Interviewed: Taylor Daynes Lead Designer of PotBS Interviewed by:Nogame
PvP
GameAmp: When a nation continually assaults a specific port over time a contention battle ensues. Being that this is one of the major features of PotBS what direct benefits will players have to merit their time and effort during such an epic battle? How would this affect the vendor’s prices at that port?
Taylor: Players will of course reap the spoils of war, and they’ll have the prestige and satisfaction of having contributed to their nation’s conquest of a strategically valuable port. Now that we’ve fully integrated our economy into our strategic game, however, we think that economic factors will be some of the biggest motivations for port conquest.
Maybe you’re trying to gain access to a rare resource that port has. Perhaps you and your guild have noticed that all those huge enemy ships you have to face in PvP all come from one major shipbuilding center. A strict blockade against that port could prevent timber from getting through, which would shut down their shipbuilding entirely. Nothing is quite as satisfying as seeing the enemy fleet show up in rowboats, because they couldn’t build their ships of the line anymore!
Since the prices of goods are all set by producers, and are based on what consumers will pay, blockading a port is likely to make prices skyrocket – but it’s all up to our players.
GameAmp: In current MMORPG’s low level “ganking” has become an evident problem with the implementation of any MMO PvP system. Other then contention battles, will players have the ability to initiate a PvP battle anywhere in the world or are there only specific PvP zones for such occurrences?
Taylor: Ganking is a major problem in PvP focused games, but we mitigate those problems in PotBS through our port conquest system, which dictates what parts of the world are open to PvP, and what parts are safe (from other players, at least!). Most of the world is focused on PvE, but when a port is placed under contention, a large radius around that port becomes a “PvP hotspot”, which means that player can freely attack players from other nations. This is similar to a PvP-enabled “frontier”, or PvP-enabled “zones”, but it’s more interesting since in our case, the areas of the world that are PvP enabled change over time, based on the strategic goals of the players in each nation. Since these PvP hotspots are well marked, players will be able to avoid them if they don’t want to participate, or they can easily seek them out if they are interested in the excitement and challenge of competing against other players.
GameAmp: The loss of a PvP battle is said to tax a player on his reputation. Could you go over what reputation is and how it affects a player?
Taylor: Reputation is the term we use to describe how the various factions in our game feel about you, and consequentially, how they will react to you. At this time, PvP is not likely to affect your reputation.
GameAmp: Pirates have never been the most loyal shipmates. Will Pirates be allowed to fight within their own faction against other Pirates? Has an inner-faction duel system ever been considered for implementation?
Taylor: Pirates cannot currently fight with other pirate players, but there will be rival NPC pirate factions making life difficult for governments and pirates alike. We really want to include a “duel” system that lets friends from the same nation fight each other, and we hope that we’ll be able to include that feature in our initial release.
GameAmp: Upon dying at the high seas to the hands of a rival faction you are sent to port. It has been said that you will always have your ship when you come back to port but has it been decided what penalties will occur? Will the modifications on that ship remain in tact up until your untimely demise or will they need to be re-applied? Will you lose all your consumables upon death?
Taylor: Death Penalties are currently being re-evaluated in order to better integrate them with the new, dynamic economy. We’ll let you know as soon as we feel comfortable with the new system!
Game Direction
GameAmp: It’s obvious that Pirates of the Burning Sea tries to stay true to the historical events and setting that occurred in the Caribbean during the 1720’s. How heavily has the concept of realism versus entertainment affected your team’s development direction?
Taylor: History vs. Fun is a fundamental question that we’re confronted with every day. Our philosophy from the start has been to include as much reality as we can make fun. One of the greatest things about setting a game in history is how much material there is to draw from! There’s so much there to be inspired by, but at the same time, it can be very tempting to include too much – to go too far into the realm of simulation.
One of the keys for me, when designing game systems, is whether or not the average player will ever notice a certain feature. If there’s no way to easily represent a feature in our UI, it will either be completely invisible to our players (and thus worthless), or it will end up making outcomes unpredictable (which makes the game confusing, and is therefore worse than worthless). I’ve applied this test against our game several times, and with each pass we been able to make our game systems more efficient, and more fun.
[U]In Closing[/U
GameAmp: It’s becoming more popular for independent game development companies to go with internet distribution rather then traditional publishers. Do you feel this method of distribution will allow you PotBS to compete with some of the more popular MMO’s on the market?
Taylor: Internet distribution is a powerful new option available for independent developers, but it has its own set of risks. The power a “box on a shelf” has is huge, and internet-only distribution still isn’t to the point where it can compete on equal footing with more traditional forms of publishing. Fortunately for independent developers, as the internet matures, and as more and more of the game-playing audience gets comfortable finding and purchasing their entertainment on-line, internet distribution is only going to get more viable. It’s our culture that’s lagging behind right now, but that will change.
GameAmp: Can I reserve the name ‘Yarrrrr’ right now or is there a limit to the amount of consecutive R’s in a character’s name?
Taylor: I don’t believe there’s a consecutive-consonant limit, but my impish side tempts me to put one in just to spite you! ;)
GameAmp: Thank you very much for the interview and good luck with development of Pirates of the Burning Seas.
Taylor: Gar! Pirates of the Burning Sea be the place for me!
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