2010-11-05 by Eli

During the research for the Spotlight about our beloved Calfardar I asked Tascha, after she posted such nice pictures from the shadows (Official Screenshoots), if she has some decent screenshoots from Calfardar. Tascha kindly answered me and also told me, that she was the world designer, who created Calfardar. This was of course great news and I was allowed to make an interview with her.

Hello Tascha, I’m very glad to meet you. I hope you will enjoy our interview in the same way like me. First I have to warn you, I involved Tsalarian and Frank in the interview and so we are not longer under girls only. I hope, that is okay for you.

Eli: As I could read, you are a female and you are one of the developers from Aventurine who has created this game that we all love, Darkfall.

Tascha:  That's correct, hi Eli. I am one of three girls currently working for Aventurine (I thought the guys would like that little side-note ;)). Even though the guys at AV tend to see me more like one of the “Boys” due to my interests, which I take as a compliment, though.

Eli: Tell us a little bit more about your person.

Tascha: Well, my name is Natascha Roosli or Tascha to my friends, originally born in Switzerland. I think of myself as a Geek in the truest sense, a game addict to the point where I forget to eat while having hours and hours of gaming sessions. It started with single player MUD Games, over to the Eye of the Beholder Series, old school adventures such as the Monkey Island Games, Maniac Mansion/Day of the Tentacle and then my first MMO, Ultima Online. From there I pretty much played or beta tested everything you would label as an Online Game either free or with paid subscription. With some I stayed for years while others I dropped pretty much during beta testing. My fondest memories go back to Ultima Online and then Everquest 1 for which I also worked as a volunteer guide and later as a GM on Tallon Zek, one of the pvp servers. Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot pretty much sealed the fate for my passion for PvP and despite the fact that I love raiding, there is just nothing like the rush of fighting a real player and beat him or her to pulp then do some fancy emote while standing over his/her dead body. On the other hand, being on the receiving end..not so fun (which is more likely to happen) ;) I am also addicted to bad horror movies, the original Star Wars trilogy, tv shows (Firefly!) and UFC!

Eli: Have you been working with the team on Darkfall since the beginning?

Tascha:  No, I came to Greece about 5 years ago to live with Henning Ludvigsen, Darkfall's Art Director. Back then I worked as freelance artist for Trading Card Games, Board Games, Book Illustrations and wrote tutorials for Magazines on Digital Art. I joined the team in 2007 if I remember correctly. I did, however, follow the development very closely and with a lot of anticipation! Contrary to popular believe I don't do much actual art for Darkfall. I created some of the spell icons (Vampiric Touch, Mana Missile, a lot of the fire, water and air spell icons are some I remember of the top of my head) when I started, I did a lot of world-building but also worked on getting resources and monsters into the game and resource naming in general. Very recently I started to get more involved with Community interaction (communication, events, contests and other things involving the community). I work with our external GM team from Alchemic Dreams, make sure we have recent screenshots and video footage and last but not least work directly with Tasos Flambouras on day to day tasks. Other then that I try to keep communication between the different departments going which is not always an easy thing to do :)

Eli: Did or do you often hear that it's unusual that you as female work as developer of an open world PvP game with full loot?

Tascha:  Not more often then you hear that it's unusual for a girl to play MMOs or games in general ;) I have to admit that it still feels weird to me that people think it's such a special case. It's my world, my passion, it's what I love, so I don't see anything unique in either playing games or working as a game developer, no matter what kind of MMO. Unfortunately the quirks of being a female game developer don't pay off as much as playing a female character in an online game used to ;) PvP games just interest me more (even though I admit being a carebear at heart). It's the challenge you have while fighting another real person that an AI just can't properly mimic, even though I still think our AI is fantastic and nicely simulates a players behaviour within our limitations. Also, I doubt a lot of people know me outside of Aventurine. Working for Darkfall is something I am very proud of but I certainly don't go out of my way to let everyone know.

Eli: Oh yes, I know the question very well! ;) How came you to this job or should I say passion?

Tascha:  I had to stop my freelance painting because of health issues which influenced my hands and fine motoric. Aventurine gave me the opportunity to join their team and mind you, they didn't have to ask twice. I know they were probably concerned about having a “girlfriend” work for the team (or back then the first girl) but I never had an issue with separating private life and work. Coming from an IT background I pretty much always worked in all guys' teams, so the Aventurine environment was nothing new to me (except for the big Vikings everywhere). I was always interested in fantasy and science fiction, games and computers. I was just lucky I would say, even though I also tend to think it's a plus that I can fill a lot of roles on the fly for Darkfall. It's a good thing to be a fast learner in a dynamic environment such as a small indie developer like we are and my background with gaming, computer knowledge, coding, art and the fact that I love absorbing new things like a sponge, helps.

tl;dr version: I was at the right place at the right time!

Eli: What are your feelings about the game?

Tascha:  I feel very strongly and protective about it. That's probably because I see how small we are as a team and how passionate everyone is about it, how hard we work and what we have achieved so far. Do I think it's perfect? No, absolutely not but I think we made something truly wonderful at this time in MMO history and we are working hard on improving points which I personally also think are weak spots. It's also great to see how the team has grown during development and how much we have learned from our experiences so far. It's definitely a learning process for everyone there is no denying that. It can be frustrating at times to see that the community thinks we don't care or that we don't work hard enough. It’s a perception that is completely understandable from a player point of view, though and every developer has to deal with this. In the end criticism or concern shows that the players care.

Eli: Do you play the game just to have fun sometimes? And if yes, do you have a normal character?

Tascha:  I don't play it hardcore or get involved in politics for obvious reasons but I tend to make new characters to check out the new player experience and help with suggestions for improvements or ideas to the game. So yes, I do have normal characters but they mostly run around solo. I also have to admit I really suck at the FPS play-style, I would never admit that in public though! (which means I will have to kill you if you print this). I am most of the time playing female dwarves, so if you see one running around, be nice and give her all your loot out of the kindness of your heart!

Eli: Ups. I guess i have to change my name now! ;)  ... Since release, has there been something that really surprised you?

Tascha:  Absolutely: It's how passionate Darkfall Fans are and how much initiative they show for the game. We are aware that the player is what ultimately makes or breaks a game. I am also surprised how the perception on forums is very different from the actual in game experience player seem to have with the whole concept of "ganking" and how many helpful players exist. Some even going to the extend of creating little welcome bags to give away for new players (I was on the receiving end of this a lot of times and almost feel bad about it). Or players creating events with giving away a lot of mounts or rafts just for fun.
But the initiative that surprised me the most was when the "NEW" clans both on EU and NA were created to help out starting players.
When it comes to actual gameplay I have to mention that I was pretty floored by watching the recent 1vs1 Tournament on EU while taking video footage. The skills player showed in using the abilities and spells they have at their disposal was really amazing to witness. It’s not as much the arsenal that surprised me but HOW they used it.

Of course I want add some question about our capital, our crown jewel, about Calfardar:

Tsalarian: What was the overall idea or plan for Calfardar when you were designing it?

Tascha:  Some of the clan cities which are situated on more complex terrain were built in teamwork with Henning. The terrain is hand built which means the natural rock formation Calfardar is built on, was hand crafted by him according to our ideas. That's true for other clan cities as well, which were built in close co-operation with the worldbuilder in question and Henning. Each clan city should have weaknesses and strong points but we also wanted to make sure not all clan cities are equally attractive to players to create spots that would be fought over more then others. Calfardar is one of those cities that are very hard to attack. It doesn't have the strongest assets when it comes to mines though.
The overall idea was to have a narrow entry point and bottle neck to make it hard to penetrate and thus also make it an interesting spot for a clan who wants to keep it as their main city and build a strong headquarter while expanding their territory from there. Other then that - creating something that looks cool!

Frank: Why does Calfardar have walls? If anyone really build Calfardar on top of a stone where noone could enter from the sides - wouldnt it make sense not to have walls in a place like that?

Eli: I know the answer! It looks better! ;P ... no i think, what is a city like Calfardar without walls? And also they can be because of Firedragon.

Tsalarian: The inner walls makes sense to me (though I think gates are in order - I was really surprised when we built Calfardar that there were no gates there) but the lift should really have a cauldron of boiling oil installed. Also, obviously the outer walls are to keep people from falling to their death... I mean fall 200 meters and get slightly damaged.

Tascha:  Well, you'll never know what might attack in the future and from where, right? ;) Also, with the freedom Darkfall offers we have to keep in mind that players might find ways to attack cities, we haven't even considered in our most extreme scenarios. The creativity of our players still leaves as speechless at times. It's a great opportunity for players to have so much freedom but for us it's most of the time a real issue we have to keep in mind at all times, specially while world building. So the walls have been built with both the reason mentioned above. I have a feeling some day you might be very glad you have walls at the top ;)
Tsalarian, master of sarcasm, hm? ;) I really love that cauldron idea. I'll pass that on, even though I think Calfardar is already a very hard city to attack due to the elevator bottle neck and its strong defensive structures.

Tsalarian: What’s the story behind the dragon statue in Calfardar, and will we ever be able to get it out of that rock?

Tascha:  Haha, I wish I could lie and say there is an epic story behind that dragon but that was a spur of the moment idea. In my mind the people who live (or lived) there, were working on a dragon statue but they never really finished it. Probably due to an attack of the current clan living there and they never bothered finishing it (since it would be like a tribute to the clan they took it from).
Back when I built Calfardar we didn't have that many props to work with so we tried to find creative ways to tell little stories and give all the cities their own little character. I was hoping that the players might make up their own stories about it. Who knows, maybe some day you'll be logging in to find the Statue completed :)
Sorry to disappoint, that’s why I leave the lore writing to someone else.

Frank: The main tactic being used by people attacking Calfardar is abusing that you cant die from falling damage. Basically people either jump of the side of through the hole in the middle. IF we follow we are dead, because they will obviously land first with 1 hp because they cant die, and then they load a spell killing us off who land after them also with 1 hp. Not being able to die from falling damage gets abused quite a bit both in situations like this as well well as in bunny jumping - is there any plans to change this so falling can actually kill you?

Tascha:  I can certainly see your point but in Darkfall one small change that seems logical in one place might cause a lot of complex issues in another. The designers always felt that in a harsh game like Darkfall, where you are affected by physics, latency and where you lose all your gear upon death, it would be too frustrating to also get the added danger of falling damage and that almost dying is enough danger to make up for it. However, coming from EQ1 and falling to my death countless times while trying to find my way around Kelethin, I personally tend to think that it should be possible to fall to your death but that's just my personal opinion and I am just an arm chair designer. EQ doesn’t have full loot however. I am sure the opinions about this are very split in the community too.

Tsalarian: On behalf of Machinist, I would like to ask if it’s possible for you to make a statue of my character (Tsalarian) and place it in a prominent spot in Calfardar? ;)

Tascha:  Haha sneaky! Well..it's important to us that the community knows we are not involved in the game politically, or show any kind of favouritism to people, groups or clans in Darkfall. Which means this request goes directly against our believe. I always liked the idea of players having the opportunity to get their own status in a big city, though. If I remember correctly the idea was tossed around that we might do big events such as official tournaments and whoever wins would get a statue in the main racial city. We do have a lot of ideas but as always, time and man-power are more the hindrance than actually coming up with good ideas.

Eli: When you today see the city and SUN, which built their empire with this city as base, what do you feel about it?

Tascha:  Would it come off as self centered when I say: proud? That’s true for the whole game though. I remember when the beta first opened and I saw players run through the world we crafted with so much love to detail, I don’t think I can really describe that feeling. I think everyone in Aventurine felt that way the first time we saw others run through the world/game we created. It’s of course even more special to see players “living” in a city you built.

Tsalarian: What do you like most about Calfardar?

Tascha:  That dragon statue and the stair part at top leading to the elevator. Henning made that specially as a request for me since I thought it would be a nice area for a clan to have duels at with the added danger of falling or being knocked down the elevator shaft. I always liked the idea of having special tournament areas. Like the “Thunderdome” structure in one of the Chaos Cities.

I think everybody will understand, that we now will use the possibility to ask you some questions, that are interesting for SUN members:

Frank: Looking at the size of cities, and the large amount on bindspots it does give the impression that Aventurine is aiming for large (100+) groups living in the cities. Is this still a goal that maybe after the relaunch that we will see the numbers that the game was designed for?

Tascha:  Well, I can't comment on an actual relaunch but we are of course always trying to increase the player count on the servers. Our recent communication increase, the social network we are building and also future plans for more servers and more box releases, with the Russian market being next should help in this regard.  So, yes, of course it’s a goal :)

Frank: Is there anything in the works of giving the cities more of a feeling of home. This could be player vendors (and please let us customise the words the vendor shouts !!), it could be changing the zap towers into moving guards (that we maybe even could equip), It could also be a Wow like solution (sry for the reference), that if you log out in a city you will accumulate a number of actions that would have a increased skillgain.

Tascha:  We have been talking about solutions like this and at this point I would say it's very well possible (without promising anything). It's a matter of manpower and time, not ideas or lack of acknowledgement from our side. There are many ideas the designers have been tossing around and/or been playing with. I know the team is never really satisfied and there is a constant push for improvements.

Frank: On behalf of all guilds with more than one holding: Could we please have craftable Portal Shards, and on behalf guilds who do a lot of sieges: Could we please get craftable nexus portals?

Tascha:  We are aware that there are several resources the community would love to see added to the craftable items list, including the ones you mentioned and it’s under consideration.

Eli: When you were hiding and looking at people, have you ever seen something absolutely funny, especially from SUN members?

Tascha:  I remember one funny incident (I actually don't remember which player it was or which clan he belonged to): This was shortly after we introduced the heal mount skill. I noticed a player because he was very helpful to a new player in chat, gladly answering questions. When I checked on that particular person I was greeted by about 20 mounts of various types, neatly lined up in rows. He kept damaging them while shortly thereafter working on getting up his heal mount skill. I think I have a screenshot laying around somewhere, so I'll see if I can attach it. We internally named that incident “Mount Farm”.

Other then that, I have seen quite sneaky and creative ways to try to exploit our AI from the community but we are always on the case of fixing those as fast as possible.

Eli: The picture is epic! :) ... Which SUN you would like to meet?

Tascha:  Oh dear, ummm someone who likes walks at the beach and can kick my ass in a pvp duel? Joking aside, I don't know anyone personally so I wouldn't know where to start ;) The last direct contact I had with players from SUN was in another online game, since I played on the same server but I don't think the ones I did talk to back then are playing Darkfall right now. Maybe someday we have Official Darkfall Conventions. I would generally love to meet the community and see if they are as outspoken in real live as they are on the forums ;).

Eli: I wanna thank you for your time in the name from the whole SUN. It was a great pleasure to meet you!

Tascha: The pleasure is all mine. Thanks for playing the game we put so much work and heart into, it's really exciting to see it come to life in the hands of our players.

Merci
Eli

Below are the latest screens uploaded by our band of peekays.

We are playing Darkfall on the EU-1 server. Below is a list of ig char names.