With Otherland going into Steam Early Access this month and interest in the title back on the rise, I took the opportunity to reach out to Drago Entertainment. and was granted the opportunity to interview Łukasz “Havock” Błaszczyk, the Story Content Lead and Game Mechanics Designer. Together, we took some time to answer some burning questions about the game, and it’s current state of development.

MMO Central: What timeframe from the novels is the story set in?

Łukasz Błaszczyk: The story of the game starts a couple of years after the books. We get this question a lot actually. We are not going to interfere with what you know from the novels. We introduce some of the characters and location you know from them. We usually think it’s a “sequel” to the books.

MMOC: How closely will the story of the game follow the novels?

Łukasz: My previous answer pretty much covered that. We treat the books as a “base” for the story we present in the game.

MMOC: We see Sellars in the tutorial, will players get to interact with more of the principal cast of the books?

Łukasz: Yes! During the game you will not only interact with Renie, !Xabbu, Fredericks and Orlando but also work with them to solve the big threats of Otherland. During the story designing process we often asked ourselves who is the hero of the game. Introducing the characters from the books was what we wanted but making them the main protagonists was out of the question. They will be there, they will help you and often guide you but they won’t save Otherland for you.

MMOC: With locations like Lambda Mall and Eight Squared, is the player is traveling between the internet and Otherland? How are those transitions treated and is it dangerous, per the novels?

Łukasz: Hmm… how to answer to not spoil too much from the story. It is as dangerous as it was in the books. There are still some threats that weren’t dealt with in the books and dying in Otherland is still as fatal as it was but… not for you. That’s all I can say.

MMOC: What challenges have you faced, taking on the Otherland project from the previous developers?

Łukasz: Well it’s never simple. You often hit walls that you never thought were there. You try to learn as much as it’s possible from the design, code, etc. but it will never be enough. Otherland was being developed for a long time before we got our hands on it and had a lot of design philosophies that are no longer working within the modern-mmo world. A lot of things got changed, a couple of things got removed and a major part got redone from scratch to not only fit our vision but also what we think will be best for the game. It was a very long process mostly spent on learning the game from the developers point of view. For me, as a designer, the biggest issue was changing the way I think. I never before worked on a title that was so far done, so I was not able to change everything and redo the game. Eventually I learned to salvage as much as I could, upgrade this, tweak that and I think it worked out very well. Was a new experience and I think the entire team learned a lot from it.

MMOC: How is development of the game progressing? With the Steam Greenlight release this month, what sort of launch date are you targeting?

Łukasz: It’s done! Hahaha! But seriously. We have to remember that this is an mmo. The development of such games is never truly “done”. When it comes to what we have planned for the release regarding features and the content I think we are slowly closing it up. As for the release date we are starting the Early Access on Steam on the 26th this month. We aim for a 6 month period.

MMOC: How big is the development team right now and what is their main focus currently?

Łukasz: The team size has grown quite a lot and is still growing. Right now we have around 25 people. Our main focus right now is completing the still-in-development features as good and fast as possible and bring them to the Early Access players (or even before they start playing). We have a lot of content still on our development realms that won’t make it to the current version our fans will be getting on the 26th but don’t worry – they will be added as soon as we think they are good enough.

MMOC: Are there plans for an achievement system? Will this be tied into any other systems (e.g. perks/buffs/gear)

Łukasz: For now we plan on using the Steam achievement system. Additional integration with the game would be something that we would like to have but for now we are not focusing on it.

MMOC: Will there be a pet system? Perhaps AI Companions like Orlando’s Beezle?

Łukasz: AI companions are possible with the current technology and mechanics we have in the game right now. However, we are not implementing them because just making small copies of the creatures you encounter in the game would be sloppy and not something we all as developers and players would like to have. When we get the game out there and most of the features are complete I think it will be something that we will focus on.

MMOC: Will there be mounts? Will they be specific to individual virtual worlds?

Łukasz: We were testing mounts for Otherland but the travel system doesn’t work well with them. We might consider adding them later but I don’t want to make any promises.

MMOC: What size group content are you targeting? Will there be dungeons or raids?

Łukasz: When it comes to dungeons we are aiming for the size known from other mmos – 5 people. Raids in Otherland will have only one size – 10 people. We think that smaller groups not only require a lot more from every individual in it, make the experience less “crowded” but also doing them won’t require powerful PCs.

MMOC: How many virtual worlds are planned at release?

Łukasz: Five simulations for release. The number does seem small but keep in mind that they are often divided into several zones with their own storylines and quests. For example one simulation has five separate isles.

MMOC: Do any of the worlds feature modified gravity? (e.g. from the books, Aerodromia)

Łukasz: We thought about different modifiers for each simulation but decided not to implement them. We think that since Otherland is a new game and players will be learning a lot about the combat, movement and other aspects adding a modifier to each zone they visit will only cause a lot of confusion and make the learning process a lot harder. The overall benefit of having them is not big enough for us to risk it.

In closing, Błaszczyk expressed thanks to their fans for their continued interest in the project and hoped everyone will be impressed with what Drago will be delivering on the 26th.