While at the GenCon game fair we ran into Brian Green of NearDeath Studios, the guys behind Meridian59: Resurrection, the venerable MMO game which made it’s return to the gaming community. While in town to hang out with Fans, some who travelled from the state we can’t spell, Mississippi, Brian had time to chat with Tiffany on the changes going into game with the new graphics overhaul.
[This is the third and final part of our in-depth interview with Brian Green, be sure to read part one and part two.]
Yes, the guilds can rent guild halls. The guild hall is a set structure in the game, not some instanced building that anyone can own. Some guild halls are better than others depending on location, price, quality, and storage options. Guild halls range from a simple abandoned warehouse to an elaborate keep dug out from the stone cliffs to a thieves’ den hidden in the shadows.
As you said, a rival guild can take the hall over. To do this, a guild must sneak into the guild hall and flip a switch inside the guild hall. In order to get into the hall, a rival guild either has to follow a guild member into the hall. Or, the rival guild can cast a group spell called Shatterlock. Shatterlock is an interesting spell because the duration of the casting depends on the number of people online that are in the guild that owns the hall. The more people online, the shorter the time to cast the spell. This means that trying to capture the guild hall when few rivals are on will take a much longer time than trying to break in when many enemies are online; this ensures that the 3 AM “ninja raid” against your hall will almost never be effective due to the times required.
When a guild hall is taken over, the enemy guild has the option to rent the hall. If they do that then they get access to the storage chests that held the guild’s shared items. They also get obvious bragging rights. However, it’s important to remember that what they did can be done again, and an organized guild can break into the guild hall and steal it back! This is one of the more exciting aspects of guild warfare in Meridian 59.
With the return of the game, what has been the most memorable event that has jumped out and surprised you with the community?
I think the biggest thing that hit me was that people were really excited to have the game back. Meridian 59 was shut down for nearly a year when we got the game back, and many people could have moved on during that time. But, we had people around the first day that were eager to get back into the game. They brought their friends, they offered to help, the had fun. Old friends and old enemies came back together, often in the spirit of nostalgia. People made new friends (and new enemies!) in the game. We also got a lot of offers to help us. Zach, the guy that hosts our servers, is a former Meridian 59 player that gave us a great deal on the servers, especially in the beginning when we didn’t have much money to spend. It was really great to know the players supported us in our decision to resurrect Meridian 59.
With several other games delving into the pvp market, spending millions of dollars in development, promotion, support, and other costs, what are your thoughts when players come back to M59, saying that the other games should have taken notes from M59?
Well, it fills me with a bit of pride. We’ve worked hard to make Meridian 59 an excellent and balanced game. We take pride in the fact that we offer real gameplay to players instead of pretty graphics and horrible treadmills covering what is ultimately shallow gameplay. Meridian 59’s PvP shows that a good combination of character advancement and player-skill focus can make for one of the best and most balanced PvP systems ever found in an online game.
It also lets us know that the “boutique” game that offers a more focused gameplay experience can win fans that the larger games can’t touch. The fact that people prefer Meridian 59 over other games lets us know that we’re doing the right thing, even if we tend to get overlooked by many people.
Have you been successful in working out a majority of the bugs and technical issues that you wanted to resolve?
Oh, yes yes yes! The first thing I did when we got the rights to the game was to fix a lot of the lingering bugs that plagued the game during my time at 3DO. Due to 3DO’s priorities, we were never given much time to really fix the game the way it needed. Since we were getting a fresh start, I did not have to worry about “breaking” older characters in the game.
I also spent a lot of time evaluating the gameplay and getting feedback from players. We were able to fix a lot of the exploits and problems in the older versions of the game and make the game even more balanced than it was before. I think our efforts were mostly successful from player feedback. Of course, there are still little annoying bugs here and there, but they are nowhere near as severe as they were in the past.
What is the hardest aspect of developing this overhaul?
Do I just have to pick one? 😉
Overall, I’d say the hardest aspect is having to deal with the limit resources of a small company. While we are pouring more attention and focus into the game than it got during most of my years at 3DO, we still don’t have a large art department or a team of programmers we can borrow resources from. Things always take longer than you’d really like them to, and I am really eager for the day that we can share all our work with the players. I wish we could have done all this work in a shorter amount of time with a larger team, but we do what we can. On the bright side, our lower overhead has allowed us to do a lot more balancing work, to add a lot more innovative and deep gameplay, and to make sure the new client is the best we can make it. We’re also growing and expanding, so we’re able to put more and more resources into the game in order to continue growing.
Is any of the newest art available in game yet, or will it go live through one large patch, or a cd purchase?
As I mentioned above, the game art isn’t changing significantly. The skyboxes only work with the new renderer, so we have not put those in yet.
The new client will be available to anyone who subscribes to the game. We will offer a CD for purchase, but this is only for people who want a memento or an easy way to install the client on a new computer, it will not be required to play the game. We’ve always provided the updates to Meridian 59 at no extra cost, and we hope to continue doing so. We believe that all players should enjoy new content we produce. Our goal is to provide a fun game, not just drain people of their cash for our benefit.
How much is M59 currently a month? For a game to have survived (and been revived) for as long as yours, subscriptions could easily be higher for a well written and enjoyable game that delivers exactly what the niche market asks for?
Meridian 59 is currently $10.95 per month in the US. Meridian 59 does not include any up-front fees for a box purchase or account setup. The client is freely available for download for any subscriber of Meridian 59. Really, when you consider the costs of buying the box and various expansions, you could end up paying over $20-30 per month for other online games, especially if you cancel soon after you buy the game and find out it stinks. As I said above, we really want people to enjoy the game instead of trying to make a fast buck off the game.
You are correct, however, that Meridian 59 could be a premium product, but we wanted people to enjoy our game. While 3DO ran the game, people were paying nearly $30 per month for a single account! Many thousands of people paid that amount even though other games were charging less per month. Obviously people thought the game was worth the cost given the quality of the game. And, I personally think the quality of the game is higher than ever, especially with the new client coming out.
What kind of players would find the game play, environment, and community of M59 ideal to them?
Why, I thought everyone loved Meridian 59!
With all seriousness, it really is hard to find a person that does not like Meridian 59 after playing it a full month. People who like exploring the game will find the mini-map options and the deep gameplay secrets in Meridian 59 a great puzzle to solve. People who like battling against other players will find fun and balanced PvP options. People that like to chat with other people will find a friendly and welcoming community waiting for them. About the only people that won’t enjoy Meridian 59 are people who like really long treadmills. Of course, you can just build multiple characters if you really need a long treadmill to keep you happy! The game offers an incredible variety of gameplay, and we have people that have been playing the game for 7-8 years that still enjoy the game after all that time.
I would just like to thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to answer these questions. Do you have any last comments or questions before we get done picking your brain?
I’m a serious gamer. I’ve played and designed games for most of my life, and I’ve made a career out of making games. I hear a lot of people that say they grow tired of the derivative games, that no game offers true innovation, etc. I usually tell these people that they really need to pay attention to the smaller, independent games if they want innovation. There’s some really great games out there, especially in the online space, if you choose to look for them. A Tale In The Desert is a wonderful game that focuses on a great role-playing experience in a unique setting and without focusing just on combat (not that combat isn’t fun!). The new version of the game looks really great.
Likewise, Puzzle Pirates offers innovative gameplay and PvP action that isn’t just typical swords and sorcery fare (not that swords and sorcery isn’t cool!). These games show that you can get a lot of interesting stuff from people that aren’t spending multi-millions of dollars trying to be the next “EQ-killer”. Plus, of course, there’s Meridian 59. Meridian 59 did a lot of things first and got it right the first time. We started out innovative, coming on the scene when online games were part of online services and could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to play. We continue to innovate by delivering a more focused gameplay experience to people. If you’re looking for something that’s a bit different than what the big-budget mega-advertised games offer, then come try one of our games. There’s bound to be something you’ll enjoy.
Thanks Again for talking with us!
To learn more about Meridian59 visit their official website at NearDeath Studios. It’s a classic game, that does it right.
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