Interview: GamesCampus’s GM Rico talking about its F2P MMORPGs

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GamesCampus‘s groundbreaking free to play MMORPGs move so fast with 10M active players. Today our interviewer Peak got something new from GM Rico of GamesCampus and they discuss some topics that players are keenly concerned about, like Game balance, Player’s feedback and suggesions, and even the future of all games of GamesCampus.

Peak:Hello. I am an interviewer for MMOGAMESITE.com. I am privileged to be able to interview you and find out some information of what is coming for Heroes in the Sky after beta. So, before we start, can you tell me something about yourself?

Rico:Well I’ve been working with the company since December and have helped out with four titles thus far. Cue Online, Tank Ace, Manga Fighter, and now Heroes in the Sky.

Peak:Great. Question 1:Congratulations to you and Gamescampus on making it this far with this game. How does the gang at Gamescampus feel?

Rico:It’s one of the most solid titles I’ve ever dealt with. Either as a player or a community manager. Overall the response from the community has been solid and that is what we look for here. We want games that people truly enjoy and this is certainly one of those titles.

Peak:Question 2:Many players will make suggestions to improve the game and implementing these suggestions are very important in keeping a steady playerbase for an MMO. How does Gamescampus plan to implement these suggestions?

Rico:It is important to take suggestions and look at them with a different pair of glasses. Many times players will make a suggestion that appears good on paper but in application it presents as many or perhaps even more problems than the issue it was supposed to resolve. Because of this we need to look at all suggestions critically and see if they would improve the game or merely complicate it further. Though I’d like to add that some of the suggestions I’ve seen already are fairly good and may end up seeing themselves in the game. Though ultimately that is up to the developers.

Peak:Question 3:Over time, games will begin to get boring and this becomes a major turn down for players. What do you all plan to do to make this game unique and increase its replay value?

Rico:Well first and foremost player interaction tends to expand on the popularity and lifespan of games. Without that titles tend to dry out quite quickly. This is something that will be covered fairly well through the many different PVP modes that exist and will exist in the future. Otherwise there are hundreds of aircrafts still not in the game that can be added, there is always the availability of new mode options. Likewise players can challenge themselves.

Peak:Question 4:There is a cash shop in Heroes in the Sky. How does Gamescampus plan to balance a free player to a paying player?

Rico:The cash shop is designed in such a fashion that you are largely buying time. Any player can become an extreme force to be reckoned with but the cash shop allows a player to free up some of that time they might have spent grinding or begging in the Base. The current CBT had a very extreme pricing, where everything was basically free. This gave people access to weapons and planes that are likely never to be seen outside of GM accounts from OBT and beyond. With the proper pricing, the cash shop will provide players with nice means to support our company and the game while also making the entire experience a little more relaxing and streamlined. Overall, I’d like to say it is one of the most well thought out shops to be put into a game. It hasn’t caused me to run around the office in a grumpy tyrade, which is new.

Peak:Question 5:Player vs Player is a very important part of this game and the matches are room based. How will you all try to minimize lag and latency issues?

Rico:This is a difficult issue to tackle. Most fixes for this sort of issue involve rerouting players or limiting them to other players of similar region or internet speeds. The problem with this is that it would break the occupational war as it would separate people by connection meaning that certain players could invade regions unhindered. I think above all other issues this will be one that will require much brooding and research into all possible options. I realize that sounds a bit political but it’s the best I have as this is very hard to manage and not something I personally specialize in.

Peak:Question 6:What major changes will we see after open/closed beta?

Rico:There are many planes and missions that will be finding their way into the game over the course of the next few months. Likewise, I’m not certain if the Raid Mode will be making its way into OBT but it’ll be another huge advancement in the commercial release. There is also the Pacific Front being added to the Occupational War. The developers work very hard and consistently so I don’t think we’ll ever hit a dry spot for updates. World War 2 has a period of military research and development that personally, I think has no rival, but I can be wrong. I can say confidently that we should never run out of materials to implement.

Peak:Question 7:Nearly all missions have specific maps to use and complete these quests. Once the level cap is increased there will be more and more quests and maps. Do you plan on making these maps unique and ensuring that a player is not bored quickly?

Rico:Since we are dealing with real world areas and Soldiers weren’t courteous enough to always fight in a different place we are sometimes stuck with the same basic region. However there is and will always be very copius amounts of missions and quests to complete and anytime it is appropriate there will be new maps to compete on.

Peak:Question 8:What will Heroes in the Sky offer from every other MMO out there?

Rico:We also have the freedom to take player input on what new content should be added and actually do that. It’s much more difficult for fantasy based MMOs to just add in new races or content since they need to work from scratch and fit the lore. We have hundreds and thousands of pages and information available to us,so don’t worry.:)

Peak:Question 9:Anything else you would like to add?

Rico:I’m not a fan of PVP, in almost any style. It is what killed EVE for me, it killed Halo for me, it is the reason I quit WoW initially (I was on a PVP server), and the reason I didn’t like Warhammer Online. But HIS presents PVP in a manner that I actually enjoy, not necessarily easy, but less stressful. It has far less quirks that drive me insane.I find myself, a person who actually doesn’t tend to enjoy flying games or PVP centric games, enjoying myself quit a lot. That speaks to me of the quality of HIS. It may not blow my eyes away, but most of my favorite games don’t, they excite me at a cognitive level with either their complexity or the breadth of their content. It’s a solid title and it would be highly unfortunate for anyone to overlook it. Especially since it is free to test. Nothing to lose but a bit of bandwith in the background as it downloads .