4Players: One shortcoming of Ryzom was the impenetrable interface which consisted of loads of windows and made it difficult to access both the skill tree and the crafting-system.
a) Do you plan on improving the ingame-interface?
This is a question for the live team ;)... But yes, it’s "in the pipe” !
b) Will the editors be easy to use?
Yes! Ease of use is one of the most important features in the Ring tools. We have chosen to embed the tools directly in-game to give you a "what you see is what you get" view of the scene as you create it. Content is dragged and dropped from the palette to the scene... The number of editor windows has been kept to a minimum, ... and so on. Creating and running a scenario should be child's play!
4Players: How will gamers be able to gain access to the new worlds?
DM: There are two types of new lands: adventures and outlands.
Adventures come into existence when a player acting as 'dungeon master' launches them. They exist as long as the dungeon master is running them and vanish when he logs out. One accesses adventures either by selecting a 'join adventure' option in the game login screens or by clicking on a similar button in the new 'ring' interface available in-game.
Outlands exist permanently and are linked into the world via the teleporter network. When one clicks on a certain type of teleportation console in the game landscape, a menu appears showing the accessible outlands that are linked to this teleportation point. An outland can be accessible to a list of players, one or more guilds or the playing public as a whole.
4Players: Do you think World of WarCraft was the one game MMORPGs needed in order to become more attractive for the mass market?
DM: Its clear that the success of World of Warcraft is doing good for the MMORPG industry as a whole, though I would say they've hit a less hardcore market rather than the mass market for now. WoW is introducing new players to the genre, which can only do us all good.
4Players: Will people who like World of WarCraft still be interested in playing other Online-RPGs like Ryzom? If so, what is it that makes Ryzom interesting in particular?
DM: But of course! WarCraft is a nice game, but a game such as Ryzom has plenty more to offer. Breaking down the limits of a classic class-based system, Ryzom provides freedom to develop the skills that one chooses, to develop one's characteristics, spells and actions as one sees fit and to compose and refine their actions to match one's own play style. The Ryzom Ring extension leaps a step further, providing unprecedented power to the players. With the Ryzom Ring one can design and run one's own adventures and even add one's own landscape zones to the game world. With Ryzom, you really get to play the way YOU want to play!
4Players: Thank you very much for the interview, and good luck with your innovative plan to let players create their own world!
