Defiance is one of the most ambitious MMO projects ever undertaken, given that the game maintains close ties with the SyFy television show of the same name.

Two months down the line, the title has attracted more than one million registered users and its TV counterpart has been already renewed for a second season, paving the way for more exciting opportunities.

Digital Spy caught up with senior producer Rob Hill to discuss what the future holds for Trion Worlds' cross-media project.

Defiance went live around two months ago. Do you feel the game enjoyed a successful launch?

"Launching on three platforms is incredibly difficult. It's never been done before with a multiplayer online game, so we had some hiccups with the server that we had to correct, but since then it's been fairly smooth.



"Always with an MMO, you are constantly fixing things, getting patches out as quickly as possible, fixing the things you know and sometimes creating issues that you weren't aware of, but we are getting into a cadence of putting out stable builds."

Trion Worlds

Were you fully prepared for the technical issues you experienced at launch?

"Yes, we did well. The server stuff that happened in the first couple of days, we definitely cracked, as we are not seeing any of those issues in the game any more. Things from a server standpoint and a gameplay standpoint are running smoothly."



What was the biggest challenge you faced at launch?

"Being on three different platforms was probably the biggest challenge. You can't just build a game for one then just port it over to the other. You have to think from the beginning, 'Okay, we want to do this. We want to be on PlayStation 3, we want to be on Xbox 360 and PC'.



"Making sure that we could constantly work on all three of those at the same time was a really big challenge. It hasn't been done before. We are the first to do it in the MMO space, so that was probably the largest challenge we had."

Were you pleased with the reception from fans and critics?

"Yes, particularly the fans. We have a lot of players who are really diehard. I run around the game all the time, playing it every day, and just seeing how far players are getting with their characters and character progression has really been fantastic.



"One of the big things that has surprised us, even though it was designed for [multiple platforms], is that our dynamic content is really resonating with players. When you go to our dynamic content, you see dozens and dozens of players on every one you go to.

"It's really exciting to see that players are really responding to that. That's our huge online experience, so it's great."

You recently launched a crossover event that ties in with the television show. How has the game's community responded to this kind of content?

"The TV tie-in content has gone really great. Before the game launched we had two main characters that were existing within the game and were going to be in the show two weeks later.



"Players were able to do this mission line and see them before they were on TV, and an object that they got within the game was pivotal to solving an issue in the show.

"We had another crossover where a character called Rynn left the television show and came to the game. Players were able to play missions with her and get a heads up on what might be coming down the road in the show based on the resolution of that mission line.

"So it's been really exciting for us and the players, and SyFy has been really excited about it too."

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Do you feel that your connection with the TV show makes the game unique and gives it an edge over the competition?

"I really do. Players have really responded to the crossover content, seeing characters that are in a television show that they are enjoying and get to interact with them. In the future they will be able to see their actions within the game reflected in the TV show, and they're really excited about that stuff."



Are there any pitfalls to this? Could the game exist independently of the show should it ever be cancelled?

"Absolutely, we planned that from the very beginning on both sides. They planned in case the game had to go away, planned to be self-contained enough that they could just continue on, and we did the same thing on our side. We ensured that we had a good enough game that we can continue to add content that doesn't necessarily required a TV show to succeed.



"We did that intentionally for a number of reasons, one of them I just mentioned, but also so people didn't have to play the game and watch the TV show to understand what's going on in one or the other, because some people will just want to watch TV and they're not gamers, and there's gamers who may not be interested in the television show."

Are you looking to increase the number of crossover events when season two gets under way?

"We're looking to definitely increase that. Like I said, there has been a lot of learning and we're finding out what is and isn't successful. We've been talking with the writers quite a bit - and the executive producer Kevin Murphy - with a view to doing much, much more.



"One of the things I'm also excited about is that there will be a time when the TV show is not on, in between season one and two, and we said to SyFy, 'Your characters aren't going to be doing anything during that time. Let's grab a few of those and affect them'.

"When the second season starts, the characters that the players have interacted with may have changed a bit due to their time in the game."

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What is the most exciting part about your working relationship with SyFy?

"For me personally, it was really learning how they work. I'd never been involved with a TV show before, so it was a case of figuring out the relationship on both sides, how we work, how they work and how we can work together.



"The crossovers aren't just limited to the things happening in the game and in the show, we had to make sure that the alien species looked the same, the technology looked and sounded the same, that the species acted the same - we had to get together with them and make sure that things were in complete sync. It was a lot of work, but it was a real blast."

What can you tell us about the new dynamic content you are adding?

"We're releasing a new Arkfall, which is one of our major dynamic contents, and we talked about a new type called a Siege. This is similar to an Arkfall in the sense that we want to draw players together in large numbers, but we haven't announced the specifics of what that actual event is."



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Does the game have a future in eSports?

"We're hoping so. We're continually adding content to the existing game, but we do have a very large PvP aspect. We have what we call Shadow War, which involves 100 players, or you can player smaller matches with 16 or 32, so there's definitely room to expand there."



What advice would you give newcomers to the game to help them settle in?

"Group up with people. Basically, find people to play with and learn from them. Learn the different game systems, how the content works. This will help you beat the missions or help you join Arkfalls and help you get into the social aspects of the game to keep you playing over time."



Defiance is available now for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

> Read our review of Defiance: TV show MMO marred by technical issues

Gallery - 'Defiance' screenshots:Gaming: Defiance gallery

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