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Next big MMO?
dystopia
Member Posts: 5
Today we have an extra special treat for our devoted readers here at Ostrategamerwarvault.com, our special guest is Luc E. Sumbich, CEO of Expansion Pack Games, and producer of the highly anticipated massively marketed online game, Endless Combat Online.
OSGWV: Thank you Luc for speaking with us today, we know you're very busy nerfing features for your new game.
Luc: Well, to be fair, we're not nerfing features, we're simply rendering them obsolete. We found that some of our initial designs shifted emphasis away from what we consider to be the the main focus of the player experience: killing stuff for extremely long periods of time. In order to maximize profi......err, player enjoyment of the game, we just canned all that carebear noncombat stuff and focused on creating really cool loot.
OSGWV: I see, so social interaction isn't as important in ECO as some of the MMORPG's coming to market soon?
Luc: First of all, you haven't seen the loot. Swords! Huge glowing polygons of the apocalypse! But yeah, social interaction is important. Our marketing department has shown that the best way to keep players coming back is to force them to be grouped at all times. With the overall atmosphere and level of maturity commonly found on most MMORPG's, this may seem counterproductive, but it actually allows us to focus less on creating social content that encourages community, and more on... really cool swords.
OSGWV: What about questing? Or other player activities that don't involve combat?
Luc: We'll have some quests, of course. They'll mostly be of the fetch-grandma-some-eye-of-newt variety, nothing too deep or immersive. We don't want to bog players who want to powergame down with the noncombat aspects of the game. But rest assured we will have quests. In fact our art department has just put the finishing touches on the flashing neon exclamation points that appear over an NPC's head when he has a quest for you. We're quite proud of them. *Blink blink* *blink blink* It's great.
OSGWV: Hmm, I'm sure the question many of our readers are asking right now is: "Dude, is ur game gonna blow like EQ? EQ is teh suk." How do you address that question?
Luc: Well, we're certainly working hard at creating a game that will appeal to all powergamers. Then we'll hand it over to marketing, and let them muck it up.
OSGWV: How far along in development are you? Are we likely to see an ECO release in the next couple of years?
Luc: We're definitely looking at a Christmas release. '05, '06, '07... who cares? So far we've completed most of our low-level sword content, and we're just getting started working on the high-level swords. Obviously these take much more time to code, and we're ramping up our workforce to handle the load. Right now we have one small team doing sword work. In the future we'd like to expand and break that down into separate groups for the hilts, blades, pommels, and cool particle stuff. So when you start seeing screenshots of Excalibur you'll know we're close.
OSGWV: I see. So how much T&A are we likely to see?
Luc: This is one of my favorite questions. Our development team is predominantly male, so a nice set of digital ta tas is obviously very important to us. We're still working on the physics engine, but expect female characters to jiggle in a realistic way. Additionally, we're working hard on emotes such as /fondle and /grope so expect player harassment to be taken to a whole new level in ECO.
OSGWV: I've never seen or read about your game -- the guy who was supposed to do this interview called in sick -- but a very important feature to me in MMO's is the ability to run around in my underwear. Will ECO support this? If so, will I be able to choose my underwear?
Luc: This subject frequently comes up in development meetings, but it's too early at this stage to comment on underwear choices. I'm partial to a french cut bikini myself, but while this is a feature we'd certainly like to have in release, right now we'd like our art resources to focus on swords. However, I can confirm that "commando" will not be an option at final for marketing reasons.
OSGWV: Will I have to wash my underwear?
Luc: Again, it's too early to get bogged down in details, but if we can do it, I'd love to see unclean underwear lower your avatar's charisma.
OSGWV: I like cheese.
Luc: I can't comment on specifics at this time -- we don't want our competitors running off with our ideas after all -- but I can say that Endless Combat Online will have several surprises in store for cheese lovers. Keep checking our website!
OSGWV: Your game certainly sounds innovative, did I mention I'm looking for a job?
Luc: Thank you, we believe that ECO will be a revolution in gaming. Regretfully, we are only hiring disenfranchised ex-Horizons, Mythica, and True Fantasy Live Online developers at this time.
OSGWV: Will you be my friend?
Luc: Good news! ECO will have an excellent friend's list! I suggest you start there.
OSGWV: *grumble* Sure, when beta comes out.
Luc: Just keep the good press coming, buddy. *nudge nudge wink wink*
OSGWV: Roger. Well thanks for stopping by Luc.
Luc: Thank you for the thought provoking questions, I'm glad I was able to clear up those important issues for your readers. See ya later! Make sure you keep your eyes open for Endless Combat Online! "We're in your wallet now!"
Comments
WOOOT
cant wait for ECO
[/sarcasm]
... i cant believe i actually read all that =_=... i want those 5 minutes of my life back... seriously... screw it, its cookie time
*runs to kitchen*
no matter where u come from... no matter where u are now... no matter where ur going... its all about the EXP
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that was the abridged version... in the complete version they invited a group of roleplayers over and beat them with pool cues.
thought it might have been too graphic for these boards so I left it out.
Very funny post.
The sad part is that it is not that far away from the truth.
But anyway great post, scared everyone around me by laughing out loud. That never happens here at work
That which does not kill you only makes you stronger.
Played: AC1, DAoC, E&B, SWG
Tested: AC1, AC2, DAoC, Eve, Planetside, Rubies, Lineage 2
lmao! wow!
Thats all I have to say is wow, oh but cheese is good
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Nice one
Shame that this is how most dev's think, yet they manage to convince themselves that they arent thinking this way.
Not an Elite Member? Hows that happened?
MUAHAHAHAHAHA
-Erik
accidental post, feel free to delete