FORGE: Interview

Hello everyone, knife throw guy here and I bring to you a little interview I did with two members of Dark Vale games. I got to do a Q & A with Ian Natzmer, VP of development, and Tim Alvis, CTO/COO. They gave me an idea of what their new game Forge is all about.

-What can you tell me about Dark Vales history, what led up to creating a full PVP game?

Tim and I have been building games together now for about 5 years. We’ve worked together on a variety of projects but always for someone else and someone else’s ideas. I believe we’ve done an amazing job executing on these projects – we strive hard to keep a high level of quality and meet our time lines by really pouring our hearts into these projects. It was at GDC in 2008 that Tim and I starting thinking about our own game ideas together and thought that someday we’d like to pour our hearts into our own projects. So, we’ve been planning towards that goal ever since and when we met Dave Domm on our previous project we realized we had the business partner we would need to make this project successful.

We have a lot of game ideas but the idea of a no grind PvP game came naturally from how we played together as friends. When the two of us wanted to play games like WoW or SWTOR we found that Tim always had high level characters and I was stuck grinding away at level 20 trying to catch up to play together. The only game that we found we could jump into and have a good time together was Team Fortress 2. However, with TF2 the skill seemed to come from mouse clicking reflexes. We were frustrated and found that others were frustrated as well. So, we decided that in order to play the quick FPS type game with MMO style abilities we wanted to play that we’d have to build it ourselves. And so here we are with our first title: Forge.

-  Ian Natzmer, VP of Development

-What is the story/plot behind Forge? Do you see it becoming a full MMO someday?

We plan to reveal the story in increments over the next several months, so I’ll stay quiet on that front other than a summary that was included in the press release. I don’t see it becoming a PvE MMO any time soon. The far off future, anything is possible, but it’s not something we want right now and definitely not something we’re planning. It will however expand into features you would typically expect with a traditional MMO that are wholly separate from a PvE experience; Guild functionality, character customization via items and abilities, persistent areas of the world where players have non-combat interactions.

 

-  Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

-How does your PVP experience compare/differ to that of other MMOs on the market?

While right now, the majority of the comparisons are from the MMO side thanks to the types of abilities and classes that we’re using, I think people will be surprised to find how much it has in common with a game like Team Fortress 2. Our combat feels much different from what you get in a typical MMO, including TERA. Because of the way that abilities interact and the design of the classes, it also feels quite different from first and third person shooters. It sits somewhere in between the two in a place that right now doesn’t have any 1:1 comparisons.

 

The specific answer for combat itself is mainly through the way you target and move in the world, and all of the functionality that falls out of that as a result. Cool downs exist, but work differently than they do in a traditional MMO and are a bit shorter. The ability to actively block and roll out of the way to escape an attack. Projectiles that are not homing missiles.

 

Outside of combat, the biggest differentiate is that our matchmaking and process of finding games is set up far more similar to Counter-Strike or Team Fortress 2 than to an MMO. There are servers that exist, you find one you like, join in, and start playing. Unless every server you want to play on is full, there are no queues or waiting.

 

-  Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

-What is the range of playable classes and what sort of combat styles will we see?

We can’t discuss all of the classes yet. We’ve announced in vague detail two of them, and the names of five (or six? We may have let number six’s name slip as well, I’d have to check!), but we have designed twelve as it stands right now. Because, as a method of interacting with the world at least, we’re in third person shooter territory, it really expands the types of combat styles we can introduce to the game. We’re staying fairly conservative at first, sticking with archetypes people are familiar with, but that will change as we grow.

 

The Assassin has a fighting style based on Filipino Kali. You’ve seen it in movies like The Bourne Identity, the pen vs. knife fight. Very compact, strong movements. While it’s a stealth class, we deal with stealth a little differently. It’s not just an out of combat state, think of it more as a state of confusing your opponents, even during combat, rather than “I’m invisible and am running away”.

 

The Pathfinder is based much more loosely off of the dagger technique of firing a bow. Rapid shots. Definitely a kiting class.

 

- Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

-What type of matches will take place? Is this more of a skirmish based combat or will there be different objectives?

We are launching with Team Deathmatch, though configured to make sense for the game type, and Capture the Relic (flag). We have other game types planned to go live soon after launch, but we want to make sure we have maps built specifically for them rather than just cramming them in.

 

- Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

-Will you implement the traditional MMO Tank, DPS, Healer classes? If so will they be improved in anyway?

We aren’t necessarily sticking to a trinity setup, but those archetypes are represented. While we may go a little more traditional on a healing class for ability choice, we are going away from tradition in how you make use of those abilities. A tank class, whenever that may come, I wouldn’t call it traditional in any sense for PvP. Whether our ideas for these two classes are an improvement for every player we’ll let them decide, but we have had outside testing taking a look at what we’re up to, and so far, the response has been pleasant surprise. There is a way to have fun playing a tank in a PvP setting.

 

- Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

 

-Do you have an estimated contingency for releasing new content; i.e. new maps, armor/weapons, etc?

We do, but it’s always tough to talk about the actual speed and then have it referenced later. I’d like to stick to the words “soon” and “frequent” for now. So much of what both of those words mean depend on the success of the game. While it’s not purely a question of budget, budget is the first and most potent limiting factor.

 

- Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

-Have any particular PC games in the past inspired Forge based on their combat systems? Do any major titles stick out?

In pieces, certainly. There hasn’t been a game that has combat that we looked at and said, “OK, this is great, let’s start here.” Instead, it’s been more of a “I like this aspect of combat from this game” and “I like this aspect of combat from this game.” , and then putting those into a pile. We then start with what we want to build, and look where those pieces we like among several titles actually fit fairly well into the structure we have in mind. We modify where we have to, scrap the pieces we liked from other games that just don’t make sense for us, and invented new pieces were no good fits were found.

 

If I had to name one title, I couldn’t. If I had to name two, I would say Guild Wars 1 and Team Fortress 2. I’m sure people will see the similarities in some of the decisions we made there, like limiting the number of abilities you can have active at any one time. That’s not something that was invented there, as it’s a feature in nearly every action RPG that’s been released, but it was the first time I’d seen a mainstream MMO make use of it and pull it off very well. From an ability design perspective, there are a lot of abilities that are inspired from multiple MMOs, action games, action RPGS, and first person shooters.

 

In some interviews, we’ve stuck to the most popular titles when referencing what inspired us as they’re recognizable by a wide audience. This is the best list I can come up with without referencing any notes.

 

Recognizable games that have inspired us in some way or another:

 

Team Fortress 2

Counter-Strike

Half-Life

Unreal Tournament 2k4

U2XMP

Left4Dead

Gears of War

Rune

Dark Age of Camelot

Guild Wars 1

World of Warcraft

Warhammer: Online

EVE Online

 

We’ve noticed some believe we’re unaware of or haven’t considered games in the past like Fury, or recent overseas imports like Mabinogi (Vindictus) or TERA. We’re definitely aware, but the comparisons between what they did or are doing and what we’re about are all on the surface.

 

-Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

-What would you say is the most appealing aspect of Forge that will get players interested in the game and continue playing?

The most appealing, we’d like to think it’s gameplay. From the very beginning we’ve pulled in a lot of outside feedback on the game design to make sure that we don’t just drink the koolaid and release a game that doesn’t appeal to a wide variety of tastes. Few indies have the advantage of an extended beta period. Games are expensive to produce. We could have made the mistake of waiting for an open beta to get this feedback, but we didn’t. We pulled people in early, during the documentation phase. We kept them involved with prototypes. Longer term, it will be the frequent release of new content. New factions, gender choices for each class, new maps and new gameplay types.

 

-Tim Alvis, CTO/COO

 

The announcement of Forge does raise interest for PC gamers looking for a genuine PVP experience and you can be sure to hear more on what Dark Vale has in store as they get closer launch.