this have worked before?
This is a relationship, it takes two that want to make it all work. What happened was is that Syfy really wanted to make a transmedia experience and sought out a partner. Not to just license something, but a partner that would create this with them from the ground up. Following that, it's the maturity of consoles and the online industry which really brings the massive scale to the gameplay experience.
It's in a relationship like this where you have the show and the game materialize and really complement each other. That's the key, you don't have to play the game to watch the show - or watch the show to play the game. They stand on their own but together they are an additive experience and that's also seen in the design of the game, we strive to have the game modes complementary, not competitive.
Source: OXM
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Do you see Bungie's Destiny project as a threat or a sign of a trend towards SF MMOs?
I don't think it's a threat at all, I think it'll broaden the audience and introduce people to massive collaborative experiences as well as make online gaming more approachable. It's at the point where "MMO" is very much associated - and even stigmatised - with a certain men-in-tights deep-and-wide subscription type of game.
There is a place for massive online experience which doesn't have that learning cliff and is more a transmedia experience. I believe both Destiny and Defiance will be examples of where we're trying that out, breaking new ground and there is more than enough room for us, and others.
Is the word MMO something of an albatross for console development?
There is no denying that doing MMOs on consoles is difficult. When they were envisioned, the massive online model with aggressive evolution of the game and dynamic universes wasn't part of their core purpose. This has discouraged a lot of developers, going the paths of less resistance and sticking to other platforms.
That being said, what's commonly associated with the word "MMO" has a lot of connotations on consoles and even the most known games of the genre are experiences which would be a really poor experience on consoles. So yes but I think everyone is also just waiting for the answer to the question, "what is a massive online game on console?"
What's your current thinking on cross-platform play?
There is great opportunity in cross-platform play, as in some cases, more people in the same universe increases the value of the universe to a player. It's Metcalfe's law essentially, the same that applies to the fundamentals of the internet.
There is also the notion that cross-platform play has to be the same experience. This isn't true. You can have different platforms, which are entirely different gameplay experiences but are still all contributing and participating in the same world. It doesn't have to be a direct "port". And that doesn't even cover transmedia, such as a TV show and game created from the bottom up to be intertwined.
So yes, ample opportunities, as long as people stop thinking that the same world on two different devices doesn't have to be identical - just interlinked.
Is the end of the console lifecycle really the best time to launch an MMO?
There are certain benefits from being later in a console lifecycle than in the beginning. The platform and infrastructure is more mature, there are more consoles connected and there is more freedom to try new things. It's also that at the end of one, it's the start of the next and you can try to influence what the next generation will take look at as part of their value proposition. If massive online games are compelling on the current generation, perhaps it gets a bigger role in the next generation. One can always hope.
How did you get around Microsoft's aversion to regular patching?
I think it was less aversion and more a platform that was designed for specific purposes, of which, the business models and velocity of evolution in massive online games didn't fit so well. It does what it was designed for well but for us, it was a challenge to make it all fit. We found a way which we believe works for all parties.
Will there be an in-game shop?
Yes, one of the things was that we didn't want to have subscriptions while still constantly evolve the game with a full 150 person development team. That's a challenge if you don't have a continuous revenue stream so both expansions to the game and an in-game shop are there to be able to fully materialize that long-term online model.
PvP consists of deathmatch and team deathmatch. Are these separated from the main game? Do players take their existing loadout into these or do they have standardised classes?
In Defiance, these are all part of the same world and you take your loadouts seamlessly between all the game modes. What you achieve through a mission or a deathmatch with other players stays with you. We wanted all the activity to complement each other, not compete.
Are there other PvP or arena modes?
The different game modes are part of your path as a player, the types and number of players in them constantly grow and you can also seamlessly enter many of the game modes, straight out of being on a mission and enter into a 16 vs 16 player vehicle team deathmatch map, back to the mission, go on a 4-player co-op mission, then your group encounters a massive 70 person arkfall in the open world against huge bosses, after which you enter the mercenary shadow war where you have a 100 players against each other over multiple capture points. We wanted it to be one large contiguous experience instead of waiting around in different lobbies.
How large is the playable area of the game?
It's about the size of the greater San Francisco area.
Are vehicles available throughout that area?
Vehicles are available everywhere, you always have one close by. It's a big part of how you fast travel. We have different types of vehicles, some are only available in certain game modes but in general, they play a big part in many aspects of the game.
The game sounds like a multiplayer version of Rage and/or Borderlands. Is that a fair comparison?
We certainly have elements in common, especially the open world, the character progression and such. But what makes Defiance totally unique is the fact that we are entirely a server-based, connected, online game. We provide a huge seamless world and game experience for you and your friends where you can meet new people from all over the world and form lasting bonds. This world doesn't go away when you are not online, it is constantly evolving and changing over time and to tie in with the TV show which is something that hasn't been done on this scale before.
It's not just that seamless path through the game and it's modes and the massive scale enabling us to create large 100 person game modes, its every time you play Defiance, it will be different, because the online community is really what forms the backbone of the experience.
How do Microsoft's TV plans affect Defiance? Will Defiance appear on Xbox TV?
TV show rights are very complicated beasts and they are very territory specific so [Microsoft's TV plans] aren't affecting the show or the game.
Will Defiance support Smartglass apps?
No, we aren't supporting it directly at launch.
What's been your favourite moment in closed testing and why?
Seeing the large game modes really materialize, where you have huge groups going against the massive bosses and the teams competing overland for the capture points. It just changes everything when you take the open world and mission experience and then, you scale it all up.
The people around you are a positive addition to your gameplay experience as they aren't just in your way, they are there as team-mates or competitors, then you can move out of that with friends and go into a co-op instance. Just seeing that all click was awesome.
Why wouldn't a game like this have worked before?
This is a relationship, it takes two that want to make it all work. What happened was is that Syfy really wanted to make a transmedia experience and sought out a partner. Not to just license something, but a partner that would create this with them from the ground up. Following that, it's the maturity of consoles and the online industry which really brings the massive scale to the gameplay experience.
It's in a relationship like this where you have the show and the game materialize and really complement each other. That's the key, you don't have to play the game to watch the show - or watch the show to play the game. They stand on their own but together they are an additive experience and that's also seen in the design of the game, we strive to have the game modes complementary, not competitive.
Source: OXM
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Thanks to: Rheena.com