Dragon Oath Interview With ChangYou General Manager Martin Tan

By Jeffrey Philipp | August 24, 2009 | | Filed under: Features, Interviews | Tags: ChangYou.com (US) Inc., Dragon Oath, Free to Play, Martin Tan

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Jeffrey Philipp had the opportunity to interview Dragon Oath developer ChanYou’s General Manager Martin Tan about their upcoming Free 2 Play game.

The MMO Gamer: Could you begin by introducing yourself and what you do at Dragon Oath?

Martin Tan: My name is Martin Tan, General Manager of ChangYou.com (US) Inc. The company is a U.S. subsidiary of ChangYou.com Ltd (NASDAQ: CYOU), one of the leading MMORPG developers and publishers in China.

The MMO Gamer: How do you intend to differentiate your product from the many other games out there?

Martin Tan: The community-oriented game play, features/systems and the entire game platform will be the biggest attraction for the Western players. It is a well known fact that the western players do not appreciate grinding games. In addition, many Free-to-Play MMORPGs from Asia are mostly single-play oriented and grinding game play with limited quests and storylines.

However, Dragon Oath is clearly does not follow this mode. It is not possible to play alone. Dragon Oath provides players with many internal mechanisms to foster virtual relationships within the game – the entire game play follows the storyline, 24/7 on-going events with 9 different and very distinct classes with different stories and missions for each class.

Graphics and good visual trailers are not going to make players stay in the game. Simply cool looking characters will not make players stay in the game. Only the great game content and the depth of the game which will make players stay in the game. I can proudly say that Dragon Oath has it all.

The MMO Gamer: How much influence have movies and popular culture had on your design decisions?

Martin Tan: Dragon Oath (AKA Tian Long Ba Bu, or TLBB) is inspired by the popular Chinese novel Tian Long Ba Bu which means “Novel of Eight Demigods.” The story played a major role in the conceptualization of the game.

The MMO Gamer: How much focus has your team spent on writing? Both on quests and creating a rich world for players to exist in?

Martin Tan: Considerable amount of time has been spent on the conception and development of the game. The game follows a main storyline so we highly focused on writing. Even now in our Pre closed beta stage we are spending a great amount of time on localization and translation.

The MMO Gamer: How many other things will there be for players to do when they are not conquering enemies?

Martin Tan: Dragon Oath offers several non-combat options that will excite its players. In my opinion, these non-combat options make the game very additive and fun. Some of the non-combat options are:

The Guild System – The players can actually build their own guild or city called the player city

Non-Combat Events – The game offers both combat and non-combat events such as ‘Lucky Quizzes’ and Trivia Questions.

Crafting System – There is no limit to crafting skills and the player can opt lessons for being a blacksmith or a farmer.

I can’t divulge more information at this stage. But can assure the players that there is a lot to look forward to in the game in regards to combative and non-combative options.

The MMO Gamer: What do you have planned for your end game content?

Martin Tan: We are still working on it…

The MMO Gamer: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Is there anything you’d like to add that we haven’t touched upon in our interview?

Martin Tan: Thank you so much for taking the time out for this interview. We feel extremely happy and honored.