Interview - the Chronicles of SpellBorn

 

JeuxOnLine: For the players who don't know you, can you introduce yourself and describe us the broad outline of The Chronicles of Spellborn?

Barry Hoffman: In 2004 Spellborn International Ltd was founded to develop The Chronicles of Spellborn. Our team consists of many disciplines with experience ranging from game developers to industrial coders, from ambient musicians to comic book artists.

JeuxOnLine: The subtitle of The Chronicles of Spellborn is "What lies hidden must be found". It seems that players must solve mysteries, to overcome enigmas, etc. Could you explain us this aspect of TCoS? How to avoid a too fast diffusion of the secrecies between the players? More largely, which is the influence of the players on the evolution of the universe of TCoS?

Barry Hoffman: Ah, that is many questions in one.

It is not so much about physical puzzles, but exploring mysteries, lore and background. Solving the riddle what has happened in the past and you will see the present world in a different manner as parts of the world get more meaning for the player. And by knowing history the player understands what to do next or gets access to new parts of the world.

On a personal level this will mean that certain area’s which have been traveled before become more interesting or even change its total perspective as new places open up for new quests.

On a House level it can mean that a House gets earlier access to a map that shows the way to a new shard. In a world that is rich in history but low on resources new shards can be the difference between ruling and serving.

The players can influence the universe through several layers of hierarchy. This ranges from statues on a personal level (see also: www.whatlieshidden.com(...)), to winning temporary shop ownership with their guild, to conquering a new shard together with the rest of their House.

JeuxOnLine: Exploration seems to be also an important part of CoS. Is it necessary to play a powerful warrior or have a high level character in order to explore the universe of TCoS?

Barry Hoffman: We envision our world not as the biggest world to explore in miles of walking, but more in what is to be found out about the world. This means that most places can be reached by both the new player and a high level character in present time.

What will differ is the insight (and the resulting actions) a player has about the place and the time. A new player for instance will see a nice fountain with a historic scenery depicted on it. A high level player will see the final clue clue to a quest, or the representation of one of the Ancestral quests he or she has been part of.

For conquest a player probably needs to be mid or high level to stay alive, but testing and balancing in beta will provide the final level ranges.
Ancestral Quests can be played by both new players and high level, but these Quests definitely hold level ranges.

JeuxOnLine: Players can fight in TCoS, during epic PvE raids and TCoS have also PvP components. Could you describe us the main abilities of the fighting classes of TCoS? Six of them have been mentioned on your forum (trickster, face dancer, dead hand, oracle disciple, rune mage and ancestral mage) but all of them are very "mysterious" (and seem very "mystical").

Barry Hoffman: Next to sounding cool the classes themselves in The Chronicles of Spellborn will be unique in a way that you will not find in other games. People can customize their class to a certain extent through the skill system, making it even less likely, that for example face dancers are the same.

Currently we are testing the different classes and the skill system and how to diversify your character with it. As soon as our internal testing is finished we will be more open on the classes.

JeuxOnLine: Have you "social activities" in TCoS (craft, trade or even political activities, for example)?

Yes, we will have crafting in the game, but we will offer a different form. It will be more active than passive. Next to this we will of course have trade. Playerguilds will even have the possibility of winning temporary ownership of a shop through special tournaments in the Arena.

Of course there will be political activity defined for the game. We are currently testing different systems of politics to see what will be cool at the start and how it can evolve over time.
Social activities will be possible everywhere and can range from a friendly mini game in a tavern to a PvP match in the Arena against one of your friends or foes.

During Beta more will be revealed about social activities.

JeuxOnLine: We can read on your forum that a French and a German version of The Chronicles of Spellborn are expected. Could you say more about the localisation? The game will be totally translated? Do you plan to open a dedicated server for each language?

At this moment we have planned to have a German and a French version of TCOS. Currently we are working on getting a French and a German forum online. For the rest we are talking with partners that can help out in localizing the game. In the first part of the Beta we will work with English scripts as we develop in English. Later on we will be testing also in French and German.

Barry Hoffman: We still need to decide on dedicated servers. I am pretty sure that we will ask our Beta testers also about their opinion on the matter of mixed or dedicated servers.

JeuxOnLine: To conclude, do you want add something for the French-speaking community of JeuxOnLine, who is waiting for The Chronicles of Spellborn?

Barry Hoffman: First of all we are honoured that the French-Speaking community has taken an interest in our game. We hope that many French people will share their opinion on the forum as soon as the French forum is live.

Second of all we would like to thank the French comic book artists for delivering us their art as inspiration.

Thirdly we are very happy to have our own French animator, Raoul Miclo, in our midst. Starting out as a Dutch project we become more and more a diversity of nationalities as the team grows.

As the project grows we will be needing more developers so if you think you can match the art style and you would like to work in the gamesindustry please do not hesitate to sent an e-mail to jobs@tcos.com.

And last but not least we will start very shortly with our closed Beta registrations. So please keep yourself up to date via Jeux-Online or via our website: www.tcos.com.

Thank you very much for spending the time to answer our questions about The Chronicles of Spellborn. :)
Feel free to comment this interview on our forum.