A Family Affair

Ten Ton Hammer Interviews Peter Cesario, Producer of Sword of the New World

By Cody “Micajah” Bye

On the fast track for a late May 2007 release, Sword of the New World: Granado Espada is one of the biggest games to come out of Korea in some time. Developed by famed Hakkyu Kim – one of the faces behind Ragnarock Online – SotNW has a stellar track record with Korean gamers. A 2006 Grand Award for Best Game in Korea sums up just how much potential SotNW holds within its lacey confines. It comes as no surprise that Sword of the New World was quickly scooped up by K2 Network, publishers of MU Online and other imported products, and is looking at a swift release into the states.

For those still in the dark about the product, Sword of the New World: Granado Espada is an MMORPG set in a Baroque-style universe, with music, costumes, architecture, and a storyline with thematic elements from that timeline. The westernized title, “Sword of the New World,” reflects that cataclysmic time period in our real world with the discovery of the Americas in the forefront of the parallel universe.

Aside from the unique environment, SotNW also features a unique multi-character control system. Instead of just following one avatar, players will explore the world with three characters that all bear the player’s family “surname.” Larger families can be created and players will be able to own a family house where the characters reside. A three-tier PvP system – player, faction, and city – has also been implemented into the game.

Our excitement for this project has been growing at a rapid pace, and when we were given an opportunity to chat with the game’s developers, we didn’t dream to pass it up.

Micajah: You have approximately three months till the official release date of Sword of the New World. It seems like the importation process for SotNW has been faster than what is typical for an imported game. Was there work being done on SotNW before the official announcement? Or is the development team just not sleeping?

Peter: In a word: Yes! Before the title was announced we were in pre-production and spent a lot of time working on streamlining the localization process as well as evaluating what other changes would need to be made to better cater to a Western audience. Of course, Redbull and coffee are also being brought in by the truckload, as we approach the launch date of the title! Because of this, we are currently on track to meet our targeted ship date.

Micajah: A number of other imported games have been made available to the North American audience in free-to-play systems. On your official website you mention that there will be retail boxes being sold at major retailers around the U.S., but also that there will be a trial version available. Will a subscription be necessary to play the game? What sort of “extras” will come with the boxed version, and what is left out of the “trial” version?

Peter: We actually haven’t announced the details on the online versions yet. We will offer online and retail boxed versions, for which we will have specific details soon.

Micajah: On the development side, how is SotNW being “Westernized”? You’ve mentioned storyline and additional character options may be available for the North American/European audience ... just what sort of options will there be?

Peter: The localization process involves all aspects of the game, not just translation of the in-game text, since the American/European audiences tend to have a different set of expectations and needs than the Korean market. At this point it would be very difficult to list all the aspects of the game that have been worked on, but one example is how we are balancing the time needed to hit certain milestones in the game. Traditionally the Western market tends to favor less of a grind to reach the highest levels, and we are working on bringing Sword more in line with this philosophy.

Micajah: Can you describe the storyline of the game to us? How close to history is the game staying?

Peter: The overall storyline is still being worked on, but what we can say is that the game takes place between the 15th and 17th centuries, and is loosely based on Europe’s colonization of the New World. But despite this quasi-historical setting, Sword of the New World still has many fantasy aspects to it, so you will see very few references to actual historical places and/or people.

Micajah: The multi-character control system is very unique in the MMO market. How will users control all three characters at the same time? Is the system as easy to pick up as the one-character control system typical of most MMOs?

Peter: The multi-character control (MCC) is one of the biggest strengths of Sword of the New World. As it stands you can easily control your family with just the mouse, or use a combination of mouse and keyboard shortcuts to maximize effectiveness. This is truly the great thing about MCC; it can be as simple or as deep as you want it to be! It’s really all up to the player and their individual play style! What we have found in testing and watching new players enter the game is that it takes almost no time for them to pick up the basics of the control system and start completing quests right away. But once players learn how to utilize all of the hotkeys they can really maximize the MCC’s potential!

Micajah: How large can families become?

Peter: Players start out with four character slots available, but can expand up to 36. These extra character slots will become unlocked as you progress through the game and achieve certain goals.

Micajah: While a number of previews for your game have glossed over classes, level advancement, skills and stances; we at Ten Ton Hammer have been curious about the details. How many classes will there be in the game? What will those classes be and how would you describe them?

Peter: We have five base classes in the game:

• The Fighter is a traditional tank class that can specialize in a large and diverse number of combat stances.
• The Wizard class has a great mixture of buffs, crowd control spells, AOE spells and ranged damage.
• The Musketeer class specializes primarily on ranged damage with rifles, as well as an array of AOE specific skills.
• The Elementalist is a caster class that focuses on Ice, Fire and Lightning magic, as well as an impressive list of support spells.
• The Scout is probably the most diverse, as he can specialize in either healing or DPS.

In addition to these 5 base classes, there will be a large number of unlockable player characters each with their own unique class combinations. Currently we are keeping the details on unlockable characters under wraps, but we will be releasing more info on them as we get closer to launch.

Micajah: You’ve stated that the level cap is 100 and skill cap is 25. How long will it take to get to level 100 and skill cap 25 with your characters? What sort of achievements do the characters get when they level or gain skill?

Peter: The level and skill caps are currently still in the balancing phase, but on average it should take a player quite a some time to hit level 100; even longer if they decide to max out multiple stances and skills. However, you can be assured that even after reaching the maximum level, there will still be plenty of content to explore; particularly since PVP competition really gets going at the highest levels.

Micajah: For those unfamiliar with stances, could you explain them to our audience? How many stances will be available per class? Do these level up any differently than skills or levels?

Peter: Stances basically allow for advanced specialization specific to each class. For instance, the fighter has over a dozen stances he can choose to specialize in, such as Hack and Slash, a dual-wield specialization; or Heaven and Hell, a sword/gun combo specialization. Each individual stance also includes its own unique set of skills. The more a player uses a particular stance the faster it will level up, unlocking more powerful skills associated with it. In addition, each time a stance is leveled, a skill point is awarded that can be spent on any of the skills unlocked up to that point. Stance and Skill leveling is independent from general experience gain and character leveling.

Micajah: There’s been mention that up to 10 players can be in a group at the same time. With each player controlling three characters, that’s 30 avatars being on screen at the same time! Will future players need to upgrade their computer systems to handle this load? In testing, how has this affected gameplay? Does it seem too hectic?

Peter: Actually in faction vs. faction battles you can get hundreds of players at once facing each other for control of an entire zone! Of course anything this big can sometimes get hectic, but the better organized the Clan or Faction, the better able they are to deal with the chaos of the battle around them. As for the load placed on a CPU in large fights, the game was actually designed with this type of epic battle gameplay in mind, so many technical features were implemented to minimize or even prevent slowdowns.

Micajah: The PvP system has been noted to allow player vs. player, clan vs. clan, and faction vs. faction. How do players engage in PvP on any of these levels? Will the need to be on a PvP server? Or will factions always be at odds with each other and constantly fighting to see who can control these cities?

Peter: I can give a quick overview of how the system works, but in general we want some of the nuances of this system to be explored and figured out by the players as they advance through the game. Overall, there are four levels of PvP in the game: Dueling – 1-on-1 battle; Squad vs. Squad – similar to parties in other titles; Clan vs. Clan – equivalent to guilds in other titles; Faction vs. Faction – clans that have banded together to vie for control of specific territories of the world.

Micajah: In PvE combat, you’ve stated that gamers should expect rapid fights where monsters die quickly yet come in waves. Just how large can we expect these fights to get? How many models can the engine support on-screen at one time?

Peter: The respawn and kill rates in Sword of the New World are much higher then what player’s are used to in an MMORPG. However, each character class is equipped with an impressive repertoire of skills that allows them to dish out more than enough damage to deal with the waves thrown their way. And of course, it’s always satisfying to pull a large group of mobs and unleash AOE hell on them! As for max models on screen, the game actually scales pretty well to all systems. It will be pretty common to see 20 to 30 or more mobs on screen at once without any slowdown – even with multiple spell effects and so on occurring.

Micajah: Thanks again for your answers, and we can’t wait to discuss more SotNW details with you soon!