[tr][td][i]It's been 4 years and 48 episodes later and AC is still going strong. WarCry decided to check in with some of the original creators who have given us what we all love today and see what they remember of the creation of Asheron's Call.[/i] |
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WarCry: What is your name and what was your role with Asheron's Call?
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Justin: My name is Justin Quimby and I was a game systems engineer for Asheron's Call for about three years. I programmed parts of melee, missile and magic combat, crafting, monster behavior, UI and other aspects of the game. I worked on the Live Team for a year or so after the game's launch. After working on some other internal projects at Turbine, I came back to AC to lead the engineering effort for Dark Majesty.
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WarCry: What is your back ground? How did you learn the skills that enabled you to get a job working on Asheron's Call?
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Justin: I got my computer science degree from Brown University. While I was in school, I managed to land a summer internship programming for Turbine. When I graduated, the company liked me and I liked Turbine, so full-time employment was the logical next step.
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WarCry: What are you doing now and what have you done since the end of the Bael'Zharon arc?
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Justin: After Dark Majesty, I did some work on Asheron's Call 2. Then I moved on to be the engineering component of Turbine's "NBT" team The "Next Big Thing" team was comprised of myself, Chris Foster and Pete MacDonald. We spent quite a while brainstorming new game ideas. At the end of the process, we had developed the initial game design concepts for both Middle-earth Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online. I transitioned into the Lead Engineer for the Dungeons & Dragons Online project. I can't say much about the game, but I'm living a childhood dream right now.
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WarCry: What MMOGs out there are you looking forward to playing?
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Justin: I am interested to see what Blizzard does with Worlds of Warcraft.
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WarCry: The Bael'Zharon story arc has been looked back on by many players as the finest arc in Asheron's Call history. What was your favorite part of that arc?
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Justin: I was always partial to the assassination of Gerta by Oswald.
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WarCry: Asheron's Call was one of the first MMOGs to put out monthly patches that forwarded the story as well as adding new content. Turning out content at that rate must have been a monumental task. What kind of hours were you working to get stuff out the door?
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Justin: I slept at the office. More than once.
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WarCry: MMOGs like Asheron's Call are played both through the game and on message boards and fansites by their fans. There have been some epic dust ups on message boards over changes that have gone on in Asheron's Call. As a whole what was your take on the fans? Where they a help or a hindrance?
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Justin: Our fans rock. It really is all about the fans. I love meeting them at the ACPL, it is great to hear their stories.
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WarCry: With the continuation of the Bael arc, we came to the Twilight's Gleaming Event which saw the off-camera destruction of both Arwic and Tufa. In the weeks leading up to that event the Shadows had been pulling players aside and giving them a "choice" about what town was to be destroyed. I think we all know that you were pulling our leg at this point with that. But, can you give us an insight in to the thought process, planning and implementation that went into blowing up the most crowded town in Osteth, as well as the least crowded one?
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Justin: Arwic was one of the first towns built on Osteth by the development team. Let's face it, the old layout was rather.... simplistic. I used the town green to test the code which handled monsters switching from missile to melee attacks. And so there was a certain gleam in everyone's eye when the idea came up for nuking a town. The cry went up "Nuke Arwic! Lay waste to the ghetto!" After that, it was pretty much a simple matter of adjusting the landscape, replacing the buildings with flaming wreckage, and putting the cow on fire.
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WarCry: What were some things that you wanted to implement but just didn't have the time, tech or whatever else to get in the game?
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Justin: Oh boy, that's a loaded question. It is not just things that the players would see, but also tools for content. Better NPC dialog building tools. Faster data building tools. For me, I would want to give as much power as possible to the live content team. They have come up with amazing stuff.
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WarCry: A lot has changed in the world of MMOGs since the launch of Asheron's Call. How do you think the game would be different if it was re-made and re-launched right now? Would it be as successful as it was four years ago?
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Justin: If Asheron's Call were to be re-made and launched today, it would be far more successful. Why? The live team. For the past three plus years, they have been pumping an enormous amount of content into the game, and built some truly fabulous new gameplay dynamics. Asheron's Call is a great game.
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WarCry: Is there anything that I've missed that you would like to tell all the players out there?
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Justin: Let me re-iterate. Our. Fans. Rock. The passion, creativity and community that our fans have brought to Asheron's Call is truly remarkable. Thanks.
