EverQuest Interview

WorthPlaying has conducted an interview with EverQuest producer Robert Pfister about the upcoming engine update for the original MMORPG. An excerpt to follow:

Q: Changing the core infrastructure to EQ, especially within a two month timeframe, is a risky proposition. How much testing will happen, and will there be an open test, similar to when the new User Interface is was rolled out?

A: This project has been in development for just about a year now. Two major systems were completely re-written from the ground up: the graphics engine and the collision system. During this process, there were two overarching rules to which we adhered: the system specs for EverQuest would not radically change and the current in-game graphics had to run on the new engine. Release 1.0 of the new graphics engine will be the new core infrastructure. When we launch the new engine this Spring, if players don’t see any difference other than increased performance then we will have done our job well.