Be careful what you wish for?
Over the years I?ve gotten a ton of ?Please make another MMORPG!? (sometimes accompanied by ?A good one this time!!!!?) or ?Please make a DAoC 2? requests as well as lots of other interesting requests that seem quite anatomically impossible. However, after the ?challenging? years of 2005-2009, I needed time, circumstances and stars to align before I was ready to make the decision to jump back into the MMORPG pool. When Mythic Entertainment set out on Dark Age of Camelot just about everybody in the industry said we would fail. That leading our little team against such major companies as Sony, Microsoft and Electronic Arts, who had their own (or were backing) MMORPGs, was nothing short of insanity. After all, even with a strong vision and a young and hungry team, we were told we had no chance of success. Well, despite the odds, only 2.5M in total development funding, 18 month cycle, and a tiny team (about a dozen full-time developers when we started), we created one of the best MMORPGs of all time, Dark Age of Camelot. As I?ve said many times elsewhere, I?m eternally grateful to that team because without their dedication, effort and creativity Dark Age would have been just another idea I got while taking a shower. However, in the immortal words of the great philosopher Timon, ?You?ve got to put your past behind you.?
That being said, I needed another great idea before I was willing to even consider making another MMORPG. While I?ve covered some of the steps I?ve taken down the MMORPG path elsewhere, it?s worth talking about this core concept a bit more. There was/is no greater champion for using these European myths and legends than me. I still love them as much as I did back in 1999 when I had to convince the Mythic team that it was the right idea for an MMORPG (and don?t get me started on how hard that was and that paled in comparison to trying to convince potential publishers and distributors). BTW, my favorite quote from those years is still how one European executive for a rather major multi-media company said to me ?I don?t know why you think European players would be interested in playing a game based on Camelot.? Now, how could we use some of the same public domain myths and legends in a different and unique way? Well, quite a while ago a friend of mine and I were discussing what kind of games could succeed in Asia. He gave me some tips and I filed those away for future use. Many months later I remembered one of those tips, the one that had been especially important to me throughout my career, use dragons! One of my first online games was, of course, Dragon?s Gate and I still wear the same dragon charm that I have worn for over 20 years. Putting dragons into a game is hardly new. However, what if our world?s dragons were a mere reflection of what these beings are in their own reality? In addition, what if in their dimension their technology is what we call magic? Then, what if a cataclysmic event pierced the walls (Veil) and the power from that dimension flooded our world ? a world with no magic, wizards, and dragons? Moreover, what if that power brought these legends and stories, dreams and nightmares, to life all at once? How would the world be changed? Would it even survive? This shattered world is the backdrop for what comes next.
This is my vision for a new IP based on some of the greatest tales the Western world has ever known. A world where Arthur and his knights are not mere legends, but are alive and fighting to build Camelot; where Nuada has gathered the newly emergent Tuatha D? Danann as they take their first steps out of the ether and where Sigurd is leading his mighty Viking warriors into glorious battle. This is not my former concept re-skinned, not simply Dark Age of Camelot 2 with a new name. If you are looking for a bold new vision for these legends, just as Dark Age of Camelot was a new vision back in 1999, look no further. If the idea of a Tri-Realm?, RvR-focused game where there is no PvE grinding, no gear grinding, no ?instanced-based PvP/RvR? but with a entirely player-owned and crafted economy and where your choices matter, all set within a truly open and persistent world appeals to you, then I hope I?ve piqued your curiosity. And most importantly, if the words ?server pride? and ?realm pride? hold a special place in your heart; then I welcome you to my vision, our world and one day, with your help, a place where you are not merely reliving the legends of Camelot, Vikings and the Tuatha D? Danann but forging them yourselves.
-Mark
P.S. I still hate gold farmers, paid power-levelers and hacked clients. I may have mellowed a bit but I haven?t changed THAT MUCH!
Also, if you are interested in seeing this vision come to life, please sign up for our newsletter! We?re trying to use it to both gauge initial interest in the game but also to communicate with our future players so pretty please with a Viking on top?
