vanguard - www.mmosite.com

1.2 What is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game)?

1.3 What do these other terms like 'MMOG', 'MMO', 'MMOFPS' and 'PSW' mean?

1.4 What are your goals with Vanguard SOH?

Vanguard's purpose is to become the premier third generation, massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing game (RPG). Given the significant success of games such as EverQuest, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and Asheron's Call, it is clear that a strong demand for fantasy based MMORPGs exists. To meet the growing demand for a game that advances the multiplayer fantasy genre, Sigil is using the combined experience and creativity of its team to bring players a new and challenging feature set with deep, involving game content.

Vanguard is a High Fantasy themed Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) with a heavy focus on character development, an immersive world, and player interdependence. Vanguard strives to meet the following goals:

·To lead the next generation of massively multiplayer RPGs by using Sigil's unparalleled expertise and experience in the field. Our team consists of original EverQuest team members, EverQuest expansion team members, as well as team members from EverQuest 2 and EverQuest Online Adventures (PS/2), and other MMOGs.

·To lead the next generation of massively multiplayer RPGs by implementing unparalleled static and dynamic content using advanced approaches including, but not limited to: advanced encounter systems; meaningful travel; a detailed and interesting seamless world; advanced immersive gameplay and graphics, and pre-planned expansions for both the short and long term health of the game. We also have quite a few ideas and preliminary plans that we consider revolutionary. These innovations, although they will be under wraps for some time to come, should take the genre to the next generation and beyond.

·To bring back to the genre a challenging and rewarding environment -- removing tedium and frustration (which we certainly aim to do) does not mean a game necessarily has to be easy.

1.4.1 What do you mean by a 'third generation MMORPG'?

1.4.2 Why should I play your game? I already have a guild and massive time invested in another MMOG.

1.4.3 What makes Vanguard really different? Can you talk about exciting new features that really set the game apart?

We can go over a few, and more and more as time goes on. We do need to keep some of our truly third generation ideas under wraps for a while, both because we want to make sure they work the way we envision, and also because other MMOGs are coming out first.

1. Bring back the challenge without all of the tedium.

2. Create a truly seamless world where you can see for miles, and just about anything you can see, you can travel to.

3. Integrate a 'multi-sphere' system where your character is both an adventurer and crafter at the same time, with unique experience pools, skills, and items. You could, in theory, be a level 10 Ranger and a level 15 crafter. Likewise, you could ignore one sphere, and focus only on the other.

The following was posted elsewhere in answer to how we would make the game more challenging but also not tedious, but I think it elaborates a bit and also describes even in more general what makes this game different than the rest:

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The game is going to be challenging. The game is going to focus on character advancement, item acquisition, and interdependence to build community and teamwork.

If I had to compare it to another game, take original EQ, Kunark, and Velious -- that sort of challenge.

One of our big goals is bring back the challenge we feel is being abandoned in MMOGs as of late, but without a lot of the tedium. We want travel to be fun, and there to not be a lot of teleporting around. We want exploration to be key and for you feel compelled and then rewarded for exploring and traveling.

We really don't want camping, where you sit in one spot waiting for a spawn. We have plans to have our encounter system strongly encouraging moving around, 'doing' a dungeon. We want to have cool vehicles, whether they be horses that you can equip and also use for storage that help you move across land; we want you to own ships and sail the oceans, but not empty oceans -- oceans filled with content as well -- sea monsters, pirates, and lots of little islands en route to your destination.

Additionally we will have areas that are more geared for one of the categories: casual, group, and raid. The casual areas require less of a contiguous time commitment and you don't need a full group. The grouping areas, well, require you to group. Think classic, old school grouping. Then the raid areas, well that's pretty obvious.

Both risk and reward will be present, however, so one shouldn't expect to see as much of a reward in a casual area vs a group area. It's something to do when you have less time, and it should be fun, but you're not going to get the fiery scimitar of ultimate doom in a casual region.

Also, our crafting system is there and arguably just as important as the adventuring side of things. So if your buddies aren't on one evening yet you still want to play, you could go and hone your crafting skills, and then return to adventuring the next evening when the guild logs on and off you go.

The interface and character class selection is also somewhat newbie oriented if you want it to be. We don't want to beat the noob over the head with all the depth and detail of the game right off the bat. It's intimidating. So if you choose the noob path to character creation, expected to be gently led into the UI, the gameplay, etc.

Basically, we want to remove as much tedium as possible, as well as barriers to entry. But, and this is key, we strongly feel this is NOT mutually exclusive with making a darn hard and challenging game. Battles will be tough. NPC AI will be smart. Lots of group tactics will be used, with even more collaboration then you've probably seen before, and an even more visceral feel.

Dungeon crawls will be back, and those who risk the depths of these nasty areas and return alive will most likely have some pretty awesome loot.

Death will have a sting, and it's mostly classic corpse retrieval with a few variations like we'll make it easier to find your corpse, yet you'll still have to fight to it. Also, corpses will never truly deteriorate as long as a certain amount of loot is on the corpse. And, the way the game is designed, you are expected and will need by a certain level to start putting together multiple sets of armor (gets into situational stuff that I can't talk a lot about now). In any case, the old 'gotta head back into the dungeon naked to my corpse' should pretty much go away, as you will have spare/alternate set(s) of equipment relatively nearby.

Anyway, tough, yes. Rewarding, yes. Challenging, yes. Tedious, hopefully no. Camping, minimized the best we can. Travel, fun and dangerous in and of itself. Needing to group and work with others to really advance optimally and get the phat lewtz, yes.

1.5 Does it cost money to play Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?

Yes. Most likely the game will follow the traditional model of buying the box in the stores, receiving a free trial period, and then paying a monthly subscription fee. Other payment plans and options may be made available.

1.5.1 Will there be a product to buy in stores?

1.5.2 Will there be a monthly fee to pay to play?

1.5.3 Will there be alternate ways to pay to play other than a credit card?

1.5.4 Why, in your opinion, do the monthly subscription costs of MMOGs seem to going up?

1.6 Who are you guys? What is Sigil Games Online, Inc.?

Sigil Games Online, Inc. is a game studio dedicated to the development of massively multiplayer games. Formed in January 2002 by Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler, both key figures in the development of the massively multiplayer runaway hit EverQuest, Sigil Games plans to play a key role in taking MMOGs into their third generation and beyond.

Currently, Sigil has built a team of experienced developers and is well underway working on their first project, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, an MMORPG funded and to be published by Microsoft Game Studios (MGS).

Sigil's goals are to remain focused on creating great games, games developed by gamers, and to maintain a culture of passion and dedication. Indeed, everyone here is determined to follow-up our past successes with online games that are nothing less than revolutionary and stunning.

1.6.1 What is Sigil's goal as company?

1.6.2 What is Sigil's goal for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?

Quite honestly, our goal is to make the next number one massively multiplayer role-playing game. With EverQuest behind us, taking the genre to the next level is really the only thing that could satisfy this team and company.

1.6.2.1 Who is your target audience?

Our goal is to be as inclusionary as possible, but at the same time to not alienate existing, core MMOG gamers.

First and foremost, we want to appeal to gamers who have enjoyed the games we've worked on in the past. Then we want to expand outward and appeal to other core gamers with new and extended gameplay they might have found missing in previous games. Lastly, we want to grow the MMOG gamespace by appealing to 'non-core' gamers, but, again, never at the expense of the playerbase who already identifies with our goals and our previous work.

1.6.2.1.1 How will you address players with different amounts of time to play? There are casual players, players who like to group, and players who liked to be involved in massive raids¡ can they all co-exist?

1.6.2.1.2 Will you attempt to appeal to other types of gamers?

1.6.2.1.3 How important is player interdependence and how does it relate to community development?

1.6.2.2 Some MMOGs have focused more on the 'sandbox' or the 'virtual reality' and 'simulation of real life' aspect of online gaming. Others have focused more on gaming and entertainment. Where does Vanguard: Saga of Heroes fit in?

1.6.2.3 Are you building Vanguard: Saga of Heroes more to expand the gamespace and appeal to new gamers, or to appeal to existing MMOG players, or both?

1.6.2.4 How do you propose to draw in people who have not previously played MMORPGs?

1.6.2.5 How do you intend to make a game that is challenging but not overly tedious?

1.6.3 Where can I find out more information about the team, their experience, and their accomplishments?

1.6.4 Will the development team be playing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?

Absolutely. First of all, we're all gamers. We're here first to make games we want to play ourselves, otherwise where would the passion come from?

Not only that, once we near and enter beta, it will actually be mandatory for the team to play, and that includes everyone... producers, designers, programmers, artists... even our office manager.

1.6.4.1 I've heard that Sigil has a number of 'tenets' related to MMOGs... could you share a few?

Here are a few, in no particular order:

1. More smaller carrots, more often. (Meaning, control the rate of advancement of characters, but have them advance in smaller ways more often so you get feedback/new abilities/etc. more frequently but in smaller doses).

2. Content is king.

3. The path of least resistance shall also be the path to the most fun. (This is more about the fact that many gamers and in many games have come to a crossroads: to the 'left' is more efficient advancement but less fun (say, camping, or even 'grinding' in general), and to the 'right' is a more fun experience. It puts many players in a situation where they feel it's imperative they choose the more efficient but boring path... but then they're having less fun. That should ideally never occur (although it's been commonplace in many/most MMOGs). The more efficient way should also involve fun and what the designers had in mind for their target audience).

4. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. (This applies to a great many things, but in general to the recent reactionary trend to respond to traditional MMOG mechanics that have had some problems by completely removing them as opposed to fixing them. Travel is tedious? Remove travel! People are camping and ninja looting and being rotten to each other in a dungeon? Remove the other people! (Instancing). Sigil, rather, is intent on fixing and tweaking traditional MUD/MMOG mechanics that have existed for so long, not throwing them out).

5. The collective long term happiness of the playerbase and therefore the overall health of the game is always right.

(This is in reponse to the assertion that the 'customer is always right'. The assertion is correct, but since players are in a world shared by other players, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one or the few; likewise, what is good for the game long term takes precedence over the short term, in that it's in both the developers and players interest that the game retain its long term health).

1.6.5 Many of the current Sigil Games Online developers have previously been involved in the creation of high-profile MMORPGs. What lessons has the development team learned from these experiences?

1.7 Who is your publisher?

1.8 This is more of a general question about MMOG developers, publishers, etc., and how those relationships work, how profit and contracts work, etc. Could you give us a summary of what might be typical in this industry?

Specifically, what makes more profit, box sales or subscription revenue?

Both really, but the monthly subscriptions in the long run. The initial box sales help pay for the initial development cost, although it typically still takes several months of subscription revenue before the entire development, marketing, etc. costs are paid for.

After that, the revenue comes in the form of the monthly subscriptions and the periodic expansion releases. Every 2 or so expansion releases it's also a good idea to put a 'gold' or 'platinum' version of the main game out that includes the older expansions. This 'freshens' things, and keeps two SKUs (boxes) of your product on the channel/on the shelves simultaneously, which is also good. We've found that a new expansion also renews interest in the game itself and that sales of the original game or the re-packaged game (and therefore overall subscriber numberes) go up as well. I assume this is because existing players are excited about the expansion, the expansions get reviews in magazines, etc., so the word about the game gets out to new players as well.

The costs, however, continue as well. Not only do you have the marketing dollars necessary to put the expansion and refreshed main product out there (both ads as well as channel marketing dollars (end caps, PoP (point of purchase) materials, etc.) but you also have the continued cost of the Live, Expansion, Operations, and CS teams (not to mention the infrastructure costs themselves -- the server farms, the bandwidth costs, etc).

The way a developer/publisher relationship usually works is that the developer is paid advances on the game in order to fund development. The publisher sets up milestones and other metrics to make sure the developer is doing their job (e.g. making the game, preferably on time) and then pays the developer a portion of the agreed upon advances at those milestone dates. This money is then used by the developer to pay salaries, rent, buy computers & software, vast quantities of diet Mountain Dew, etc. Rarely is any money kept around except maybe a small fund for an emergency because a smart developer wants to spend that money on more employees, tools, equipment, etc. so that the game turns out that much better.

The contract the developer usually has with the publisher includes the total advance amount, the milestone schedule, and the royalty percentage.

(The other way, which is more rare, is that the developer raises funds through Venture Capitalist or Angel Investors or the founders themselves were already very affluent and also willing to put their own money on the line).

So when the game comes out, all revenue goes first into paying back the development costs (e.g. nobody is making any money). Once the costs of development are paid, both the publisher and developer make (hopefully) a profit. The developer gets a percentage royalty payment on an agreed to frequency, and the publisher gets the rest. (The Publisher usually gets the majority because they fronted all of or at least the majority of the money and therefore assumed the vast majority of the risk).

The developer can then take that profit (again, assuming the game was successful enough to have paid of its development costs (and MMOGs are VERY expensive, btw) and do any number of things with it. They can pay out royalties to their employees and/or a bonus or some such, or they can put the money away to build up a 'nest egg' hoping to eventually be able to self-fund a game.

Very successful developers (say ID Software, for example) I believe (don't know this for a fact) pay for the majority of the development costs for their games such that they assume the financial risk and therefore receive a much higher royalty. This is atypical, however -- it typically requires a developer that's stayed independent and been around quite a while and has a long history of hit titles behind them.

Developing, launching, and maintaining massivley multiplayer games is more complex, however, since MMOGs are not 'fire and forget' like many conventional video or computer games, the costs keep recurring. Money still has to come into the developer to pay for the Live, Expansion, and CS teams. So, typically, the developer also at some point executes a contract (or amendment to the first contract) to receive advances even after the game is launched. This is, of course, a good thing because no one wants to lay off their talented and experienced staff after the MMOG is launched. Royalty percentages, etc. are also figured out then for both the expansions and the overall success of the game in terms of retention and monthly revenue the game generates. Sometimes royalties are not a set number but can go up (or down, but hopefully not) based on how successful the game is (e.g. if the overall revenue or profit reaches a certain point, the developer's royalty could go up).

The profit margin for an MMOG can be very good relative to other games because of the recurring monthly subscription revenue. If the operation of the game is kept lean and mean but also at the level that the customer is sastisfied and therefore keeps subscribing, the margin can be very high (up to 40%-50%). This is one of the reasons, especially early on in the UO/EQ days that everyone and their dog wanted to make an MMOG (regarless, unfortunately, of whether they truly had the talent and/or passion for this particular genre).

The fact of the matter, however, is that while those profit margins are indeed attractive, it takes a LOT more to make an MMOG than a typical game. It's a lot harder IMHO, takes a talent pool that is not necessarily the same as what it takes to make a single player games, and that talent pool (since there are far less MMOG experienced developers out there) is much harder to find. Then you need good operations people and a good operations infrastructure to launch the game and maintain it after launch (you all know the struggles many companies have gone through with launching theses games). The development cycle is also typically longer (3-5 years) and many people simply aren't willing to devote that kind of time only working on one title. And, as mentioned, the expense is very high (becuase of the infrastructure necessary as well as the longer development cycle), so it's often hard to find a publisher/funder willing to assume that level of risk. Bottom line: there are far easier ways to make money in the computer/video game business -- you really need a developer and publisher committed to the genre.

But, of course, if all goes right and the game is a success, in the end a lot of profit can be generated. Again, most of this typically goes to the publisher. The money that goes to the developer, as mentioned above, can be used for royalties, bonusses, or saved (or some combination of the three).

Typically, if the developer is in it for the long haul (and the mentality of the developer who wants to make an MMOG is typically oriented thusly), they try to keep much of that profit to put into future games and endeavors.

The other scenario that can occur if the game is very successful is that the publisher or someother enterprising entity will buy the developer after the game launches and looks like its going to be a success (or even before, if everything looks very promising). An example of this would be SOE buying Verant not long after EQ came out. And if the developer is employee owned (e.g. the employees have stock options), this can be a way to make good money more short term as opposed to staying independent and amassing royalties. There are, of course, downsides to 'selling out' as well, and it's an interesting (but probably overall good) 'problem' to deal with.

I hope this answered your questions -- the short answer would be to say that box sales drive the initial big hit of revenue (and payback of development costs) but the real profit comes from long term subscription revenue that a successful and popular MMOG hopefully generates (and then, of top of that, successful expansions).

1.8 What sort of technology are you using for your primary graphics engine for Vanguard?

1.10 Is there a plan to hamper IGE type companies?

1.11 A lot of games list System Requirements that often prove false upon release. Does Sigil plan on being as close as possible to the truth on game requirements?