“These are not tanks, but flying ships”: interview with the head of “Pirates: Allods Online”

Hi! Let’s start with the history of the Cloud Pirates project, which in Russia is already known as “Pirates: Allods Online”. What is the history of the project? Why did you decide to sit down and make “tanks” in the world of Allods?

Hi! First of all, I want to note that these are not “tanks”, but flying ships.

The history of the project is very entertaining. The idea of flying ships was born at the dawn of the appearance of “Allods Online”, when our studio was just starting to look for a USP for a new domestic MMO. At that time, many [in the team] were seized with the idea of flying on ships and fighting in the astral (this is what we called the dense hostile substance formed during the big bang, which caused the universe of allods to arise).

With the release of “Allods Online”, the players were able to appreciate what we got. Having assembled a team and built a ship, players went to the mysterious astral in search of treasures and adventures. Not only monsters and enemy NPCs were waiting for them there, but also other adventurers. Often such meetings led to boarding and disassembly on the deck of the ship for the right to own wealth.

Over the years, we have continued to develop this direction, but reality has introduced its own adjustments. With the development of the MMO genre and games in general, the number of players in the squad began to decrease, automatic player collection systems came to replace the many-hour raids, and in general, the pace of modern life increased, and players began to face the problem of recruiting a team to fly to the astral. It was then that the idea of a mode (and then a separate game) came up, where players would not depend on the composition of the team and would be able to control the ship alone.

By the way, how do you formulate the concept of “Pirates” for yourself?

If we turn to the “dry” formulations, then “Pirates” is a team action on astral sailboats in the world of “Allods Online”.

And the USP, not counting the setting and aircraft, what are the games?

The main task for us was to combine the classic gameplay about fighting on technology and fantasy MMORPG. Therefore, our game has inherited the best features from both “ancestors”: balanced RPG pumping of the ship, the captain and the team, a clear division of ships into classes (tanks, supports, healers, buffers, etc.).

Of course, there are our own USPS, which are only our merit. In Pirates, the fights are in “honest 3D”: you can move in any direction, which significantly affects the tactics of the battle. At the same time, we have achieved high combat dynamics at relatively low speeds: the enemy is clearly visible in battle, so no “pixelhunting” and no “bush fights” are waiting for players.

As far as I know, the first version of the game was made in my spare time, is that true?

When we had the idea of a new mode for “Allods Online”, there were no resources for its implementation. For a while, we resigned ourselves and put this idea on the shelf. But last year, a small group of developers decided to return to this idea and began to assemble a prototype of such a mode. After the first tests, it became clear that the mechanics of AO are not suitable for the implementation of such an idea – significant changes are required. We started making trial changes in our free time. After a while, we got a version of the mode based on new mechanics, which we began to actively play inside the studio. Despite the fact that the version was very raw, the positive feedback from the participants pushed us to develop “Pirates” as a separate project. We showed the prototype to the management and a week later a separate small team sat down to implement the project.

How much time did it take the team to create a prototype, which was approved by the management Mail.Ru Group?

If you add up the time of creating a prototype on the mechanics of the AO and on the new one, then about 2 months.

The project, it turns out, is based on the technical solutions of Alloda Online? How much did the engine have to be upgraded?

The changes were drastic: the mechanics of the battle were almost completely rewritten, the render was rewritten in places, dynamic shadows from objects were added, and many more charms. But in general, we wanted to keep the picture and the requirements for the Allods Online hardware.

Which solutions (in terms of design) were immediately abandoned at an early stage of development?

Initially, we wanted to make a classic gameplay of shootouts on equipment. But after going through several options, we realized that it was boring. And they hit dynamic fights at medium distances using special abilities.

During the development process, we refused to divide the sides into two decks: initially we had the opportunity to control each side on each deck, but it was inconvenient to play, and the extra buttons only confused and did not give any advantages.

The mechanics of the “tank” illumination were sent to the trash: it turned out to be useless in our game conditions. We have special modules responsible for visibility, which allow us to reduce / increase the visibility of the ship at the right time for the player.

In fact, this list can be continued indefinitely: the game in “honest 3D” imposes a lot of restrictions, but at the same time gives a lot of tactical possibilities.

You mentioned earlier that there are captains and teams in the game. Please tell us about their role.

The captain is the personification of the player in “Pirates”. By participating in battles and completing various tasks, the player can pump him, which is reflected both in the opening of new opportunities (access to cooler modules, the ability to pump the team, etc.), and in general improvements in abilities (reducing the spread of guns, reducing reloading, increasing damage, etc.). The development of the captain affects all ships, which the player has.

The team, on the contrary, is tied to the ship and has specializations to improve the characteristics of a particular class of ships. Those are in the game there is an opportunity to collect unique teams that are suitable for a specific ship and style of combat. We will tell you in more detail in special article x after the second stage of the PTA, which starts on September 15.

The game seemed to me to be innovative in many ways within its niche. On the one hand, it happens in the air. On the other hand, the levels are built quite differently than in other flight action-MMO: there is no such situation when what is on earth is taken into account minimally. Can you tell us about your approach to creating levels within the project? About what interesting things (in terms of implementation) have become possible for level designers?

Indeed, the approach to creating levels is not at all the same as in games with equipment moving along a plane. We are faced with the problem of all space and flight simulators: the battle takes place in an open space, in which it is very difficult to feel the distances to objects and their sizes. This leads to problems in combat, when without the help of the interface it is almost impossible to understand how far your enemy is. Here the setting “Allods Online” came to our aid. We are practically not limited in any way when building a level: we do not need to be strongly attached to reality, since everything is possible in the AO fantasy universe. Our levels are built in such a way that both a lover of “melee” and an avid sniper can find a place on them. The space is filled with fragments of destroyed allods, but the battle can also take place over an existing allode. In particular, the participants of the first stage of the PTA were very pleased when they found one of the capitals from “Allods Online” on the battle map.

By the way, since we are talking about levels. How many arenas will there be, how much time does it take to create and develop each one?

During the second stage of the PTA, which will begin on September 15, we will show 4 maps in four different settings. Directly creating the topology takes no more than a week, but further debugging of the gameplay never stops. Any changes in the mechanics of the main gameplay are supported in maps.

Here’s another question. The architecture of the levels, as I have already noted, is complex. At the same time, ships can fly on top of each other, go “deep” or vice versa, rise to the sky. At the same time, the map is displayed only in a “flat” format. Is it informative enough?

So far, we have not noticed any difficulties with the perception of the minimap. The participants of the first stage of closed beta testing did not pay attention to its “plane” at all. I think the basic gameplay and decisions on the location and movement of the camera are bearing fruit. It is quite easy to navigate in space, and the minimap is a tool for tactical decisions. It does not solve the issues of definition in space.

Now I want to move from development to marketing. Why did we do a beta test in Russia separately, and now we have started in the West?

A beta test will be held in Europe. There is no separation in approaches to the Russian and European versions yet.

Can you share the results of the Russian beta testing: what did you understand from its results, what conclusions were drawn?

Firstly, the beta test helped to localize several technical problems that we could not “catch” on internal tests for a long time. For this, we say a big thank you to all the participants of the PTA. Secondly, we have collected a huge amount of feedback from different users. Not only fans of session action games came to us, but also fans of RPG and other genres. Their suggestions and advice on further development helped us solve some problems and make improvements. Thirdly, the PTA forced us to rebalance all the ships and take into account the mistakes made earlier when creating new ships.

Beta versions for Russia and the West differ from each other, how?

Only the time of running these tests. A slight delay is caused by the translation of texts and voice acting.

How soon can I wait for the open beta\release?

If nothing changes, then this year, I think we will please our players.

By the way, how do you assess for yourself: when the game should be launched in a closed, and when in an open beta test, are there any universal tips?

It all depends on what goals the test sets for itself. Sometimes you need to test some ideas on a real player and then it is undesirable to invite an “unprepared person”. Early versions of the games look very scary, and an outsider may be frightened by projectiles in the form of balls and ships consisting of a single cube. In the case when the game is nearing release, you can run more players on the test, checking the progression, collecting feedback and comments on the gameplay.

After the launch of the open beta /release, how often do you plan to update the project (and how exactly, will it be, for example, about a new ship per month)?

It’s hard to talk about it now. The size and frequency of updates depend on many factors.

By the way, I was very surprised when I found out about PvE. How will it be arranged?

PvE will most likely appear in the first update after the release. So far, there are several options for its implementation: from small missions and battles with “waves of opponents” to full-fledged story team missions.

And the last question: the names of the Western and Russian versions of the game are different. In the West, there is no appeal to “Allods”. Why?

The name in Europe is the choice of our Western publisher. According to our colleagues, it fits better. In any case, the Allodian universe will not go anywhere from the European “Pirates”.

Thanks for the interview.