Tabula Rasa Interviews
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Q: Tell us about how the tactical combat system will help differentiate the game from standard online games. And how will character development and the learning of new skills keep combat fresh as people develop more powerful characters over time?
A: The big thing for us is the blend of RPG and action mechanics. How much damage do I do while moving versus standing still? If you are behind cover when a shot is initiated, you don't get hurt. But if you try to duck or run away, that's another story. Cover and movement, balanced with skills and weapons and armor--that blend of action and RPG is unique to Tabula Rasa.
As far as character development is concerned, as you level you get points to spend on abilities. Most games just pump up the impact of a skill (fireball does more damage). We have this too, but sometimes adding points make a new version of the ability. For instance, with "lightning," the first time you get it, you can use it against one target. When you apply another point to it, then it works on multiple targets. Then the third point adds area effect damage and the fourth point gets you a "knock down" effect. So the skill is slightly different each time you apply points. And there are tactical reasons to use each version of that skill, so those abilities don't lose relevance as your character progresses.
Also, you make a lot of decisions at the higher levels. Identifying vulnerabilities in enemies and using the weapon that will give the most damage is a simple example of this. Basically, in this game you're an adult in a war. And with that knowledge comes all of the responsibilities you would have in real life. [There are] lots of choices in this game.
While the interview at GameZone is with Paul Sage:
Q: What do you consider Tabula Rasa does that raises the bar in the general MMO environment?
A: Everybody's (bar) is different. For me, some of the things we have done that raise the bar are focusing on combat interactivity, story telling, and removal of tedium. Combat being fast paced was really important to get right. We took a lot of chances by making it an attribute / RPG math (shooter.) Combat started out as this messy affair of missing while shooting with lots of other issues, but there was definitely a twinkle of fun. When we did things like make opponents die faster, reduced the rate of missing to almost never, and the like it really made the whole thing flow and feel much better. I think it takes an hour or two for the standard MMO player to adjust to the interface, but many of our users report they don't like going back to the (normal) interface in other MMOs once they have played Tabula Rasa.
Also, TR has a much larger story that goes on as the player progresses through the game. I know many MMOs do have underlying stories, but TR actually has branching missions on this storyline that eventually winds up in a very unique split, depending on what branch you follow later in the game. Getting to the end of all the current missions in TR leaves the player with a cliffhanger that will be built upon in our ongoing content and expansions.
As to the last point of tedium, I don't believe that removing tedium is what makes a good game. However, I do think we tend to allow things as designers that frustrate players for our own ends. One example of this is finding a certain location on a map for a quest. Why not direct the player to that spot? Sure, there are times not to do it, but forcing a player to open a web page on every mission / quest to find out how to get to a spot is tedious. If we can remove those small things, and still keep things challenging, I think that will help the genre. We have to be sensitive to the player's time and investment.
