New game Hrocka Mag interview with dev..

thesoc

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http://www.hrockamag.com/

Interview with

Jason Cook lead programmer of the Scuba Monkey Tech upcoming game “Legends Hrocka Mag”

By: Schmaphics

Intro to Interview:

Hello everyone my name is Junel but I got by the name of Schmaphics, many may not know me but I have been playing Online games for about 4 years now. I have played games from Runescape to World Of Warcraft and anything in between. I have also had the privilege to beta and alpha test a couple of games, to be exact:



•    Dungeon Runners CB

•    2moons/dekaron CB

•    Granado espada CB

•    Carpe Diem CB

•    9 dragons (persistant worlds version) CB

•    9 dragons (acclaim version) CB

•    PlaneShift Crystal Blue internal testing

•    Soldier Front CB

•    Fury Alpha Alpha

•    Corum Online CB

•    Gunz Online CB IJJI version



I have seen good games, bad games, what the hell were the devs thinking when they made this? Games and games you don’t want to stop playing. Well recently I came across a game called “Legends of Hrocka Mag”, while reading a thread in the forums at

http://www.onrpg.com/boards.

I was baffled by what I saw, these guys were talking about 100,000 people on 1 server at a time. We are talking tremendous possibilities for lag, internet traffic etc. I was interested from the get go you can say. Well I went signed right up to the Alpha and was not disappointed with what I experienced at all. I saw great potential in this game and was lucky enough to catch Jason Cook in the game, while hard at work programming.



Interview

Got to talk to Jason Cook himself (virtually that is):

Started off by asking a very basic, question to get us going.



Schmaphics : This engine was made with what programming language, and what language was used for your servers as well?



Jason: C++ was used for the client since it is cross platform and will allow our code to be converted to the Mac and potentially game systems. Our servers are written in Java for platform independence and our currently running on Linux based servers.



Schmaphics: Sounds like you guys are planning on expanding this game even past windows os. Another question is will this game be coming out for MAC as well when the final version is released?





Jason: We definitely plan on a version for the Macintosh; unfortunately it will come out shortly after release for the PC. The three of us our spread pretty thin as it is. To debug another platform this early on would be detrimental.



Schmaphics:   Yea that sounds like a pain. How will this game end up? Will it be Free to play, Pay to play (monthly fees) or Buy to play like Guild Wars, Archlord etc?



Jason: Quarterly fees – we are still working on the price details. Per month the fee should be in the same ballpark as Runescape. You will be able to play until level 10 for free. I want to make sure everyone gets a chance to try our game before they commit to a fee. When you first start in our game, not much hates you (attacks you on sight) because we want to make sure you get comfortable with playing.



Schmaphics: Sounds good, and many players like myself love trying something out first. What key features or never before seen features, will you incorporate into the game? I love the idea of 100k players on 1 server at a time that is a tremendous amount for 1 typical server.



Here he explains 1 of the key features of the game which is the Faction points.



Jason: You will notice however that with each Orc that you kill, you lose faction with the Orcs. When the faction goes negitive, the Orcs will hate you. (of course with each Orc you kill, the townspeople love you more)



Schmaphics: That sounds like a great addition, will this also be true with quests?



Jason: We have an extra safety with hostiles. If they are below level 7 they will not attack you, even if hostile. Again, so you can get used to playing. We haven't put faction into quest, but that is on our high priority. The biggest key feature that our game will incorporate that has not been seen before is 100K players on 1 server. We have the foundation to accomplish that on version 2.0. However right now, we must make sure that our game can do what standard MMORPG’S can do, and dothat well.



Schmaphics: Yea that is true and well put. Many believe that going advance first is a good route, will its not and you are doing the right thing by focusing on the basics first. Creating a foundation for your more detailed and unique features



Jason: Right now our quest and plot are have quite a bit of depth and we have been told they are quite fun to do. Additionally, we will constantly be adding spells, more quests, and more abilities and skills to each class.



Schmaphics: Me and every other gamer out there know that frequent upates is like a gift from god. It keeps the game fun.



Jason: Exactly.



Schmaphics: Will there be a PVP, RVR(realm vs. realm) or any other Player vs. Player feature to the game?

Jason: We plan on PVP type features in the future, not in release 1.0. Also crafting will come after our first release. We want to make sure we have the time to do these things right, and I don't want to just throw them in so that we can be a "me too".



Jason: Dialup users: I wouldn't recommend it at the time being. We haven't optimized the amount of traffic sent to each client yet.



Schmaphics:   Another question is when do you expect the CLOSED BETA to be released? and do you have a estimated date for the final release?



Jason: As soon as possible! Once we get 1000-1200 users into Alpha and see our server is handling them without major issues, we will move to Beta. Final release will follow one month after Beta.



Jason: If you don't mind me asking, why do you like interviewing and being a tester?



Schmaphics: I like doing the interviewing to get some feedback directly from the developper, and you get better details then what they post on the site. And I like being a tester because I to want to pursue a career in video game development, and testing games before they are released gives me an opportunity to see what it takes to make a good game, and the development phases they require. Been testing games for a while now and I gotta say I prefer that then playing the games when the final versions are full out. Plus you can really see how the developpers think through interviews, and the kind of tasks they go through to developing a game.



Jason: For an MMO of this scale the amount of requirements is nuts



Schmaphics: I can already tell the work load is a big amount. From what you have told me and what i have seen in the BIO you have done a lot, your team as well.



Jason: Thanks and we have. I'm pretty fried - I've been programming since 8:30 this morning and its after 10 here now. It’s been good talking to you, I'm sure we will chat again.



Schmaphics:  Thanks for your time Jason and good luck with everything.



Final words

I encourage you all to test this game out, and see the dedication this team of 3 have given this game. Here is a registration link and a link to the biography of the Scuba Monkey Tech crew, and their history.



•    Alpha Registration link: https://www.scubamonkeysoftware.com:8443/customer/template.jsp?main=personalinfo.jsp

•    History link: http://www.hrockamag.com/scuba/template.jsp?main=bio.jsp



I hope you guys found all of this information helpful and I hope to see you all in game and in the forums.

-Fellow gamer and interviewer SCHMAPHICS.