Microsoft Zone Archive/Toby Ragaini Interview

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"In the weeks leading up to Gamestock, Asheron's Call Lead Designer Toby Ragaini took a break to discuss a broad range of topics about this upcoming massively multiplayer Zone title with the MSN Gaming Zone."

Original Link (now dead) - http://zone.msn.com/news/interv1.asp

Interview with Toby Ragaini

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MSN Gaming Zone: You guys have been sequestered for awhile working hard on this game, and not much news has come out of your bunker. What's new with Asheron's Call since the last press release? We understand you've added 3D support.

Toby: That's correct. We've added D3D support, and a host of new graphic effects. We use a distance fog effect (which is set out further than in most flight sims) as well as some volumetric tricks which allow us to have moving volumes of fog. We also have light-coronas, multipass texturing, etc.

We've also added a complete day/night cycle that's really quite pretty. You can watch the sun come up, and the sky gets brighter. A few hours later, the sun sets, the stars come out, and the moon begins moving across the sky.

MSN Gaming Zone: A lot has been said about Sony Everquest's 3D-accelerated graphics. How do AC's graphics stack up?

Toby: I think AC's graphics are very much comparable, if not superior to, Everquest's. Our engine can push more polygons, and because of the way our level-of-detail system works, we have an even higher effective number of polys on-screen. Furthermore, although we take advantage of 3D accelerator cards, they're not a requirement to play the game.

MSN Gaming Zone: Could you explain a bit about AC's allegiance system and backstory? Has the allegiance system changed since you first came up with it?

Toby: The allegiance system is a part of the game that allows people to group together into allegiances based on loyalty. It actually hasn't changed much since we first conceived of it. Here's how it works: The more people that have sworn allegiance to you, the higher the nobility title you can attain. Having a title allows you to wield the most powerful weapons and armor in the game. Also keep in mind that your vassals create experience points that you can use to improve your character. It's good to be King, but remember to keep your vassals happy. They can change their allegiance if they want to!

Asheron's Call takes place in a mysterious world called Dereth. People began magically appearing on Dereth about 50 years ago but were quickly enslaved by the vicious, insect-like creatures called Olthoi. Thanks to the heroism of Elysa Strathelar, the humans rose up in righteous fury, and were able to overthrow the Olthoi.

The game takes place about 10 years after this victory. It is a dangerous and exciting time. Olthoi and other monsters still lurk in their dark domains. Humans have carved out a few small towns, and brave individuals have found the artifacts of a mystical race of people called the Empyrean, who once inhabited Dereth. Is there a connection between the Empyrean and the magical portals that dot the landscape? Many mysteries like these have yet to be solved.

MSN Gaming Zone: Can you comment on the progress of the spell system and monsters? We understand your beasties are completely original. What are some of your cooler spells?

Toby: We designed the monsters with eye on originality rather than copying mythological monsters. Here are some descriptions.

The small, pale, skulking DRUDGE darts toward you, squealing as it slashes with a dagger. Thankfully, drudges are not that dangerous, unless you happen to be surrounded by a half dozen of them, hacking away at you all at once....

The seven-foot BANDERLING, though cousin to the drudge, is not nearly as harmless-looking as it towers over you, bashing your head with a club. Your main solace is that it's bound to have better treasure for the taking, if only you can survive....

A sandy ARMOREDILLO may not look very imposing sunning itself on a dune, but come closer and it will snap its great jaws at you. And then watch out as it leaps into the air, turning its spines into whirling, spinning blades of death.

The towering gray LUGIANS tread the earth with thunderous steps. With their mighty limbs, they wield the biggest weapons anyone has ever seen. Nothing compares to the sight of an angry mountain of Lugian stomping toward you....

The chittering in the darkness and the glow of eyes betray the presence of the OLTHOI. The light catches upon shiny carapace and flashes from a razor-sharp claw. This is the adventurer's worst nightmare, come to life.

Some of the more fantastic spells in the game include:

Acid Volley -- This spell launches three caustic streams of acid at the unfortunate target.

Swiftkiller -- Casting this enchantment on a weapon makes it quicker and deadlier in battle.

Force Bolt -- This spell invokes a wave of pure concussive force, which brutalizes its target.

MSN Gaming Zone: Even without 3D acceleration, the environments were stunning in the playtests we saw, especially the open terrain, which really made you feel like you were outside. Describe some of the standout features of the environment and what went into creating such a huge, fully navigable world.

Toby: The most interesting thing about the landscape is that it is one contiguous environment. You can start running and not stop until you reach the sea, all without ever having to stop for level-loading. In fact, we had to devise our own tools to populate the over 500 square miles of terrain.

Some of the most breathtaking features of the landscape include the Obsidian Plains in the Direlands, the Sea Cliffs on the Southern Shore of Osteth, and the snow-covered forests of Mount Esper.

MSN Gaming Zone: A huge bugaboo of online games is server disconnect and lag. How do you see Asheron's Call performing, and what steps are you taking to minimize these problems?

Toby: You can't make lag go away. It's an inherent part of the Internet. You can, however, hide the effects of latency, and that's exactly what we've done. We've developed a few special kinds of technology to do this. One of these technologies is called dynamic load balancing. This allows the servers to distribute the processor load equally to all machines on the fly no matter where players are in the game world. We've also optimized the networking so that we are sending the absolute minimum amount of information along the pipe to the client. Finally, we have imbued the client software with a certain amount of client autonomy so that the user gets immediate feedback without have the annoying pauses we're all familiar with when surfing the Web.