This week we're celebrating EverQuest II's fourth Birthday here at Allakhazam and as our present to the community  we're bringing you mini interviews from many of the individuals on the team who've struggled over the years to make EverQuest II the game that you love and play. One of my favorite parts about EverQuest II has always been the art style; I'm a sucker for realism in games. Bill Yeatts, the Art Director for EverQuest II has been working on the game for over four years to help bring that to the table.

Allakhazam : How long have you been working on EverQuest II and how did you get started?

Bill : I have been working on EQII for a little more than 4 years total. (I took a break to work on Untold Legends Dark Kingdom in 2006 though.)

Allakhazam : Over the years, is there a particular change that you’ve seen made to EverQuest II that stands out against the rest?

This week we're celebrating EverQuest II's fourth Birthday here at Allakhazam and as our present to the community we're bringing you mini interviews from many of the individuals on the team who've struggled over the years to make EverQuest II the game that you love and play. Today we had a chat with Joy Parkes, the Voice-Over Coordinator for EverQuest II.

Allakhazam : How long have you been working on EverQuest II and how did you get started?

Joy : I joined the team in March 2004. I was hired as a copy editor to edit the 1,000s of lines of dialog that were implemented in the game. I can’t believe it’s been more than four years! After working for a year as copy editor I transitioned into voice-over coordinator for SOE. Currently I still manage VO for EQII but I’m also a project manager for the SOE Audio Group.

Allakhazam : Over the years, is there a particular change that you’ve seen made to EverQuest II that stands out against the rest?

Joy : I’ve seen lots of changes over the years but one thing that remains consistent is the dedication of the team. I work on multiple projects at SOE and I always look forward to collaborating with the EQII designers and producers.

This week we're celebrating EverQuest II's fourth Birthday here at Allakhazam and as our present to the community we're bringing you mini interviews from many of the individuals on the team who've struggled over the years to make EverQuest II the game that you love and play. Today we zerged none other than Noel "Ilucide" Walling, who has been around for as long as I can remember. In fact, you might recognize the name "Ilucide" from certain in-game items! He's currently the Design Supervisor for EverQuest II and unfortunately our talk with him was short, sweet, and to the point! As you can imagine, he's busy polishing The Shadow Odyssey. Enjoy!

Allakhazam : How long have you been working on EverQuest II and how did you get started?

Noel : I was brought over to the EQII team from customer service five years ago, almost to the day. I’d been an avid EQ player since its launch, and really felt I could bring a lot to the table for its successor.

Allakhazam : Over the years, is there a particular change that you’ve seen made to EverQuest II that stands out against the rest?

This week we're celebrating EverQuest II's fourth Birthday here at Allakhazam and as our present to the  community we're bringing you mini interviews from many of the individuals on the team who've struggled over the years to make EverQuest II the game that you love and play. We had the opportunity to hear from the lovely Vanessa "Eovania" Barrera, one of Sony Online Entertainments International Community Relations Representatives. Vanessa's been the beating heart of the German community since 2005 and if you've been to a Fan Faire you've likely seen her in the flesh, running around, pretending to work. Whoops, that cat's out of the bag! :P

Allakhazam : How long have you been working on EverQuest II and how did you get started?

Vanessa : I have been in the EQ2 Community team since March 2005.

I was hired by Steve  “Moorgard” Danuser and worked with Ryan “Blackguard” Shwayder. I'm sure a lot of you folks remember those two. They were looking for a German native speaker to take care of the EQ2 German community. A friend of mine told me about the opportunity; she was the EQ2 French Community Rep at the time.

Allakhazam : Over the years, is there a particular change that you’ve seen made to EverQuest II that stands out against the rest?

This week we're celebrating EverQuest II's fourth Birthday here at Allakhazam and as our present to the community we're bringing you mini interviews from many of the individuals on the team who've struggled over the years to make EverQuest II the game that you love and play. As promised, we did some reminiscing with John Tessin, one of the programmers working on EverQuest II. This guy has been working on EverQuest and EverQuest II for nearly nine years now. Wow!!!

Allakhazam : How long have you been working on EverQuest II and how did you get started?

John : I will have been working on EQ and EQII for 9 years this coming February.  Brad McQuaid hired me on the EQ2 team which, at that time, was being worked on as a joint dev project with the then Exodus dev team (Exodus being the code name for what eventually became SWG).

Allakhazam : Over the years, is there a particular change that you've seen made to EverQuest II that stands out against the rest?

This week we're celebrating EverQuest II's fourth Birthday here at Allakhazam and as our present to the community we'll be bringing you mini interviews from many of the people on the team who've struggled over the years to make EverQuest II the game that you love and play. Our first target is the game's Producer, Bruce Ferguson, who's been on the team (in one way or another) since the game launched in 2004.

Allakhazam : How long have you been working on EverQuest II and how did you get started?

Bruce : I'm not sure that I qualify for this, as I spent a couple of years away from the team, but I'll answer as much as I can. I started back in the late 50s..oh wait. Maybe not. I joined the EQII team about 18 months before we shipped, so that would have been spring of 2003. I had been a project manager on another project, so I jumped right in on working on schedules and task tracking. We were close to 80 or 90 people at the time, and there was a lot or random wrangling of miscellaneous stuff, and I helped out.  You'd be amazed at how much stuff that has only a relatively small relationship to actually making a game there is...and then there's all the stuff needed to be done to make the game too!