Hellgate: London Q&A

TotalVideoGames had the opportunity to chat with Flagship Studios CEO Bill Roper about their upcoming post-apocalyptic action RPG, Hellgate: London. The interview is split into two separate installments, with the first portion discussing the game’s background and the second portion discussing character development, multiplayer, and the combat system. Check it out:

Q: Hellgate: London features a robust single-player campaign, but perhaps you could tell us about some of the exciting multiplayer options and modes on offer please?

A: Multiplayer gaming is something that’s in our blood, so you can be sure this has been a big part of our plans since the beginning of development. We’re working with our partners to create a specific, dedicated online gaming destination for Hellgate: London that is designed to bring gamers together from around the world.

The game can be played entirely solo if that is what the player desires, but will easily support play for groups both small and large. Since all adventuring areas are completely randomized for each individual experience, we can create areas that can support groups of various sizes.

We do intend for there to be a lot of cooperative online play, so these areas need to be able to dynamically scale in difficulty to accommodate differing numbers of players. We’re also creating areas that are specifically designed to accommodate large, (raid) sized groups so that guilds can have events they can all do together. Fortunately, the self-balancing nature of a dynamically generated game makes this all very possible.

Hellgate: London avoids the common pitfalls and game balance issues that challenge many (massively multiplayer) games. Players experience all the excitement of individually tailored adventuring areas while at the same time participating in a truly persistent online community. They also have the valuable option to play in their own solo or small-group adventures in a self-paced, non-competitive environment.

The issues of spawn camping, kill stealing, quest farming, game play griefing and unwanted player killing are avoided in Hellgate: London because players are never forced into the position to be affected by them. By creating unique and individualized game play (instances) within a huge online community, gamers get all of the best parts of traditional massive multiplayer games without the common downsides.

It is important to note that in the secured London Underground stations, large numbers of players will gather to form adventuring groups and guilds, buy, sell and trade items and experience all of the best that a massive online community and economy has to offer.