Interview de Simon Bachmann (Dir. développement).

Voici la version anglaise de l'interview (qui est à l'origine en allemand) de Simon Bachmann pour le site buffed.de

Citation :

Buffed.de: What seperates your game Black Prophecy from EVE online?

Simon Bachmann: One of the key elements is the usage of a real time combat system within which you take control of your spaceship. At eve online the skills of the players character defines the success or failure of a fight. In Black Prophecy you have to see the different tactical characteristics of the ship and use this in combat.

Another difference, which is important for the feeling of the game, is our approach to let the player reach the milestones of his character development with as least expenditure of time as possible. Our experiences have shown that players are fast loosing their interest when they have to 'grind' the same content again and again. Because of this we want to keep the endgame as attractive as possible without disregarding the previous content.

Besides the space action we also have some role play elements which shouldn't be missing in a good MMO. One example for this is the classic charactersystem. The player receives experience points for certain actions. With an increasing level, the player gains access to better versions of ship modules, weapons and other equipment. Another example would be our large clan system, the modular ship system, which leaves the player absolute freedom in the design of his ship, and numerous more systems we will present.


Buffed.de: After Neocron you do with Black Prophecy again a Sci-Fi-Setting. What fascinates you with this theme?

Simon Bachmann: The development computergames with a Sci-Fi setting has a long tradition with us. We always want to develop something special through its key elements. The Sci-Fi theme offers the best environment for this. It is very interesting to imagine the future in 50, 100 or 1000 years – and then to realize this within a game.


Buffed.de: The german Sci-Fi autor Michael Marrak works together with you on the background story of Black Prophecy. How did this develop?

Simon Bachmann: Even in the early planing phase we decided to engage a professional author for the development of the setting and background story. We decided for Michael Marrak who amongst other things received the german science finction award for his books. With his writing style, Michael manages it like no one else to take the reader – in our case the player – into a fascinating and living universe. Also, within the first steps of your cooperation, he showed us that he can also contribute an important part of the Game Design, which increased the quality of our Game Design in all aspects.


Buffed.de: What is the black Prophecy?

Simon Bachmann: It is an important part of the background story. At this time we cant tell you much about it. If we would, we would have to make you disappear forever on one of the blood moons of the Genides or in an ore mine of the Tyi. ;-)


Buffed.de: Almost none of the Online-Games tells real exciting or complex stories. How do you combine a good told story with the freedom of a MMO?

Simon Bachmann: In Black Prophecy we don't just tell you the story. Instead you will be included into the events with special missions and become a part of the story. We continue this along the whole character development and you can decide when you want to continue to play the story.


Buffed.de: Are the contents of the solo and multi player parts identical or are there different missions depending on the game mode?

Simon Bachmann: At the mission system we decide between solo missions, which can be obtained at NPCs and thus obtained from the mission terminal. The singleplayer tasks introduces you into the game and accompanies you through the exciting Black Prophecy background story. The PvE and PvP missions from the mission terminal are regular tasks which the player can solve for his faction alone or in a team with other players. The special thing about these mission is, that non mission equals another. They are recreated each time, based on different parameters.


Buffed.de: Are the players of Black Prophecy at all time inside their spaceships – or are there space stations?

Simon Bachmann: The spaceship is the avatar of the player and therefore the actual player character. Additionally there is a 3D model of the pilot which you'll be able to modify and which you will see during the dialogs with the NPCs and conversations with other players. We think about giving you the possibility to leave the ship and walk inside an 3D environment on space stations. This won't happen at release but could be content of a add-on.


Buffed.de: What can we expect when the level-phase is over?

Simon Bachmann: In the endgame PvP will be an important part. The conflict between the enemy factions will be the main focus and you are directly involved in the success or failure. Within this context the resource missions, where Clans fight for the dominance of their faction, have an effect. Within an range it will be possible for players with a lower experience level to fight together with players of a higher experience level against others in PvP missions. We support the teamplay within these groupmissions. Targets can be assigned to one or some teammembers.

En résumé:
Nous apprenons que dans Black Prophecy, l'histoire du jeu ne sera pas seulement racontée, les joueurs seront intégrés dans les évènements par le biais de missions spéciales qui feront partie intégrante de l'histoire.

Il y aura deux système de missions, le premier concernera les missions qui vous introduiront dans le background de l'histoire, ces missions seront généralement en solitaire. Le second système quant à lui sera plus axé sur les factions elles meme, et mettra en place le pve et pvp seul ou en équipe. Par ailleurs, les missions de ce second système seront toutes différentes les unes des autres, étant générées à chaques fois suivant plusieurs paramètres différents qui les rendront uniques.

Simon Bachmann confirme la volonté de Reakktor de permettre aux joueurs de marcher avec leurs avatars dans les stations spatiales, mais cela sera pour les prochaines mises à jours.

Au niveau du teamplay, les cibles pourront etre assignées à un ou plusieurs membres de l'équipe.


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