Interview: Starr Long on Tabula Rasa

With the launch of NCsoft's newest MMORPG, Tabula Rasa, a few short weeks away from it's official launch we had a chance to talk to Starr Long, one of the game's producers, about the game and the MMO genre in general.

Snackbar Games: Popular opinion from your camp seems to be that the MMORPG genre is stale, stagnant. If this is the case, why have you taken it upon yourselves to be the force of change?

Starr Long: Many of us on the team worked on Ultima Online. In fact I got the project started at Origin as a proof of concept with Ken Demarest "back in the day." UO really was a force of change in online games and effectively fathered the graphical MMO industry. Since UO there have been many incredible refinements in the genre but not as many direction changing events. Since we had already done the UO thing we wanted to try something different.

SBG: What is it about the genre that you feel holds so much promise?

SL: The sophistication and interaction of human beings in the environment is the entire promise. Gaming is at its most powerful when it is a social experience. The oldest known games were bone dice found in the remains of encampments of primitive man. These games were social and in many ways multiplayer games return games to their origin.

SBG: Do you feel that World of Warcraft's overwhelming success in the MMO sphere presents an extra burden on any new competition?

SL: No! Any well crafted game that is successful means success for all of us. The only burden is to be well crafted... and you kind of should anyway.

SBG: Are you of the opinion that MMORPGs need to evolve to not only capture the imaginations of new gamers, and those in their tweens, but also continue to inspire older players who, by way of getting older, have less disposable time to devote to such games?

SL: I am of that opinion completely. I think the idea that a game should require your undivided attention for long periods of time limits the audience. With TR we specifically wanted to make a game where you can have a rewarding experience in 30 to 60 minutes.

SBG: In Tabula Rasa, do you plan on making old, lower tiered skills like armor retroactive with newer versions? Also, any plans on making the armor skills more worthwhile to invest in? One point can get you a 4% boost, but it can take another 9 points or so to get the same 4% boost again by maxing the skill. Doesn't seem worth it.

SL: Actually 8% is a significant increase in effectiveness over 4% so the points are well worth it. Even a single percent increase can make the key difference in a combat situation.



SBG: Are you satisfied with where the classes/skills are at right now? Currently I can't see any reason to switch from Firearms/Lightning, and the options offered when reaching a new class seem fairly limited.

SL: We are quite satisfied with our classes and skills. And if you haven't yet played a Spy and polymorphed into a Thrax Soldier to sneak into a control point or played an Engineer to summon a Flame Bot to roast some Bane then you haven't yet experienced the true diversity of our class tree. On top of that, each point you spend creates an entirely new version of each ability. For instance each pump point of reinforcements gives you another kind of NPC to summon (medic, rifleman, etc.)

SBG: Is there going to be any kind of big revamp before release or is the final month dedicated to gameplay bugs and stability issues only?

SL: Most of ours focus is stability and balance right now. However we are working on additional content to the game that we'll get in soon after launch, including a Military Surplus system so players can sell goods to each other more easily.

SBG: How important is presentation in an MMORPG? Also how do you feel the game's presentation was impacted through the use of color? A strange question, perhaps, but coming from someone who is colorblind, it always amazes me how color is taken for granted in game design.

SL: We think presentation and color are extremely important in any game. Our art team is bigger than the rest of our team combined.

SBG: Do you have any particularly funny or interesting war stories to share that have come out of time spent developing Tabula Rasa?

SL: I think one of my favorite recent phenomenons is some white boards in the design area of our floor. The team has started putting Top 10 (or more) lists up there on a regular basis and some of them are quite funny. The most recent one is sitcoms based on TR and my personal fave from that list? Well obviously it would be "Thrax of Life". Ha! ?

SBG: Finally, when you aren't neck deep in development duties, does the team have a favorite lunch spot?

SL: One of our favorites is a burger joint on the shores of Lake Austin called Ski Shores. It is prototypical Austin.

Tabula Rasa will be released on November 2nd to PCs everywhere. For more information on the game, you can head on over to the official website.

Oct 16, 2007 - 4:03 pm | 1 comments
Jason Dobson