Ragar talks with Neojac about their upcoming fantasy MMO, from the Kickstarter campaign to user-generated content.

Neo's Land will feature a player quest creation system? Exactly what will that entail? Is it a bounty board or job posting situation where quests are single-use and players are providing the rewards themselves? Or is it closer to something like Neverwinter's Foundry where players create instanced content and the rewards are randomly provided by the game rather than the player?

Jacques Rossouw: Currently we are looking at a system where the players will provide the bounty as a reward. With our dungeon creation system, the owner from a dungeon could receive some of the bounty that gets taken by mobs inside the dungeon from players that venture into his dungeon thus giving him some incentive to post good rewards on quests he made for his dungeon.

You describe your economy as player-driven with no auction house: if you want an item, you'll need to travel to the seller's shop to purchase it. What was your reasoning for not going the traditional AH route? How are shops being handled: will players be able to sell their wares while offline or will prospective buyers have to coordinate their playtime with the seller?

Patrick Hamilton: The reasoning behind not having Auction Houses is to force players to travel within the game world and interact with other players directly. This is a fantasy setting in which there will be different regions. If Auction Houses were to be allowed, then there is no point in having caravans or trade-routes, or venturing to other lands to find a particular merchant with an item being sought after. It’s similar to what we are currently seeing in the world of online bookstores. Physical book stores are closing down, as people can search the Internet and make purchases for a downloadable eBook without the hassle of physically traveling about looking around for book stores with the right book.

Exploring, searching and adventuring are part of the game, even while looking for common things.

Also players can hire NPC vendors who will be available to sell their items either when players are online or offline. We still want the game to be fun and not become a form of work. To perform some deals, players will be required to interact with each other to coordinate the deal.

In your upcoming Kickstarter for Neo's Land, your fundraising goal is $100,000. When we're used to seeing minimum figures of $1,000,000 for other MMO Kickstarters. Why such a low target number for such a big project? Do you have stretch goals in mind?

Patrick Hamilton: Stretch Goals are always good to hope for and they just may be part of the mix. We have been in development for a few years and have received seed funding as well as a couple of good opportunities along the way. Another big helper is of the ease of integrating packages from Unity3D into the environment.

We also have an MMO platform that is operable and nearing completion, and already showcasing concepts and a client driven simulation. Of course, if Kickstarter had been around in the beginning, then yes, we might have been asking for a higher amount at that point, but we have made it to where we are today and just need to polish this off for launch.

With a successful Kickstarter campaign, we can accelerate the development, make things look pretty, add in bells and whistles and really polish the game.

Since the economy is player-driven and you have industrial buildings listed as property you can build, I assume there are crafting options in Neo's Land. What role do you see crafters playing in the game? Will I need to find a crafter every time my gear needs to be repaired? Will blacksmith-made weapons be able to compete with the loot I find in the instanced dungeons? How do crafting skills fit in with all of the other options in your Affinity Skill system?

Patrick Hamilton: I consider there to be four types of player mindsets (and blendings of those four), Combatant, Crafter, Adventurer and Socializer. Each one is important in the world and hopefully will be equally needed. Crafters will be building the world, literally. Houses, equipment, transportation and such will be player-made. Though we will have some initial items and will be adding in some more things later, we want to let players be the ones building and adding things.

Items that need repairs, yes, a player will need to find a crafter. But if a player cannot or does not want to, then the player can do the repairs him/herself, assuming they have the skills. Since there are no classes, a character could become self-sufficient. I do not foresee being self-sufficient becoming an issue as players generally focus on what they want to do due to the amount of time they have.

As to loot and player made items, we want both to be equal. Player characters are considered to be heroic and that should be applied not only in battle, but also in other aspects. There should be no limitation regarding the capabilities of a player character in the game world.

With the community being such a major part of providing content in the live game, how do you plan to keep them in the loop during development and beyond? I see that you're currently having round table discussions with some members of the community - how are those going? Are you getting a lot of consistent feedback or is each voice asking for something completely different?

Jacques Rossouw: Fortunately as far as we can see, the community knows what they want and the discussions are very well managed. We get clear ideas from them and can incorporate them very easily. We will continue this system and allow the community direct access to us so that if a system does not work we can adjust it very fast. With having live roundtable talks you get feedback very fast on something.

In addition to creating quests, players will also be able to create their own in-game models in Neo's Land. What's the process for this? Anything in-game or will players need to do all of their model work in other apps, then submit it through your website? How will the community review process work? Is there an in-game reward for a particularly well-received model from the community?

Patrick Hamilton: Unfortunately we do not have the tools or capability to support players creating their own models within the game. So yes, players will need to create models using other programs and to be compatible with Unity3D.

The process would be done primarily by a Community Peer Review via the forums. As we gain experience with this process we can look at ways to improve upon it with better forms of applications and community positions. The initial step would be to provide a concept, such as a sketch or computer rendering. Then gain feedback from the community to continue with it or make some recommendations. If changes have been applied then it would move to an acceptance vote. If the vote is not favorable, that should not be an indicator to give up, but rather to make additional changes and try again. Once accepted, then the developers will give it a review. At this point it’s more about finding issues such as IP infringement or duplication of an existing in-game item) and, of course, compatibility with the system.  If there are issues here then the item will be kicked back, but only for whatever fixes are needed. Once all issues are resolved, then the item will be plugged in.

ZAM would like to thank Jacques and Patrick for taking the time to answer our questions about Neo's Land. If you'd like to find out more information about the game or you'd like to add your voice to the community on what should be in the game, head on over to their Wiki page. Their Kickstarter campaign runs from September 9 through October 9.

Michael “Ragar” Branham