New MechWarrior Game (for real this time)

Maestro

Maestro

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So, guys, after over two years of waiting Piranha Games has finally announced the new MechWarrior game: MechWarrior Online, a free-to-play, multiplayer-only PC exclusive title.

I'm waiting to see how this pans out, but I am tentatively excited now that there is a solid gameplan, a definite release schedule, and it's PC-only.

Inner Sphere News Twitter feed.
 
Free to play mmo means there's going to be tons of shit to improve your mech/gameplay experience if you spend money. Or complete special offers and stuff. Betting there will be a secondary currency in addition to the main currency that you can only get by paying or completing offers.
 
Might want to read the literature. They specifically are saying that spending money will confer no tactical advantages. I'm thinking more like TF2 hats, with paintjobs, decals, etc. costing money. Believe me when I say the fastest way this game could die is making it Pay2Win.
 
Holy. Balls. I. Just. Came.
 
****
yessssssssssssssssssssssss
 
Yep, so excited to see this project is not only alive but progressing strongly! Those were 2 stressful years of silence after they released that bitchin trailer back in 2009.

The developers have emphasized that they won't confer tactical advantages with the F2P model, so I'm guessing in addition to cosmetic stuff you will be able to grind for ingame currency/upgrades or take the shortcut option and buy them straight up.

The old FASA guys are helping with creative direction and design so it stands a fair chance of being awesome.
 
Sounds like World of Tanks but with Mechs. Could turn out well.
 
I'm cautiously optimistic.

If we're lucky, it will be close to what Multiplayer BattleTech: 3025 was supposed to be before EA canned it.

There are still a lot of question marks though, such as what engine they are using (The old footage was running on UE3 but apparently they haven't currently decided what engine to use for MWO.)

I am also kind of worried about "No AI", especially since you're supposed to be able to choose what faction you want to play for. I fear that it might mean you get a faction that has far too many players in it with far too few opponents on other factions.

Still, the announcement of this as well as an official Shadowrun Online from another developer has me all excited for 2012!
 
Further news from the man (Bryan Ekman) himself: Why you want MechWarrior Online to be Free-To-Play.

Since the announcement came out, one of the hottest topics has been about Free-To-Play (F2P). This Into the Lab will discuss the details of why MechWarrior® Online™ is F2P and how we came to love the concept () and why you should too. So let’s get started.

How many times have you bought a game for 60 bucks and felt disappointed? Or if you’re like me, paid 60 bucks, played for 2 hours and never touched the game again because you get busy with life or work? Or loved a game so much, that you wished there was more, only to wait 2 years for a sequel! The Free-To-Play model solves this problem by allowing players to drive value and content.

How does this translate into MechWarrior™ Online™? Great question! Let’s talk about the design principle we’re using to drive MWO, simply referred to as: “All Carrot, No Stick”.

The core experience is available to anyone for no cost at all. You as the player, get to choose how and if you spend money. And make no mistake, I want you to spend money, but only on the things YOU value. In fact, when you spend your money, it tells me that we’ve succeeded in creating a game players enjoy. Sounds like a basket full of carrots to me.

Key to achieving this concept is a design that rewards players for participation, skill, tactical thinking, team play, and heroics in a way that is engaging to the individual and contributes to the overall community experience. These rewards take many forms, including in-game currency called C-Bills, experience points, and prestige. Players can also purchase items which make this experience more fun, engaging, or efficient depending on what matters to them.

For example, if you are an offense player like me, you will be rewarded with money, experience, and prestige by dealing damage, and killing or helping to kill the enemy. I’m also a collector; I love to own one of everything. So MWO provides me with the ability to acquire and store items of value (collector), while rewarding me for doing what I love most, crushing other MechWarriors in the field of battle (offense player)!

We are catering to all major player archetypes, the lone wolf, the team player, the collector, the efficiency/tuner, the tinkerer/builder, the leader and many more. These archetypes are all represented within the context of MechWarrior® Online™ a free-to-play BattleMech action/sim.

Now let’s talk about Pay-To-Win, the red-headed step child (no offense to all the red heads, we really do love you).

There are those who will rumble about Pay-2-Win, which equates to the person with the biggest wallet winning. I’m not going to lie, some things can and will allow you to acquire items faster, or even instantly with real cash.

Foul! Foul! You said you can’t buy a tactical advantage! That’s a stick! That guy with the wallet is going to be able to buy the biggest, bad assed items in the game! He’s going to kick my butt with his wallet.

Well here’s some food for thought, maybe the biggest isn’t always the best! To take a quote from an early MechWarrior® presentation – This is not your father’s MechWarrior®! One of our core pillars is Role Warfare and is designed to, well – level the playing field – another concept from our original design. We're doing away with the arms race and making BattleMechs of all shapes and sizes have a purpose and role on the battlefield. If you love scouting, grab that light mech, train and gear it up. Be that sneaky guy who relays critical information back to the rest of your lance. Maybe you’re a commander type, who loves to multitask, directing fire support, air strikes, and multiple lances in a mech suitable to that role. If you play any of these roles well, and with skill, you will be rewarded.

So remember this, time and experience (the real kind), will always equal greater skill. Greater skill will always equal more rewards. You can’t buy skill, you earn it.

Now if that wasn’t enough here are some of my other favourite reasons why you want MechWarrior® Online™ to be F2P!
We can iterate quickly.

This means we can listen to your feedback and actually do something about it.

We have live game metrics.

This means we can respond to key indicators and refine the game play experience.

We are not bound by content delivery limitations of a console platform.

For now, getting new content delivered through a console is a costly and arduous process.

We can use test servers and a beta community to test our ideas and new content before pushing it to live servers.

This isn’t new concept. However, it’s vital to keeping the quality bar high for MWO.

In summary:

All Carrot, No Stick.
Balanced roles to suit a variety of player styles.
Skill is earned.
You can make your own choices!
Spend money on things YOU value.
MechWarrior™ rules! (Fan Boy moment)
Click to expand...
 
Wait, so I'm confused, will you be able to spend real money to get items that actually have an effect on gameplay quicker then you would if you just played the game without spending cash?

If so, boo.

I was hoping this wouldn't be TF2 but that rather the only things money would gain you would be visual stuff, no form of equipment that altered performance or such of any kind.
 
Maestro said:
Might want to read the literature. They specifically are saying that spending money will confer no tactical advantages. I'm thinking more like TF2 hats, with paintjobs, decals, etc. costing money. Believe me when I say the fastest way this game could die is making it Pay2Win.
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I’m not going to lie, some things can and will allow you to acquire items faster, or even instantly with real cash.
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Whoops.

Their justification is completely nonsensical. "You need skill to be good at the game. Money alone won't make you a winner." Well no shit? What game could you buy skill? Obviously you need skill to effectively use the things you buy. The point is that people can gain advantages by paying money. That is the only thing that matters. No amount of "but you need to be good at the game too!" explanation is going to change that. This is exactly what I was talking about in my first post in the thread. Obviously you aren't going to be able to beat anyone simply by buying everything. You'd need to be good at the game too. But 2 people will equal skill levels, the guy who bought some extra shit is going to have the advantage.

I just don't get why it seems like they're trying to separate themselves from some previous pay-to-win system by saying you need skill to be good at the game. That was never untrue....
 
I think you guys clocked out right about here:
Well here’s some food for thought, maybe the biggest isn’t always the best! To take a quote from an early MechWarrior® presentation – This is not your father’s MechWarrior®! One of our core pillars is Role Warfare and is designed to, well – level the playing field – another concept from our original design. We're doing away with the arms race and making BattleMechs of all shapes and sizes have a purpose and role on the battlefield. If you love scouting, grab that light mech, train and gear it up. Be that sneaky guy who relays critical information back to the rest of your lance. Maybe you’re a commander type, who loves to multitask, directing fire support, air strikes, and multiple lances in a mech suitable to that role. If you play any of these roles well, and with skill, you will be rewarded.
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I'd also mention this is not WoT, where it's most DEFINITELY P2W, and the devs don't give a ****. This is MechWarrior, Ekman actually posts on the forums. BattleTech has always been marked by a community that is incredibly influential on the game itself. If people say something provides an unfair advantage then there's a good chance that feature will be phased out.
 
Maestro said:
I think you guys clocked out right about here:
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You know, quoting something again without offering any actual explanation doesn't accomplish anything.


Maestro said:
I'd also mention this is not WoT, where it's most DEFINITELY P2W, and the devs don't give a ****. This is MechWarrior, Ekman actually posts on the forums. BattleTech has always been marked by a community that is incredibly influential on the game itself. If people say something provides an unfair advantage then there's a good chance that feature will be phased out.
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Then why are they having this pay-to-get-shit-easier system in the first place? Why can't it be inconsequential stuff like skins and design related stuff?
 
Sounds to me like you will be able to purchase items that will let you get better equipment faster, but that's the extent of "paying to win" and you can still grind / play to earn those same good equipment.

As far as I'm concerned, it's not "Pay to Win" if you can win without paying, e.g. by spending TIME (playing the game to get better equipment) rather than actual money.

From the sounds of it you will be able to play satisfactorily even if you don't spend any money, and for those of us who are willing to shell out some cash to play Mechwarrior it still sounds like you could get what you want (various mechs outfitted for different roles) without spending an exorbitant amount of money. I would spend up to $60 on a Mechwarrior game and so I'd be theoretically willing to pay up to $60 in the F2P model as long as it doesn't turn out to be something where you MUST spend lots of money consistently as time goes on to stay competitive.

Vegeta - because they can't really make enough money just by letting people customize the colors of their mechs and whatnot.
 
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Maestro said:
This is MechWarrior, Ekman actually posts on the forums. BattleTech has always been marked by a community that is incredibly influential on the game itself. If people say something provides an unfair advantage then there's a good chance that feature will be phased out.
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Know who else was super active in their community? Brad McQuaid, in the run-up to the release of Vanguard. Mother****er posted every day, and they weren't even his own sites (Sigil opted to let the community carry the torch instead of, you know, managing their own forums). He managed to rally the entire community around his vision of the game by answering questions and being outwardly receptive to people's concerns. He even fed the trolls and NDA breakers who said his game would be terrible (which it was).

Know why he was so active? Because of the abundance of free time he had on account of all the not developing.

Granted, that's one example, and an extreme one, but I've followed a few games up to release where the developers were active in the community, and most of them turned out pretty bad (then again, most of them were also MMOs). Point being, engaging your community can be nice if the developers are competent to begin with, but it's not really an indicator of quality or balance in and of itself. Mostly it's more of a marketing tactic than anything, at least pre-release.
 
Alright, I can't really argue against a lot of what's being said. We will have to wait until we see what happens, until then it's hard to say either way. I, however, have a lot of faith in these guys. They are actually MechWarrior fans, and Weisman (creator of BT) is advising them.
 
Maestro said:
I'd also mention this is not WoT, where it's most DEFINITELY P2W, and the devs don't give a ****.
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Eh wat, has WoT changed since beta? The 'pay advantages' really weren't that great then, they just shortened the grind somewhat/sped up progression.
 
The thing is, being able to pay money to substantially shorten grind/speed up progression is still a gameplay advantage no matter how you phrase it.

I think it's a bullshit system if one very rich person can get access to every single item in the game upon release but another person has to grind for years to get to where the rich person is in terms of equipment choices and such.

I would much rather have had this be a proper MMO like MPBT 3025.
 
Gargantou said:
The thing is, being able to pay money to substantially shorten grind/speed up progression is still a gameplay advantage no matter how you phrase it.

I think it's a bullshit system if one very rich person can get access to every single item in the game upon release but another person has to grind for years to get to where the rich person is in terms of equipment choices and such.

I would much rather have had this be a proper MMO like MPBT 3025.
Click to expand...

A point made on the MWO advantages is that there is a distinction between in-game advantages (items exclusively available through paying) and meta-game advantages (items which aid in grind speed/repair time/etc.). I think this whole thing depends on execution.
 
New Developer Q&A Session. It doesn't give a lot of details, but it's got some good information.

PART I (the forum software is a pussy and caps at 16000 characters)

Participants:

Bryan Ekman – Creative Director – Head of design and vision.
Dennis DeKoning – Art Director – Head of art.
Matt Craig – Technical Director – Head of engineering.
Matt Newman – Producer – Project planning and management.
Paul Inouye – Lead Designer – Game systems and presentation.
David Bradley – Game Designer – Overseeing Mech combat and BattleTech® rules.


What are you doing to get the sense of scale right for piloting a giant BattleMech?

[DENNIS] Right from the beginning, the importance of accurately representing the scale of the ‘Mechs was evident. Depending on the world assets alone for size comparison was not enough; the ‘Mechs had to be able to stand alone and still be convincing in their scale. Adding a variety of smaller, ancillary objects achieved this goal as long as they were recognizable and therefore bases for comparison against the overall bulk. I.e. Ladder rungs, hatches, tie-down cleats etc. provided they were to the appropriate scale and appeared to be usable to a human. Another way was through the use of appropriate texture scale such as scratches, gouges, paint patterns and details too small to justify geometry.


I assume that game play will be in the form of some type of match system. If so, how long would you estimate a typical match would last?

[PAUL] Right now we’re thinking a normal match with objectives would take approximately 20 minutes. But please keep in mind, this number might change through gameplay testing.


What is your definition of tactical advantage; can you provide examples? Is there an end game (themepark) or is it open ended (sandbox)?


[PAUL] A tactical advantage gives a player more information than his/her opponent. This can also relate to the strict numbers game, in which the calculated odds of winning are skewed to one side of the 50/50 chance of success. When dealing with tactical advantage in MWO, we look at it from both perspectives. The first is that we want to make sure that teamwork will provide a tactical advantage, as it should. A team that works efficiently with each other should have a higher chance of success compared to a bunch of players doing their own thing. The second perspective is where we want to make sure that players do not have a statistical, tactical advantage where their chance of winning is increased by bad tuning/balancing.


[MATT N] If I can see you before you see me that is a tactical advantage.


Can players start a Merc Corp that is already canon? Or will you protect canon faction/unit names? I.e. I want to start the Eridian Light Horse Merc Corp, I’m the first to register the Merc Corp’s name so is it mine or will I be able to join the Waco Rangers and interact in it like I would a House unit?


[PAUL] Merc Corp names are registered names. Once it’s taken, it’s gone. As for canon protected faction/unit names, we will be locking out some of the key players in the BT timeline.


At this point, how often would you guys like to introduce new content/store items/features/etc. per year?


[PAUL] A bi-weekly release schedule would be ideal. I’ve played numerous on-line games where content stagnated and it became very frustrating waiting for promised items and not having them show up. We’ll be working with our art team and content teams to make sure we get items and maps out in a timely manner. Content is the longest game development process so we’ll be working diligently to get you the stuff as soon as possible.


[MATT N] I would like to introduce new items all the time. New Content takes the longest but it would be great to have weekly patches.


Are we going to see new elements to the cockpit, such as the 360 degree squeezed into 180 degrees view bar mentioned so many times in the novels?


[DAVID] The most prominent new addition to the cockpit will be elements dedicated to managing your InfoTech. Some of these, like different vision modes, have been seen before in other ‘Mech games. Others, such as data and images from your UAVs and remote sensors will be brand new to MechWarrior® Online™.


[MATT C] While we are very conscious of the games canon we are equally conscious of drawing from the canon the aspects that are fun when translated into a game. Say we were testing out having a 360 degree view and it made the game less fun during play testing I think it is safe to say we would cut it, at the current stage of development we are still trying out new ideas relating to the cockpit design so you never know what may end up in the game at launch.
One of the beautiful things with the F2P model that we’re growing to love as developers is that unlike a boxed product where our options to make changes based on consumer feedback are severely limited, with this model if the community demands a feature enough post launch then there is every possibility and intention that that can happen. As excited as we are to see the game upon launch we are just as excited to see what the game will look like a year from launch.

[MATT N] How about Hula girls? You like Hula girls right?


Is this game going to have lots of servers like a WoW or are you hoping for a single persistent server world like EVE Online?


[MATT C] Each game spawns its own dedicated server, these are not persistent like WoW, as mentioned that would take us into MMO territory. There is persistent game world information, i.e. match results are communicated to affect the balance of power in the Inner Sphere, who owns what planet etc. but there is no true persistent world, more of a persistent meta-game.


[MATT N] Lots of Servers Lots and Lots of servers


How much attention is being given to audio fidelity and is there a particular MW game you will be drawing sound effects from?


[MATT C] We are very focused on giving MWO the best audio fidelity within the project constraints; we don’t plan to pull sound effects from any particular game. As with most aspects of the game we are drawing from the best that has gone before and then adding our own Piranha twist.


[PAUL] I’ll add that we firmly believe that nothing will kill the gameplay experience faster than bad game audio. We will be generating all new audio content for MWO. Remastering old sound from previous MechWarrior® titles would not do MWO justice and it wouldn’t be too appealing to you the player either.


[MATT N] What was that? I can’t hear you over the sound of my Hunchback’s AC-10!


Do you guys have any idea if you will be hitting any Cons next year with early versions of the game? I need to know so I can figure out which to go to (Please say PAX)


[PAUL] If Bryan pays, I’ll go to whatever cons he mentions in his reply.

[BRYAN] Future announcements will reveal our marketing plans. We are going to be a key trade shows next year.


With the release timeframe you have, are you planning on releasing a fairly compact but well developed game and adding lots of content in the months following that?


[PAUL] Herein lays the beauty of the F2P model. We will be releasing the compact but well developed game that we want players to experience with the ability to expand on the core presentation to give you the AAA quality title that we want to share with the awesome community that has been waiting for so long. Our use of agile project development and listening to community feedback allows us to steer and correct our designs and implementation as needed.


[MATT N] In my mind Quality has always trumped Quantity. Especially when you can continually add content and respond to what the users want with updates.


How long has the game been in development? how far along is development? (is more of the game on paper or code currently)


[PAUL] The game has been in development for a short period of time following a fairly lengthy pre-production cycle. That being said, our internal engineering team is burning through code faster than words can describe. There’s a passion driving them to make the best MechWarrior® game for the players and fans around the world.


[MATT C] The key goal with the release schedule is, to release a solid chunk of core gameplay and content that reflect the pillars that have already been described. Beyond that, we’ll be very anxious to see how it is received by the community.

[MATT N] 2762.5 , Not Alpha Yet, We don’t use paper.


Do you have plans to support head tracking, such as the popular-in-the-sim-community TrackIR 5.0? In previous FAQ's, you have stated that it will be possible to destroy certain buildings in urban areas. What other types of destructible terrain are you planning on implementing?

[MATT C] Stay tuned for future announcements regarding technology partners. We’re not at a stage currently to discuss everything with regards to destructibility in the game. Just know that we want to blow everything up as much as you do!


Will the MechWarrior® (that is, the player's avatar within the 'Mech) be subject to any particular effects during missions (e.g. injury resulting from hits to the BattleMech's head, falling, ammo explosions (injury as the result of an electric shock from feedback through the neurohelmet), and/or prolonged extreme overheating of the 'Mech)?


[PAUL] We are continuing to investigate what we will be able to do, but it’s a fine line between providing detail and obscuring gameplay and HUD information.


[DAVID] The MechWarrior® won’t actually take any sort of damage or be at risk of dying separately from the ‘Mech itself. However, we hope to have some visual effects like the ones that you’ve mentioned.


[MATT N] If you get shot with an AC-20 in the head the hula girl has real Hula girl Physics™!


Will you have PvE elements on MechWarrior Online?


[PAUL] I may or may not pass out depending on Bryan’s answer to this.

[BRYAN] Not at launch. We're looking at ways to incorporate PVE post launch and withing the framwork of the MWO concept.


What difficulties have you had transferring the mechanics from the tabletop game to a PC game, and what mechanics have you had to change or modify? Since this is a reboot, will history change in-game or do you mean reboot in the same way as a movie franchise is rebooted?


[MATT N] Hey you said REBOOT! You win a prize! Someone knows how to get their questions answered! Good job!


[PAUL] Challenging question and I’ll try my best to answer. There’s been a common misconception amongst the community that I’d like to clear up. While MechWarrior® Online™ does refer to BattleTech® for historical and canon reference, it does not mean that it’s a direct port of the table top rules to a videogame. The table top rules are laid out to make sense for a turn based strategy game. Some of those rules just don’t apply when dealing with a real time game environment. Core rules such as munitions accuracy, heat management and movement speed will have to be tuned for real time gameplay and will differ in varying degrees from the table top rules. How far they differ will come out of gameplay testing and tuning and at this point I cannot comment further on how that progress is going. It is an exciting time in the studio right now and I don’t want to release information too soon and have it change on you, the community, later. I am quite vulnerable to pitchforks and torches.


[DAVID] While there hasn’t been anything that I would call a great difficulty, the thing that we always have to keep in mind is that we want to capture all of the flavour of the tabletop game but need to be aware of when a direct translation of a tabletop system won’t work for a real time computer game. Though I would say that the biggest impasse we’ve come across is melee combat; that’s a system we don’t want to tackle until we know we can do it right.
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PART II (forum software caps at 16000 characters, previous post is the first half of the Q&A session)

I know the original trailer had a Warhammer in it, so will the reboot have the un-seen, re-seen or will the 12 not be seen at all?


[MATT N] I remember that trailer and I don’t think there was a Warhammer in there... I think it was an Urban Mech. Man I love those trash cans.


[PAUL] And you guys think I should be medicated?!?


Do you have plans in rebooting the series to take it past MWO like books or movies? Has there been anything that has been added or removed from the series to make the reboot more appetizing to newcomers? Are there any fears that you have about rebooting the franchise?


[PAUL] There will always be some fear when dealing with such a large franchise that has a huge and loyal fan base. We are all fans of the franchise and want to put out the best game we can and we also look to you, the community, to help us achieve that. The passion that has been demonstrated throughout the community really drives home the importance of our decisions here in the studio and we hope you can bear with us as we detail design and implementation to make the final feature set rock solid. As for any changes made for newcomers, I think the level of accessibility (controls and training) will be the determining factor of keeping them interested. I’ve been working with the design team to make sure we address anything that my turn a newcomer away on their first day.


[MATT N] No comment. And we have NO FEAR! We are MechWarriors®!

[BRYAN] The MW rights are scattered across the known universe. The chances are low that anything we do here in MWO will translate into other mediums.


In regards to the Unseen, does this mean we will see the Marauder, Archer, and the rest of the 'Unseens'? Will they be the original formats, the 'Reseens' or will they be Alex's own variations on these iconic ‘Mechs?


[MATT N] If we are going to make any Mech, it is going to go through Alex’s treatment.


Reboot can mean many things to many people, from changing the entire storyline, system, and everything else to just making small changes here and there to some of the ‘Mechs weapons, etc. My question is this, what specifically, does “Reboot” mean to you and the creators of this game? What do you plan on rebooting as a whole? The entire game world from the ground up? Cosmetic changes to most of the units? What direction do you plan on taking when rebooting MW entirely?


[MATT N] For me it means, the ‘Mechs get a visual overhaul and the gameplay is tweaked to mitigate: always knowing where the enemy is, the arms race, circle strafing and legging being too viable.


[PAUL] For me it’s the opportunity to bring the franchise up to date in both graphical and gameplay capabilities. Yes, the various incarnations of MechWarrior® were fun and a lot of nostalgia comes with it. One of the fun tasks of being a designer on this project is the ability to keep that sense of nostalgia while bringing forth modern gaming features. Leveling, skill trees, persistence, economy tracking and stat tracking are just some of the features that we all love and would love to see in MechWarrior® Online™. It’s really a chance to add features, to a game that we’re all familiar with, that really round out the experience as a whole. As a systems designer, I look forward to the challenge of keeping the core experience of MechWarrior®, mixing in some new game mechanics and give you MechWarrior® Online™.


From the DevBlog on the reboot, what do you mean by: “Solve some of the long standing gameplay issues from previous MechWarrior® games?”


[PAUL] For me it’s the open expanses of flat terrain that evolved into circle strafing madness. While it will still be part of the game, our new environments will allow us to curtail that type of gameplay while opening up new avenues of exploration and Information Warfare bringing every class of ‘Mech to the front lines of combat. Yes you will be able to form a team of all assault class ‘Mechs, but you’re going to end up as fodder to a co-ordinated team of mixed class ‘Mechs and an orchestrating commander.


Beyond being online and persistent; how will MWO bring the MW concept forward, or will it be more of the same simply updated? Second will the game be more sim-like than previous titles that show barren cockpits and play like driving tanks in FPS games?


[PAUL] We used to throw around a tag line here at Piranha. “This is not your father’s MechWarrior®”. There are so many aspects of gameplay that are being added to MechWarrior® Online™ that the game will feel different in a very good way. Our ability to feedback information to a player has evolved drastically since the last MechWarrior® title. This includes updated HUD displays, cockpit displays and if you have the toys, force feedback and more! Our cockpit is not barren. We are implementing new technologies to allow you to look at various instrument panels and get tactical information by doing so. Combat between ‘Mechs shouldn’t be just spotting an enemy and shooting. Logistics and battlefield awareness should play a role as well considering you’re piloting a massive powerhouse into combat.


Is there any particular aspect of the combat which you felt needed to be radically revised and/or updated?


[DAVID] The greatest challenge when it comes to combat would be properly implementing melee combat. As a result, this is something that we’re going to put on hold until we know we can do it right. As for more traditional aspects of MechWarrior® combat, we want to make sure that there exists a proper balance to the different weight classes of ‘Mechs, so that they each have their own distinct uses, and encourage good team play when used together.


[PAUL] To touch on David’s comment, we are also bringing in the ability to skill up your pilot. Your pilot is the actual avatar sitting in the cockpit. The dude or dudette that you’re viewing the world through. This brings a whole new level of pilot awareness to the battlefield and you’ll be hard pressed to see why it wasn’t included before. You will be able to fine tune your pilot’s skills into one of the various roles we have planned for MechWarrior® Online™. This includes scouting and commanding for your team mates.


How much influence is the forum and its participants having on your decisions, if any?


[MATT N] The Forum creates great catalysts for Discussion on how we implement the planned features and sometimes inspire unplanned features.


[DAVID] We do check in on the forums from time to time. There are a lot of interesting ideas that come out of the debates on there, and we do keep some of those considerations in mind.


[PAUL] I frequent the forums on a semi-daily basis. A lot of the conversations have a lot of thought put into the suggestions and opinions and I find that the conversations provide us with a lot of insight into our target audience and what you the gamer is going to expect in our final product. There are a lot of great ideas that are simply out of our scope for this project but it’s good to know that we are not far off base when looking at our current feature set and what the community is asking for. I do however have a deep burning hatred for all things “My Little Pony”.


What do you consider the fundamental core of the BattleTech® Universe that you feel can't be touched during a reboot? What do you feel needs to be changed the most?


[PAUL] I don’t think we want to change anything behind the lore of the BattleTech® Universe. The story lines and rich history of the Great Houses and families that drive them along with the politics and controversy are just something we think is at the heart of every MechWarrior® fan. You can even see this right now in the MechWarrior® Online™ forums where the various House discussions show how the community can identify themselves with one of the factions involved in the universe. Another thing we wouldn’t want to change is the elite status of the MechWarrior® themselves. To say a MechWarrior® is just a pilot/driver of a ‘Mech is like saying that a ‘Mech engineer is just a tinkerer. As for what would need to be changed the most, I think some of the technology and industrial designs need to be updated to meet today’s understanding of future technologies.


Targeting in the table top game had no group fire, and damage from each weapon was randomly distributed across different areas of the 'Mech. Will you be "rebooting" group fire? PS: Do you like my location?


[GARTH] He says he's on top of the TNT roof with binoculars, I think we should answer that.


[PAUL] I won’t answer squat unless he has a gun.


Okay seriously, the topic of pin-point accuracy/concentrated damage is something we are going to have to watch very carefully. There’s no real reason why lasers shouldn’t be pin-point accurate and ballistic shot munitions shouldn’t do area damage. We could go into numerous physics debates discussing how particles (including energy) disseminate over distance but that is not going to be conclusive to balanced gameplay. As for group fire, there’s nothing really wrong with the model and it provides a means of making a MechWarrior® tactically think about what gets fired and when. Needless to say, gameplay tuning will drive how we approach targeting and concentrated/area damage.


Have you any plans to add new material to give a unique MWO perspective and enhance the end users experience?


[PAUL] There are two pillars in our design mandate that target this question directly. The first is Role Warfare where we make sure that players of any play style will find their niche and each niche is a positive supplement to their Lance or Team. The second is Information Warfare where we bring in our InfoTech systems which help players relay information back and forth between forward scouts and the rest of the team. This information relay system allows scout and commanders to pass information to assault and defending ‘Mechs.


In rebooting the MechWarrior® game what was the game designers’ rationale for the year 3049 being chosen?


[DAVID] I think that starting just before the Clan invasion allows us the greatest opportunity to really dive into BattleTech setting. We get to start with just the Inner Sphere, who are experiencing a surge of newly (re)discovered technology, and their inter-House politics, and then we get to shake things up when the Clans arrive. Running the game through the Clan Invasion allows the players to experience for themselves what is arguably the best known period in BattleTech history.


[PAUL] We want the player base to be able to experience Inner Sphere tech combat and really to get used to how ‘Mech technology works. We want players to really get into this game and create builds that they can share with friends and allow the community to share strategies in combat and creating/customizing BattleMechs. We figured that the exciting time following the Succession Wars just prior to the Clan Invasion would allow us to really create some intense House vs. House tensions. We also want to introduce other aspects of instability that happened during the introduction and subsequent invasion of the Clans. Starting the game in 3049 made the most sense as we will be able to front load the experience of MechWarrior® Online™ to the first two years of the game being live. Who knows what kind of interesting bits and pieces might appear in the game as time progresses?


Is the trailer for the game really in game footage? Because if it is, then the game will be amazing!


[PAUL] The 2009 video teaser is not the trailer for MechWarrior Online. It was a technology and inspiration piece that we created and yes it was all in-game footage. DevBlog0 and the FAQ on this site explain in detail the creation of the video and what it was used for.
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Oh...dear. I hope CryEngine 3 is better than CryEngine 2.
 
The 2009 trailer was done in UE3 but it does seem they've decided in CryEngine 3. I hope they made this decision a long time ago and are just announcing it... otherwise I'll be pretty sad if they are just beginning in engine work NOW.

I wonder if the Crysis mod Mechwarrior: Living Legends had anything to do with their decision to use CryEngine3? As far as I'm concerned the entire MW:LL team deserves to get hired straight to the dev team.
 
MW:LL has a good team...but MekTek frankly has a much better chance. They've got the portfolio of work vastly more impressive than MW:LL. Frankly it wouldn't surprise me if MekTek Development got contracted to do extra material.
 
Ennui said:
The 2009 trailer was done in UE3 but it does seem they've decided in CryEngine 3. I hope they made this decision a long time ago and are just announcing it... otherwise I'll be pretty sad if they are just beginning in engine work NOW.

I wonder if the Crysis mod Mechwarrior: Living Legends had anything to do with their decision to use CryEngine3? As far as I'm concerned the entire MW:LL team deserves to get hired straight to the dev team.
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Yes, but as the devs have stated the old MW was an entirely different game, it had a single-player component with a story very similar to that of the original MechWarrior game (I.e. your family gets deposed from power, you have to regain power.) and was even due to be multi-platform (PC + consoles.)

My personal guess is that somewhere along the line Smith & Tinker got afraid that such a costly project might not bring in enough profit, so they decided to down-scale their ambitions and go for a lower budget F2P title to begin with.

Maestro said:
MW:LL has a good team...but MekTek frankly has a much better chance. They've got the portfolio of work vastly more impressive than MW:LL. Frankly it wouldn't surprise me if MekTek Development got contracted to do extra material.
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Frankly it would surprise me, this is a F2P title after all so they probably haven't been given the budget to run around contracting people left and right, especially before the micro-sales pick up after the games release.
 
Why guess, when you can know?

Anyway, I said it wouldn't surprise me if MekTek got contracted to do work, but I don't necessarily expect it. If anyone gets asked to help the project along, though, it would definitely BE MekTek. MW:LL has the flashier rep in the mod community, but it's MekTek that's got the experience of 10 years in software, hi-res 3D models, and community building.
 
Ah, that clarified quite a bit.

I'm still sad we're not getting a proper full-blown 'traditional' MechWarrior game (I.e. with both an SP and MP component.)
 
I think we'll possibly see those components come out as they generate revenue to support it. The devs probably don't have the resources for AI right now, though. They do know, however, that the MW community would pay good money for SP or even co-op campaigns of solid quality.
 
Developer Interview 2 With Randall Bills, Continuity Director

In 2 sections to conform with forum software's weaksaucery.

http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/47-developer-interview-2-randall-bills

MechWarrior® Online™: Can you give us a brief biography on yourself?

Randall Bills: I’ve worked in the Adventure Gaming industry for a decade and a half. I’ve lead the direct development and publication of over a hundred sourcebooks, rulebooks, box sets and game aides. In addition to writing eight novels and a host of online fiction, I’ve been the continuity editor for over fifty novels—as well as half a million words of online fiction—for BattleTech.

I’m currently the Managing Line Developer for Catalyst Game Labs, overseeing the strategic development of the perennial BattleTech and Shadowrun properties, while still writing/developing some BattleTech products under the direction of the current BattleTech Line Developer, Herb Beas.

In addition to those two giant game lines, I’m also overseeing the development of new universes and games, such as the alternate history/steampunk miniatures game Leviathans and the golden science fiction era, pulp-style Cosmic Patrol RPG, as well as new casual board and card games.


MWO: What does your position on MechWarrior Online entail?

RB: The best way to describe my job with MechWarrior Online is Continuity Editor and Fiction Content Manager.

Continuity Editor means that Piranha passes just about everything through me to make sure we put as much BattleTech polish on everything as possible within the constraints of their electronic game medium.

Now that can be a two-way street. For example Piranha might ask me for a list of BattleMechs that would be most appropriate to start the game with based upon the Era they’re looking at. I then generate that list and include a set of criteria for why I chose the list, so they can review and push back if they have in-game reasons for X or Y choice that might not be on my list.

The two-way street part is that instead of me generating content and/or lists completely on my end, they will send documents for me to comment on. For example they might send me a proposal for one of their in-game maps, which includes concept sketches, back-ground details on the specific world/terrain, and so on. I’ll then read through the entire document and provide specific feedback on where the details they’re developing need to be tweaked into X or Y direction to ensure it feels more like BattleTech.

For the Fiction Content Manager portion, that’s about providing the fiction content they need for their site and ultimately the game. This aspect is very much a “living position”, meaning it’ll be growing and expanding as development continues on the game. Currently I’m writing all the INN tweets they’re publishing and I’m just now starting to write (and coordinate the editing) on larger fiction pieces for the website. Heading into next year the demands for how much fictional content will be needed leading up to the launch of the game (and beyond, of course) will increase exponential. What I can’t generate directly (simply due to time constraints with all my other commitments), I’ll manage the creation of through the author pool of talent that’s been working on BattleTech for long years.



MWO: What is your favourite part of your job?

RB: The easy quip is “I get to make crap up for a living!”

The more complete answer is the single most enjoyable part of my job is working with motivated, creatively talented individuals in bringing cool, fun experiences to a community. Whether that’s a novel, a sourcebook, miniatures rules, a board game, an RPG: doesn’t matter what it is, or the ultimate medium…it’s all incredibly enjoyable and immensely satisfying.

I’ve had those experiences for most of my working career across a huge variety of projects. Yet working on something you love adds a whole other dimension. And despite over 15 years working on BattleTech, it still remains one of my biggest geek-loves…the inner 14-year-old in me still yells that titanic metal robots stomping across alien worlds and blowing crap up never, ever gets old.

To have that type of working relationship growing with Piranha so that I can be a part of bringing MechWarrior Online to a community that’s been waiting patiently for a BattleTech computer game this cool for a long, long time…I’m still geeking out about it (I’ve got a big, sloppy smile on just typing this up).



MWO: Why do you think the MechWarrior community is as loyal and dedicated as it is?

RB: At its core I think there are some basic elements that created an initial community and have kept that community all these years.

1. Giant robots blowing stuff up is cool!
2. The factions are incredible iconic and there’s plenty to choose from.
3. Epic story telling.
4. Vibrant, living characters that span the spectrum from hero to villain.

Each of those points overlaps in various ways providing many different ‘snares’ to any given fan. It creates a living, breathing universe that moves far beyond “just a game.” It spawns situations where players—whether in a computer game, a roleplaying game, or on the miniatures table—can have gaming experiences where they fight valiantly for their faction, they play apart of a critical moment described in a novel they’ve read, or they actually meet the characters from the fiction in their games…and survive to fight another day.

Those are the stories you share at conventions and across social media and emails and gaming tables. Stories that hook players into the universe and never let go…


MWO: How did you get involved with BattleTech?

RB: That’s a long, rather convoluted story…I’ll try and keep it short. I promise…ahahah.

First, fan-wise, when I was thirteen I’d moved to AZ and first saw a particular anime series of teenagers in transformable robots saving the world from alien invasion. I was blown away…I’d never imagined a “cartoon” so complex, so filled with adult themes and stories…and over-flowing with giant robots blowing crap up (note the theme…).

When I was fourteen I first saw the BattleTech box set (2nd Edition) on a store shelf and immediately thought there was a connection to the anime series and knew I had to buy it (the confusion was sorted rather quickly, of course, but that Warhammer on the cover just wouldn’t let go of my imagination).

But $20 was a good chunk of money for my 14-year-old self and it took me almost a month to convince myself to buy it. I finally made the decision and along with my best friends Chad and Tony, we biked down to the store and purchased a copy. We tore back home, read the rules at lightning speed and in less than 30 minutes we had a game going: Chad in a Warhammer, me in a BattleMaster, standing right next to each other alpha striking, and Tony in a Marauder plinking away at max range with its AC/5…and there was no looking back. In fact, thinking hard about it, I’m just realizing that that plunge into BattleTech was exactly 25 years ago this month…my head, it’s full of ’Mechs.

Professionally, that’s the convoluted part. In the early 90s my gaming group had begun running most of the BattleTech events at conventions in the Tempe/Mesa area and so my name had started to percolate just a little at the FASA offices (i.e. corresponding with FASA for convention support).

In ‘94 most of my gaming group traveled to Gen Con for the first time and despite best efforts made a nuisance of ourselves geeking out at the FASA booth (and I decided I could never ‘not’ go again; been attending ever since).

In ‘95 Brian Nystul, the BattleTech Line Developer at the time, was brought out to Hex-a-Con as a guest and I asked him if he wanted to play in a “3039 variant” I’d designed of the strategic-level BattleTech box set game Succession Wars. He actually said yes and we stayed up all Saturday night playing (I’ve still got that around here somewhere and while it’s painfully clunky…it was really my first attempt at serious game design).

Two months later my gaming group was back at Gen Con and we even got permission to go to the FASA offices after the show, where we were monster fan-boys, despite my best efforts to ‘be cool’. For example the Clan homeworlds map had not yet been published and we saw it pinned up on Bryan’s wall, so we were trying to distract him while we copied the map down. Ahaha…painful, but funny thinking back on it.

Right after that point FASA decided they needed a development assistant. While they started looking locally, someone said “hey, what about that guy from AZ?” First they didn’t believe I’d moved 1,800 miles to be paid the absolute deplorable wage they offered. But I also didn’t know until years later that they almost didn’t want to even interview me because of the fan-boy office experience. Only because Bryan had spent endless hours with me at that convention did he give me a good word and so FASA gave me a chance.

Course at the end I almost did balk at it…moving 1,800 miles for crap pay to a city I’d never been to, to an apartment we picked off a map, to a place with no family, no job set up for my wife, leaving all my friends and the gaming group I’d spent years building…I was a wreck for a week. But my wife, bless her soul, gave me the kick I needed: “If you don’t take this job, you’re not the man I married.”

They say behind every great leader is a great woman. Same applies here…I say behind every happy gamer (professional or not) is a wonderful wife (or husband) that puts up with far too much crap…no way I’d be here today, excited to dive into a brand new BattleTech adventure with MechWarrior Online without Tara.


MWO: Why do you enjoy the BattleTech universe?

RB: Beyond that inner 14-year-old above yelling that blowing crap up is cool?! Or beyond the points I listed above of what makes BattleTech compelling?

Now don’t get me wrong…I love aliens. In fact some of my favorite movies and TV shows I watch I’m endlessly bemoaning that the aliens aren’t alien enough.

However, one of the things that’s always fascinated me and something I often explore in my fiction, is the idea that what mankind does to itself can be far more horrific then any monsters or aliens. And that includes overt wars, Machiavellian amoral moves in the dark by geopolitical power players, or even how we endlessly damage ourselves.

Despite BattleTech’s scifi setting, almost without exception what occurs in the universe is driven by mankind. The most fantastic, uplifting achievements and the basest abominations: it’s all at the hands of the characters that populate the universe, from the best and brightest hero to the blackest villain.

Now BattleTech has plenty of black & white characters…simply something that’s going to happen when you’ve published tens of millions of words from hundreds of authors over two and a half decades. But even with those black & white characters, BattleTech is filled with a thousand shades of grey that bring the universe to life in ways that are always compelling. There’s always someone to cheer for and someone to love-to-hate.

Obviously I still enjoy playing the board game; in fact I’m right in the middle of starting up a rather large game with my son right now. But without those story elements that I can still read and enjoy, not sure the love affair would’ve lasted all these years.


MWO: You’ve written many books on BattleTech over the years – which one stands out as your favourite?


RB: Stop asking the hard questions! Hahaha. Seriously though, not even sure where to begin…so many favorites for so many different reasons.

If you’re asking about my novels I’d probably have to go with the Dark Age Era Heretic’s Faith. I was able to invent and explore a whole faction sub-culture there, as well as delving into different types of story telling techniques (such as a re-verse flashback sequence) that really pushed my skills.

As for the board game…I’d probably have to say Total Warfare, the current core rulebook (and by extension the entire core line of rulebooks for the board game). They were actually incredibly intimidating to tackle. While the core of BattleMech combat mechanics remain as they always have, I changed more in the core rules than every previous line developer combined. Not to mention completely changing the presentation of the physical books to color and hardback, mixing in heavy doses of fiction, folding in aerospace units, and more.

It was a huge undertaking and the book’s not perfect by any stretch. But a good chunk of the renewed interest in playing BattleTech that Catalyst Game Labs has revitalized these last few years can potentially be laid at the feet of that new core rulebook line, and stands as one of my proudest professional achievements.


MWO: Is there any part of one of the books you’d love to see re-enacted in MechWarrior Online?

RB: Two things immediately pop to mind.

1. Orbital insertions. Being on a DropShip and then getting inside the ’Mech, which is then cocooned and dropped into an orbital insertion. You’re totally blind as the ablative cocoon heats up around you and then suddenly it explodes away from you and you’re plummeting towards the ground, aerospace fighters attacking you as they streak by, as the boiling conflict below leaps towards you at terminal velocity and you’ve got to use your jump jets just right to survive touch down and instantly launch into a battle where the enemy’s got the upper hand… That’s a level of action and immersion that would take MechWarrior Online to a whole new level.
2. Physical attacks. Yes, even in the fiction and board games they’re not as effective as weapons fire. But there’s a visceral feel to punching a BattleMech, or chopping at one with a hatchet, or charging/Death From Above that’s just awesome when you land it. It shouldn’t work very well and be hard to pull off…but when you do pull it off it should be a move everyone in the game talks about for some time to come.


MWO: How many of the MechWarrior Video games have you worked on?

RB: I’ve had various levels of involvement with, if I remember correctly, half a dozen different BattleTech computer games of various types (including those I’m working on now).



MWO: Which MechWarrior Video game has been your favourite so far?

RB: That’s a hard question to answer. To this day I think the ability to roam across dozens of planets and negotiate your own contracts found in the original MechWarrior was wonderfully immersive and gave players a feeling of control of their experience that was more RPG than FPS.

At the same time being able to re-experience the epic-story telling of the Clan Invasion through MechWarrior 2 (and the various expansion packs) was awesome.

And of course MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries and its Solaris VII fighting was beyond a blast.

mmm…if push comes to shove, however, I think I’d have to go ahead and say MechWarrior 2. The epic nature of the experience and storytelling (even if the gaming experience itself was better in other iterations) rates it at the top for me.
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Developer Interview 2 With Randall Bills, Continuity Director

Section 2

http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/47-developer-interview-2-randall-bills

MWO: If you had to pick the ‘greatest MechWarrior’ of all time, who would it be?

RB: mmm…I know this is likely going to spark discussion, but I think I have to go with Kai Allard-Liao.

The scene in Michael Stackpole’s Lost Destiny: Blood of Kerensky Volume 3 novel, where Kai is on Alyina and the Jade Falcon Elemental Malthus finds out who Kai really is—Malthus has been hunting him under a different name—and he and his fellow Elementals start laughing at themselves that they should’ve sent an entire Star (25) of Elementals against Kai…that scene remains one of my all time favorites, and is a wonderful end cap to the progression of Kai, showcasing how freakishly dangerous he is in a ’Mech.


MWO: What BattleTech rules do you think haven’t been translated well to Video games? Which have been translated well?

RB: I don’t think missile weapons and jumping have ever been done as well as they should to reflect the reality of the BattleTech universe.

In previous games a big assault ’Mech with nothing but long-range missiles could be one of the most powerful units in the game. LRMs absolutely have their place, but the lock, fire and forget vibe of previous games introduced an element that’s very rare in BattleTech. It should be the skill of the pilot, not of the BattleMech and its computers that makes the difference.

As for jump jets, some of the games were terrible at it, turning jump-capable ’Mechs into hover-BattleMechs. Others have been better, but I still don’t think they really captured the ferocity of a 70-ton BattleMech hurtling through the air in a harsh ballistic arc. There should almost be a growl sound as that 70-ton BattleMech hammers up over a hill and down into the ground, unleashing weapons right in your face.

As for things done right, the latest iterations of the game I thought did damage really well. Especially as a BattleMech starts on fire and then belches smoke, the way it limps and stagers as actuators are destroyed, and so on. That’s a great, visceral feel to watch as your opponent degrades in front of you as you continue to savage him.


MWO: Is there any part of MechWarrior you’d love to just take straight out of canon?

RB: I’ve said many times over the years that if I’d been there the game mechanics of the Clan weaponry would be very different. It’s not just how powerful those weapons are, but that it seemed from the get go to violate the story aesthetics as presented.

Here were these great, in-your-face warriors and yet they had weapons that allowed a player, in game to simply walk backwards and fire at crazy distances to down your enemy. When we introduced the Clan Heavy Lasers years ago those were more along the lines of what I thought the Clans should’ve had all along…really dangerous and powerful weapons, but shortish range, where the Clanner would be in his element, able to take down 3 and 4 enemy BattleMechs in a whirling dervish of expert maneuvering and markmanship.


MWO: BattleTech has a large cast of strong female characters. What is it about BattleTech/MechWarrior that allows it to highlight women so effectively?

RB: Well right out of the gate there’s an issue of BattleMechs and how much they equalize the playing field. If you're a great pilot your nationality, or your ethnicity, or your gender doesn’t matter…you’re still gonna kick butt and take salvage.

I think it’s also a matter of how, from the very start, most female characters have been portrayed by a variety of authors. Instead of the damsel-in-distress syndrome of far too many game universes, from the get-go BattleTech chose molds such as Elizabeth (The Virgin Queen), or using an example from other fiction, Sarah Conner from Terminator 2.

In other words, women in BattleTech can be just as Machiavellian and politically potent as any male counter-part, while they can be just as ruthless and physically capable. The scene of Sarah doing chin-ups in her cell when you first see her in T2 when the Dr. shows up, and she turns around with ‘that’ look in her eye and says: “Good morning Dr. Silverman…how’s the knee.” Memorable, powerful…literally forces you to take a mental step backwards in your seat the first time you see it…a heroine you know is going to savage you on any battlefield if you get on her bad side. I always imagined Natasha Kerensky was very much in that mold right there.



MWO: Which part of MechWarrior Online are you most excited about?

RB: Beyond blowing crap up…ahahah.

Actually the thing that has me most excited is the chance to see all types of BattleMechs have a place on the battlefield. While I’ve enjoyed many of the computer games over the years, almost all of them were either a race to the assault BattleMechs, or a race to some of the most powerful weapons (uummmLRMsuumm).

To know that I can jump in a light ’Mech and do exactly what you can pull off in the board game (and just as important, what the fiction depicts for the universe) with a true melding of multiple tactics to achieve victory …that’ll be a truly spectacular geek-out moment to experience.



MWO: Do you have a big timeline bible? A lot happens in the BattleTech universe, how much do you have memorized?

RB: Hahah…first, yes. Very big ones. The way in which Catalyst Game Labs told the story of the Jihad over the last six years was pretty unusual from previous story arcs such as the Clan Invasion or Fourth Succession War and so it necessitated keeping very good track of a living timeline. Back in 2004 before we launched the Jihad, Herb (the current BattleTech Line Developer) and I put together a 10,000 word timeline/proposal for how we’d be handling just the first sourcebook. Six years and a dozen sourcebooks and hundreds of stories latter that master timeline document that stretches in-universe from a few years before the Jihad (and the seeds that were sown for various events) up through the Dark Age era clocks in at a staggering 115,000 words.

As for what I remember, honestly, I don’t have memorized nearly what I used to. When FASA first hired me back in 1996 I had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the most crazy minutia within the universe; a consequence of my gaming group loving to try and stump each other in trivia across the gaming table. So in many ways the instant and correct knowledge on my tongue is less than it was…but I do almost always know exactly where I need to go hunting to find a piece of minutia if I can’t remember. (Not to mention if push comes to shove I toss out a quick request to our fantastic fact-checking volunteer apparatus…great, great, bunch of people that help ensure continuity quality for Catalyst books.)



MWO: What House would you pledge allegiance too, or are you a Mercenary?

RB: House Kurita. Something about the honorable samurai standing against a horde of enemies—even when his master’s betrayed him—that has always captured my imagination. Not to mention Heir to the Dragon remains one of my all-time favorite BattleTech novels, so I’m sure that colored my perception right at the start of my BattleTech experiences.



MWO: Do you have a favourite Mercenary faction?

RB: Northwind Highlanders. While I'm a proverbial “mutt” so far as I’ve blood from a pile of nationalities, one of the biggest contributors is Scottish…particularly the Campbell name. Due to that connection I’ve technically the right to where the black watch tartan. So not only does that already give me an affinity towards all things Scottish, but the death of the Black Watch during the fall of the Star League is one of my all time favorite stories of the BattleTech universe.

Then I was given the chance to write the Northwind Highlanders scenario pack my first year at FASA…the very first cover credit I ever received. That type of emotional/professional connection will always leave them my favorites.



MWO: Which is your favourite ’Mech and Why?

RB: Ahhaha…15 years at this job and I still get asked that question often. It’s almost impossible to answer, though. I’ve got favorite ’Mechs I’ve played, favorite ’Mechs I’ve designed, favorite ’Mechs for how they look…but if push comes to shove, similar to the “emotional connections” to Northwind Highlanders above, I think I’d have to go with the Banshee 3S. Here’s the path to why it became my favourite (sorry for the length, but it’s a fun story I hope the community enjoys reading):

In the original Technical Readout: 3025 BNC-3E Banshee write-up it discussed the fact that House Steiner had begun experimenting with a “S” variant of the 3E.

Enter BattleTechnology, a magazine published in the late 80s and early 90s as a companion to BattleTech. What made the magazine so compelling is that the entire thing (from fiction, to ads, to scenarios) was presented as though it were a magazine published from within the universe. It provided a level of immersion I’d never experienced with a gaming magazine.

In issue 0202 there was a full TRO write-up for the BNC-3S, which expanded upon the details of Technical Readout: 3025, covering its development and field testing, including discussing that a 3S was destroyed during a raid on La Grave in 3027. It was one of my first views of how you could add a whole pile of new, cool material within the lines of what’s already been published without upsetting any continuity.

The next BattleTechnology issue was covering the start of the Fourth Succession War (Michael Stackpole’s Warrior trilogy that began that story arc had just published), and the editor asked the fans to write in with a “where were you when the Fourth War began?” Again, this was an “in universe” perspective, so the write-ups had to be as though you were a MechWarior in the universe.

I’d fallen in love with what a monster the 3S could be on the gaming table. Then, having seen that BattleTechnology example on how you can write new material within the confines of existing material, I wrote up a letter to mail. On how I was part of a merc unit with a blood feud against House Steiner in the employ of the Draconis Combine and were part of the force that struck the La Grave system in ‘27 and were directly involved in the attack on that 3S. Since the snakes would never give salvage rights to a merc unit at the time, the merc unit did some obfuscation and managed to hide the salvage on their DropShip and get off planet with it. By the time of the start of the Fourth War a year later, the merc unit had managed to patch it back together and could ram the Lyran’s own 95-ton unit down their own throat.

In other words, I plugged all those details into existing continuity without upsetting any core issues…and took my first step down the path of the job of any writer/developer in an on-going, shared universe.

That little letter was actually published in BattleTechnology Issue #9. In fact I was at a local gaming convention called Hex-a-Con in AZ when I picked up that issue in the dealer’s room, walking the floor, and I stopped dead as I realized my letter had been published. The writing is terrible and it’s only a few paragraphs long…but my dream of being a writer and working on BattleTech were ignited on that day…thus leaving the 3S as my all time favourite design.



MWO: Which ’Mech redesign is your favourite so far? Are there any ’Mechs you really want to see redone?

RB: I really love the Hunchback. One of the things I love about Alex work (and why Catalyst Game Labs has used him many times for the board game) is that often he manages to capture the essence of what a particular BattleMech looks like and conveys that in a new and exciting way that makes you take a double-take on a design you’ve been seeing for more than twenty years.

Despite the subtle changes he’s made, the Hunchback “screams” Hunchback in a way that immediately makes we want to grab some dice…er…until MechWarrior Online is out, then it’ll be a joystick of course…

As for which I’d like to see a new version of…well, considering my emotional connection to the 3S…would love to see Alex’ take on a Banshee.



MWO: If you were a MechWarrior, what would your focus be? Scout? Brawler? LRM-Camper?

RB: Despite initially loving assault ’Mechs (as noted above), I prefer what I call “knife-fighters”. Designs that are exceedingly maneuverable with a small but finely-tuned set of weapons and I can bounce in and round the enemy units on the knife’s edge: death to the enemy by a thousand paper-cuts…but if I’m not patient and careful only a few good hits will take me down.

My current favourite for that is a variant I was lucky enough to design: PXH-7k Phoenix Hawk (the record sheet is found in the Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged — Project Phoenix pdf). With its jump of 9 and Snub-nose PPC, along with enough armor to help you past a few mistakes…it’s almost the perfect knife fighter.

Now don’t get me wrong…walking a Clan Hellstar onto the field and unloading four Clan ER PPCs into an enemy that literally tears a medium ’Mech in half has its own visceral fun. But I love the skill of the knife fight…as well as the frustration on my opponent’s face that I keep him bleeding while he can hardly touch me.



MWO: How big a role does electronics gear (C3, ECM, Active Probes, etc) play in the BattleTech Universe?

RB: In the Succession War Eras, not much. But from the time of the Clan Invasion on it’s played a huge role. In fact the entire way in which the Clan Invasion was ultimately halted was presented from ComStar’s extensive training in combined-arms tactics, which including electronic warfare. And that aspect has only grown.

Personally I really enjoy playing such electronic warfare out on the gaming table. Conveys a fantastic level of immersion for my games.


MWO: Does the community ever surprise you with how well it knows the BattleTech universe?

RB: I shouldn’t be surprised at this point. But every once in a while they can still surprised me on that front.

Course I love how in-depth their knowledge is across the universe, because I know it comes from that same love and respect for the universe that I have.

In fact, it’s that very knowledge and love that we’ve harnessed over the last decade to create several volunteer fact-checking groups; great, dedicated fans that love to see the universe and game always growing and improving. Their in-put and support has made all the BattleTech books published by Catalyst Game Labs that much better.



Check out Randall's (and others) work on the BattleTech universe at http://www.catalystgamelabs.com, and for all things BattleTech there's the source of it all: http://www.battletech.com.
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Community Q&A 2 – Community Warfare

http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/68-developer-qa-2

Participants:

Matt Craig – Technical Director – Head of Engineering

Bryan Ekman – Creative Director – Head of Design and Vision

Paul Inouye – Lead Designer – Game Systems and Presentation

Matt Newman – Producer – Project Planning and Management
How large are you planning to make match sizes in terms of number of players? 4 vs 4, 8 vs 8...etc. –Red Beard

[MATT C] The current plan is for a maximum of 12 vs. 12 so long as we can ensure a solid play experience for that many players, otherwise we would fall back to 8 vs. 8.
Will there be open servers with no impact on the worlds? –Technoviking

[BRYAN] All Ranked matches affect the Inner Sphere. We are considering several options for non-ranked matches, such as a practice server for players to test out tactics and BattleMech builds.
Are you guys going to have special event matches for historically-important worlds that are more formalized, one-off, wave-style matches? –GaussDragon

[BRYAN] The problem with historic battles is they have predictable and necessary outcomes. We are looking at creative ways to involve the community in these key events.
Can a Merc players ALSO be faction player, as in belonging to a Merc Corp AND faction rank? –Agasutin

[PAUL] Once you’ve decided on your role in the Community Warfare aspect of MWO, you stay in that role. It is possible to switch but it is not possible to be in multiple roles at the same time.
Will faction affiliated players be able to play with lone wolves in the "random matches" at will? –That Guy

[PAUL] Yes. The faction players will have their ranks filled with lone wolves in the event that not enough players can be found for a given match.
How will it still be desireable for someone, to play as a Lone Wolf when there is no special content to be earned that way, or is there going to be other stuff which only a Lone Wolf can acquire? –Sesambrot

[BRYAN] While Lone Wolves do not participate in the faction aspect of MWO’s community warfare, they will play an integral role in lending their services to faction and merc units. Post launch, we plan to give lone wolf players a broader set of roles in the universe.
In the Dev Blog 1 it was mentioned "The Merc Corp must have a minimum amount of loyalty points with a faction before they are able to engage in planetary combat on behalf of that faction." How will they gather that minimum amount of LP before being able to fight for that faction, if they are not allowed to fight for them? –Amechwarrior

[PAUL] Every Merc Corp will start with a small amount of LP in each House. This would be considered the “neutral” amount of LP required for small contracts issued by the Houses. From that point on, any actions taken by the Merc Corp will result in LP gains with one House and LP losses with another. LP is exactly what it sounds like… loyalty to a House.
Will there be sub-units to join within factions? In other words, can my friends and I join a specific regiment in order to assure that we will play together beyond lance-based formations? –Kudzu

[BRYAN] As part of ranking up players will be able to join faction units. Post launch we will support the ability for players to create their own faction units.
Can a series of Matches (say on differing planets) be offered and then fought one after the other against different factions or Merc Corps? –MaddMaxx

[PAUL] This is ideal and will probably not be ready for launch but it will be in the game shortly after.
Since a contract system is being used for merc corps. What prevents a merc corp from bidding 1 c-bill for every world they want to fight on if they have sufficient money saved up from previous operations? –Black Sunder

[PAUL] The bidding on a contract involves a minimum bid (i.e. reserve). The bidding is done in a silent auction format where you will not be able to see bids made by other Merc Corps. You will only know that there have been X number of bids placed which all exceed the minimum bid amount. If this reserve is not met, the contract expires.
Is it possible to change status as a player from one to another. For example, Lone Wolf > Faction Player and back etc? –sadamle

[PAUL] Yes players can switch player types but it will be at a cost. A lot of the rewards associated with one player type will be lost during the transition. We don’t want players flip flopping back and forth between play types, hence there will be an amount of sacrifice you must agree to in order to switch.
How is faction imbalance going to be dealt with? –Kaemon

[PAUL] There are a number of mechanics that solve this issue. It’s a matter a choosing which one fits best with the theme of MechWarrior. Certain incentives can be provided to join a specific House and there can be kickbacks in terms of lower operating costs if you are in a less populated House. We are still addressing this issue and will let you know in a future update as to our conclusion.
Do factions have access to unique mechs or weapons? -cobrafive

[BRYAN] No. Prices may vary, but everyone has equal access to items.
So, what kind of external third party league integration is being considered in relation to the community combat? –Pht

[BRYAN] Since MechWarrior® Online™ is by nature a competitive game, we’ve designed all aspects of gameplay to feed back into a variety of scoring systems to generate ladders, rankings/leaderboards, and statistics. We do not plan to support private matches or leagues at launch.
Why is Loyalty decay needed in the first place, and what plans are there to safeguard the interests of a player who's real life interferes with his ability to continuously gain Loyalty? –jojobear

[PAUL] I’ll try to cover this in as much detail as I can since it’s a burning topic in the forums. Loyalty decay is something that we want to implement to reward players who are truly dedicated to the game. This is not a measure of passion or loyalty to the game but a mechanic to keep the top tiers of player ranking in a highly competitive state.

I’m going to take a step back and explain the 3 underlying systems that equate to player progression. These systems are Pilot Leveling, Mech Leveling and Faction Leveling.

Pilot Leveling – Experience Points (XP) are rewarded for in-game actions and completion of objectives and winning matches. XP is a running accumulator that does not decay or take anything you’ve earned away. This is the same mechanic found in most games that have an XP leveling system. We’ve added a slight modification to this system in which you can train your pilot using the XP you’ve earned.

Mech Leveling – You earn Mech XP (MXP) for some in-game actions and match wins. This information is stored on a per chassis basis. Similar to the Pilot Tree, BattleMechs have an efficiency tree. Mech XP is used to purchase these efficiencies.

Faction Leveling – For certain in-game actions and fighting for a specific House, you will earn Loyalty Points (LP). LP does start to decay after a grace period of in-activity. Accumulating LP allows you to get a military rank within the House you’re being loyal to. The ranks in a House give you benefits and rewards that vary as you climb the military tree.

Now concerning Rank and Loyalty Point Decay…

Once you have achieved a rank, you keep that rank and all of its benefits… PERMANENTLY. Loyalty Decay starts to happen when you as the player have become in-active for a long period of time. Yes, there is a grace period during with Loyalty Decay will not happen. We fully understand that not all players will be able to play every day and we take this into account with this said grace period.

If you as the player are MIA for an extended period of time, it is understandable that you lose loyalty with the House you are representing. While you may lose loyalty, you do not lose your benefits and rewards. Let’s say for example that you’ve reached the rank of Captain and have 5,000 LP. If your extended leave causes decay to kick in, you will not lose the rank of Captain. Instead, what will happen is, your rank will change to Honorary Captain. Now let’s assume that you are away for so long that your LP has dropped to 3,000 LP. In order to remove the “Honorary” part of your rank, you’ll have to gain 2,000 LP. All the while, you will NOT lose access to the rewards and benefits of a regular Captain. As a Captain, you would have been entitled to X C-bills as a salary per day as long as you logged in. As an Honorary Captain, your salary will be reduced slightly but returns to full once you become an active Captain again.

One last point, Rank does NOT equal command during a match. You do not get to tell people what to do because you’re senior rank, you do not make important faction calls, etc. Rank is purely a reward system for consistent and successful gameplay.
Will Mercenary units be able to purchase/utilize custom skins and logos for their unit members? –Mason Grimm

[BRYAN] External player generated content will not be available at launch. We plan to provide players with a set of tools and in-game content for Mech and Merc Corp customization.
Considering the unstable nature of internet gaming, (dropouts, severe lag, etc.), how will these be handled in regards to LP if a match gets disrupted? Will partial LP be given out or will the match have to be done over? What if several participants lose their connection and greatly unbalance the match in favour of one side? –Gemini

[MATT C] No special concessions can be made for disconnects or severe lag, if a team loses a match due to these factors then it’s just bad luck. Anything we could add to detect these conditions and declare the match void opens the door to worse exploits where players purposefully disconnect to void match results when they are losing. These situations are very hard to deal with as a disconnect from lag looks identical to an intentional cable pull. All players in a match when it ends will get the match rewards, disconnected players will not gain any progression as rewards are handed out at the end of a match.
Since player rankings were brought up in direct comparison to games like the Call of Duty series or Battlefield series, what can we expect to see in terms of "special privileges" as you earn promotions? I know in the Battlefield games, for example, higher ranks not only unlock additional equipment, in several games they actually influenced your opportunities to become battlefield commander. –Ghost

[PAUL] Battlefield and Call of Duty are a different weapon/play mechanic than what makes up MechWarrior. In the two FPS’s mentioned, all weapons are very close in terms of efficiency of poking holes through your opponents. If they give you a “better” gun for being a higher rank, it’s not THAT big of an issue because in the end, a bullet hitting your target is a bullet hitting your target. In MechWarrior, this is not really the case. There are a lot more traits of firing a weapon that you need to pay attention to in order to keep it and you in working condition (heat, weight, weapon type, etc). That being said, we will not be providing weapons or Mechs at higher ranks, but we will provide low to zero impact items such as skins and other visual customizations.
Who controls how Merc contracts are put together and presented to various Merc groups? –Skwisgaar Skwigelf

[MATT C] For launch Merc contracts will be computer controlled eventually if desirable these could be opened up to the player base.

[PAUL] Your Merc Corp HQ is fitted with a virtual bulletin board that displays available contracts. These contracts, as Matt has said, will be computer/game generated depending on what’s happening in the InnerSphere.
Will mercenary companies be able to hire one another for missions? I know you mentioned bidding to fight, but say if one side is putting up 2 lances, but the attackers only have 1 lance active. Could the attackers pay allies to join them on contract for that mission? –Cattra Kell

[BRYAN] Post launch.
Will planetary control come down to one/a few games, or will taking over a planet require much more time...like 20 games? –Cyttorak

[MATT C] At launch planetary control will consist of single matches though over time we intend to add support for sequenced matches.
Can members of a Mercenary Corp also work directly for a faction, and in addition to this if no, is there any way for Mercenary Corps to assist in the fight for faction worlds, not to take for themselves, but to assist the faction. –Haeso

[MATT C] Yes Merc Corps work for factions, though the planets taken working for a Merc Corp are different from the planets taken when working within the faction.
(BONUS MATT QUESTION) Are hula-girls in any way connected to community warfare?

[MATT N] No the Hula girls do not give a 10% buff your your loyalty points nor do they prevent LP decay ... was that what you wanted me to say Paul? Can you untie me now?

[MATT C] He can untie you when he’s done tuning the hula girl physics and not a minute sooner…



PS. [GARTH] Thank you for your questions everyone, they've been great as usual! Also everyone might want to check their forum profiles for a certain feature we've enabled today. Cheers!
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Dev Blog 1 - Community Warfare

http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/44-dev-blog-1-community-warfare

This is a little anachronistic, this actually came before Q&A 2, but I missed it before. It's been a little too hectic for me to stay on top of things recently.

Dev Blog 1 - Community Warfare

It’s been a month since the launch of MechWarrior® Online™’s website and we’ve generated a lot of buzz and content. As promised last week, we’ve prepared a developer blog about Community Warfare.

Since Community Warfare is a large topic, we decided to focus this blog on one specific topic, the Inner Sphere and Faction Warfare.

Contributors for this blog include Paul Inouye and Bryan Ekman.
Inner Sphere

It all starts with the concept of the Inner Sphere and a living timeline. Each day that passes here on Earth, also passes in the virtual MechWarrior® Online™ Inner Sphere.

Wednesday December 7th, 2011 is Wednesday December 7th, 3048.

This means every time you log into MechWarrior® Online™something new has happened. News Updates via the ISN feed, news reporter features, and battle feeds, keep players up-to-date on current events. Feeds can be viewed through a dynamic universe map or RSS style feed, in game or online at the MechWarrior® Online™website (coming soon).

For those unfamiliar with what the Inner Sphere looks like, here’s a map:
Inner%20Sphere%203048.png

Faction Warfare

The Inner Sphere is broken up into several factions, each with their own regions and sub-regions. Each faction is warring with at least one other faction at all times in a universal territory battle. Players can be active or passive participants in this battle by following one of three paths:

Pledging Allegiance to a Faction
Joining a Mercenary Corporation
Remaining Neutral

At its core, the territory battle is a fight for resources – planets. Planets are divided into three types. Each type requires a more active level of participation by the player and as a result earns a greater reward.

Core Worlds – Are managed by the dev team. These are worlds that necessary for future planning and part of major historical events.
Faction Worlds – Are fought over by Faction players. These planets buffer core and border worlds, and do not play a significant role in major historical events. Rewards for controlling these planets are directly linked to global bonuses and abilities associated with a player’s Faction.
Border Worlds – Are fought over via a contract bidding system by player run Mercenary Corporations. These planets change hands on a regular basis, and have no impact on historical events. Rewards for controlling a boarder world are significant and go directly to the occupying Merc Corp.

It’s important to state now, that worlds can change from Border to Faction to Core, or any combination thereof, at any time by the development team. This will be necessary to facilitate dramatic changes in faction territory control as we progress through some tumultuous times within the BattleTech® universe.
Faction Worlds

The battle for control over faction planets is a simple war of attrition. The faction with the most influence over a particular planet occupies it. By virtue of simply competing in online matches, faction players contribute influence points to target planets.
Border Worlds

Mercenary Corporations can bid and fight for occupation rights of border worlds throughout the Inner Sphere. Merc Corps must bid on a planet’s occupation rights via a system of contracts generated by the game.

A match or series of matches are set up between the defending Merc Corp and the challenger. The victor is determined from the results of each match, and takes control of the planet. They are rewarded with an immediate contract payout, and will continue to earn rewards while they occupy the planet.
Loyalty Points and Ranks

Loyalty Points are used to determine how devoted you have been to a particular faction. The more loyal you are, the greater the reward. LPs are earned by engaging in activities that further the goals of a particular faction.

For Example: Killing an enemy faction player would earn 1 LP.

Loyalty Points decay over time if a player is not active. Participating in negative actions can also decrease LPs.
Faction Players

As a Faction Player, loyalty points are earned by playing and winning matches. As the player accumulates loyalty points, they will gain a military faction rank at pre-determined loyalty point totals. If a player loses LPs by decay or negative actions, they will be demoted.

Gaining ranks earns special privileges and items, including membership to special units, unit skins, and bonuses to C-Bills and XP. These are all non-permanent and subject to the player maintaining a certain rank level. At the highest possible levels, players can begin to influence their faction by controlling which planets are targeted in territory conquest.
Mercenary Corp Players

As a Mercenary Corporation, all members’ earned loyalty points go to the Merc Corp. The Merc Corp must have a minimum amount of loyalty points with a faction before they are able to engage in planetary combat on behalf of that faction. Loyalty points also determine the type and level of contract a Merc Corp is permitted to bid on. These loyalty point restrictions mean that a Merc Corp’s membership, must remain active in order to maintain the required level of LPs.

Ranks are created within a Merc Corp by the Merc Corp leader. The naming of the ranks is entirely up to the Merc Corp leader who can assign Merc Corp level permissions to each rank.
Lone Wolf Players

As a lone wolf, the player can earn loyalty points through participation in random matches, however these LPs have no positive or negative implications. A lone wolf player does not have any ranks.
Disclaimer

We’re committed to releasing information about BETA ready concepts only, however some ideas and concepts are still subject to change after testing.
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New Faction Allegiance Icons

http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/69-faction-allegiance-icons

Good news everyone! We have enabled the ability to show your Faction allegiance (including Mercenary and Lone Wolf) in your forum profile, which just so happens to be your user portrait! Changing it is simple, and merely requires you to log into your forum profile, and click on the 'Select Allegiance Icon' text over the currently blank portrait. Then you select the image, and confirm your choice.
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For those of you who just hit "latest post" there are four more preceding this which I just posted that are major news pieces released by the developer in the last few weeks.
 
Developer Interview 3: David Bradley, Bryan Ekman, Paul Inouye

Part 1/3

MechWarrior® Online™: Can you give us a brief biography on each of you?

[DAVID] Let’s see, at the end of this week I’ll be starting my fifth year in the video game industry. All of that time has been spent working at Piranha in various level designer and game designer capacities.
I’ve always had a computer and a game console (starting with an Apple IIe and Atari 2600) for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been playing games on them for just as long. I also regularly play a variety of miniatures game, board games, and roleplaying games.
My primary role on this project is to design and oversee the actual gameplay. This covers everything from how the ’Mechs move and shoot to how information is displayed on the HUD.
Oh, just to through it out there, I’m not the game designer David Bradley who worked on the Wizardry series, and I’m neither the inventor of the Ctrl+Alt+Delete command nor any of the actors who share my name (though it seems that my name is in good company).


[PAUL] I was born in the South-Central interior of British Columbia… oh… game biography…
I have been interested in game development since I first played PONG in 1979 (yes, I’m that old!). It was a magical time when turning an analog knob on a box connected to a TV resulted in actions directed by me being displayed. I was in awe and wanted to learn how this was done.
I took it upon myself to learn the various disciplines involved with developing a game including: 2D and 3D art, music, audio, programming, and project management.
Fast forward a couple decades and after a post-secondary education in Computer Science (while dabbling a little in engineering and commerce), I was given my first chance in game development at EA Canada.
I am now in my 14th year of the game industry and have worked on several AAA titles shipping across 8 different platforms.
My main role on MechWarrior® Online™ is the injection of the F2P development model into this well-defined franchise. My experience in the F2P market comes from in-depth research and discussions with a key group of people at Nexon. It was here that I realized the nuances between the Asian F2P consumer and the North American F2P consumer had different expectations. I wrote a ‘thesis’ (for lack of a better word) on how F2P works and what motivates a player to play these types of games.
Now I work closely with Bryan and David to ensure that the title stays true to our design pillars and try to make the supporting game systems back this goal. It is my job to ensure that designs are well documented and presented for the engineering and art teams to do their thing. I can honestly say that this project is not only the most challenging title I’ve worked on but the most exciting as well. Interacting with the MechWarrior community, while designing the game, allows a whole new level of community feedback that isn’t really the norm in the gaming industry.
I’m now looking forward to getting the game into the player’s hands to get their first impressions so we can work to fine tune and launch updates as needed.


[BRYAN] Let’s see, where to start. I’ve been in the industry since 1998. My first title was The Red Odyssey an expansion pack for the venerable Activision game, BattleZone. Two years later I met up with my now partner in crime, Russ Bullock. At the time we were working on a little known Half-Life mod called Nakatomi Plaza. After receiving a cease and desist letter from Fox Interactive, we decided to try and leverage what we had by turning it into a legitimate product. Three demos and eight months later, we had a signed deal with Fox to make Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza, our first title under the Piranha Games brand. Since its inception in 2000, we have worked on dozens of titles for a variety of platforms including Need For Speed, Transformers, Duke Nukem Forever, and MechWarrior Online.

MWO: What do you personally add to MechWarrior Online development?

[DAVID] An eye for detail and the ability to quickly learn and assimilate the lore of a fictional universe and its game mechanics. I get to make sure that everything we include in MechWarrior Online matches, at the very least, the spirit and intent of the BattleTech game and universe.


[PAUL] As mentioned above, experience with the F2P model and a strong background in gameplay balancing.


[BRYAN] I have a few roles, primarily I’m what they call the Product Owner and I represent the voice of the customer and make sure everything we make has value for both the end user and business. As a Creative Director, I’m responsible for managing the design, art, and level teams. As a partner/owner of PGI, I also get to work closely with Russ on business matters, although he is the main business mastermind.

MWO: Is there any part of your job you love more than the rest?

[DAVID] In this project, I’m really enjoying the research. Every time I look up some information I need to design this or that, I usually learn a cool bit of lore, and sometimes get sidetracked looking through wiki pages. When I get really lucky, I stumble across something like Critter-TEK and can taunt Paul by threatening to include it in the game.


[PAUL] My favorite part of being a designer is watching designs come to life. The ability to be the first one to sit down and experience the game and provide tuning feedback and numbers. This is one of the most exciting moments in game development.


[BRYAN] I’m addicted to game updates, whether it be a new art asset, level, or newly implemented feature. I love walking the floor seeing what are team is making.

MWO: What is it like working with a title as old and venerated as MechWarrior?

[DAVID] Our last project was Duke Nukem Forever, which came with its own history, but this is something completely different. I’ve discovered that the MechWarrior fans are extremely passionate and they know this universe, whether it be from the video games, tabletop game, or novels, inside and out. Everyone has their favourite era, faction, and ’Mech, which makes it impossible to please everyone perfectly. So we have to take some of these considerations into play but, in the end, just make the best game that we can.


[PAUL] It’s rather nerve wracking actually. I mean I’ve done it before but the voracity of the MechWarrior fan base is what I’m not used to. I know that if I request or say something slightly off what history has presented… I could very well be tarred and feathered by the community. At the same time I have to make sure that we do what’s best for the game since this is what the end result of what we’re doing is.


[BRYAN] Cool, scary, exhilarating, stressful, wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanked. Only the fact that we have an amazing team of developers keeps being from being taken away in a straight jacket.

MWO: How is MechWarrior different from other things you’ve worked on?

[DAVID] The biggest difference is that it’s a lot more complex than most games. Usually there’s a single player character and a handful of weapons. The BattleTech universe has hundreds of ’Mechs that could potentially make it into the game along with dozens of weapons. And not only do we have to focus on what we’re launching with, but we have to constantly be thinking about the future as new ’Mechs, weapons, and other equipment are always just on the horizon.


[PAUL] The pure amount of customization options is something to behold. Whether or not we can fit all of them in is another question. It is this level of customization that makes it really a tough decision process when it comes down to what is included and what is pushed off the plate.


[BRYAN] MWO is by far the largest and most important project I have ever been involved in. The fact we control our own destinies and IP for PC and Xbox platforms, gives us the ability to push for quality and value over timeframes and rigid milestone schedules.

MWO: How much of the table-top have you played? How do you convert that experience to a digital video game? (or do you at all?)

[DAVID] I first got into BattleTech around age 13 or so, when my older cousin gave me his BattleTech, CityTech, and AeroTech boxed sets along with a bunch of other sourcebooks and miniatures. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play too many games of it back then as my friends weren’t really into it. Later, when I did have friends into those sorts of things, we played different games instead. Though I do still have some of those books at my desk right now for reference.
A few years ago (I refuse to believe it’s nearly been a decade) I was excited when Wizkids came out with their MechWarrior: Dark Age game and I jumped on it as I was (and still am) a fan of their other games. But that game didn’t hold my interest for too long (playing with IndustrialMechs and a mishmash of random infantry didn’t make for the best gameplay). And now those miniatures just decorate my desk. For those who are undoubtedly freaking out right now, don’t worry, the Dark Age isn’t going to have any influence over MechWarrior Online (or at least not for a very very very long time).
The last year or so has been a BattleTech renaissance for me. Not only am I working on MWO but I’ve been able to play some tabletop games here at work and have been dubbed the office “rules guy” who has taught and reffed games for the rest of the team.
As for converting the tabletop rules into a video game, it can be done but there are several things that need to be kept in mind.
The first is to figure out what a specific tabletop component was meant to represent, or how to interpret a tabletop mechanic into a real time game. Attacks in the tabletop game would randomly hit different sections of an enemy ’Mech; this doesn’t need to be recreated in a video game because it’s fully represented by the skill of the player. Though this change may need to be taken into consideration later as it’s suddenly a lot easier to hit a ’Mech’s head than it ever was in the tabletop game. Another example would be torso twisting. In the tabletop game it’s a fairly abstract mechanic that lets you instantly rotate your firing arc a set amount before instantly snapping back, and with no effect on other people shooting you. In a video game, this becomes a lot more complex but still preserves and improves the effect of being able to walk in one direction while you shoot in another.
The second consideration is the question, “Is it fun in a video game?” In the tabletop game, there’s what amounts to a random chance that your ’Mech will fall down and take damage every time it enters water, and every 30 meters it travels through the water. On top of that, every time your ’Mech has fallen and tries to stand (in the water or not), there’s a random chance that it will slip and fall back down again, taking even more damage. This isn’t fun for the player, especially since they don’t have full control over piloting their ’Mech in the way a ‘real’ MechWarrior would. And this leads to the third consideration…
Limitations. While the tabletop game has limitations, a video game also has a set of its own. They generally involve manpower and complexity. Manpower is the most straight forward; our team is only so large and can only work on so much at once so, at the very least, we have to prioritize. Though the beauty of the free-to-play model is that, given enough time, we can overcome this limitation and release a future update. The complexity limit is trickier to overcome. There’s only so much screen space, so there’s a limit to what we can show the player at once and still have them understand it quickly. Conversely, unless the player has their own neural helmet (though I’ve seen some of the cockpits you guys have built, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone had one), even a joystick/throttle/rudder pedal setup is going to be limited in terms of controls and can’t simulate the piloting needed to avoid falling down from entering water. Plus we still have to keep the game playable for those who only have a keyboard and mouse.


[PAUL] To be honest, only a few hours. It was enough to get the intricacies of the play style down while Bryan and Dave cheated me and took out my Hunchback so I rage quit and never played again. It was however an enjoyable time and we made sure everyone on the team experienced it.


[BRYAN] After reading David’s novel, no comment.
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