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[Helmer]

Posting from my phone , so apologies of this has been posted already.

First of a 5 part interview

http://www.zam.com/s...tml?story=28852


In the first of our five-part developer interview miniseries, we sat down with Creative Director Bryan Ekman to talk about some of core focuses of MechWarrior Online, Piranha's inspirations, and much more.

In this five-part miniseries, we sat down with the developers behind the highly anticipated MechWarrior Online to talk about everything you want to know about this upcoming action title.



If, like me, you're ancient enough to remember the BattleTech cartoon, the recent news of the Centurion's inclusion in the forthcoming MechWarrior Online (MWO) will have your old man suspenders in a knot. Valten Ryder fans can rejoice because everyone's favorite medium-class Mech is getting some love. Responsible for "some of the most reckless displays of Mech-jockeying ever seen," Valten Ryder and his father's beat up Centurion made the series what it was; so this piece of news has the twelve-year-old boy inside me jumping for joy (and I just realized how bad that sounded).
Anyway, to add to the excitement, we recently had the opportunity to speak with Bryan Ekman, Creative Director at Piranha Games, to talk about all things MechWarrior. Ekman clued us in on what to expect from MWO when it is finally released in 2012, and we also got to talking about  the state of the series, inspirations, in-game currency and how the game will play. So buckle up, prepare your mind grapes and get ready to see the same three MWO pictures you've been looking at for the last few months (we'll work ong getting you some new art assets) because, without further ado, here is part one of ZAM's exclusive five part interview with the team behind MechWarrior Online. 
ZAM: We're here with Piranha Games' Bryan Ekman, creative director of MechWarrior Online. Thanks for being the first to step up for our series of dev interviews!

Bryan Ekman: My pleasure! We're very excited to discuss MechWarrior Online!
ZAM: As creative director, you're responsible for most high-level concepts going into MechWarrior Online. What are the core objectives you want to achieve with MechWarrior Online out the door?

Bryan: Our overall theme for MWO is rebooting the franchise for a current generation of gamers. We have several key pillars including: Community Warfare, Information Warfare, Role Warfare, and Mech Warfare. Community Warfare is all about creating a persistent state universe, where in game actions affect the global state of affairs. This is by far our most ambitious objective, bringing persistence to a match based game. Information Warfare is designed to solve some long standing design issues from previous MechWarrior games and introduce a new element of tactical awareness, planning, and organization. Role Warfare ties all the pillars together with a primarily metagame concept of levels and pilot skills that allows players to tailor their role on the battlefield. Mech Warfare is the core pillar that binds the other pillars together. Our main objective with this concept is to immerse the player as a pilot of a BattleMech, the universe's most powerful weapons platform.


ZAM: Not all players are very familiar with the MechWarrior franchise, especially given the series' relative quietness in the past half a dozen years (or more). MWO's current community, however, seems to be very knowledgeable of the MechWarrior series and its nuances. How will Piranha Games go about introducing MWO to the former audience while appealing to the deep knowledge of the latter?

Bryan: At its heart, MechWarrior is a very simple game. Find your enemy and blow him up. New players will immediately enjoy this aspect of the game, and with time learn the finer tactics involved in piloting a BattleMech. An experienced MechWarrior pilot will feel right at home in MWO and be able to quickly tailor his or her `Mech and roles to their liking. We plan to guide new players through a very simple and short series of tutorials designed to give them a basic understanding of how to pilot a `Mech. Once they have mastered these basic techniques, we can expose them to more advanced concepts such `Mech and pilot role customization.
ZAM: From a gameplay perspective, are there any modern titles that MechWarrior Online is looking to for inspiration?

Bryan: Previous MechWarrior games and the original table top BattleTech game were used as foundations for design. We also drew a lot of inspiration from EVE Online, Call of Duty, Battlefield, World of Tanks, and League of Legends. When you play MechWarrior Online you'll recognize elements from all of these games. 


ZAM: I recall money often played a key role in MechWarrior games, with players making weaponry choices based on ammunition costs, or trying to keep repair costs low. Will economy play a key role in MechWarrior Online, given its MMO nature?

Bryan: Absolutely! Like previous MechWarrior titles, the MechWarrior Online economy revolves around managing one or more giant mechanized robots, called BattleMechs. Each `Mech has a role on the battlefield and is fully customizable by the player using an intuitive menu system called MechLab. Customizations include weapons, armor, along with other accessories, and modules. Players earn an in-game currency, called C-Bills which is used to buy new `Mechs, equipment, ammo, and perform repairs. The MWO economy rewards players by excelling at their chosen role on the battlefield. Each match played ends with a summary screen outlining their contract earnings, and bonuses in C-Bills. We expect and encourage players to maximizing match earnings by focusing on a role suitable to their play style. 
ZAM: How is MWO looking to position itself within the market? As a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena-style pick-up-and-play title, or do you hope that players will invest a lot of their time in the universe of Mechwarrior Online?

Bryan: I'm excited to say, both! MechWarrior Online is designed to get new and old players into the action quickly. Matches vary in length depending on the game mode, number of players, map, and skill level. When the match concludes, players are dropped back into the front end where they can customize their BattleMech, chat with friends, plot strategies with their Merc Corp mates, or check out the live Inner Sphere map to see what's going on throughout the universe.


ZAM: It's remarkable how few robot-based MMORPGs there are out there, in spite of the fact that I have been very vocal in my demand for more. Why is this?

Bryan: I think robot games have been viewed by publishers as very niche in the past. You essentially have two types, anime and everything else. In North America, MechWarrior has been the king, and most anime style robot games have not gained much traction. I think this about to change with a wave of promising robot games.
ZAM: And that seems to be a good place as any to pause here! Thank you so much for answering our questions, and we're all really looking forward to hearing more about MechWarrior Online!

Bryan: Thanks for letting me ramble!
There you have it folks. Stay tuned for part two!
Christopher "Pwyff" Tom, Editor-in-Chief.

Interview, MechWarriorOnline

[Aegis Kleais]

I'll read it right after I give ya some +1 kudos goodness.

[Red Beard]

Mechlab....yuck! I am having visions of Frankenmechs oozing around the battlefield. I hope they keep the customizing to a limited role. I can see the mechlab turning this game inside out and driving good players away.

PS-Should add this article to the "MWO in the news" thread!

Edited by Red Beard, 26 January 2012 - 10:21 AM.

[Sean Lang]

A few clues in there that are nice and juicy!

[Karyudo ds]

Red Beard, on 26 January 2012 - 10:12 AM, said:

Mechlab....yuck! I am having visions of Frankenmechs oozing around the battlefield. I hope they keep the customizing to a limited role. I can see the mechlab turning this game inside out and driving good players away.

PS-Should add this article to the "MWO in the news" thread!

Way he put it, it sounds to me like the classic mechlab is back in spades. Though if thats the case then who cares about mech A being tailored for role B because I tailor for whatever the heck I want. I agree a limited system would be more interesting...if it were visual. Silly when it isn't. I get that people are used to customizing mechs but at least when you swap a machinegun for a missile launcher in Front Mission (or Armored Core even) you could visually figure out what you were fighting. In MW2 a centurion is...a random medium mech. The fact that it's a centurion is entire cosmetic.

[Omigir]

There we have it, Mechlab mentoned by name! So now its just a question of how much we can change in the Mechlab.

+1 for sharing!

[Blackfire1]

MAN SQUEEEEEE! Ok I'm done.

[Aegis Kleais]

Glad to hear about the MechLab. I think we shouldn't have a preconceived notion about what the MechLab WILL be until we see it. In some games, it wasn't exactly what some wanted, but PGI might be able to find a nice balance; looking forward to it.

[John Flenaly]

Well boating here we come, and I had such high hopes

[Nik Van Rhijn]

Well we now know we have the chance of owning more than one mech, we will have to pay for repairs and will have a "lobby" of sorts to hang out in online. Very interesting that he said

Quote

Each `Mech has a role on the battlefield and is fully customizable by the player using an intuitive menu system called MechLab. Customizations include weapons, armor, along with other accessories, and modules

The menu system suggests a totally different approach.
As always each release of info leaves me wanting to know more - and wanting to play the game.

[guardian wolf]

You think your wanting to play it bad? Dude, I'm getting ready to build a new computer for this, which is going to be able to play with other games, but mainly this. Man I was ticked the year I heard lawsuit against Piranah, and had an extremely deep resentment towards Harmony Gold (which is still here, but now not so much). This is AWESOME.

[Omigir]

Aegis Kleais™, on 26 January 2012 - 10:48 AM, said:

Glad to hear about the MechLab. I think we shouldn't have a preconceived notion about what the MechLab WILL be until we see it. In some games, it wasn't exactly what some wanted, but PGI might be able to find a nice balance; looking forward to it.

Thank you! I just got done saying the same thing to Red Beard and I share the same hope!

Nik Van Rhijn, on 26 January 2012 - 10:57 AM, said:

Well we now know we have the chance of owning more than one mech, we will have to pay for repairs and will have a "lobby" of sorts to hang out in online. Very interesting that he said The menu system suggests a totally different approach. As always each release of info leaves me wanting to know more - and wanting to play the game.

This is worth considering.. maybe each weapon slot will have a drop down menu to show what wheapons in your inventory would fit in that slot? Just some off speculaiton... 10 - 1 im wrong.

guardian wolf, on 26 January 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

You think your wanting to play it bad? Dude, I'm getting ready to build a new computer for this, which is going to be able to play with other games, but mainly this. Man I was ticked the year I heard lawsuit against Piranah, and had an extremely deep resentment towards Harmony Gold (which is still here, but now not so much). This is AWESOME.

NO! ....

Its Centurion! keep up with the wensdays ; p

Edited by Omigir, 26 January 2012 - 11:08 AM.

[AlanEsh]

Quote

Each `Mech has a role on the battlefield and is fully customizable by the player using an intuitive menu system called MechLab

POR-1K Porcupine, here i come!

[TheRulesLawyer]

John Flenaly, on 26 January 2012 - 10:53 AM, said:

Well boating here we come, and I had such high hopes

Don't get too far ahead of yourself there. We've know for awhile that custom mech were going to be in. We still don't know how far they're taking it.

[Omigir]

TheRulesLawyer, on 26 January 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

Don't get too far ahead of yourself there. We've know for awhile that custom mech were going to be in. We still don't know how far they're taking it.

Rightly so my well versed legal beagle! Fully customizable may still come with restrictions. Fully customizable can still have restrictions bnd be considered thus, I.E. Weight, weapon type restrictions. Its still a full mechlab at that point in my book. You remove changing out engin and armor and electronics then you got about half.

Edited by Omigir, 26 January 2012 - 11:29 AM.

[whiskey tango foxtrot]

Great info,sounds like he has a strong grip on it , the devil is in the details.....heh

[guardian wolf]

*Gets in Centurion and begins swinging AC10 around and firing all over* WHO SAID THAT, WHO SAID KEEP UP WITH WEDNESDAYS.*trips* AWW !@#$%^ I knew I shouldn't have bought this from Matt, figures he'd bug it.

[syngyne]

Karyudo-ds, on 26 January 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

Way he put it, it sounds to me like the classic mechlab is back in spades. Though if thats the case then who cares about mech A being tailored for role B because I tailor for whatever the heck I want. I agree a limited system would be more interesting...if it were visual. Silly when it isn't. I get that people are used to customizing mechs but at least when you swap a machinegun for a missile launcher in Front Mission (or Armored Core even) you could visually figure out what you were fighting. In MW2 a centurion is...a random medium mech. The fact that it's a centurion is entire cosmetic.

This is one of my biggest beefs with full customization... it makes different 'Mech chassis of the same tonnage pointless. Any 50-tonner can be any other 50-tonner, so why bother having more than one at all?

Well, that and the aforementioned boating.

I really hope they limit the amount of customization you can do.

Edited by syngyne, 26 January 2012 - 11:36 AM.

[Dugra Dugrasson]

Red Beard, on 26 January 2012 - 10:12 AM, said:

Mechlab....yuck! I am having visions of Frankenmechs oozing around the battlefield. I hope they keep the customizing to a limited role. I can see the mechlab turning this game inside out and driving good players away.

PS-Should add this article to the "MWO in the news" thread!

Agreed through and through. I'm hoping they K.I.S.S. the MechLab and leave it to swapping out the pre-conceived "Variants," paint jobs, and the ECM Suites. Because gods forbid they let people create kamikaze 'Mechs, boaters, and the like.

Edited by nodebate, 26 January 2012 - 12:02 PM.

[Red Beard]

nodebate, on 26 January 2012 - 12:00 PM, said:

Agreed through and through. I'm hoping they K.I.S.S. the MechLab and leave it to swapping out the pre-conceived "Variants," paint jobs, and the ECM Suites. Because gods forbid they let people create kamikaze 'Mechs, boaters, and the like.

I could not have said that part better. You took the words right out of my mouth.

One major issue I have with an "open ended" mechlab is that it strips out the strategy portion of the game, to a degree. If you are going up against, say, an Atlas, you tend to fight a certain way, knowing what that Atlas is packing and what those weapons can do. You build certain strategies around certain mechs and what weapons they come with, stock. When pilots are given the ability to dicker around with that stock load, the strategies do not just change, they are pitched out the window.

One large thing that I have to temper my worries with is that the devs have talked about a module that allows you to get a detailed read on an enemy mech.

[DAVID] There will be various levels of detail when you target an enemy ’Mech. The levels that you can access will be determined by how long you target the ’Mech as well as which modules you have equipped on your own ’Mech. For example, you may be able to first just target and track the ’Mech, then after a couple of seconds your computer identifies it as an Atlas, and then you receive a report from your scanners about the ’Mech’s overall damage state. If you have a specific module equipped you would then receive a detailed damage breakdown of the ’Mech’s components.
This information will be shared to your lancemates as you gather it, but they may require their own modules or other equipment in order to receive some of the more advanced scans.

So, it may be a possible strategy to "read" a mechs loadout using said module, and then adjust your piloting accordingly.

In the end, I agree with what most are saying here. Limit the amount of customizing. We all want this game to feel balanced, and fair.

Edited by Red Beard, 26 January 2012 - 12:30 PM.