Hero's Journey Staff Introductions

HJ-Royce

Hello everyone!

The home office has decided to let loose the manacles attached to the GM's and staff so that you can meet some of the people that are making HJ great.

Did I say great? I meant to say AMAZING!

Please feel free to ask them questions about being a GM or the life of a GM. Most of them don't bite. (Keyword "Most").

Don't forget, if what you read interests you, feel free to apply to be one of us at...

http://www.play.net/hj/info/gamemaster/

We are always looking for exceptional people that want to maim... I mean, make our world even better for people to enjoy for years to come.

makkah

Uh oh.  We're in trouble now...

HJ-Cirakin

Hey there gamers.

I'm GM Cirakin and I've been working for Simutronics for almost two years. I've been playing their games off and on for nearly 10 years now.

I'm very excited to bring you the most intriguing, engaging, and dynamic MMORPG to date.

I'm working on NPC interactions, Shops, and Areas at the moment.

Thanks for having me.

Cirakin

HJ-Altiron

Greetings!

Not only has the staff at Simutronics given permission for the GMs to post here, but they have encouraged us to do so. Please tell us what you would like to know about both Hero's Journey as well as what you want to hear about the GMs who work there too.

I am GM Altiron. I work with the Development team on Hero's Journey. We use the incredible tools created by the onsite staff to create the in game systems used by the World, Quest, and Customer service teams. Oh, and lest I forget, many of the systems are for player use. Or for use on player characters.

HJ-NITID

Hi Folks,

I'm GM Nitid. I've been working as a GameMaster for Simutronics for over three years now, first in GemStone, and then in Hero's Journey.

I've worked as a development GameMaster throughout my tenure, which basically means I program things. Right now I'm working on Customer Service support tools and systems.

I'm truly excited about the type of flexibility that Simutronics has allowed us GameMasters in Hero's Journey. And I hope you'll all have a chance to experience the results of that flexibility!

HJ-Airien

Hi everyone!

I will take a moment to say that I have been very proud, honored, and extremely happy to be part of the team that is creating this world of Hero's Journey.

Amazing is the result of the hard work we are all putting into this game it make it fun, exciting, and a rich world full of mystery and adventure for everyone.  This world is unlike any you have experienced to date. The reason behind this is the detail that each of of us put into creating the area's towns and levels.

You have heard the "army of GM's" comment I'm sure, but you cannot imagine what this will mean as the end result. For example when we go into an area to create this, the talents of the Artists, Developers experiences, Builders, all go into the making of the design.  We dont just go in and toss up a terrain and slap trees and rivers, we go in, and place each piece, one by one to create our initial vision of how this particular area will be.  This is an effort of many talented individuals to create a very rewarding and fun game to play. I simply cannot put this into words.

Being a GM is an extremely rewarding experience.  It is truly amazing to see the results of hard work come to life in such a great way! I cannot get enough of this

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I cannot wait to see you all.

 

HJ-Saaren

Who, wha?

Someone said amazin, I figure they musta been talkin about how awesome we World Building GameMasters are makin the world of Heroes Journey! Theres nuthin like lookin down into a pond to not only see your crystal clear reflection, but also them trees above ya wavin ever so gently in the breeze. Course them trees are pretty but not nearly as pretty as me!

Whats neat about our world is ye dinna have ta sit around waitin and waitin fer change to happen to the world or to yer adventures, we're there, we're in the background and we can affect maim...er....change to the world seamlessly, like any good aventure should be able to do.

Well, what did ya expect? If ye know Simutronics, then ye already know that in all the worlds of massively online fantasy gaming yer not gonna find better games than Simutronics has been doin for years and years - and until now, all without the benefit of these new fangled moving pictures.

Anyway, I got no time fer this, we've got a world ta run oer here! Feel free to ask me any questions, if ye feel so compelled, ifn yer lucky ye'll catch me on a good moment....;)

HJ-Saaren
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://play.net/hj/

HJ-Xadrian

Greetings!

I'll thought I oughta chime in here. I'm one of those super-secret ninja-coder GMs working on the nuts and bolts of Hero's Journey. It's been fun being a part of HJ and seeing new and *interesting* things every day. I try to work on a lot of integral systems, some of which are behind the scenes and some that you'll use everyday in the course of playing the game, whether you know it or not.

I have a long background in programming, starting with an Atari 800 and a BASIC cartridge when I was a wee 7 years old. I have been programming for a small company for the better part of a decade, and recently decided college was probably a Good Thing(tm), so I'm currently studying operating systems design and interactive graphics programming.

Since I have my nose buried in code all day, I am constantly surprised (or even shocked) at the level of quality and artistry the world builders put out. When I need a break, sometimes I just hop over to see what they're working on, and it's always amazing. Moreso to someone like me who can *almost* draw a stick-figure.

Anyway, that's probably more than enough about me. Nice to meet everyone!

HJ-Axiom

HJ-Axiom Checking in,

I have been an avid gamer since 1977, RPGA GM from 1979-1988... Worked at TSR helping with Polyhedron a few years... Uh lets see what else ;P
HJ Quest building is where I be, dedicated to giving players interesting places to see, interesting things to do and seeing if we can put some cracks in the walls of the 'typical' MMoRPG.

THanks for taking time to read this. Glad to see you here!

thebiv

Thank you all for taking time to get to know the message boards here. I would however like to note that every minute you spend here, is one less minute you spend getting the game ready for release.... so BACK TO WORK!

But seriously I have never even heard of a staff who is half as dedicated to ensuring the fans get a great game, as you guys are. So welcome and thankyou very much.

Frozz

Thanks for all of the hard work, folks! I eagerly await the finished product.

Frozz

HJ-Razu

I introduced myself in the other thread, but I will do it again here.

I am GM Razu, Feral Suwari.  I work alongside GM Xadrian on the coding side using the HeroScript programming language.  At the moment, my main project is working on the ever important game news system which allows us as GMs to keep you the customer apprised of game updates/bug fixes/upcoming events.  All my other projects are internal to HJ.

HJ-Vandique

 

Hi HJ-Vandique here,

    Hi all you gamers. How much fun is it to play where you work all day? Well let me tell you it’s a blast and then some! I have a degree in Ummmm, Video Game Design. So thought I'd put it to good use and, Yes Virginia there is a Santa Clause! And you all will get to meet them here, they are called Hero’s Journey staff. Seriously the folks at Simu are great to work with, and this game is going to knock the others out of the park.

    Did I mention I love working here? I'm on the Quest Team and they are a fantastic bunch to work with. HJ is the most beautiful MMORPH I’ve seen, of course I’m not partial at all. Hehehe I have to say I can’t wait for the fans to get the chance to play this exquisite game, because words just can’t say it all. Oh and any questions, I'd be more than happy to help answer or at least find someone who can.

HJ-Vandique  

Andragon

Hi everyone

Good to see you all! So...since you are all here...a very important question to u.........When will we see the first trailer?

Keep on the great work...hope to see you all in beta (oh the evil word )!

HJ-Airien

---

Originally posted by Andragon

Hi everyone
Good to see you all! So...since you are all here...a very important question to u.........When will we see the first trailer?
Keep on the great work...hope to see you all in beta (oh the evil word )!

---

The answer, is that it is already here! at the upper left hand corner www.play.net/hj

Andragon

I know I know...I was talking about a real trailer I like the small movies on the HJ website but what I ment is a high res trailer with 1+ min play time well, maybe Ill have to wait till E3 in may

HJ-Stencil

Hi Peeps!

 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

GM-Stencil here just saying hi 2 U.  I am one of the newer GMs to the HJ staff, and have the great privilege to work some amazing people like GM-Xadrian and GM-Airien.  I have a degree in CS (and an honorary degree from CGNU in cheesing people off).  The small part of the master tapestry that I work on is Game Development/coding things to work or work-not.  I myself love games they are a place where imagination and creativity abound.  I have been playing MMORPGs since 1993.  I constantly play games so as to not reinvent the wheel.  I take note on what works, what doesn’t, and try to keep from doing what doesn’t work .

 

I can’t say enough nice things about the Dev tools that Simutronics has hooked us up with!  I am constantly blown away with the excellence, quality, and SPEED at which GMs can create new content.  I can’t give you exact speeds I am sure, but I can say that the content most likely will come out so fast you couldn’t possible explore it all before the next content patch comes out.

 

Also talk to these GMs they may not be able to answer your questions like you want them 2, but they are listening and taking notes.  We are not just PR or support GMs we are getting our hands dirty making the game.  Most the GMs are hard-core gamers at heart using their imagination, creativity, long time game experience, and your thoughts to bring the world of Elanthia alive for you to experience through Hero’s Journey game.

 

On a closing note if you think you have what we are missing in our gifted staff come apply.  We still have some needs that you might be able to fill.  Maybe you can’t program… so apply as a designer or world builder.  Maybe you can’t draw, but you can write novels.  I for one can’t draw freehand worth a spit, I am also partially color blind, but using the Hero’s Blade tool set I can make some mean areas.  So come on by and let your imagination shine.

 

 http://www.play.net/hj/info/apply/home.asp

 

I also recommend this site if you don’t know about it already

 

http://www.kmtdesigns.com/hjfaq/

HJ-Xannox

Greetings all,

As all the other GM's I will introduce myself. I'm GM Xannox and I'm one of the World Builders that works on Hero's Journey.

I have to say that I'm very proud to be a part of this Staff and that they are all great individuals.
It's amazing if you see what everyone created and if you create your own vision for an area with the team. As Airien said before, it's not just placing some trees there and here and there a rock. We all spend a lot of time to create an amazing world for you all.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask

HJ-Girasol

Hi everyone!

I'm GM Girasol - yes, that's the back of my head in the screenshot.  I am a world building GM, working on the common hunting areas and cities that you'll be exploring in the game.  I've been a GM for HJ eight months now, but I've been playing Simu games (namely GemStone IV) for - wow, over eight years (it doesn't seem so long!)

I am excited to be here and will happily answer any questions you may have about being a GM for Hero's Journey. 

 

xDivianaDRx

---

Originally posted by HJ-Razu
I am GM Razu, Feral Suwari. 

---

Yeah I'm definitely going to be one of those. Except change Razu to Diviana..

HJ-Sev

I'm going to lose my Novice Member status just on introduction posts alone...

Sev here, one of the Quest team for HJ.  Were someone to sum up my gaming experience into a single word (as it is a far too daunting and time-consuming effort for me), it would probably be: Pong.  Got my paddle system in the 70s, and have played most everything released since.

I started playing GemStone in around '96, started working for various official groups at the end of the 90's, and was officially hired around '01. (vague enough?  Anyone?)  After my training and some extensive work in Quality Control, I spent my couple years in GS playing some of the most evil villains, energized merchants, and eclectic NPCs.

In '04 I was hired onto the Hero's Journey project, at that time likely for the purpose of helping to develop their QC department.   Then I went and did a silly thing... I fell into the total thrall of our building capabilities, and showed an aptitude for it.

Since then I have been on Quests, and have watched the team grow from literally like three people to a collective of brilliant GM minds.  Every new addition to our staff has made the work exponentially more impressive, and the most amazing part is when you start to see how it will continue to evolve over time.  Every generation of players will produce future generations of high quality GMs, who will in turn take our toolsets and perfect them further, and use them to create the next great inspirations.  Simutronics used their experience to create an engine with the vision of longevity, and scary as it sounds, plopped it into our hands and said, "Go to it!".

So speaking of which, I'll relinquish the boards (for now)  back to my cohorts so I can get back to work! 

Sev

My turn-ons include monkeys, piracy, funny mayhem, angry midgets, exploding juice boxes, things with huge red buttons, blazingly fast music, painfully slow aging, and anything to do with RPGs.

My turn offs are Worry and superfluous eyelid nipples.

HJ-Kelynne

Hi all, GM Kelynne here.  Some years ago I was a DragonRealms World Development GM.  Now, I'm one of the folks building the world of Hero's Journey and having all kinds of fun in the process.   

 

My favorite thing about being a World Builder for Hero's Journey is the hands on building.  I'm constantly astonished by the way the amazing tools Simutronics has given GMs enable us to transform pure imagination into pieces of the fantastic, ever-evolving gameworld we're making. 

 

My other favorite thing about being a HJ GM is getting to work with so many talented, dedicated, funny and nice people.  I see so much creativity and effort going into Hero's Journey every day that I can't wait to see players experiencing the game.

 

It's nice to meet all of you.  If you have questions, just ask!

 

HJ-Kelynne

Hero's Journey GameMaster

http://www.play.net/hj

HJ-KURRASOE

---

Originally posted by xDivianaDRx
Originally posted by HJ-Razu
I am GM Razu, Feral Suwari. Yeah I'm definitely going to be one of those. Except change Razu to Diviana..

---

Well if you're going to start talking about that wretch of a race, I guess I should chime in and enlighten you all -- cats are evil! Feral isn't the word... more like... 'Slave Suwari'. And occasionaly 'Tasty Suwari'. Suwariapult?

Now that I got that out of my system, I thought I'd tell you a little about me.

I'm a developer GM like that wench Razu, so that means I only see the awesome environment that the World and Quest teams put together every once in a while when I feel like standing in awe of something.. which happens enough in real life, I don't venture out of my cage often.

Other than that I live in a very bleak, grey existence that I've made for myself. Quite nice for my coding purposes. It's mostly unimportant thus far, as I spend most of my time in the HSL (HeroScript Language) Editor, where I write... you guessed it, HSL code.

Currently I'm finalizing a project which is a toolset internal for all GM's where we can store information about ourselves. That's enough about that - not something intriguing to players anyhow.

Other than that, I've recently taken up the training of new GM's in the area of HSL. And also updating our documentation related to coding stuff. I also recently got the task of looking at the GM apps, looking at the scripting/coding parts, seeing if you're trying to fool someone. Since I'm pretty good at that, I wouldn't hold out much hope.

Other than that, my underling is working on a 'close-up' or 'peer' system. And... yeah, that's about all say about any of that.

Some fun stuff down the pike we're gonna get to start on pretty soon that'll actually be outside of the "iternal to HJ" category Razu was talking about. Stuff players would kill a pink bunny rabbit for. Not that we'll ever tell you about it until ... well, until you find out for yourself.

Mwahahahahahahah!

-GameMaster Kurrasoe

HJ-Zee

Oh goodness... You mean I introduced myself in the wrong thread... twice?

Doh!

Well... here we go again.  You can call me Zee. Quite an unoriginally original name wouldn't you say? Unlike some of the other GM's you've heard from, I'm rather new to the behind the scenes aspect of gaming. I have no CS degree or solid experience with level design or anything along those lines. I've been playing games since... Well... quite frankly, other than a few years in the service... I cant really imagine life outside of them.

Anywho, I'm on the Quest Team now helping to design what I like to call, dynamic quests. I'm not a huge fan of what most games like to call "quests". You know the kind... You run up to NPC Joe who sends you to talk to his old friend NPC Lisa, who sends you back to Joe, then back to Lisa, stopping to kill 300 Wild Rabits on the way in order to bring the lucky rabits feet back to Joe, only to find out that you need to run 30 more chores & messages before you accomplish the task. Bah Humbug!

Zee

HJ-Illuminat

Guess it's my turn now eh?

Hello I'm GM Illuminatis. I'm one of those with the evil long names that is hated by character limits.  I'm also one of the illustrious world builders tasked with making the world of HJ come alive. Right now I'm working on improving the framrate within one of the main areas of the game so that our beautiful landscapes do not make your hardware cry. This is probably the hardest, and most important, part of world building, and I'll be glad to get back to making pretty areas again.

Oh! Do not listen to those evil cats. They're a malicious and lazy bunch, and are out to sunder the world. My very reliable sources tell me that Airien enjoys tormenting children too.

GM Illuminatis
World Builder
Hero's Journey

xDivianaDRx

I tend to be one of those evil cats.

 

I was ignoring my cat earlier, who was trying to pretend like he didn't care and ignore me too, but then he started running all around my room, jumped up by the sewing machine and then onto the dresser behind the TV.

The worst part is he's a pretty big clumsy cat. But he was lucky and didn't knock anything over.

The funniest thing I've seen him do was try to jump on the bed, and somehow completely miss...

 

anyway.