Raph Koster On Star Wars Galaxies

Thanks to UGO.com for their interview with Raph Koster, creative director of Star Wars Galaxies, discussing the launch period for the much-discussed PC MMORPG. He suggests that: "The launch was a little rockier than we'd like, so we've tried to be really proactive.... We're making a real concerted effort to constantly improve the game", and talks about new features: "Another big thing that's going in is gambling. So we're working up to Sabbac [the game in which Han Solo wins the Millenium Falcon from Lando]... We're gonna be adding slot machines and roulette." Also touched on are the mission diversity complaints: "The missions were never intended to be rich and complex and deep... they're intended to only take a little while, not be incredibly complex. But, of course, players have found them to be a great way of making money."

Comments

Surprised?

[Methuseus]

This is exactly why I didn't sign up for this game when it came out. They'll be lucky to have all the functions they had planned for launch done by Christmas, which is when I might get my subscription (if the box comes down in price).

Online RPGs

[Henry V .009]

My impression of the MMOs is that gameplay is rarely the strong point. EverQuest has little gameplay-wise to distinguish itself from Statbuilder. I do not know why that has to be. Multi-Player FPS gameplay is awesome. But it has yet to translate to online RPG-style games. So if that is true, story and plot seem to be the kind of things that make playing these games fun. They provide all of the variation. So why the hell does he say this in the interview:

You know, that's one of the things that's been an interesting balancing act. The missions were never intended to be rich and complex and deep. The whole point of them was, "Hey, I've got an hour to play. I want to jump in. Give me something to do now." So they're intended to only take a little while, not be incredibly complex. But, of course, players have found them to be a great way of making money. Literally, 80% of the money in the game is made out of missions. That's a huge number. We'd really rather people...you know, the NPC's have quests! And they're like multi-leg things.

What exactly is the point of money in a game that is no fun to play? Would the ability to become a millionare have made Dai-Katana more fun? (Yes, because anything would have made that piece of shit more fun, but that's not my point.) There is innovation going into these games in some areas; but it is not going into the right areas.

Re:Online RPGs

[Psychochild]

My impression of the MMOs is that gameplay is rarely the strong point.

It depends on the game. Meridian 59, for example, strives hard to have engaging gameplay. The game focuses on PvP combat, so we have to have engaging gameplay or people will get bored. True, this gameplay is a bit different than what you might expect if you've played a lot of single-player games.

The real draw of these games is the community. You meet other people, you make friends (and sometimes enemies), you have fun chatting with people while you're playing the game. These games foster cooperation and competition between the players; becoming a millionaire isn't fun by itself in a game, it's fun because you can compare yourself to other people. (I'm not saying this is what I like or encourange in my own game, just explaining what some players think.) This interaction is what online RPGs offer above and beyond traditional single-player RPGs.

Of course, this also limits the game somewhat. The traditional gameplay of single-player RPGs isn't directly applicable to online RPGs. You can't simply go save the princess and bring peace back to the land forever more, because that would interfere with the hundreds or thousands of other people playing the game. Story and plot take on very different meanings, and it's been a challenge for people used to the traditional linear forms of storytelling to get used to the new structures needed for online games, given that you have multiple people all playing at once and the story's pace continues with or without a single individual's participation.

Some insight from a designer,

Re:Online RPGs

[Metal_Demon]

I have been playing SWG quite alot in the weeks since I got it. When you first start the game the missions aren't important for anything more than making money, because you are busy getting exp in your preferred area. The fun from the game comes from mastering whatever profession you choose. If your character is a fighter of some type then you can have a lot of fun with the factions in PvP or just getting large groups together and storming an enemy base. The problem is you can only work in your profession for a certain amount of time before you stop advancing. I believe the people who were with the game from the beginning and have mastered their trade were getting bored with just doing their job.

What exactly is the point of money in a game that is no fun to play? you ask. That is a rather irrelevant question because this game is immensely fun. The thing is that while earning the money may not be all that fun to everybody, spending it is.

None of this really matters though because they added many new missions that should keep people entertained for a while. They have been doing an excellent job trying to keep this game on track. They have already done alot with this game and some of the patches they are making could easily sell as an expansion.

I'm gonna shut up now because I totally ranted like a demented fanboy.

BTW
Lowca: Kitorr
Radiant: Mellisto

Re:Online RPGs

[jafuser]

I agree. I think they should have added more than 17 steps to each profession (4 tiers of 4 steps each + master).

Perhaps a grid more like 8x8 or 4x16 would have been far more interesting for character development. However, I can understand that they can only do so much to get the game off the ground.

What will be challenging is how they will maintain the long-term interest of achiever players, since once you reach master and run out of skill points, it becomes quite painful to give up the skills you worked so hard for just to advance in a new profession to keep experiencing new content.

Re:Online RPGs

[Metal_Demon]

As you no doubt know they plan to add entire new professions, such as: politicians; police; and will probably be adding a vehicle elite to artisan among others. What I hope is that they will increase the number of skill points so that people can broaden there characters horizons. I can see good reason behind limiting the skill points, but with all the elite professions to pick from I think 250 is pretty low. Does anybody think they should get rid of the limit altogether?

Re:Online RPGs

[Prior Restraint]

What will be challenging is how they will maintain the long-term interest of achiever players, since once you reach master and run out of skill points, it becomes quite painful to give up the skills you worked so hard for just to advance in a new profession to keep experiencing new content.

One of my buddies has hypothesized that this is how one unlocks the force-sensitive slot: master every profession at some point with the same character. I realize it's pure conjecture, but as such things go, I've heard worse.

Best Game

[Chasuk]

Star Wars Galaxies is the best MMORPG I have ever played. Period. It is still buggier than I would like, but its depth and innovation astound me.

Aspects I love about the game:

1. The skill-based economy. This eliminates what I hated about EQ: the camping and the farmers. No more reading Harry Potter or Robert Jordan over the weekend while I wait for Something Special to drop.

2. The player houses and PA Halls. The player-vendors whose places of business appear on the planetary map.

3. The HUD. Waypoints. The well-designed and attractive cities, and the efficient/easy-to-use shutte/starship transportation system.

4. The mission terminals, the spendable faction points, the bazaar.

5. The amazing variety of Professions, and the ability to mix-and-match Professions, and even the ability to change my mind and surrender my skills to take up Professions that hadn't seemed attractive initially.

6. The loving attention to detail evident in the way NPC's even fidget convincingly.

7. The slightly Political Incorrectness ot the game: some of those dancers are hot almost to PG-13 standards, and a Slicer will sell you designer narcotics. George didn't succumb to any Disneyfication, which was startling to me, considering that this man was also responsible for Gungans and Ewoks.

8. Creature Handler. They can give creatures they've tamed to their friends, and one day those creatures will (probably) be available as mounts. Cool stuff!

9. Percentage-wise, I've encountered fewer griefers in this game than I have in the other MMORPG's. In other words, fewer losers, despite what one might think based on the lack of imagination in character naming.

Aspects I dislike about the game:

1. The lousy chat system that still stops working periodically.

2. The defective mission system, with missions that mysteriously vanish, and move too frequently.

3. The bazaar isn't as easy to use as it should be.

4. Trading items between players is still prone to malfunction.

Aspects I hate about the game:

Nothing here to list.

Anyway, my congratulations to Raph and his team, who have done a great job despite the impression you might get reading messages from anonymous whiners on the forums.

Thanks, Raph!

Re:Best Game

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars Galaxies is the best MMORPG I have ever played. Period. It is still buggier than I would like, but its depth and innovation astound me.

How many MMORGs have you played other than EQ?

Aspects I love about the game:

1. The skill-based economy. This eliminates what I hated about EQ: the camping and the farmers. No more reading Harry Potter or Robert Jordan over the weekend while I wait for Something Special to drop.

Reminds me of UO and since there are UO people making this game I'm not surprised a bit.

2. The player houses and PA Halls. The player-vendors whose places of business appear on the planetary map.

Not the first game to offer player housing, Asherons Call even added it at one point. I'm not sure about the faction halls, but I believe they are in shadow bane if not others.

3. The HUD. Waypoints. The well-designed and attractive cities, and the efficient/easy-to-use shutte/starship transportation system.

The game is pretty, the HUD is nice, but has a steep learning curve, and I'm not really sure what they gain over other interfaces if anything at all. The transportation system again is not unique. It could be compared to the portals in AC or the shuttles in AO.

4. The mission terminals, the spendable faction points, the bazaar.

Again, all things we have seen in other MMOGS.

5. The amazing variety of Professions, and the ability to mix-and-match Professions, and even the ability to change my mind and surrender my skills to take up Professions that hadn't seemed attractive initially.

This is a good point. I haven't seen any other games with this much diversity. The problem is that many of the character classes are flawed or not working as intended.

6. The loving attention to detail evident in the way NPC's even fidget convincingly.

Good NPCs for the first two days, then they seem all the same. Do deliver missions for an house and you'll never car about an NPC again unless it has to do with the plot.

7. The slightly Political Incorrectness ot the game: some of those dancers are hot almost to PG-13 standards, and a Slicer will sell you designer narcotics. George didn't succumb to any Disneyfication, which was startling to me, considering that this man was also responsible for Gungans and Ewoks.

Nothing differant from what you see in the movies except you can actually partake in the various vices such as drugs. Remember episode two when Kenobe turns down some death sticks and convinces the guy he doesn't want to sell them anymore.

8. Creature Handler. They can give creatures they've tamed to their friends, and one day those creatures will (probably) be available as mounts. Cool stuff!

You are very limited in what creatures you can have if you are not a creature handler, and it remains to be seen what skill is required for mounts. Initially there was a bug where you could get just about any creature from your friends, but this has been fixed.

9. Percentage-wise, I've encountered fewer griefers in this game than I have in the other MMORPG's. In other words, fewer losers, despite what one might think based on the lack of imagination in character naming.

It is early, give it time. There are already plenty of griefers and there will be more later as the game grows.

Aspects I dislike about the game:

1. The lousy chat system that still stops working periodically.

This is a bug I haven't seen reoccur in over two weeks, but then again that is probably server specific.

2. The defective mission system, with missions that mysteriously vanish, and move too frequently.

The missions for the most part aren't disappearing. Some do, but for the most part you are seeing other people destroy your mission while you are enroute. Read the official forums and you will see people saying it's great, others that hate it etc. Also, wh

Re:Best Game

[Chasuk]

How many MMORGs have you played other than EQ?

EQ, UO, AO, AC, AC2, DAoC,The Realm, Meridian 59.

Reminds me of UO and since there are UO people making this game I'm not surprised a bit.

Not the first game to offer player housing...

...all things we have seen in other MMOGS

The transportation system again is not unique.

Whether they appear in other games or not does not deprecate their appearance here.

The game is pretty, the HUD is nice, but has a steep learning curve...

I've heard this complaint before, but I did not find it so. Truthfully, I found it one of the most intuitive and easily-learned games I've ever played. Maybe if I'd never played an MMORPG before, this wouldn't be the case, but that is impossible for me to judge, at least at this point.

Remember episode two when Kenobe turns down some death sticks and convinces the guy he doesn't want to sell them anymore.

No, sadly, I don't remember. This isn't a troll, but I've never liked any of the Star Wars films. I found episode II tolerable, in an eye-candy sort of way. I watched episode IV for the first time in 26 years just yesterday, to re-acquaint myself with some of the mythos.

I will amend my complaint about the chat system: it seems absurd to me that, when I am conversing with several players simultaneously, that it is so difficult to switch between them. No easy toggle as in EQ, which is the game by which this one will be judged, rightly or wrongly.

Anyway, it's good to read a constructive difference of opinion. Thanks.

Re:Best Game

[Chasuk]

Sometimes trolls are disturbingly intuitive.

Yes, I do have gender-assignment issues, and I am homosexual. Well, bisexual, really, but that's not germane to this issue.

As far arse-licking, I suggest that you try it before you condemn it. It is pleasurable both as the recipient and the giver, providing that the anus is clean, unless you are into scat, which I understand that Anonymous Cowards frequently are(quite inexplicably, to my mind).

Oh, and for the vomiting, I recommend Pepto-Bismol, but you might want to consult your physician, as IANAD.

Re:Best Game

[Anonymous Coward]

"8. Creature Handler. They can give creatures they've tamed to their friends, and one day those creatures will (probably) be available as mounts. Cool stuff!"

That's not right.

much better info

[joe094287523459087]

much better reviews here - http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/08/05/ 1847238

Mirror of article

[Anonymous Coward]

Raph Koster has been in the gaming industry for a comparatively short time, but his impact has been immeasurable. His work on the team for Ultima Online, as well as his role as lead designer for that game's many updates, has helped to keep its community alive for over 6 years.

Most recently, though, Raph was the Creative Director for one of the most anticipated games of all time. You might've heard of it...Star Wars Galaxies? We sat down to chat with Raph about the success of the game and what kind of updates and additions we should expect to see in the future. No, Twi'lek erotica is not planned...yet.

UGO: So the game's been out for more than a month now. What's been added and what's on the horizon?

Raph Koster: Well, we've just finished our first big monthly update. We're planning on doing those every month. As far as we know, it's the fastest MMO [massively multiplayer online game] ever. We hit 125,000 people in a week. We're considerably higher than that now, but we're not ready to talk about numbers again yet.

UGO: Could you talk a bit about the monthly updates?

RK: The monthly updates have a couple of elements. We are doing a story arc, similar to Asheron's Call, I guess. The prologue for the first episode is called "Cries of Alderaan." They're not one-month story arcs; they're like a single arc that covers multiple months. We introduce episodes each month that players can participate in and effect the outcome. And they affect the outcome, so it isn't just us telling players what's happening. For the first update, what we do, we have what we call a codependence program where players get selected to be representatives for the profession. And they escalate the top five issues that they want to address for their profession or their play style. We listen to that and we make changes in the game based on that.

Content Continues Below Advertisement

RK: We're also, obviously, always keeping an eye on exploits and bug fixes. The first few months of an MMO, lots of that kind of stuff starts surfacing. We've been doing hot fixes to the servers on almost a daily basis, squashing whatever the top exploits or major bugs are. We try to be really responsive. We've got multiple people on the boards every day responding to issues. The launch was a little rockier than we'd like, so we've tried to be really proactive. We gave everybody who logged in on the first day, we extended their free period, that kind of thing. So we've tried to do the right thing by everybody. The patch itself, then, is like a full month of development. We're making a real concerted effort to constantly improve the game.

One of the big elements that's going into this patch is a big upgrade to PvP [player vs. player combat], a global upgrade. Not too many people have gotten this high in level yet, in the factions, but when you have enough faction points and have aquired a high enough faction rank, you can actually build bases and faction headquarters. Until now, you just built them because they were cool. But they now, in the new patch, actually affect global standing for the faction. Whichever faction is in the lead gets XP [experience] bonuses, that kind of thing.

UGO: We've already seen some bases popping up around the game world. Are they all player created or are the developers adding them in?

RK: I don't know! [laughs] There are player created bases. They can be fairly substantial. Near the end of the beta, we put up some screenshots of some of the bases. They're pretty large, they get really huge. The highest end faction bases actually support hospitals, and...uh...they're not really cantinas...you know what I'm talking about? The USO, so it's like a military bar kind of place for the entertainers. Mission terminals, faction mission terminals, crafting stations, that kind of thing. So you can actually make the base into a base of operations. And they're not vunerable 24/7, they're only vulnerable at certain times, so the other side can attempt to capture the base. And it's set

Re:Mirror of article

[Goldberg's Pants]

Lost me as a potential customer due to using the word "proactive".

Re:Mirror of article

[slaker]

Yeah, and that comment about Michael's penis (it's there, trust me) was probably a little out of line, too.

As much as I've bashed SWG

[sweetooth]

If they can get thier shit together and get Asherons Call style monthly updates rolling (better than this months which is absolutely worthless so far) I'll stick around for a long time. I played AC for 3 years and stuck around for the people I met and the monthly updates. Not every month was a great update, but there were always updates. For $10 bucks a month I felt I got my monies worth and played two accounts for much of that time. Unfortunatly the end for me was when the problems with the community that remained in the game over shadowed the updates Turbine was creating. Running around with hundreds of other people that were all maxed out in levels and having every quest solved within a couple of hours of the monthly patch sucked.

Re:As much as I've bashed SWG

[will_die]

The only difference is that even in the worse months of AC1 updates they had more content then what SWG current has.

Re:As much as I've bashed SWG

[sweetooth]

Sad but true, and they only charged $10 per month. The graphics weren't anything special or anything and there were limitations with the engine, but they managed to pull off some fun stuff. I especially enjoyed some of the developer driven events where they actively participated by playing main characters in the storyline and we could actually go see them and fight them etc.

The game is a DISASTER

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know why this guy is getting acclaim, the games he designs show that he has little idea what players do once unleashed in a virtual world.

In UO he apparently didn't understand that high level players would kill lower level ones when given the opportunity. Literally thousands of newbies were slaughtered day in day out.

In SWG he apparently doesn't understand that when players have nothing else to do they will run those stupid missions he's talking about until every person is a millionaire and the economy collapses. Or in what I guess is a "fix", they can spend a day getting faction points to buy a recently discounted AT-ST and go kill a few hundred Rebel players, who get nothing to counter them with.

Having said all that, I don't blame Raph necessarily for these problems (and there are MANY more), the game was obviously not finished when it was released.

Heading in the Right Direction...

[Ka0s23]

While I do think that SWG was rushed out to say the least, it seems to me now to be headed in the right direction, despite the large volume of "whiners". As I've experienced so far, SWG really challenges its players to adapt to the ever changing world, whether intended or not. I started as a rifleman, working my way up through master marksman and master rifleman. Then as all riflemen know came the T-21 nerf, and my character was needless to say pretty hosed. Rather then bitch and moan I simply took my character in a new direction and tried out becomming an architect. I submitted my opinion to the devs that the T-21 nerf was extreme and now severly hurt the rifleman class, and went on my merry was building houses. As any other riflemen out there know the T-21 nerf was recently lifted and I can go about happily hunting again. My advice, don't bother with SWG if your just gonna cry and quit if your perfect character gets slighted during one patch. This is one of the few cases I have seen in any online game where the developers listened to the gameing community and reversed a nerfing. So enjoy the game and be constructive with you suggestions for the devs, they just might listen. Flooding the forums with "This game sucks now, I can't have 3 rancors" really doesnt help.

WoW?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've noticed that a lot of the more chronic complainers on
the SWG forums are threatening to quit and go to some place
called WoW.
I assume this is the "World of Whiners" ?

In another burst of honesty

[MerlynEmrys67]

He admits that the game wasn't designed to be fun to play, but to create cash for Sony Online Entertainment
Bwahahahahaha

Commando comments will stir up flames

[jafuser]

RK: [...] So architects is one of the commonly advanced Masters. Weaponsmith, because the market for weaponsmiths is huge. But when you're talking Squad Leaders or Commandos, there is one Master Commando in the entire game right now. One!

UGO: Isn't Master Commando the class where you get to wield flame throwers and rocket lauchers?

RK: Yeah.

UGO: You'd think more people would be interested in that.

RK: [laughs] Well, it's hard, is what it is.


Wow.

Anyone who knows the true nature of the Commando profession knows that it's time to "let the flames begin".

There are not a lack of Master Commandos by choice. People can't get Master because of bugs preventing Commando characters from advancing... And there's some *very* angry players due to this. I'm sure comments like this will definitely will not help.

It's a lot like a local government official going on the news stating "Nobody ever uses the park! Even after we've added all kinds of fun facilities! Isn't that odd!" while at the same time neglecting to mention that they never assigned anyone the job to unlock the gate into it.

I don't have any interest in the commando profession myself, but I can see this stirring things up a bit...

You mean I can be Animal Handler #3??

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that is so cool and exciting. Sounds much more interesting than all that Jedi/fight the Empire crap that they made the movies about.

I'm a Crack Addict

[!Da_BLaRGiNaToR!]

SWG is evil! I am so addicted to it right now it's not funny. It's like bad crack, it makes you really sick and puke but you can't stop using it!

(note: I've never done crack, this was the only analogy I could come up with)

SWG is a sweet game with tons of stuff to do. I couldn't get into any other MMORPG's (I played EQ, beta tested Neocron and Earth & Beyond), but SWG has got me hooked. If anyone is interested in getting into SWG, be forwarned. It's buggy. To the point of cussing up a storm and breaking stuff (at least for me). But it's a blast, and I can't stop playing it.

Addiction

[LondonLawyer]

I'm surprised to hear anyone say they are this heavily addicted to SWG. So far as I can see it is bland, disappointing mush rather than highly addictive electro-heroine. Witness the scramble to add gambling to the mix to up the addictive quality of the game. The game has been so heavily slated by so many people that it is in danger of imploding as better alternatives hit the market. In a sense this is a shame because if there is one thing to be said in its favour, it is that SWG has the pedigree to kick all others into touch. On the other hand, I'm secretly glad to see the zombies spared a little while longer. It is only a matter of time before these games take over from TV as the opiate of choice. If you're selling your kids to fund your habit now, you're going to be in real trouble when they finally get the formula right.