Exclusive Interview with the developers of MyDream

April 9, 2014 14:20 ( Interviews ) 1

 

Here there is a very interesting interview with the developers of MyDream, the sandbox project from MyDream Software currently on Kickstarter. Let's take a look at their answers!

 

QUESTION: First of all, thank you for giving us the possibility to interview you about MyDream. Would you be so kind to introduce yourself to our readers?

Answer: We are developers, designers and friends who got tired of working at Microsoft, Amazon and EA and wanted to work on our hobby project, to create a beautiful expansive virtual game world where it would be fun to play and we could remake the world how we wanted it to me in real life. Two of us grew up in Alaska, so the big open world had to have amazing sunrises, sunsets, beautiful sky lights, cragged mountainside and epic ravines and cliffs.

QUESTION: How would you describe MyDream to someone who has never heard of it before?

Answer:  Inspired by our Alaskan childhood, the big open sandbox has to have amazing sunrises, sunsets, beautiful sky lights, cragged mountainside and epic ravines and cliffs. You can dig, build and explore 100km in the x, y and z axis. Imagine how easy it is to craft and build in Minecraft and how beautiful and Zen-like the environment and gameplay is in Journey. Now put that in an adventure RPG and you have MyDream. People ask what is different and our unique twist? We have an alpha/beta where you can log in and see our vast library of decorating and building materials, whether its terracotta tiles, pre-Columbian artifacts or Hellenistic columns. We have created a construction game beyond blocks-- with a realistic environmental system. After the creative mode, we are planning to have a very dynamic game play system. Who you think is your enemy may be your closest ally. The crux of the gameplay is the discovery and knowhow of turning the destructive rock creatures into resourceful and helpful friends.

QUESTION: Is there a MMO open world mode for players to explore and shape together or only instanced game sessions with objectives?

Answer:   It is architected as an MMO open world mode but we have not fully implemented that quite yet. Right now in the alpha/beta, they are multi-user instanced game sessions with creative mode and the beginning of adventure mode with objectives. The 100K from kickstarter will help us finish the adventure work, treasure hunt from point A to point B. We are reaching for some of the stretch goals, to allow us to work on the rock creatures in the survival and farming mode.

QUESTION: Will there be any form of combat?

Answer:

In survival mode, at night, the rock creatures will attack and there are different tools the players can use to defend and harvest these critters. These tools are the same as weapons in our world—the shovel, chisel, pickaxe and the terraformer (which is actually a really cool laser.)



QUESTION: Tell us something about the character progression. Are there classes, skills, levels...?

Answer:  Initially, our plans for a light RPG character progression are: a builder, explorer and cooperator.  Given the attributes of creativity, resourcefulness and helpfulness, we would like to work developing richer character progression and having classes such as miner, farmer, herbalist, explorer, builder, amabassador, knight and mayor.

QUESTION: Will there be a crafting system? If yes, what will we be able to craft?

Answer:  Our alpha/beta is for CREATIVE mode but we are planning to add in crafting. For example, you currently have access to this awesome laser called the terraformer that carves mountains. To achieve that in the Challenge modes, you will need to make things along the tech tree. For example, glass requires sand. Steel requires iron, forge and fire. And so on…

QUESTION: Will there be any kind of trading/market system for players to buy and sell items and maybe their creations?

Answer:   That is awesome and we do see that as a long-term plan after we implement the crafting system. Our system definitely supports this.

QUESTION: Looking at the videos, we noticed a strong contrast between the styles of the buildings and the natural landscapes, the first one being extremely "blocky", with big Minecraft style cubes, while the latter has way smoother and detailed shapes. Is this a design choice? Can we make building with smaller details or round walls?

Answer:   Some of it is driven by the terrain engine as well. Right now, the natural organic terrain is that size for performance issues. For organic edits, the players uses the terraformer, which is also designed for sculpting hillside and mountains. For rounded corners and walls, we have different types of items. For example, we have cornices and hellenistic columns existing in our inventory library. This allows for a different type of construction game beyond blocks. The dollhouses, castles and historical temples are more realistic. In combination with our sunrise, sunset, starry skies and ambient lighting, the decorative library allows the players to better visualize themselves in our world.



QUESTION: Tell us something more about the creation tools that players can use in the creative mode.

Answer:  We are stoked about the terraformer, which allows players to really shape their entire environment in-game. We also love the different fenceposts, pre-columbian cladding to the roman-greco architeural pieces that is designed for players who love to customize and decorate their construction to the nines!

QUESTION: How big can player-created worlds be? And what kind of game modes will we be able to create?

Answer:  The player created world are very big. In creative mode, a player can travel 100 km in any direction, including down and up! We will constrain this a bit in the challenge modes. Our first plan is the adventure mode, which is like an in-game treasure hunt …questing from point A to point B to collect goodies. We were successful in reaching the minimum on kickstarter to achieve this. Our next mode is the survival mode, which is about interacting with the rock monsters. We are hoping to reach this stretch goal in the next 3 days. These guys are very cute during the day and become quite destructive at night. Players will need to defend against these enemies or learn how to train them to become noncombatant.

QUESTION: Can you give us more details about the creations sharing system? Can other players explore and rate my world?

Answer:  We have plans for a yelp like system that encourages player generated content and rating. Each structures, environments and adventures can be enjoyed, rated, and actually used by others in their own worlds. We keep track of how many players use each contributions and players earn points when that happens.

QUESTION: Why did you chose Kickstarter as crowdfunding platform? And how is the campaign going?

Answer:  As an indie, we have limited resources and wanted to harness the wisdom of the crowd, in lieu of a big studio producer or publisher. Especially since our world is player generated, we loved the concept of actually getting the players and crowd to help generate the games and supporting and building the community.



QUESTION: On what platforms will the game be available?

Answer:  Currently we are on PC and Mac. We would love to have this available for Occulus Rift and Linux.

QUESTION: What kind of business model are you going to use for the game? Is this game going to free to play?

Answer:  There are only a few business models in the gaming industry. Since we hosts the worlds, we have hard, fixed costs of basically $1/user per month (if they are power players.) We really don’t like ads or the constant pings of upgrades for a free to play model. There are pros and cons to each model and right now, we are happy to have our backers pledge and help with development. We, in turn, pledge to our backers that we will choose a business model that is less obnoxious above all else, while paying the bills.

QUESTION: Thank you for all your answers. Would you like to add something?

Answer:   Thank you to all our backers on kickstarter. We only have 3 days left to go for our first stretch goal after meeting our minimum. Help us go beyond Creative mode and lets make a unique survival mode that is fun and exciting.

The new twist from Minecraft survival is that these monsters can be "trained." You can turn your enemies into friends. When they are "friended," they keep on giving... mydream.com/kickstarter to find out more.

 

 

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