Interview with SilentSiren about the new MMORPG Escalation-Online.

MMOsite.com: Would you care to introduce the faces behind Escalation Online? How long does it cost you to make it? How many people are working on this project and what are their previous experiences?

SilentSiren: Well Escalation-Online essentially started out as a two person project, myself(SilentSiren) and Trask. What began as a combination of likened ideas formed the foundation for where we are now. That said, it has been a lot easier with the great team members we have working on the game, and looking after our growing community.

Working directly on the game are; myself(SilentSiren) main role is in the Programming but spread into others. Trask is mainly responsible for all the 3D Content along with Level design and also filters his skills into other areas of the development. MaestroSorrow and g0zt are the backing behind our Musical scores and Graphical content respectively. We then have the part of the Team who manage the Community aspects, but also lend a hand to the creation at times too be it testing, researching and the likes. KTD is our Server Admin and looks after the website and hosting side of things. Silverwolf leads the Admin team of the Escalation-Online community and has created many a skin to say the least under his position. Kere, Rizzo, Jolt and Society have been Modding for a while now and have done a great job removing unwanted spam from the community forums. Lastly and by no means the least we have our PR Lead Austin who runs the role solo and has made many a breakthrough in drawing publicity.

When it comes to experience of each member within their role, this would probably be one of the major projects each person has participated on. In general we have all been in our role before on previous projects and within other communities, but as a unit we have grown further with these past workings and intend to each refine those skills further to work better as a whole.

Escalation-Online development costs? Hmm I would say over the 3 years of working and planning we are probably coming close to the £1000 mark (about ?2000) so still quite low for an indie budget.

MMOsite.com: For the players who are not familiar with your game, could you tell us what kind of game are you creating, and what are the key characteristics that differentiate it from other online offerings with persistent characters?

SilentSiren: We are trying to create a MMO that is set in a modern day setting away from the tradition Orcs and Dragons that seem to populate most online RPG games. Escalation-Online will have the traditional elements of the genre, but they will be approached with a customised touch to them. The reason for this is to not betray the casual player used to a certain kind of MMO, and on top of this base we will add features that are further defined for the Escalation-Online world. Some of the key features planned are a PvP system which has added depth of being activated by your players actions not just turning a "flag" on or off. A weather system which will affect gameplay not just there for looks, this will also expand to the day/night cycles and eventually even the time of year (game time of course).

MMOsite.com: What kinds of options do I have as player concerning my characters? Are there predetermined classes with set stat-growth or will I be able to develop my character the way I want?

SilentSiren: The player will be in control of a young adult of male or female gender. The player will be able to do many of the actions and movements of a real person.

Your player will be able to become more adept in areas that you concentrate more of your time in, such as, if you spend a lot of time swimming you will find the task easier to do and perform better than those who do not swim as much. We are aiming to bring back what the meaning of "RPG" means from Repetitive Play Genre, to actually having a character you can role as your own and become engrossed in the playing of the game.