The Matrix Online Interview

GameSpot has conducted an interview with Monolith’s William Westwater and Jeff Everett, asking The Matrix Online producer and programmer several questions about the sci-fi MMORPG. Here’s a little something to get you started:

Q: From your perspective, could you tell us about the character skill system and how it will let players customize their characters? About how many skills will there be, and how will players’ abilities to switch to different skills on the fly affect the game? How are these features being tested to make sure they don’t break the game technically or in gameplay balance terms?

A: The Matrix Online uses an ability system built around the concepts of programs and virtual identities. Your character is defined both by your current loaded programs and by your experiences within the Matrix. As you gain in levels, you are capable of interfacing with more- and more-powerful programs. This allows you to flexibly adjust your character’s abilities from play session to play session. Your healer just quit for dinner? No problem. Head back to the loading area to reconfigure. At the same time, you also have persistent gains from your experiences that stick around and represent your character’s mental and emotional growth. Flexibility with accomplishment, I like to say.

As for balancing the system, we create programs that simulate aspects of the game balance–modeling combat, for instance. These are combined with careful analysis of the dependency trees and then verified with powerful Oracle data-mining tools that monitor the game simulation. Finally, if we have any doubts, we consult the magic eight ball. The eight ball knows all.