Frontiers Interview at RPGWatch
Frontiers Interview at RPGWatch
Interview - posted by Crooked Bee on Fri 22 August 2014, 15:59:00
Tags: FrontiersFrontiers is the open-world, Daggerfall-inspired first person exploration RPG that got funded on Kickstarter in 2013 and that everyone's favorite Codexer villain of the story used to mass PM all of us about. The developers have been churning out updates at a reasonable pace, but the undertaking is massive so the end isn't quite in sight yet.
Meanwhile, our RPG Watch colleagues have done an extensive interview with Frontiers' Lars Simkins and Ryan Span. It focuses on many things, from their inspirations to Kickstarter to the development progress, so I'll just quote a short snippet here:
Daggerfall's world "that had nothing to do with me" may sound a bit at odds with telling "a story that lets the player drive the action", but I guess they mean the feeling of an independent living world in the first case and a kind of "emergent gameplay" in the second. In any case, I'm quite interested in the end result myself. Can two guys make a compelling open-world game? I hope we'll see some day.
Meanwhile, our RPG Watch colleagues have done an extensive interview with Frontiers' Lars Simkins and Ryan Span. It focuses on many things, from their inspirations to Kickstarter to the development progress, so I'll just quote a short snippet here:
RPGWatch: Are you aware of the issues that open world games face that makes the story feel completely secondary and not immersive? Do you consider this a problem?
Lars: Yes, but I see those issues as strengths in this game, not problems. That sounds like a ‘my biggest weakness is my perfectionism’ answer. But most of the problems I’ve seen with open-world stories (at least in my experience) stem from the developers trying to tightly control the player’s experience. That ends up feeling flat - there’s no such thing as urgency in a sandbox game unless the player is supplying it. So in FRONTIERS we’ve tried to tell a story that lets the player drive the action. It expects you to travel large distances and to take pit stops along the way. It allows for you to talk to people out of order and to get lost between destinations. If you build a story around exploration and it starts being an either/or thing, where you’re either playing the game or playing the story, that’s when the story becomes secondary.
Ryan: It's only a problem if you make it one. When the goals of the story don't align with those of the player, of course it's going to feel secondary. We've deliberately made the goals in Frontiers stuff that the player will want: More areas to explore and cool new ways to get around where you've already been. We put as few barriers as possible between you and the lovely world you came to see, and give you even more reasons to go out into it.
RPGWatch: You've said you are inspired by Daggerfall. What features does Daggerfall have that are missed or under-represented in today’s games?
Lars: The main thing I loved about the game was the way it dropped you into a world and said absolutely nothing about your place or role in that world. You had to figure that out for yourself. If a dungeon was important it gave you no external sign. There was no beacon on your map - you had to roll up your sleeves and kick in some doors. That total indifference to the player’s actions made the world feel very real to me. I think some of it was accident rather than design, but I enjoyed it whatever the cause.
Most large game worlds tend to revolve around the player, who is usually some messiah - you get the sense that behind every closed door characters are just checking their watch waiting for you to show up and advance the plot. In Daggerfall I felt like they were going about business that had nothing to do with me. Planning murders or writing poetry or whatever. I loved that feeling.
Lars: Yes, but I see those issues as strengths in this game, not problems. That sounds like a ‘my biggest weakness is my perfectionism’ answer. But most of the problems I’ve seen with open-world stories (at least in my experience) stem from the developers trying to tightly control the player’s experience. That ends up feeling flat - there’s no such thing as urgency in a sandbox game unless the player is supplying it. So in FRONTIERS we’ve tried to tell a story that lets the player drive the action. It expects you to travel large distances and to take pit stops along the way. It allows for you to talk to people out of order and to get lost between destinations. If you build a story around exploration and it starts being an either/or thing, where you’re either playing the game or playing the story, that’s when the story becomes secondary.
Ryan: It's only a problem if you make it one. When the goals of the story don't align with those of the player, of course it's going to feel secondary. We've deliberately made the goals in Frontiers stuff that the player will want: More areas to explore and cool new ways to get around where you've already been. We put as few barriers as possible between you and the lovely world you came to see, and give you even more reasons to go out into it.
RPGWatch: You've said you are inspired by Daggerfall. What features does Daggerfall have that are missed or under-represented in today’s games?
Lars: The main thing I loved about the game was the way it dropped you into a world and said absolutely nothing about your place or role in that world. You had to figure that out for yourself. If a dungeon was important it gave you no external sign. There was no beacon on your map - you had to roll up your sleeves and kick in some doors. That total indifference to the player’s actions made the world feel very real to me. I think some of it was accident rather than design, but I enjoyed it whatever the cause.
Most large game worlds tend to revolve around the player, who is usually some messiah - you get the sense that behind every closed door characters are just checking their watch waiting for you to show up and advance the plot. In Daggerfall I felt like they were going about business that had nothing to do with me. Planning murders or writing poetry or whatever. I loved that feeling.
Daggerfall's world "that had nothing to do with me" may sound a bit at odds with telling "a story that lets the player drive the action", but I guess they mean the feeling of an independent living world in the first case and a kind of "emergent gameplay" in the second. In any case, I'm quite interested in the end result myself. Can two guys make a compelling open-world game? I hope we'll see some day.
