RuneScape/MechScape Interview
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RPS: So. now after Runescape, Mechscape. Why now?
Mark Gerhard: Why Mechscape. after 4 years of making and running Runscape, we got to a point where we thought maybe we know what we're doing. We knew what we'd do differently. That's kind of what spawned Mechscape. A blank piece of paper and (How would we do it this time?).
RPS: Okay. I know you're not showing it yet, and aren't talking about it in detail. Can you say what it isn't?
Henrique Olifiers: It's not Runescape in space. We started the whole process looking at the MMO space and realising that the world doesn't need another Fantasy game. No elves, no orcs. So Sci-fi. Sci-fi is popular in movies, in comics, in single-player games. so why not here. That lead us to develop some new game mechanics which no other game uses. The reason why many Sci-fi MMOs haven't worked is because they're fantasy games dressed up to look like Sci-fi games. We looked at seminal games like Master of Orion and Ascendancy, and look at worked in those games, and make MMO mechanics inspired by those mechanics, in the way which Garriott created mechanics in Ultima Online inspired by the traditional Ultima games. Our seed was completely different. The end result is a game which looks and plays like no other MMO out there, from the mechanics, to how you interact with the other players...
