GamerGod recently sat down with Tom Blue of Mutable Realms to discuss the company's current
MMORPG project, Wish. Tom,
the Art Director, answers questions about the unique look and design
of the game.
GamerGod: Thank you for taking the time out of your very busy
schedule to talk with us today, Tom. Can you tell us a bit about
yourself?
Tom: I'm a formally trained 3d geek (but don't call me a geek to my
face), I've taught 3d, I program a bit, I've done pretty much
everything from flipping burgers, teaching college classes, acting in
a nationwide commercial, to serving in a war. My weapons of choice are
3DSMax, Photoshop, and the ever-popular notepad.
GamerGod: Are the current released screenshots showing all the
effects that we can expect to see in game, shadow effects, lighting,
etc?
Tom: These elements are constantly improving. If you were to track
the screenshots from the first release to the current you would see a
dramatic evolution.
GamerGod: Can you describe the "theme" look of Wish? What will we
notice right away and what is different then we have seen before in
other games?
Tom: Our setting shoots for "fantasy realism". Magic is prevalent,
but conforms to its own internal logic. On the technical side, people
are most often surprised that they can walk seamlessly into a dungeon
or any other underground environment without porting into it.
GamerGod: Are there any new surprises for Wish players as far as
unique ideas for the interface?
Tom: This is not in my domain of influence. I deal mainly in game
appearance, not function.
GamerGod: Cyclops is one of the races in Wish, something I find
very unique to most all current MMORPG's that are widely known. How
hard was it to create this race visually?
Tom: With good concept artists the vision evolved quite easily.
GamerGod: What are some inspirations your Art team has drawn from
to make Wish look the way it does?
Tom: Imagination, folklore, mythology rank amongst our heaviest
influences. The team has fairly diverse personal influences, as well.
Some of us tend to walk on the artistic dark side while others fall
closer to the light side.
GamerGod: Dragonkin may prove to be one of the most popular races
played at first when Wish releases. How many options will we see when
it comes to character creation for them?
Tom: As many as we can. We will definitely have the same variable
that all our current races have. This includes height, facial
morphing, skin (or scale) color, eye color, a selection of hair (or
head adornment) styles and colors and a selection of facial hair(or
horns) styles and colors. But I am afraid any future additions will
have to remain a mystery for now.
GamerGod: Can you tell us some great ways Wish will allow towns
owned by guilds to be customized? Any great items the art team has
included for us to make a town feel like it is "ours"?
Tom: Blazons and standards are currently the key way for players to
identify ownership. We are looking into additional options, but for
the moment, we aren't prepared to announce anything.
GamerGod: About how many beasts are drawn up and populating Wish right now?
Tom: Currently, there are right around 100, but this number is
continually growing. With the size of Ganedan, you can never have
enough monster types.
GamerGod: Thank you so much for taking this time out of your
extremely busy schedule Tom! We can't wait to play this beautiful
game!
From this interview, it looks like Mutable Realms will be using new graphic and thematic
styles to differentiate Wish from the fantasy MMORPG competition.
Currently, the release date is set in the second quarter of 2005, with open beta beginning January 1st of 2005.
|
RSS feed
iTunes