Interviews:Society of Gamers E3 Interview
From Stargate Worlds Wiki (SGW)
On Friday, May 12th, the final day of E3 2006, I got the opportunity to sit down and chat with Chris Klug, Creative Director of Stargate Worlds.
To start things off I asked about instances. Chris explained that they would use instances only when they needed to control the flow of the game, with most zones being largely open. The missions themselves will be structured to mirror a TV episode, and will include segments of combat, exploration, research and scientific work.
The goal of the game is exploration, finding and unlocking alien technology or information to protect the earth, and fighting over resources. The native inhabitabts of a planet can be influenced by the players, and who they are aligned with will influence the way the game plays out. That means that the choices you make on any certain planet can have consequences; finally a game where players actually have an impact on the game world. Certain worlds will be designated as PvP zones, and certain parts of the universe will be PvE zones - a place to unite. All combat will be land-based with no space battles or individual space ships. There will be playable areas such as the decks on mother ships, but players cannot fly spaceships.
We then continued on to character types. I asked about traditional MMO archetypes: tank, dps machine, rogue, and so on. This is where the game will be quite different from standard MMOs. Because the weapons will be modern projectile or possibly laser weapons, the "normal" character choices won't fit in this world. There will be several "as yet to be decided upon" archetypes to choose from, with each race having an archetype (such as special forces, explorers, etc.) that is solo-friendly. The squad would be the optimal group. As for the playable races, that is still being decided, though Human and Jaffa are a given.
Progression will be level-based, not skill-based, with everyone being able to craft to some degree, though certain archetypes will be able to delve deeper into the tech tree than others. Loot drops will be equipment, new technology, and items that can "plug" into your weapon and/or uniform to make them more effective. At this time they are unsure about money and how it will fit into the game, but there will be requisition points throughout the game.
As for the storyline, Chris said that because they will be working closely with the TV series, the potential for story lines to flow from one media to the other is great. This could make for some interesting ideas or events as plots from the Tv show impact the game and vice versa. Way cool.
As the interview was winding down, I asked Chris if there was anything I didn't ask about that he would like to add. He stated that they really want to deliver an experience as much like the show as possible, with situational humor in game. As a comparison, he gave a scale of seriousness with EQ on one end, WoW in the middle and Stargate Worlds on the other end. And speaking of humor, I asked if they would be having any characters from the show in game. Chris said they are working on that and hope to get approval.
I would like to thank Chris Klug for this wonderful interview and Sara Baker for setting up the meeting. I can't wait for a look at Stargate Worlds. You can find out more information about the game at the official Stargate Worlds website.
