Autor

194

André Linken
Die Jungs von den Flagship Studios haben mit Mythos allem Anschein nach einiges vor. Ich freue mich schon jetzt auf das fertige Spiel.

Informationen

Mythos

161

Release:	PC: 2008
Status:	Closed Beta
Plattformen:	MMOG
Publisher:	Electronic Arts
Entwickler:	Flagship Studios
Genre:	Onlinespiel
Off. Seite:	mythos.com
Fansite:	mythos.onlinewelten.com

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Von der Netzwerk-Technologie zum Geheimtipp

Unglaublich aber wahr: Mythos wurde anfangs von nur einem Mann entwickelt. Wir haben uns Travis Baldree geschnappt und zu Flagships zweitem Spiel ausgequetscht.

OnlineWelten: Lets start with the beginning: When did the idea for Mythos come up? What did the first stages of development look like?

Travis Baldree: Mythos began initially as a testbed for Hellgate: London's network technology. It was conceived as a sort of canary in the mineshaft to test load and real-world conditions before Hellgate launched, and as such, was pretty limited in scope, and only had one developer. For about 6 months Flagship Seattle was the upstairs bedroom in my house.

OnlineWelten: At which point of development did you decide to make Mythos a fullprice game? Was there a special moment or idea?

Travis Baldree: After that initial six months passed, it became pretty apparent that the game could stand on its own. There wasn't one specific "AHA!" moment, but I'd guess the very first sign was that I was allowed to hire two new developers to give me a hand.

OnlineWelten: Everbody who sees Mythos the first time, starts yelling "Diablo". But how close to Diablo is Mythos really?

Travis Baldree: The core gameplay and feel is very, very similar to Diablo - but the structure of the world, and the instanced gameplay are much more akin to Guild Wars. In the end, with the random map system and the focus on speed, packs of monsters, and constant expansion of content, it's starting to become its own beast.

OnlineWelten: Isn't it hard or even annoying for you guys to always be compared to Blizzard Entertainment or a special game like Diablo?

Travis Baldree: Being compared at all is an honor as far as I'm concerned. That's a heck of a legacy to measure up against.

OnlineWelten: What do you do to get way from all the clichés within fantasy-games? I mean: mighty magicians in glowing robes, tough warriors with big muscle-packs - there are too many of them already, aren't they?

Travis Baldree: We're trying to turn everything a bit to the side as we go

along - our starting races are a good example of that. We have Satyrs, cigar-chomping Gremlins, and now the new Cyclops race. We're trying to specifically stay away from elves and the like. We have Dwarves now, but they're all nasty undead creatures.

OnlineWelten: Mythos currently consits of just a few regions. Will that be changed in the future? And if so - how?

Travis Baldree: We're preparing the third zone to launch right now, along with a lot of other content, including dueling and full-world PVP, a full Crafting system, ingame Mail, loads of new monsters and quests, and a bunch of other goodies.

OnlineWelten: You are planning a special payment-system for Mythos. The game itself will be free. But there will be special content (even ingame-money), that you can buy for real money, right? Do you really think, that's the way to got? Is that kind of system profitable?

Travis Baldree: The dual-currency system that we're planning to use has proven extremely popular and profitable and Korea, and has been recently used to good effect in the States by the likes of Maple Story, Puzzle Pirates, and Bang! Howdy.

OnlineWelten: Escpecially in Germany they are many sceptics concerning ingame-content bought by reallife money. How would you argue against those people? Better said: How would you convince them to pay?

Travis Baldree: We're trying to refrain from just selling `powerful items` ingame - instead we're charging for features like pets, respecs, cosmetic items, fireworks, and bonus items that might increase your luck or a similar attribute. We still want you playing the game. And with a dual currency system, players can legitimately trade for anything - even purchased items or services - without ever spending any real money.

OnlineWelten: What are your plans for the PvP-Part for Mythos? Do you already have any plans for tournaments or other PvP-Events e.g.?

Travis Baldree: We have a full PVP world called the Shadowlands launching with our third zone. Players can travel through portals at any time to the Shadowlands, where they can engage in PVP against anyone they run into - even in town! For the more faint of heart, we have Dueling as well, which can be done anywhere.

OnlineWelten: Is there any funny, sad or very interesting anecdote or event that happened during the development of Mythos, you want to reveal right now to our readers?

Travis Baldree: Moving into our new offices and discovering that there was a waterfall pouring from the ceiling, water coming under the door, and that the heaters didn't work in the heart of winter was a bit of a shock - but we've persevered, and are happily working away.

OnlineWelten: If you have to describe Mythos in just three words...

Travis Baldree: ...Fast, Free, and Fun!