GamersInfo.net

Bill Roper: The game is set in a near-future London after a Demon invasion has left the city in ruins. The characters represent the relative handful of survivors that are trying to find a way to close the portal between our worlds called the Hellgate and stem the tide of Demons. The factions that humanity has fallen into range from the devout Templar (descended from fabled Knights Templar) that use ancient rites and the weapons of history to battle Demons in hand-to-hand combat to the Cabablists who use the power of the minions of Hades against them.

Gamersinfo.net: Are you still planning on having most of the game's story elements being quest driven by the main story quests and randomized secondary quests? Also, about how long do you think it will take the normal gamer to complete Hellgate: London?

Bill Roper: We’ve been working on a lot of different ways to introduce the story of Hellgate: London to the player. The main course is through the story quests and the NPCs with whom you interact on that journey. We are also putting a massive amount of secondary text into all of the other NPCs that fill the world, that offer clues to the main story NPCs and the world in general. There are also bits of “flavor text” on every item in the game – some of which are designed to reveal more about the back story or the characters of Hellgate: London. There are also the big cinematic sequences, of course, and we have a couple more ideas of how to bring the world to life.

Currently, our estimate is that the stand alone game will have somewhere between 20-40 hours of play. We’re not sure yet since, well, we’re not done!

Gamersinfo.net: Right now, you've announced two classes. What are the odds that you guys will pull out another one before the game's launch, or if not before launch, possibly in an expansion?

Bill Roper: We’re definitely not done announcing classes. We take a long time to create each one, striving to make their look and game play are distinct from the others. I think that players are going to be pleasantly surprised at what we have up our sleeves.

Gamersinfo.net: In the game, London and the whole world are under siege from this army of demons. Tell me about your favorite demon, and your favorite method of dispatching that demon.

Bill Roper: It seems my favorite is always the one that I’ve just recently seen for the first time. Right now, it’s easily the higher level zombies. They have some of the weirdest abilities and looks I’ve seen in the undead in any game. I think that the demons we’ve created for Hellgate: London have the ability to be truly disturbing and nightmarish, which is exactly what we wanted to accomplish.

My current favorite way to take out a Demon is to transform my Cabalist into a Zombie, walk past a horde of protectors and get face to face with a leader or champion. I use the very short range – but very powerful – poison breath of the undead form I have assumed and eliminate my target in short order. Then, as the swarms of demons head towards me, I drop down my own army of Elementals that draw attention and open fire so I can scamper off to a safer range.

Bill Roper: By playing the game over and over and over and over and over. We’re huge proponents of an organic development process that gets elements into the game as early as possible so we can itierate on design and interface absolutely as much as possible. It is always a great compliment to hear people ask, “Is this out yet?” when we take Hellgate: London to a show because it feels and plays like a finished title. We have everyone in the company play, and they’re encouraged to offer feedback on any element in the game. This gives us almost constant focus testing, and results in an experience that feels natural and is easy to play. We’re glad to see it's working!

Gamersinfo.net: One of the hallmarks of the hack and slash genre is a massive loot table, it is what keeps people coming back and playing the game over and over again looking for a rare drop item. Before you've hinted that you might even include randomized and rare skills in as part of the loot. Is this still being considered or is it already implemented? And what can you tell us about the how the loot system will work?

Bill Roper: The game is an action-RPG that is based on the game play philosophies of the Diablo series, so every time a player sets out on an adventure, the world, monsters, treasures and even some of the quests and events are dynamically and randomly generated. This means that you literally get millions of possible combinations in terms of properties on items. Then, when you layer the ability to mod an item – basically plugging in components like relics or fuel cells – the customization creates a massive number of possibilities. We apply both randomization and rarity to almost every item that drops in the game, so you’re never sure exactly what you’re going to find.

As for randomized skills, we’re still toying with the idea. We’ll have to see how that pans out in testing.

Gamersinfo.net: Even with randomly generated maps, people will grow bored killing the same monsters over and over again by themselves. I hear that you have plans for an extensive multiplayer game for players once they've experienced the single player game. Can you tell me some more about that?

Bill Roper: The stand alone version of the game is designed to take players through the main story line. When you go online, however, we have all kinds of things in store for you. Apart from the secure client/server infrastructure with 24/7 customer support, there are guilds, grouping, trade, auctions, different game modes, additional items, additional areas to explore, additional quests and missions, chance events, and of course – continuing content. We’ll have high-level content designed for large groups and soloist, and we’ll even have some basic PvP elements for players who want to test themselves against each other.

Gamersinfo.net: Last year you contributed one of your characters to a Playboy "Girls of Gaming" pictorial. What were the key factors that led to that decision? Was it just a smart PR choice?

Bill Roper: We were approached by Playboy and we decided that this would be a great way to reach people that fit the general gamer demographic who might not read gaming magazines or websites. We were in complete control of the image, and it was an opportunity for us to show off how stunning our world and characters are in a very artistic and artful way. I honestly felt that Avalon (the character we showed) was the best piece in the pictorial, and I wish she would have received a full page treatment as opposed to the cards they ended up going with.

Gamersinfo.net: Now for some technical questions. What sort of system did you gear Hellgate: London to run on? Are we looking at a game that will require a top end system to run well, or will people with a 2-3 year old system be able to run the game with decent settings? And are there any plans to include a toolset for fans to create their own content with?

Bill Roper: We haven’t locked down our system specs yet, but we’re pushing both ends of the spectrum. We are working closely with Microsoft and are a part of their Vista and DX10 program. We’ve also partnered with NVIDIA to take advantage of their latest and greatest technology and cards. On the other side of the coin, we’re currently preparing every art asset in the game to be converted to low-poly versions and we have a programmer specifically assigned to make a low-poly version of our engine so that people with older computers and graphics cards can play and enjoy the game, as well. Obviously if you want the game to look its absolute best, you’re going to be on the upper half of that equation. But just because you bought a computer a few years ago doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to play Hellgate: London as far as we can make it happen.

Gamersinfo.net: Ok, final question. What is the absolute coolest thing in Hellgate: London? What is the WOW moment in this game?

Bill Roper: The absolutely unpredictable nature of the game is the coolest thing in my book. The fact that you never know exactly what you’re going to find – even if you’ve been in the same type of area a hundred times – means you’re never done exploring. There is always the chance for something new and exciting around every twist and turn, and finding that next corner is a new adventure in and of itself.