Angry Amadeus said:
So. As to the breadth and depth of "the game" - and realizing this is still about as early as you can get into development - have you done any brainstorming sessions, held meetings where ideas were thrown about regarding "the game" (or "games" as it were), or generally done any other meditating on what you"d like to produce.
As far as fantasy goes, it seems you are generally interested in high fantasy as a genre. Is this the route that you"d like to take? Have you given any thought as to how you might deviate from the run-of-the-mill fantasy MMO"s which are already currently available or in the works?
Thanks.
PS - I kicked your dual-wielding ass with my level 7 swashbuckler.
The only thing I can tell you with regards to your questions is that yes, we are way way WAY past the brainstorming sessions. There are still many to be had for sure, but it"s way past the "Dude, how cool would it be if we did..." stage.
At the moment the finalists for the lead Studio position are being interviewed and looked at. Combined they have shipped over 100 titles, with many handling every aspect from putting a team together to dropping the CD into the box.
The only thing I can assure you of is this. I would consider myself to be a hard core MMO player, since the early days of UO. I"ve enjoyed the Alpha and Beta test phases of 7 different MMO"s. RA is a hardcore MMO player as well.
We know what"s out there from a content and gameplay standpoint, and we know that what we plan to bring to the table is something pretty special. Our goal is not to make "our game", or make a game to address what we think is wrong with games we play. While we certainly don"t want to reinvent the wheel where it currently has proved itself to be working, we do want to add things to the MMO space that we know for a fact don"t exist, or we believe were done poorly.
The goal is to create a company that creates titles that reflect our core values and beliefs to our customers. Titles that make people look at us and understand that we aren"t three rich kids lording over a bunch of people saying "make it do this" or "Make the game do that, cause that"s what I like".
Green Monster Games is my company. I started it alone and in doing so I envisioned the first title and what I thought would be a dream team. That"s where RA and Todd came in. RA has signed on with GMG to be the Creative Lead, Todd the Art Director, for this first game only. My hope is that it"s a partnership they will want to be involved in after this first game ships and succeeds, but when it comes to the bottom line I am the one responsible to the employees of GMG, the customers of GMG and the products GMG produces.
We are looking at a game right now that could potentially have a 50+ million dollar pre-launch budget, and understanding that if we achieve the vision we have set forth, we will change the landscape of this industry game wise, and company wise, forever.
The talent is falling into place in every aspect of this company, and the passion to do this is company wide and only getting stronger.
It"s a pretty exciting time but we all understand that the road ahead will offer some major bumps and bruises. If we don"t lose sight of the vision, the end game and our goals, we"ll arrive, and we think you"ll all be pretty fired up at what we end up with.
One more thing. We three understand this much. Todd can draw his butt off, RA can create the most epic thing you"ve ever wanted to see and be a part of, and I can lead until the cows come home. But if the game sucks, the game sucks. It is now and will always be that way. It will always come back to the game, regardless of the GREAT story, or epic art, it"s about the game, period.
