Interview with AE reporter about me

http://forum.ashenempires.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=49338
http://www.ashenempires.com/AEReporters.aspx
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The following is an article I wrote thanks to TheTyrant and FujiQ. It is not a spoiler article. I wrote it to get you excited and to give you a little hint as to what's to come. As FujiQ has announced, OneEye will be making a sizable post about what changed. Hope you find this entertaining and informative.


Stopping by Swamps on a Chilly Evening…
An exclusive inside look into the July 15th Update and DEV TheTyrant…

I had been summoned to one of the most isolated locations in this world. Why? I had been promised pie. Apple, in fact. I, Tempcow, waddled west from Chelra along the coast as dusk fell. Hurrying past the various Storm Giants, Elite Fighters and Liches I found myself in a much more dangerous place. In this lost portion of the world, true monsters roam. Monsters of great strength, such as Ancient Ogres and Elder Treants call this place home. Monsters of incredible annoyance, like Chyrmorphs and Vampire Bats.Here, at the edge of the world, I had been summoned. Summoned for pie.

I could smell the wonderfulness of the apple pie as I waddled to the western edge of this area. It had been called, the ‘Giant’s Thumb’ or the ‘New Lands’ (a name now far outdated). It was the habitat of the illustrious Lightning Slugs, the sticky and shocking beasts which had chased me around in circles. I finally came upon my final destination. A small apple pie, still warm from the DEV oven it had come from. Beside it TheTyrant, one of the four Developers of Ashen Empires.

“Greetings, Tempester,” Tyrant welcomed me.

Frowning at him I replied, “Why meet all the way out here? Sluggies chased me!”

“I hope they weren’t too much hassle?” he asked, chuckling.

I narrowed my eyes at him and ate my pie. Delicious pie.

“I brought you here so you could see the newest addition to the mainland,” Tyrant explained, “You’re one of those ‘news reporters’, right?”

I corrected him. I was one of the people who yelled in the middle of Lotor’s Summer Palace until people listened to me. Some people call that news. Then I realized that I knew almost nothing about TheTyrant. I stopped munching my apple pie and looked at him. Nudging him with my large cow head I asked him to give me a brief summary of his existence. It was entertaining to say the least.

Tyrant traces his Ashen Empires roots back to 2001, when it was Dransik. He had left for a bit and returned 3 years ago in 2004 when it took on a new name, Ashen Empires. As a player also interested in game design Tyrant did beta testing for various other games, one of which landed him a Lead Quality Assurance spot for NOKs Technologies (noks.com) and a development slot the online web-php game, Galactic Dominion.

Tyrant, as some of you may not know, rose through the ranks from player-status. He was a player who just made suggestions and art for the game, all those years ago. What encouraged him was the TKO (company before IWG) Development who unlike a lot of DEVs of games Tyrant has played, actually listened to the playerbase. Tyrant’s first ‘footprint’ (as he calls it) in Ashen Empires was when Demon Eye went in. His input helped shape the dice game to what it is today. (Demon Eye is the game in the Inns. Go play it. Now.)

Submitting art and suggestions directly to OneEye starting last year brought Tyrant one step closer, and his enthusiasm for game development was encouraged greatly. A year ago he moved to Boston, and for the summer Tyrant did wall art for Sands of Creation as well as the Enchanted Leather set. It was in September 2006 when Tyrant moved to Austin and directly into Iron Will Games.

Since September Tyrant has been generating graphical content for Ashen Empires from within the office. He’s been working with Denis Loubet, a name known throughout the gaming industry, who does some of the artistic and animation work as well. Using 3d Studio Max has allowed Tyrant to produce higher quality, ‘shinier’ art for all the players.

Concluding my summary of Tyrant’s life story (all the important parts, anyways), we started to talk about the new update. Finishing my pie (most delicious pie, ever), I listened intently on what was going on. Though my bovine brain is small and slow, I was able to understand most of it.

Aptly named the “Broken Finger” update, the DEVs have fixed over 150 bugs (icky, squishy bugs) and added new content to the region of the mainland that I had always heard called the ‘Giant’s Thumb.’ It brings in larger models, not quite the site of dragons, but Tyrant explained that he prefers larger models for both monsters and items. Larger models allows for more detail, all the better to show Tyrant’s creative talents. The models are ‘beefier’ ( har har har!) as he explained. He warned me to be prepared for giant warriors, 3-headed bounds and new demons.

Tyrant’s favorite model is the ‘giant shaman model’ though he doesn’t know what the monster’s post-production name is. It was his favorite to work on, with a spellbook in one hand and a staff in the other he’s excited to see what it looks like in game. The demons are creepier, with gross textures and he laughs as he explains that they won’t be attacking with claws, but with rotting limbs!

His philosophy on updates is that while old issues should be fixed, he also likes to see new content added. The entrance, for example, to part of this update had been discovered ages ago but players had no idea how to get to it. I’m trying not to be too vague, but also not too specific. Explore this region for you to figure out what I speak of. On the topic of new with old, though, a new Stone Giant model is also coming out with this update.

While some may not be aware of how much time actually goes in to all of this, be assured it is more time than you’d ever want to be involved in the development of something. Everything is taken into consideration when new content is coming in. Player interests, DEV interests mixed in with how much time is needed versus how much time is available all factor in to what the final product looks like. Believe it or not, Developers do take in player suggestions and ideas. Tyrant’s a testament to that exact concept. Though everything is tempered to a comfortable ‘middle zone’ in which players enjoy what is being produced and DEVs like what is being added. As Tyrant puts it, this means making things ‘beefier, shinier and half-naked.”

All this excitement and I just had to ask, but no. No new cow skins or monsters this update. As I waddled around the area, the ‘Thumb’ I couldn’t wait to see what was to be added. For sure we are all waiting for the first few screenshots posted by players as well as the great list of bugs that were squashed! I hope this was entertaining and informative for all of you. I’d like to thank GM FujiQ and DEV TheTyrant for their time to answer this silly cow’s questions.