Steve Jackson Interview 28
heartless_ writes "Gamergod.com has an interview with Steve Jackson, the man behind the table-top company of the same name. SJ Games publishes, among other things, GURPS, Munchkin, Frag, Chez Geek, and Pyramid Magazine. The interview goes into Steve's opinions on the MMOG market, as well as possible involvement in the MMORPG market with his company." From the article: "GG: Does the idea of a 3D MMORPG strike you as a project you want to be a part of, and if so, in what capacity do you see yourself? SJ: (a) Heck, yes. (b)Top-end design and community work / play-test, until I learn the tools to get involved with level design. GG: Given that your claim to fame has been open ended systems, what genre of MMORPG would you most likely use to break into the industry? SJ: To nobody's surprise, I'd like it to be as open-ended as the theme allows. I think that will help get, and REALLY help keep, players."
To answer the obvious question ... (Score:5, Informative)
The first wargame I bought, back in 1979, was Metagaming's 'Ogre', designed by Jackson. it's an amazing game, moreso for the price of $2.95 back then.
He designed Ogre and it's add-ons and sequels, 'Melee' and it's successor, 'GURPs', 'Car Wars', and a number of other great table-top games.
When he started Steve Jackson Games in the early '80s and started publishing "The Space Gamer" magazine, he introduced many to the concepts of game design. The Space Gamer published an early article by Lord British, describing how 3-D graphics could be created on Apple II hardware.
Steve Jackson probably understands playability and balance like few others, and any MMORPG that he would be involved with would be of serious interest.
Re:To answer the obvious question ... (Score:2)
Not only that, but it seems that all games his company publishes are most definitely quality experiences (he doesn't design them all, though...right?). Note that I am not much of a "hardcore" tabletop nor MMO player, yet seeing "Steve Jackson" + "MMO" was an instant OMGWTFAWESOME moment.
Corrected link (Score:1)
Re:To answer the obvious question ... (Score:1)
Did the Secret Service (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Did the Secret Service (Score:2)
Car Wars/Autoduel (Score:4, Interesting)
Autoduel was released by Origin Systems way back in the Apple II days, and despite a bunch of bugs, was great fun. That was the only computer game that really carried the feeling of the Car Wars universe. Deadly highways where you could fight with deadly armaments or run using evasive munitions (oil, mines, spikes, etc..). Arena combat where you could get your tires shot out and your car totally disabled and you could still jump out and try to run for the exit on foot.
The whole courier, bounty, pirate system in Autoduel is the same theme that makes Elite/Privateer and other space games so great.
I really think Autoduel could have been what GTA is today if they had kept releasing games with that same open ended formula that Autoduel helped pioneer.
I wonder if Auto Assault will come close, and I wonder if SJ will be kicking himself as hard as I'd like to kick him if it does do well.
Re:Car Wars/Autoduel (Score:2)
Re:Car Wars/Autoduel (Score:3, Informative)
I think I know the answer... (Score:2)
This may have something to do with how the table top game business works. The two fields are similar in concept but I think their business models are very different. Steve is trying to work with the Big Names (like EA) on his terms and they don't feel like he brings enough to the table.
Again, this is my understanding of it from the
Finally (Score:1)
As a fan of SJ games... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:As a fan of SJ games... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:As a fan of SJ games... (Score:2)
Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks (Score:2)
Re:Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks (Score:1)
OMG...the Sorcery series was the first RPG I ever played. It was different from the "Twist-a-Plot" books (aka choose your own adventure) that you actually had a character sheet. I still have the Sorcery books. I can see them on my bookshelf from here.
I would love to see SJ bring his talent to the MMO world. Just as long as he leaves a few of his MIB cohorts behind
Re:Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks (Score:2)
Yours sheepishly, Kafka
There's someone to whom I'd like to introduce you (Score:3, Funny)
Steve Jackson, meet Raph Koster. Raph, Steve.
I'll leave you two alone to get acquainted. I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about.
Munchkin is excellent gaming (Score:1)
I'm actually sorry I RTFA (Score:2)
Don't talk to him at all in depth about what he wants with an MMOG; don't talk to him about how he would want to bridge the gap from 'puzzle games' (as he referred to current MMOGs) to real role-playing games. Don't talk about his history with RPGs and games in general. Don't talk to him about the current state of the RPG market and why it's dying...
What a missed opportunity. SJ knows better than most the difficulty of adapting a single system (GURPS) to a multitude of p
Re:I'm actually sorry I RTFA (Score:1)
Next time we get to suggest somebody for a slashdot interview, can we try get Steve??? I'm sure most of the