Shadowbane Retrospective Interview
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The Game Archaeologist: Everyone loves a good origin story -- how did Shadowbane come about?
Coleman: It pre-dates Wolfpack, actually. Josef and I met back in college, where we used to run a text-based game called ChaosMUD. There was no money in online gaming back then; people just developed and ran these things because they were fun. We actually got in trouble for running it on one of the COSC lab computers, and the professors did everything they could to convince us to "stop screwing around this game stuff and get back to computer science."
Hall: After college we started an enterprise software company called Reliant Data Systems -- really, really boring stuff -- but the entire time, we not-so-secretly harbored the dream of starting an online game studio. Other companies, with games like Meridian 59, Ultima Online, and EverQuest, were just starting to find a way to make MMOs commercially viable, so after we sold Reliant to Compuware, we decided that it was time to follow our dream. We started Wolfpack Studios in my apartment at the end of 1999, and from the beginning we wanted to build something very different, something unique.
Coleman: Yeah, UO was going through a kind of identity crisis at the time, with the community polarizing into two camps. There were players who wanted the game to be more civilized, sort of like a renaissance festival simulator -- affectionately known as the "carebears." And on the other side, you had the "PKs," the playerkillers, who were basically looking for Mad Max in a fantasy world.
Origin was struggling with this, for a couple of reasons, in my opinion: The "Mad Max" idea didn't really fit with Britannia, it just didn't feel right, and games like this -- on this scale, and with a fully graphical front-end -- hadn't really been done before. The development team didn't have the benefit of seeing dozens (or hundreds) of past MMOs try out ideas to see what worked and what didn't. The safeguards that we have in place now (PvP flags, safe zones) had to be invented, which means EA was constantly playing a game of catch-up against a very smart, very motivated playerbase.
So at some point, they started banning those players and changing the game rules to make it a more player-friendly environment. This left a large portion of their community disenfranchised with the game and looking for a new home.
Hall: Our text MUD back in college was very competitive, as we were constantly doing tournaments and free-for-all events with great names like "Hell Night" and "Circle of Blood." And since we were competitive players ourselves, we decided to build a game for the PvPers! But once we started talking about it, we came up with an even better idea: Rather than a PvP free-for-all, where the conflict has little meaningful context, we wanted to create Game of Thrones, the ultimate sandbox where players can declare themselves king, build castles, raise armies, and try to take over the world.
Coleman: It was a really, really cool idea... still is, actually: a real-time feudal war simulator. But remember, we had no professional game development experience and no idea of what the cost (not just in terms of money) would be. And the MMO industry was still in its infancy, so there was no real standard for predicting a game like this. But we were young and stupid, so we just jumped in with both feet.
And a snip from part two:
Do you see any "spiritual successors" to Shadowbane on the current market?
Hall: It's been pretty cool to see elements of Shadowbane show up here and there in other MMOs. Games like Darkfall have obvious connections, but even games like Age of Conan reflect some elements, such as the siege system. Maybe it's time for Shadowbane 2?
Coleman: I think Shadowbane has left its mark on a bunch of titles, both here in the U.S. and internationally -- Shadowbane was suprisingly successful in China. But I haven't seen any game attempt the same degree of strategy, with a fully dynamic world where players can build castles anywhere and then reduce them to dust. Occasionally I will read an article about a new castle siege system, and my ears perk up -- but so far, every one I've encountered has revolved around a handful of designer-placed castles that the guilds are supposed to fight over, basically a pre-mapped game of capture the flag. That can still be a lot of fun, mind you, but I would love to see someone try to make a fully dynamic world simulator again.
