Anarchy Online Developer Journal: Questions and Comments

[Cody Bye]

As the first graphically advanced massively multiplayer sci-fi game to hit the market, Anarchy Online has a long and storied history in our industry. To learn more about the ground-breaking game and its current development stage, we've given Nina "Aythem" Sund, Content Designer/Writer for Anarchy Online, an open forum to discuss her thoughts, background, and connection with this long-running game. As a continuing series, Nina will disperse these developers journals on a regular basis for you - the Ten Ton Hammer readers - to enjoy!

So how did I end up here with such power at my hands? I've been here for two and a half years and started out in Quality Assurance before moving on to become a designer. It's been a bit of a longer journey getting here though. Five years ago, I would never have imagined I would do this for a living. Like many of the people who work here, I started out as a player. The funny thing is that Anarchy Online is the first MMO I ever played, way back in 2002. Now, a few years later, I am lucky enough to work on the continued development of the very same game that got me interested in the game industry in the first place, and I positively love my job!

Developer Blog #1

Developer Blog #2

Developer Blog #3

Developer Blog #4

Developer Blog #5

Developer Blog #6

Developer Blog #7

If you have any questions or comments for Nina, make sure you post them here!

[Masta]

Originally Posted by Micajah

Did you enjoy Nina's inane ramblings? For future developers journals, what would you like her to discuss with you? Tell us more by posting here!

I enjoyed it

In the future it would be interesting to hear about the development process for the content, like quests or encounters. What steps are taken, how do they start out? Brainstorming and storyboard? Mainly individual or teamwork? Approval by game director?

Hope to hear more

[ITNinja]

Good stuff! I do enjoy the fact that a lot of people on the AO team were players of the game at one time and do really love the game.

Definitely makes for some great updates!

[mercyless]

Great article indeed. Here's a few questions to future updates.

Do you remember the first thing you worked on with AO? Are you allowed to share?

What can you tell us of the future of AO?

What other games/game genres do you like?

Do you have any advice for anyone whos interested in pursuing a career in game development? What would be their best approach?


I hope it won't be too hard to answer to those. I might come back with some more questions at a later time.

[Cody Bye]

Great questions everyone! I'll make sure Nina knows about them!

[Cody Bye]

In the hectic world of MMOG development, a developer rarely has enough time to sit back and do any writing outside of his or her particular field. Luckily for the Ten Ton Hammer readers, our editorial staff has coerced Nina "Aythem" Sund into preparing a regular set of developer journals for us, and she has even gone so far as to answer some of your questions from our forums! Without any further prose, the Ten Ton Hammer team presents our Anarchy Online Developer Journal #2!

The very first thing I did when I joined the Anarchy Online team was to learn the NPC chat tool by writing dialogue for what we call the PvP quests. In these missions, players talk to a person who asks them to perform a series of tasks, all concerning the demise of their enemy. In the process of doing this, the players are flagged for PvP and risk encountering other players who might attack them.

You can read the whole article here!

Do you have more questions for Nina? She reads our forums, so don't be afraid to ask! If you do, please post them!

[Spinjamin]

Nina,
As a writer employed in the gaming industry, do you need much technical knowledge to be sucessful? Did you have any technical knowledge before entering the field?


Thank You,
Ben

[Cody Bye]

How did you land the job at Funcom in the first place? You make me jealous.

[Apostasia]

How do go about naming the NPCs you create? The rewards you give? Perhaps even the monsters, quest items, whichever bits you, if those bits are even you, use in your quests? I always seem to get stuck in a rut when it comes to names. Using the same, or nearly the same names for multiple characters.

I don't want to hear anything about name generators either. That'd be lame! :P

[Cody Bye]

On the eve of Ten Ton Hammer's visit to the Funcom development studios, the staff received another developer blog from Anarchy Online's always lovely Nina Sund. In the third developer blog, Nina discusses how she entered the industry, the skills needed to be a writer, and the games that influenced her. Learning about industry veterans is always an enjoyable prospect, and we urge you to take a look at Nina's blog!

I was a gamer before writing stories was part of my job, and I don’t have any official background as a writer, so I see myself more as a game designer that writes than a writer that designs games. I wouldn’t say you need a lot of technical knowledge to be successful. Of course, you must have some computer literacy and be able to use whatever tools you use in your work, but don’t let any of that stop you if you want to write for the game industry. I know people who are great at their jobs (writing, art, designing) who aren’t wiz-kids with technical “mumbo-jumbo”.

You can find the whole thing by clicking here!

Did her answers to your questions help you in your own quest to write for video games? For future developers journals, what would you like her to discuss with you? Tell us more!