Bill Roper: Artikel Nr. 192 aus dem Jahr 2004
Dieser Eintrag hält einen Beitrag aus dem Bestand der Redaktion fest: ein Artikel , im Archiv seit 2004 nachweisbar, mit dem Titel Bill Roper.
Die frühen Artikel standen vor der Aufteilung in eigene Rubriken nebeneinander: Testbericht, Entwicklerporträt und Kolumne in derselben Rubrik. Sie sind länger als die späteren Meldungen und argumentieren stärker aus der Sicht eines einzelnen Autors.
Der Beitrag im Wortlaut
GameVision: Hi Bill, thanks for taking a bit of your time for us. How are you? And how’s the moving doing?
Bill Roper: Very well, thank you – and very well, thank you! We recently finished up an internal milestone that went extremely well and proved a lot to the team in terms of development process and game play theory. We’ve starting seeing a lot of new content make its way into the game and nor only does it look great, it is a great deal of fun to play, even at this extremely early stage. One of our philosophies of design is to get the game up and running as early as possible, keep it at a constantly playable state, and then constantly iterate on what’s there. Although this process takes a very specific mindset and dedication from the development team, we have found this to be the best way for us to create and balance an RPG.
GameVision: What is the current status of your game? Up to the present only concept arts had been released, neither a title, nor an approximate release date is known. Could you tell us something new about it?
Bill Roper: To be honest, we’re staying pretty tight lipped right now as to the particulars about the game. We decided to put up some early concept work to share the general tone of the world we’re creating, and we should probably make another pass through what we have and put up a couple more. While we do have a schedule for the game, it is just too early for us to start talking about what that means in terms of a release window. We do anticipate being able to make an evaluation based on the amount of progress made in the next 3-6 months in terms of announcing the game, including the name. Actually, that has been one of the hardest things for us since we feel it has to mean something in the context of the game, but also has to be something anyone can easily grasp. We have a few candidates slugging it out, and it will be interesting to see which one comes out on top!
GameVision: In an interview you already mentioned that Diablo fans will like your new game as well as other players will do. Will it just be “another” Diablo? What exactly will attract the Diablo player?
Bill Roper: We definitely aren’t doing just “another” Diablo, although I think we’d have to be insane to not hope that we create a game that receives that level of enthusiasm and support from players around the world. In terms of what Diablo players will like about the game, we’re creating comes from our particular views of what makes for an exciting RPG experience. From a focus on replayability to fast paced game play to creating an interesting and engaging world to focusing on a few game mechanics and then utilizing them to the utmost, our current game has many elements that fans of our previous work will feel comfortable with. At the same time, we’re doing a LOT of things into which we’ve never delved before, so it will be far from the “same old thing.”
GameVision: Everybody at Flagship Studios seems to be working pretty hard on your upcoming title. However, the official site offers seven free jobs. How is that coming?
Bill Roper: We’ve been putting up positions as the needs arise. We’ve had a hiring plan in place since early on, and while we’re anxious to bring people on board, we also are extremely choosy about who we hire. We’ve hired two more developers and our executive assistant in the past couple of weeks, and we’re looking at a lot of applications for the other positions. Our goal is to build a small, tightly knit company filled with people that enjoy doing more than just one thing. We like