devtrackers.gg
4 months
ago -
Albion Online
-
Direct link
Transcript (by Youtube)
| 4s | [Music] |
|---|---|
| 7s | hey I'm tazik with Albi and TV and |
| 9s | joining me for a developer interview is |
| 10s | Misha from sandbox interactive you might |
| 12s | know him better as retroman how's |
| 15s | everything going with you I'm pretty fun |
| 16s | how are you I'm good excited for this |
| 19s | interview there's a lot to discuss with |
| 20s | someone who's been here for so long how |
| 22s | long have you worked at sandbox um |
| 24s | almost 10 years now it's close to 10 |
| 27s | years not quite but uh yeah it has been |
| 29s | a very very long time and in the early |
| 33s | days we were quite a small company in |
| 35s | comparison to now so we have grown quite |
| 38s | a lot and it's really been nice to see |
| 40s | that grow over time what did you start |
| 42s | on what did you start working on at |
| 43s | albian so my first big task once I got a |
| 47s | bit introduced to the game it had like |
| 48s | the first uh few months to learn |
| 50s | everything so the first big task was for |
| 53s | the preparation of the very first beta |
| 56s | to rebalance all the items and abilities |
| 59s | in the game and make it more focused on |
| 62s | PVP the whole balance and for that first |
| 66s | the idea was to instead of looking more |
| 68s | on onto traditional MMO Games like World |
| 71s | of Warcraft and the lik we were more |
| 73s | looking towards um mobile games and |
| 75s | League of Legends and DOTA and here is |
| 78s | of the storm and how they develop |
| 80s | abilities because I think they're a |
| 82s | perfect match for this kind of game they |
| 84s | have the same camera |
| 86s | perspective and they have a lot of |
| 88s | outplay potential and that really lands |
| 90s | well into PVP right that is pretty |
| 93s | frustrating if the PVP just turns out to |
| 95s | into be in DPS race oh I have the better |
| 98s | rotation so I win haha that's not very |
| 101s | engaging so like okay maybe we can get |
| 104s | some of this like outplay potential that |
| 106s | we have in mobile games and these more |
| 107s | interesting skills that you have to |
| 109s | react to your opponent to win into an |
| 111s | MMO of course we have to still mix in |
| 114s | some MMO elements and we are not a |
| 116s | complete mobile right we have to make |
| 118s | sure to that it fits our game Vision but |
| 120s | there's a lot we could learn from them |
| 122s | um in the early days we had to be a bit |
| 125s | more careful in what we can get away |
| 127s | with technically because we had to have |
| 128s | uh long stand times and not so many |
| 131s | skill shots and so for performance |
| 133s | reasons for the servers right and also |
| 136s | uh we have developed everything to |
| 138s | expect potentially super high ping right |
| 141s | we don't know how well internet |
| 143s | connections were for everyone because |
| 145s | the challenge of doing a game like this |
| 147s | with uh you can have 300 people in one |
| 150s | class is uh really tremendous because |
| 153s | the um traffic the network traffic just |
| 156s | exponentially grows with every player |
| 157s | you add to the mix so I'm very happy |
| 161s | where we are now with that how far we |
| 162s | have come and it's also a pretty unique |
| 165s | game to work on right this mix of uh |
| 167s | mobile and mobile combat and more action |
| 170s | oriented combat and a traditional MMO in |
| 173s | a sandbox word that is uh really a cool |
| 176s | thing to work on and be part of combat |
| 179s | system has evolved a ton right from when |
| 181s | you first started to now I mean you |
| 182s | talked about removing the stand times |
| 184s | removing a lot of the delays between |
| 185s | casting ability it's so much more fluid |
| 188s | now a lot of that had to do with just |
| 190s | Network you you was built in for that |
| 191s | reason of course we want the game play |
| 193s | to be fluid and cool as possible and |
| 195s | code wants the game to be stable and |
| 196s | working well which is very important |
| 199s | right and then we always have to make |
| 200s | but if we can get it a bit more like |
| 203s | this can we get spell effect areas where |
| 205s | we have hit detection on the ground that |
| 207s | moves like a skill shot and then okay we |
| 209s | can do it like this but we don't can't |
| 211s | overuse it and we have to be careful |
| 213s | with timings and how many times and over |
| 215s | the time that we have developed the game |
| 219s | uh we have been going into more of this |
| 221s | action combat direction of course we |
| 224s | always have to make sure that we don't |
| 226s | overdo it it's interesting and I mean |
| 228s | you talk a lot about balance the |
| 229s | community definitely knows you more for |
| 232s | being a face in the balance department |
| 234s | and really being the whole game you know |
| 236s | all the different content types |
| 238s | balancing all of it has the team grown |
| 240s | any since you've started anyone here to |
| 242s | help you quite recently we got Nick into |
| 245s | the team which is the community you guys |
| 248s | might know as lucrative he was a famous |
| 251s | 5v5 player he won the CSC two two time |
| 254s | Crystal League Championship winner and |
| 256s | it was important to you that you had |
| 257s | someone on the team who really knew his |
| 258s | stuff who knew the the combat systems |
| 261s | who knew all the abilities you know the |
| 262s | depth of the game absolutely absolutely |
| 265s | we had got a lot of applications I can't |
| 266s | tell you that uh you can imagine and we |
| 269s | got a lot of good applications also from |
| 270s | other companies but I really valued |
| 273s | people who had a lot of experience in I |
| 275s | because I felt like okay the if someone |
| 277s | really knows the game well it would be |
| 279s | way easier to onboard him and he he will |
| 282s | just know his stuff about the game he |
| 284s | knows all the roots and all these |
| 285s | special things we need the conditions or |
| 287s | the different content type there's a lot |
| 289s | of things that work different in Albion |
| 291s | than what you would expect from another |
| 293s | game and um that's why we ended with |
| 296s | Nick yeah he he seems like a great guy |
| 298s | there's going to be a separate interview |
| 299s | with Nick for more balanced stuff so now |
| 301s | that you have Nick on the team now that |
| 303s | you have some help in the balance you're |
| 304s | not balancing all the content alone I |
| 306s | know one of the more recent features you |
| 308s | worked on was the journal the a very big |
| 310s | update to albian a personal favorite |
| 313s | edition in quite some time what was the |
| 315s | inspiration for adding a journal and |
| 317s | achievement type completionist thing |
| 320s | goal system in album it has a couple of |
| 322s | goals but the first main goal to start |
| 323s | with was we wanted a tool that is good |
| 326s | at teaching new players what Alan has to |
| 329s | offer there's so many features that are |
| 330s | kind of hard to understand and find if |
| 332s | you're new that was a big role and also |
| 335s | give you a bit of tangible easy to reach |
| 339s | goals early on and I also like that the |
| 341s | journal it starts without showing you |
| 344s | much of the missions to not overwhelm |
| 345s | new players it's the main idea and then |
| 347s | it starts showing you more and more |
| 349s | stuff after a while and it then says hey |
| 351s | maybe try going into a red zone and here |
| 354s | we get something and then quickly we |
| 355s | want you to a Explore More of the game |
| 358s | go a bit out of your comfort zone and if |
| 360s | you're already a midcore player or you |
| 362s | have already played a bit then also |
| 363s | gives you like a bit of goals to go into |
| 365s | different activities and see okay maybe |
| 367s | I can I don't know I haven't played |
| 368s | corrupted dungeons maybe for now and |
| 370s | then I go try and oh yeah that feature |
| 372s | is actually also fun and have a reason |
| 374s | to progress there and another thing we |
| 376s | want to achieve is give you cool uh |
| 378s | vanity items that you can only get |
| 381s | through gameplay and that are not |
| 383s | tradable or purchasable and that that |
| 385s | really means something so you talked a |
| 387s | lot about the different groups the |
| 388s | journal effects just one personal note |
| 390s | for veterans I'm an achievement hunter |
| 392s | myself I want to be able to see more of |
| 394s | the tasks unlike new players where it's |
| 396s | really great for them to not any any |
| 399s | ideas on maybe changing it so I can know |
| 401s | what tasks are in the game without going |
| 402s | outside the game uh fair point I totally |
| 404s | agree we build that first with the |
| 407s | intention for new players but actually |
| 408s | we are already uh changing it for the |
| 411s | next update that the more you play in |
| 413s | The Journey the more missions it will |
| 414s | reveal automatically so if you have made |
| 416s | like 60% progress in PV it will reveal |
| 419s | most missions so you don't have to |
| 420s | Google all the time what all the later |
| 422s | missions are we did that first to mostly |
| 425s | to protect the new players but uh that |
| 427s | will be changed in the future yeah I |
| 429s | mean it it sounds like you're hitting |
| 431s | every area of the game you're you're |
| 433s | really like everywhere on albian it |
| 435s | seems like a full-time job it is it's |
| 439s | also very rewarding to see uh that the |
| 442s | thing you have been working on that so |
| 444s | many players enjoyed and played and you |
| 446s | see what you do have an impact with your |
| 448s | work and it's also really satisfying to |
| 450s | see how much we have grown as a company |
| 453s | to but also our game right we we started |
| 456s | very small now we getting bigger and |
| 458s | bigger and I also think we have the |
| 460s | potential to grow even more and make the |
| 462s | game even better in the years to come so |
| 465s | I'm I'm definitely happy with the uh |
| 468s | amount of time I spent on my but I think |
| 470s | we're going to end this one here albian |
| 472s | TV has been interviewing a ton of the |
| 474s | developers there's other developer |
| 475s | interviews coming if they're not already |
| 477s | up now so definitely check those out |
| 480s | we're going to wrap this one up I hope |
| 481s | you guys enjoyed this interview have a |
| 482s | great time |
| 484s | [Music] |