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Start of chatsvointerview buffer: Sun Apr 27 13:58:36 2008
[13:12] darkfrost101: Hi!
[13:12] Achturn: hello
[13:12] SilentSocialist: Heylo
[13:12] devon@skyon.be: we're ready for the Starmen Interview ^^
[13:14] SilentSocialist: Nice, so just some introductions first. Just curious who everyone is and your roles. I'm Jack, I run the Fan Program section at Starmen.net
[13:14] *** Xander Wouters has joined the chat.
[13:14] SilentSocialist: and this is just what I call the Fan-Game Showcase. It's a chance to take in depth looks at really cool looking fan games.
[13:14] devon@skyon.be: hey ara
[13:14] Xander Wouters: ello
[13:14] devon@skyon.be: I'm Skye, the "leader" however I don't like to be called like that :-)
[13:14] Xander Wouters: (yes you do)
[13:14] devon@skyon.be: I'm just the guy who started it all
[13:15] darkfrost101: XD
[13:15] devon@skyon.be: nah, we work together on this :P
[13:15] Xander Wouters: true
[13:15] devon@skyon.be: Achturn is Tech on the forum
[13:15] Achturn: XD
[13:15] Achturn: yes I am
[13:15] devon@skyon.be: he's a mod + SVO radio DJ
[13:15] darkfrost101: I'm Darkfrost, Head of programming, a slave of Skye :)
[13:15] devon@skyon.be: Bebop is CSwavely on Starmen, he made some awesome custom gfx
[13:15] Bebop883: hai :-)
[13:15] devon@skyon.be: Xander is head of graphics of the game
[13:15] SilentSocialist: Oh hey.
[13:15] SilentSocialist: :-D
[13:15] devon@skyon.be: Crocket couldn't be here unfortunately
[13:15] Xander Wouters: aww
[13:16] devon@skyon.be: he's our enviroment lead (read: he makes the maps)
[13:16] SilentSocialist: OK, great.
[13:16] devon@skyon.be: VValkingman is another coder but he couldn't be here either (doesn't have AIM either >_>-)
[13:16] devon@skyon.be: >_>*
[13:17] SilentSocialist: Alright now I'd like to get just a low-down on the game itself. You know the back covers of books and such? What sort of revealing summary can you give about SVO?
[13:18] Achturn: it's going to be awesome, very very awesome
[13:18] devon@skyon.be: It'll be Earthbound, but with a new twist
[13:18] devon@skyon.be: dynamic graphics (buildings ith waving flags, ...) enviroment sound (waterfalls, cow who moo's, ...)
[13:18] devon@skyon.be: with*
[13:18] darkfrost101: It'll be like a hat made out of cheese - Awesome.
[13:18] devon@skyon.be: but all in Earthbound stile
[13:19] devon@skyon.be: style*
[13:19] Xander Wouters: don't forget the atmosphere
[13:19] Xander Wouters: the humour that's so typical to EB
[13:19] devon@skyon.be: we've put in alot of references to all kinds of things
[13:19] devon@skyon.be: yup
[13:19] devon@skyon.be: The alpha will feature a hilarious Jack Thompson reference :-)
[13:21] SilentSocialist: Hmm alright. Keeping away from features you included (question later) what about basic game play? Are you a random character dropped into Eagleland? How does the game flow?
[13:21] devon@skyon.be: First of all
[13:22] devon@skyon.be: The world is called New Morel (derived from Numeral => ONEtt, TWOson, ... you get the ponit)
[13:22] devon@skyon.be: point*
[13:22] devon@skyon.be: depending on what hobby you want to start with you start in a different location
[13:22] devon@skyon.be: aside from that we don't exactly have a real storyline yet at this point
[13:23] devon@skyon.be: As for the gameplay, it'll be somewhat the same as any other MMORPG, you'll have shops, you'll be able to team up (4 people max) run around, do quests, ..
[13:23] devon@skyon.be: the battles will be realtime though
[13:23] devon@skyon.be: but we've got a neat feature ready to keep the EB feel in battles
[13:24] SilentSocialist: Sounds intriguing.
[13:24] devon@skyon.be: ^^
[13:25] SilentSocialist: Great. Now for some simple interview questions. Let's see..
[13:25] Xander Wouters: :p
[13:25] Achturn: =)
[13:25] devon@skyon.be: ^^
[13:25] SilentSocialist: What inspired you guys to initially take on a MOTHER related game?
[13:26] devon@skyon.be: I've played EB for the first time when I was about 6-7 years old, I always loved the game (I love RPGs in general but FF and EB were my top favorites)
[13:26] darkfrost101: The MOTHER series kicks serious butt.
[13:26] Achturn: I actually got into this project because Father was down  when I tried it, and I was a super Mother fan, so I googled "Mother MMORPG" and Skye's project came up
[13:27] devon@skyon.be: Yeah, on one side I chose EB because I knew it would probably interest the whole fanbase
[13:27] devon@skyon.be: and on the other side it's our way to keep the spirit of EB alive and hopfully get some attention of big N
[13:27] SilentSocialist: (Quick thing I forgot: I hope to directly quote everyone here for answers, let me know if you do not want to be quoted)
[13:27] devon@skyon.be: not a problem for me :-)
[13:28] Achturn: quote me to pieces XD
[13:28] Xander Wouters: lol
[13:28] darkfrost101: Quote me back together :)
[13:28] Xander Wouters: Devon showed me EB and there was something about it I immediately loved
[13:28] Xander Wouters: another game project I was working on had just died
[13:28] Xander Wouters: so I said I wanted to help out
[13:29] Bebop883: I actually joined this project a few days ago when I was contacted by Skye.  After doing some images and such for the website, my attention went towards buildings and various sprites for SVO.
[13:30] SilentSocialist: I think that's everyone. Next question then?
[13:31] devon@skyon.be: 'kay :-)
[13:31] darkfrost101: Fire away!
[13:31] SilentSocialist: There are many MMO's these days--how will this one be unique?
[13:31] devon@skyon.be: There are many MMORPGs, but do they have the absurdity of the MOTHER games? Nope :-)
[13:31] devon@skyon.be: also nowadays everyone is about zOMG 3D graphics :o:o
[13:32] devon@skyon.be: while EB's graphics are great and unique
[13:32] devon@skyon.be: gameplay wise we'll have a mix of several MMORPGs to make things as close as possible to EB but still have the MMORPG mechanics
[13:33] Xander Wouters: yeah, we're focusing more on bringing the MMO experience to an EB setting, rather then to come up with something original I think
[13:33] Xander Wouters: and I'm deeply sorry but I have to leave now...
[13:33] Xander Wouters: speekz laterz
[13:33] Achturn: Also (shameless plug) we were discussing having SVO Radio accessable ingame, so if people want to hear the broadcast they can listen to it without having it open in another window
[13:33] devon@skyon.be: bye Xan
[13:33] Achturn: see ya man
[13:34] darkfrost101: Bye!
[13:34] Xander Wouters: bye!
[13:34] *** Xander Wouters has left the chat.
[13:34] SilentSocialist: See ya, thanks.
[13:35] darkfrost101: Next question? :)
[13:36] SilentSocialist: Sure.
[13:36] devon@skyon.be: CS, whatcha typing lol >_>
[13:36] Bebop883: wow it wouldnt let me post it lol
[13:36] SilentSocialist: Too long.
[13:36] devon@skyon.be: cut it in pieces :-)
[13:36] Bebop883: For me, I'd say that the community aspect of SVO will be great, especially for the Mother fans.
[13:36] Bebop883: Sure there is the Starmen.net forums, IRC and other fan areas on the web that cover all things Mother related, but this gives everyone a chance to play a new Mother experience together in real time.
[13:36] devon@skyon.be: and a lot of people seem interested
[13:37] devon@skyon.be: as you can see on the forum
[13:37] devon@skyon.be: the past 3 weeks we've got over 500 new posts and 50 new members
[13:37] SilentSocialist: Very true. I'll definitely be there on the 1st. :-)
[13:38] SilentSocialist: OK then, more of a development questio now. What sort of complications arise when working on an online game as opposed to a standard one?
[13:38] devon@skyon.be: Well, first of all, you gotta keep in mind there is more than one player around
[13:38] devon@skyon.be: so you gotta make areas bigger
[13:38] devon@skyon.be: more enemies to encounter
[13:39] devon@skyon.be: make things such as friend lists
[13:39] devon@skyon.be: guilds
[13:39] devon@skyon.be: etc
[13:39] darkfrost101: It's quite a lot more work, but it's also a lot funner :)
[13:39] devon@skyon.be: but as it's online we gotta have somekind of "keep it family friendly" policy so there's a kick/ban system and we gotta have moderators across the globe
[13:39] devon@skyon.be: yeah, you see people enjoy your work
[13:40] devon@skyon.be: and that's what keeps you continuing
[13:40] Achturn: a feedback system also has to be considered, otherwise it might take a while to fix glitches
[13:40] devon@skyon.be: we've got the forum for that :-)
[13:41] devon@skyon.be: and the mail system ^^
[13:41] Achturn: mail is what I was referring to XD
[13:41] devon@skyon.be: k ;-)
[13:42] darkfrost101: Programming-wise, everything has to be optimized so less information is sent, but still not be vunerable to cheaters
[13:42] SilentSocialist: Ready for the next one?
[13:42] devon@skyon.be: *nods*
[13:43] SilentSocialist: Briefly describe your experience with this project. What's been fun? Frustrating?
[13:43] devon@skyon.be: For me, seeing the project grow is the most fun part
[13:44] devon@skyon.be: we started with a handful of people who visited the forum every now and then
[13:44] devon@skyon.be: now we got an active community
[13:44] devon@skyon.be: ingame we started with one map with 2 houses
[13:44] devon@skyon.be: now we got a big city with in total 27 maps
[13:44] devon@skyon.be: and we got a whole worldmap ready (as you mightve seen on the site)
[13:44] devon@skyon.be: the most fun part will be when I see people online during the alpha
[13:45] darkfrost101: Yeah, I can't wait :D
[13:45] devon@skyon.be: the most frustrating part, not sure, I didn't really have any frustrating parts during the developement (yet)
[13:45] darkfrost101: Well#
[13:45] darkfrost101: One of the frustrating things is timezones
[13:45] devon@skyon.be: yeah
[13:46] devon@skyon.be: Dark, Ara & I live in EU
[13:46] devon@skyon.be: and the others in US so sometimes it's hard to catch eachother
[13:46] Bebop883: I'm on all the time anyway, ha ha.
[13:46] Bebop883: :-)
[13:46] darkfrost101: ^^
[13:46] Achturn: East Coast US, so I'm not always on the same time as everyone else
[13:48] SilentSocialist: Are there any neat game features you can tell us about?
[13:48] devon@skyon.be: hmm
[13:48] devon@skyon.be: PvP is in
[13:48] devon@skyon.be: we'll have EB style crafts
[13:48] devon@skyon.be: PSI butterfly collector
[13:48] devon@skyon.be: Escargo Express delivery boy
[13:48] devon@skyon.be: things like that
[13:49] SilentSocialist: Ooo, awesome. o_o
[13:49] devon@skyon.be: and we got a special Quest system
[13:49] devon@skyon.be: made around Picky
[13:50] devon@skyon.be: And we love to keep some suprises ;-)
[13:50] SilentSocialist: Great. One last thing.
[13:50] SilentSocialist: 
 Any last words you wish to relate to us about Saturn Valley Online?
[13:50] darkfrost101: Boing?
[13:50] devon@skyon.be: Ding!
[13:51] Achturn: Zoom!
[13:51] SilentSocialist: Works for me. Thanks guys! That's the end of the interview.
[13:51] devon@skyon.be: 'kay ^^
[13:52] devon@skyon.be: thanks for taking the time to do this :-)
[13:52] Bebop883: yeah, thats awesome
[13:52] SilentSocialist: No problem. Anything to get the juices flowing in the indie fan game area of MOTHER.
[13:52] devon@skyon.be: ^^
[13:52] Achturn: three cheers for the greatest series ever!
[13:53] Bebop883: hurray x3
[13:53] darkfrost101: Wait, what happened to hip hip?
[13:53] SilentSocialist: Huzzah?
[13:53] Achturn: nobody says "hip" anymore
[13:53] Bebop883: amen
[13:53] darkfrost101: ^^
[13:53] devon@skyon.be: Woop Woop Huzaay :-)
[13:53] darkfrost101: Ding ding, Huzaay!
[13:54] Achturn: woot woot word!
[13:54] Bebop883: well before yall head out when would this be on the site?
[13:54] Bebop883: so i can make sure to have the internet
[13:54] Bebop883: :P
[13:55] darkfrost101: Noes! He be stealin the internets!
[13:55] SilentSocialist: Most likely tommorow, Tuesday at the very latest.
[13:55] devon@skyon.be: that's great :-)
[13:55] devon@skyon.be: Ima put this on the SVO site aswell
[13:55] darkfrost101: Put a hat on it!
[13:55] SilentSocialist: I'd work on it now, but I have work from 5:30 to 11
[13:56] Bebop883: no rush
[13:56] Bebop883: as long as its up before alpha
[13:56] devon@skyon.be: ^^
[13:56] Bebop883: :-)
[13:56] Achturn: =D
[13:56] darkfrost101: Allllphhhhhaaaa! :D
[13:56] Bebop883: i couldnt have said it any better myself
[13:56] darkfrost101: Hope to see you there btw :)
[13:56] SilentSocialist: PK Release ALPHAAA
[13:56] Bebop883: hahaha
[13:56] Achturn: XD
[13:57] Bebop883: i just realized what you did thar
[13:57] Bebop883: either way awesome
[13:57] Bebop883: thanks again
[13:57] Bebop883: im headn out
[13:57] Achturn: see ya
[13:57] devon@skyon.be: bye
[13:57] Bebop883: take it easy
[13:57] SilentSocialist: Alright, thanks again. Bye all!
[13:58] *** Bebop883 has left the chat.
[13:58] *** SilentSocialist has left the chat.
End of chatsvointerview buffer: Sun Apr 27 13:58:36 2008