DICE: Stuff from Richard “Lord British” Garriott

Tabula Rasa - Image 1

The folks of Voodoo Extreme were able to sit down with Richard Garriott at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences DICE Summit in Las Vegas. Garriott was able to give out some good info on how Tabula Rasa has been developing so far, and he adds in some of his reflections on Ultima Online, and what MMOs in the next generation are going to need to do to succeed. Below are some of the more interesting parts of the interview.

When asked about which features of the TRhave they been working on in the recent months, Garriott had this to say:

I’d say missions and combat are the two areas we’ve been focusing on most…. Instead of like with most MMOs in combat, you highlight a target, then you ignore the target, because he’s just going to stand there and whack you… Tabula Rasa is a game where you’re really shooting through the reticule. You’re constantly observing what’s happening on the screen where you’re aiming. It’s still a role-playing game in the sense of when you shoot at something, it’s based on your equipment and attributes as to who will be injuredÂ…but they’re not just sitting there hitting you. Your opponent is moving and is aware of, say, if you’re behind sand bags, he has a lower probability of hitting you, so he may instead run around to the side, kick you to the ground and start rifle-butting you as required, or however they can find their best position to engage you.

So it’s no longer what I consider plodding-MMO-historical-type. This is an action-based role-playing game where you’re having to pay more attention to what’s going on on the battlefield.

When asked if things like flanking, and looking for cover have been added into the AI, Garriot explains that this is one of the aspects that the development team is most pleased with. He says that they worked hard to make sure that “each creature has an AI associated with it that will change the way you need to engage it.”

They go on to discuss things like PvP functionality and things like end-game options – you know, when you’re all decked out already and are at level 70 plus plus or something. But we’ll let you folks get to those details yourselves via our “read” link below. Anyway we’ll leave you folks with a rather amusing bit from the interview:

VE3D: What’s your character’s name?
Richard Garriott: What would you guess it would be?
VE3D: Umm…Commander British?

Tabula Rasa - Image 1

The folks of Voodoo Extreme were able to sit down with Richard Garriott at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences DICE Summit in Las Vegas. Garriott was able to give out some good info on how Tabula Rasa has been developing so far, and he adds in some of his reflections on Ultima Online, and what MMOs in the next generation are going to need to do to succeed. Below are some of the more interesting parts of the interview.

When asked about which features of the TRhave they been working on in the recent months, Garriott had this to say:

I’d say missions and combat are the two areas we’ve been focusing on most…. Instead of like with most MMOs in combat, you highlight a target, then you ignore the target, because he’s just going to stand there and whack you… Tabula Rasa is a game where you’re really shooting through the reticule. You’re constantly observing what’s happening on the screen where you’re aiming. It’s still a role-playing game in the sense of when you shoot at something, it’s based on your equipment and attributes as to who will be injuredÂ…but they’re not just sitting there hitting you. Your opponent is moving and is aware of, say, if you’re behind sand bags, he has a lower probability of hitting you, so he may instead run around to the side, kick you to the ground and start rifle-butting you as required, or however they can find their best position to engage you.

So it’s no longer what I consider plodding-MMO-historical-type. This is an action-based role-playing game where you’re having to pay more attention to what’s going on on the battlefield.

When asked if things like flanking, and looking for cover have been added into the AI, Garriot explains that this is one of the aspects that the development team is most pleased with. He says that they worked hard to make sure that “each creature has an AI associated with it that will change the way you need to engage it.”

They go on to discuss things like PvP functionality and things like end-game options – you know, when you’re all decked out already and are at level 70 plus plus or something. But we’ll let you folks get to those details yourselves via our “read” link below. Anyway we’ll leave you folks with a rather amusing bit from the interview:

VE3D: What’s your character’s name?
Richard Garriott: What would you guess it would be?
VE3D: Umm…Commander British?

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