E3 Interview: SOE Austin’s John Blakely Talks DC Universe Online

The MMO Gamer: When the game was just in the concept stage and everything was on paper, and you first sat down to start working out the details, did you set out to create a great MMO that would appeal to the genre, or did you set out to appeal more to the hardcore comic book fans?

John Blakely: We have a lot of people in our audience we think we can reach. We have the action gamers, we have the MMO gamers, and we have the fans of DC Comics.

We sat down first and foremost to make a great superhero game. To make sure that you felt engaged as a superhero, that you had the freedom of a superhero or villain, that you had the story elements of a superhero or villain.

All of those pieces were very important to us to focus on first. We know that we can make a good MMO, we have good MMO systems, then also we took that element and we had to figure out how to layer in those pieces and get those elements in there to make sure that as an MMO player I come in and I’m like “Wow, this is a new action experience for me,” but as an MMO player there’s a comfortable space because I understand the character progression, the end-game, the loot and the levels.

Then the action gamer comes in and says “Wow this is a familiar action experience, it’s really exciting. But what’s this new thing? It’s this MMO thing, character progression, and loots and levels, and community-based gaming working with a team, working with players and accomplishing big end-boss goals and having an end-game.”

We’re bringing those two audiences together.

Then, the DC fan of course wants a payoff on what they expect. These characters, how they look, how they interact, how they relate to you, and what you can expect as a DC fan in there. We wanted to make sure that’s all in there as well. That’s why we enlisted the help of Jim Lee.

We have a lot of things in there working for us to bring those things together, but it’s really about bringing those audiences together in the context of the game as opposed to trying to force fit one into the other.

The MMO Gamer: You mentioned a little while ago that the DC Universe has seventy years of history to draw from. Are you trying to put the game in any particular identifiable segment inside the canon? Or do you just pick and choose from the entire range of history and put it all together into one?

John Blakely: They have a concept called “Infinite Earths” in the DC Universe where there’s different dimensions, different versions of Earth that are parallel universes operating in different continuity pieces.

Working with Jim Lee and his team on the editorial staff at DC we’ve identified some of the best stories and the best pieces of that continuity and we’re going to bring that into our version of that.

We’re also going to craft a story with those writers to kind of understand why there’s so many superheroes and supervillains that are popping up in the world at this time.

It’ll be our own version of that, but we’ll be tied to the main continuity, and we’ll bring things back and forth, not only from the mainline continuity into our continuity, but also from our continuity back into the mainline as well. That’s because we have such a close working relationship with the licenser which is very important with these products.

The MMO Gamer: We seem to be running out of time… I like to close out my interviews with a little philosophy, as opposed to “Gimme exclusives!”

So, why do you make games? Why did you get into the industry? Why do you get up every morning and go to work at SOE?

John Blakely: I’m a kid at heart. I grew up playing games, I love socializing, I’m a hardcore player of these products, a consumer as well as a creator. I just love getting people’s reactions, I love building a team around a concept, executing well on that concept, and seeing that concept entertain people for hundreds, thousands, and millions of hours hopefully, collectively as an organization.

My time on EverQuest II, I’m very proud of that product and what we were able to deliver, I’m proud of where the product is today as it continues to grow and become a real stalwart in that space. I’m also proud of the team we have here, the people who are working hard to bring this vision of this universe, these stories that not only I know, but my mom knows about them, my son knows about them… it spans generations.

That’s a really humbling consideration, being a custodian of this stuff, bringing it to this medium, I’m very proud of that, and that’s what gets me up every morning.

The MMO Gamer: And for our final question. I’m sure you know I have to ask this: When do you think you’ll start taking applications for beta?

John Blakely: When we’re ready. That’s the thing, we look at these as games that we’re going to be living with for hopefully over ten years. EverQuest is just coming up on its tenth year anniversary, so we want to make sure that the ship is seaworthy, the time where we’re ready to have the passengers board and test out all the functions of the ship, we’ll get them on there.

But to start that process, again, we’re not going to hold it back, hold it back, hold it back. Part of our “Play” culture is to get it out in front of the audience early, bring in the players at the same time we’re bringing in the press, and that’s why we’re showing up next week at Comic-Con with an open booth, anybody can walk up, touch the product, it’s a fan convention, and basically give us some feedback, because we need it.

The MMO Gamer: Thank you very much for joining us, we appreciate it, and we hope we can do it again some time.

John Blakely: I’m looking forward to the next time we chat.

You may find more information regarding DC Universe Online at the game’s official website: http://dcuo.station.sony.com/

Pages: 1 2 3