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Albion Online
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| 4s | [Music] |
|---|---|
| 7s | hello I am the chosen one and I am here |
| 11s | in the sandbox interactive Studios I |
| 14s | have been here all week and I have had |
| 15s | the great pleasure of hanging out with |
| 17s | all the developers and they're giving me |
| 19s | the opportunity to do some interviews |
| 21s | and right now I'm getting to interview |
| 22s | one of my favorite people here I get to |
| 24s | interview David the uh CTO of albian |
| 27s | online and one of the founders of boox |
| 30s | interactive you've been here |
| 33s | forever uh 13 years yes almost |
| 37s | forever it's half of half of my |
| 39s | professional career I've been in this |
| 41s | industry for almost 25 years if you can |
| 44s | believe that I started as a as a student |
| 46s | it was a side hustle when I was still at |
| 48s | University and yeah I've been doing this |
| 50s | for 13 years now that's |
| 53s | amazing I I don't this wasn't in the |
| 55s | plan but you want to tell me a little |
| 57s | bit about what it was like as a as a |
| 58s | student getting into the games industry |
| 60s | while you were still here trying to be |
| 61s | like okay let's make a little extra |
| 63s | scratch um something like that no I've |
| 67s | always wanted to be a game developer |
| 69s | believe it or not right so I've been in |
| 70s | love with with computer games ever since |
| 73s | the very beginning and I have to say I'm |
| 75s | from East Germany so I grew up under |
| 78s | communist rule or that's what you would |
| 80s | call it in in in the west I guess um so |
| 83s | computers were hard to come by right so |
| 86s | was I was 10 years old when I was first |
| 88s | exposed to computer games which is old |
| 91s | by today standards and I was immediately |
| 94s | in in in love with that and I learned |
| 97s | programming because back in those days |
| 100s | computers came with programming man yeah |
| 103s | they came with books that you had to |
| 105s | study and so I I I don't know I learned |
| 107s | basic as a 10-year-old and then I moved |
| 110s | on over you know through Pascal and |
| 112s | Assembly Language and c and C++ and uh I |
| 116s | spent all my teenage years programming |
| 119s | and I always wanted to a game developer |
| 121s | but I always thought it's kind of |
| 124s | unrealistic uh also Germany was not |
| 126s | exactly a great location to be a game |
| 129s | developer back then but then when I was |
| 132s | in university there was suddenly an |
| 134s | opportunity there were suddenly there |
| 136s | were three game studios in Berlin out of |
| 139s | out of the blue and so I immediately |
| 142s | applied and I said okay I I'll do |
| 145s | whatever I don't care right I just want |
| 147s | I work for free doesn't matter I just |
| 150s | ever it takes to whatever whatever it |
| 152s | takes I'm a student I'm in I'm in |
| 154s | University but I want to be a game |
| 156s | developer and so I got my first uh my |
| 159s | first job in the industry and uh yeah |
| 163s | then I've been part of a couple of |
| 166s | different companies I've uh worked on a |
| 169s | couple of different |
| 171s | games and uh at some point I graduated |
| 175s | actually and uh then I created I founded |
| 178s | my first own company cuz that's the |
| 181s | other thing I always wanted to do yeah |
| 183s | make your own company it was like in one |
| 185s | sense it was kind of a step backwards |
| 188s | right because you uh I was part of |
| 191s | bigger teams I was making bigger games |
| 193s | up to that point and suddenly I was you |
| 195s | know with a couple of friends and and we |
| 198s | had to you know make smaller games and |
| 201s | uh but we got to do our own stuff which |
| 204s | was which was pretty cool so in those |
| 206s | days we did games for the Nintendo DS |
| 209s | for instance um um and we also had a |
| 211s | game engine for the Nintendo that was |
| 214s | licensed by other Studios well that's a |
| 217s | perfect background to get yourself into |
| 219s | you know what you're doing now which was |
| 221s | albian online so before we get back into |
| 223s | more stories I I do want to talk a |
| 225s | little bit about specifically with |
| 228s | albian online the network situation |
| 230s | because this is something that we hear a |
| 232s | lot of players discussing it's like |
| 234s | they're like fix the lag and you know |
| 236s | why is this like that and you're like |
| 238s | the the right guy to go to for this can |
| 241s | you tell me a little bit about how at |
| 243s | one point you were working on a system |
| 245s | that would allow for like different |
| 247s | zones to be controlled by different uh |
| 250s | locations and they would all still be |
| 252s | connected together but not on a |
| 254s | centralized node that was one of the |
| 256s | very early things we did believe it or |
| 258s | not um so we we had this idea of one |
| 262s | world one server and of course we were |
| 264s | aware that you know ping would be bad |
| 267s | for some people so we thought okay maybe |
| 269s | we can |
| 271s | distribute the server across the world |
| 274s | and very early right in the like even |
| 277s | before the alphas even before you joined |
| 280s | we did have a setup where we had some of |
| 283s | the areas in Europe and some of the |
| 286s | areas in the United States so the server |
| 290s | two server locations and you could |
| 292s | literally walk over from one server to |
| 295s | the other right you would not see the |
| 297s | difference there would be a loading |
| 298s | screen and the other same as now just |
| 301s | same as same as now just that your ping |
| 304s | would change |
| 306s | dramatically um and that was one of the |
| 310s | downsides of that concept it was not |
| 313s | really transparent for the players |
| 315s | that's one thing we realized right it's |
| 317s | it's kind of fun you know you have |
| 319s | everyone in the same world but now you |
| 321s | still have to encourage the European |
| 323s | players to play in the European regions |
| 326s | and you have to encourage the American |
| 327s | players to play in the American regions |
| 330s | and you have to explain to them which |
| 332s | region is which and why the Ping is |
| 334s | suddenly changing and and there were |
| 337s | lots of technical problems with that as |
| 339s | well so we had to jump through a number |
| 341s | of Hoops to to even make that |
| 344s | work um sometimes it still didn't |
| 347s | because there was a transatlantic |
| 349s | connection involved and if that |
| 351s | connection had problems then the entire |
| 353s | game had problems so we we had to do a |
| 356s | lot of things technically to make this |
| 358s | more stable and and resist |
| 360s | to to |
| 362s | outages um but in the end we dropped the |
| 365s | whole thing yeah because even though we |
| 368s | put a lot of work into that telling me |
| 370s | like I mean I've talked to a lot of |
| 371s | people about the the work that went into |
| 373s | that this is this is not lip service you |
| 375s | guys really tried to make it a one World |
| 377s | server for everybody did so much work on |
| 380s | it it it it was a journey and in the end |
| 382s | the reason we dropped it was because it |
| 385s | wasn't really worth the trouble to be |
| 387s | honest the the experience for the play |
| 390s | and that's the only thing that counts in |
| 391s | the end right was not that great I so I |
| 396s | remember like uh so when there was like |
| 398s | dauny in Kingsport and queensport and |
| 399s | stuff like that it I believe there was |
| 401s | some like different server locations |
| 403s | still even then cuz you'd go from one |
| 406s | like area to the next and you'd go from |
| 409s | like you know for me going from 17 ping |
| 411s | to |
| 412s | 119 like people people would notice |
| 415s | people would notice that and have |
| 417s | questions and then then you have to |
| 420s | explaining to them that like this is a |
| 422s | European area and behind this gate |
| 425s | there's an American and but what does it |
| 428s | have to do with anything in the game |
| 430s | really right you have a whole another |
| 432s | sort of of problems and it's a lot of |
| 435s | problems to solve for how much gain yeah |
| 439s | and we did have the same discussion uh |
| 442s | again when we opened the Asian server |
| 444s | and now we have a European server as |
| 446s | well so there was a very very serious |
| 449s | discussion whether we should revisit |
| 451s | that concept and say one game world can |
| 455s | we |
| 457s | like travel between these words somehow |
| 460s | you know it doesn't have to be every |
| 462s | area or something like that maybe |
| 464s | there's like a harbor where you can ship |
| 467s | uh over or something we we did have all |
| 469s | of these ideas right um and we we did |
| 474s | make a technical concept for that so we |
| 476s | had a i and my team we sat down very |
| 479s | very |
| 480s | seriously and and earnestly and we made |
| 482s | a concept what would be required to make |
| 486s | all of that work the bottom line however |
| 488s | was it will be a lot of work mhm just to |
| 493s | end up with more or less the same game |
| 496s | that we already have a little worse |
| 499s | probably so I think it was a good idea |
| 501s | honestly in the end to make multiple |
| 503s | servers and just focus on making the |
| 505s | game play for everybody it's close to |
| 510s | equal as possible so that when you're |
| 512s | playing in Asia on Albi on Asia you have |
| 515s | the same kind of connection that |
| 516s | somebody playing in Europe connecting to |
| 518s | Alban Europe has that somebody playing |
| 519s | in America has the same connection that |
| 522s | they have in Alban Americas and so |
| 524s | everybody has this really tight |
| 526s | connection and that has allowed for some |
| 529s | gameplay elements to change as well now |
| 531s | there's less stand time with weapons now |
| 534s | there's there's less cast time you can |
| 536s | actually have a higher skill uh |
| 538s | interpretation uh |
| 540s | it lets people play the game in a |
| 543s | tighter way yeah what players may not be |
| 546s | aware of is that how much you have to |
| 548s | design for a certain ping actually right |
| 552s | it is part of the game design um when |
| 554s | you make an MMO with one server location |
| 557s | you are aware that people have a ping of |
| 561s | around 120 to |
| 563s | 150 uh most of them so we designed the |
| 566s | game in a way so that this ping would be |
| 570s | perfectly normal and perfectly playable |
| 573s | and that has an influence on a lot of |
| 575s | things including the design of abilities |
| 578s | the timing of of pretty much everything |
| 583s | in in in the game so yeah but roughly if |
| 585s | you have 150 ping it means what whenever |
| 588s | you do a click on on your screen it |
| 590s | takes at least these 150 milliseconds to |
| 593s | reach any other player screen |
| 597s | so yeah that that is a bit limiting uh |
| 602s | in in regards to abilities and and |
| 604s | twitch gameplay right uh so yeah having |
| 608s | having separate locations has now |
| 610s | allowed us to relax some of the rules |
| 614s | that we had and it gave our designers a |
| 617s | bit more freedom designing new abilities |
| 620s | and especially like skill shots and |
| 623s | things like that you see a like you see |
| 626s | a lot of newer weapons that are being |
| 628s | developed that have a lot higher skill |
| 630s | ceiling and that's really cool to see |
| 632s | and a lot of that I believe is because |
| 633s | it allows you to just interact with the |
| 636s | server faster and interact with your |
| 637s | opponent and react faster to what |
| 639s | they're doing and that is really really |
| 641s | cool when you look at like say the phas |
| 642s | scale Row for example which gives you |
| 644s | three different options that kind of |
| 646s | thing is just a much higher skill |
| 647s | expression than just hitting this and |
| 649s | waiting and then it goes off so you can |
| 653s | see it in the gameplay design and that's |
| 655s | really cool um but I do have you here |
| 659s | and uh we don't get to talk about this |
| 660s | and I know a lot of players out there |
| 662s | have no idea how albon came about but |
| 666s | you were there you were there from the |
| 668s | very beginning there were what like five |
| 670s | of you guys who started in the very |
| 672s | beginning mhm pretty much um I had |
| 675s | founded my own |
| 676s | company six years earlier roughly right |
| 679s | so I graduated from University I started |
| 682s | my first own games company I had done |
| 685s | games before I had a lot of experience |
| 687s | in games but I wanted to have my own |
| 690s | company and uh so we did Small Time |
| 693s | stuff right and one day a guy came to |
| 697s | our to our doorstep uh almost who had an |
| 701s | idea a concept for an online game and |
| 704s | who who wanted to Pro provide the |
| 706s | funding um to some degree it was not a |
| 709s | huge amount of money but it was |
| 711s | definitely uh enough to get a an |
| 713s | interesting project going and uh you |
| 717s | probably know him under the for name |
| 719s | corn he was a person who had this idea |
| 722s | he was looking for a team to build this |
| 725s | game with he was looking all over |
| 728s | Germany talking to different different |
| 730s | companies different players in the in |
| 733s | the |
| 734s | market and uh in the end he he went with |
| 738s | us so with my little team my little |
| 742s | company uh yeah because we I guess we |
| 745s | somehow clicked right I essentially told |
| 748s | him well the is that is a great |
| 751s | idea um but what we really need to do is |
| 754s | we need to build a prototype right now |
| 756s | right we need to build something |
| 757s | playable really fast right like give us |
| 761s | three four months and in four months we |
| 763s | should have a playable version of this |
| 766s | which is not going to look great right |
| 768s | which is going to look very primitive |
| 770s | and and uh but it will either prove or |
| 774s | disprove that a we can make this y |
| 777s | technically and as a team and it will uh |
| 781s | prove or disprove your design ideas for |
| 784s | this game and that's what we went with |
| 787s | right we made a deal we worked on this |
| 790s | on this prototype together and it went |
| 795s | it went great right we really clicked |
| 798s | yeah the game looked a lot better than |
| 799s | we had |
| 800s | anticipated and at the end of that |
| 803s | prototyping phase we founded |
| 807s | sandbox and I wound down my my old |
| 812s | company and uh yeah took took most of |
| 815s | the people with me right so my my old |
| 818s | company we were three founders yeah two |
| 820s | of which uh me included uh joined SBI we |
| 824s | took some of our employees we took uh a |
| 828s | lot of people from our |
| 829s | Network and uh many of them are still |
| 832s | working here right I'm I'm I'm super |
| 834s | proud of that that is amazing that so |
| 836s | many people still work here um after so |
| 839s | long this has just been a phenomenal |
| 841s | week hanging out with all of you getting |
| 843s | to meet people face to face yes we've |
| 845s | talked before and and gotten to have |
| 847s | some wonderful discussions but getting |
| 849s | to meet people face to face and spend |
| 851s | this time together has just been um |
| 854s | super valuable to me and just an |
| 855s | incredible experience and I'm looking |
| 857s | forward to doing it again so David thank |
| 859s | you so much for this time and I'm |
| 860s | looking forward to seeing you again than |
| 863s | all right and that is going to be it for |
| 864s | our interview today and we'll be back |
| 866s | again with more shows in the future |
| 867s | thanks for watching |
| 870s | la |
| 878s | [Music] |