http://www.eternalcrusade.it/intervista-con-miguel-caron-early-access-ed-oltre/

google translate version, soon TM real translation version.

We had the pleasure of being able to talk for an hour and a half with Miguel Caron CEO of Eternal Crusade . Miguel told us about the future development plans of the game and what to expect in the near future but not only. Here's the interview:

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "Many of our readers and users still do not know much about Eternal Crusade: how would you describe it in a few words?"

Miguel Caron: "The industry likes to put games in a" jar "is a mmo? is a moba? And the speech is that Eternal Crusade has enough different elements that do belong to different categories. First it is an MMO, has RPG elements but not as many as a traditional RPG. Play your character that has a progression, from this point of view is a rpg. As for the mechanics we do not like to call it "Third Person Shooter", because there is much more than just the side "Shooter" in the game, the combat is just as important. We define Eternal Crusade "Massive Third Person Combat RPG". The focus of the game is PvP, with even some element pve, but focuses on territorial control and combat "Skill Based" * Editor's note: based on the ability of the player intends, not on skill activated *. The goal of the game and match with the IP, if there proiettassimo 40k years into the future what would make a Space Marine? and an Orc? For most of the time it would kill each other, would fight. A space marine who has been around for 3000 years could always be killed by a Space Marine who has just received his Gene Seed, the older will have more tools at its disposal, but the novice if skillful always a possibility. This is what really happen in the Warhammer 40000. We have a complex background written by Graham McNeill : the last short story that we released (a new one is in the pipeline), tells of the facts of the millennium 20000 (when Eldar caused the birth of Slaanesh), yet these acts are linked to Eternal Crusade. Graham is connecting Eternal Crusade 40k universe. By transferring this into the gameplay, players will have to try to find out what's important in Arkhona * Editor's note: the planet of the game * and to do so will have to conquer territories to other factions, all while repel waves of Tyranid: this is what the game will be in shortly. A persistent MMO focused on PVP. The tactical component will be comparable to Planetside2, game that we love very much, but we decided to do things a little differently: we want to add a context rpg and objectives to carry out the war. A new player on Planetside2 you should just make sure to shoot the people of the right color, but does not know if it is part of a strategy, does not know if he is winning or losing, to know it has to play along and establish contacts with other players. In Eternal Crusade we are putting these tools in the game to make sure that as a player enters the battlefield know who it belongs to, what he's doing and why he's doing it. Another thing that differentiates us from ps2 is the importance of the combat. Furthermore, the time required to kill an opponent is greater. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "Can you tell us about your business model?"

Miguel Caron: "Our economic system has many elements and has changed over time. Before anything else is our game Buy To Play: with the purchase you have full access to the game, all classes and factions. As for micro-transactions in our store (the Rogue Trade Store), until recently had cosmetic skin and also "Sidegrades" * Editor's note: Weapons and Vehicles with alternatives not only skin but also with different statistics from the equivalent in game *, then fans have told us: "Miguel, we understand that your concept of" Sidegrade "not pay to win, but honestly considering the energies that you would spend to get people to not what it would be worth." We therefore announced in September that the items in our store will be entirely cosmetic, there will always be a gun with identical statistics obtainable in the game without resorting to monetization. If there are very few cases of items with statistics can not be obtained in any other way we are studying mechanics (we know that we will do it but not as yet) to allow you to earn Points playing Rogue Trader. We will also obviously some consumable items and some "convenience". The idea of having only cosmetic in the store was our while to be able to earn money for the Shop in the game, as well as to discard the Sidegrades, is coming from the Community. This shows that we listen to advice and criticism of our fans. "



Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "And as for the early access of steam? can you tell us something about it? "

Miguel Caron: "Our original plan was to launch the early access in September, but still aiming to make a triple A game we are always just a big studio Indies, we must be attentive to the way we spend money, then we would be for September only managed to release a "boot camp" * Editor's note: a training camp single player experience where the weapons *, which will be the tutorial of our game exit. During playtest we started to realize that was not enough, was not worth the investment made by those who bought the preorder, we have therefore revised with all the teams, and we decided to focus on one of the pillars of the game, the combat. We tried to create an environment to give an impression of how it will be one of the most epic moments and characteristic of the game: the assault and conquest of a fortress. In a match (which will be between space marines and their counterparts of chaos) will play both defense and offense, 20 minutes each: the spawn point the player will move to the area of deployment vehicles, jump on them and expect resistance in the advance, reaching the " Void Shield "(shield crossed only by the infantry), destroy the generator of the Void Shield, overcome the shield with the vehicles and use them to lay siege to the fortress walls, and finally capture and hold for a predetermined time a point in the fortress. The context is that chaos is aligning the missiles to be launched on the field of space marines and they must stop the process before the countdown reaches its end. "

At this point there was a digression on how the bad guys always put a dramatic countdown to their terrible deeds.

"Basically we took a small portion of the game and made it repeatable: in the full game once conquered the fortress, which will be in a persistent world, becomes your territory and then proceed to attack another and yet another. In addition to everything in the full game you will also campaigns with specific goals. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "We have shown a number of classes during your stream on Twitch, which we can expect to find nell'early access?"

Miguel Caron: "There will be four classes in the first form of early access, but since we have not yet persistence and a database will not be customizable, however, each of them will have 4 to 6 selectable equipment packages: for example you can play an Apothecary * Ed: doctor fighter of space marine * with his tool (the Narthecium) and a sword with a chain or an Apothecary Requiem * ed: The rifle of space marine * and the jet pack. The classes will be Tactician, Apothecary, Assault and Devastator for space marine and chaos will have classes comparable but not identical. Streaming of Friday, you can also see in the interface elements that before there were during the playtest. The early access is a product then all the basic mechanical experience, scores and assistances will be present. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "So what will arrive on Steam will be just the first of a series of modules that will lead to the full release of the game, tell us more about the other."

Miguel Caron: "I can not say the dates for internal reasons, we have not announced our Game Engine and we must first solve this matter before you can give precise dates, but the plan is to release two different modules in 2015, the first of which we talked about a second and then it will expand and replace. We are trying to use the early access in a manner different from that to which we get addicted: the games are released in an incomplete state, and with many bugs, and periodically are improved by small patches, this is not the way that we will use us. We are taking a feature of the game, we develop and refine a product to become enjoyable in its own right with mechanical functioning and bug-free, but not the full game, only a fraction of it. Once you put on more steam does not work on it, work to the next module. The first module as I said will focus on fighting, with a matchmaking 20vs20, the second will add mechanical team (already present in the first part, for example with a buff given by the leader of the team to all those within a radius of 20 meters ), will increase the number of players and will go beyond the singles match, adding the first elements of persistence. The third module will further expand the whole and the fourth will be the full game. That's the plan now, but a lot can still change during development. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "We must not expect to be able to play the other two factions announced, Eldar and Orks before the third module?"

Miguel Caron: "If we were Ea we could start the development of all the factions in parallel, but we can not waste money because our first goal is the combat, space marine space marine and the chaos they have the same structure in terms of animations etc. so for now, for us it was much faster and cheaper to work on these two, which will enable us to ensure that the combat is fun and solid mechanics, only after we are sure that everything works as it should, we can start developing the other factions . In 2015 you should start to see patterns, screenshots, animations etc. orc and Eldar, Orcs probably will before but you should not expect them to play nell'early access before the end of 2015 / beginning of 2016. This is not a promise but our goal! Durations our dialogue with fans have learned to create a clear distinction between those who are our official statements and those that are our objectives: an objective means that I still miss all the information to be able to say with certainty, "Yes, we will do it ".

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario, "So, we talked about classes and factions, with regard to the vehicles instead?"

Miguel Caron: "In the first module can drive the Rhino (tank troop), Predator (tank offensive with several cannons) and the Rhino "Damocles" , whose difference from a normal Rhino, as well as a higher cost in terms of resources, is the ability to unfold as spawn point * note: in a similar manner to a Sunderer in planetside2 *. Normally you want to try to deploy their Damocles behind the Predator in order to be well protected as a spawn point strategy. Each vehicle will logically its consideration of Chaos. Nell'early access you will notice that there is a large open area specifically created to test the battles between cars, which will be a big part of the gameplay. After this the Void shield forced to temporarily leave the means to get around on foot, but once this destroyed the two elements are mixed creating stressful battles within the fort with suspension bridges from which you can risk being thrown down, I think the you will find a lot of fun! "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "We have already cited the Rogue Trade Store, the shop where you can buy skins for weapons and armor you have on your site, how it will interact with steam and with the first module?

Miguel Caron: "There will be no monetization in the first module of the game and the reason is not because you'll still have your character, every time you play you will have the same selection of classes and there will be no progress, so if you make purchases in the store will not be able to equip them in the beginning, is the second module that we will begin to implement features of the genre. If we consider only the first module so there is no correlation between what you buy in the store for the full game and what you can use the launch of early access. This element will come later. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "Teamwork is a key component in Eternal Crusade, which features designed therefore to implement to help guilds?

Miguel Caron: "You know that my other project is Star Citizen and our site is being developed by the same company which operates them, Turbulent, then we will implement something very similar to the Organizations of Star Citizen ( https://robertsspaceindustries.com / community / orgs ) in the first quarter of 2015, so as to allow you to organize the guild. You can create your own guild page within our site that describes who you are, your history, etc. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "You announced to help the team play a partership with Razer for their new Razer Comms. Will already be present in the game from the first module? "

Miguel Caron: "Yes and no. In the full game software will be directly incorporated with all its features, for the first module we are not sure we have time to do it, because we are the first company to incorporate it into our game, normally a separate program like Teamspeak, then we are not certain to succeed, but if not we'll make it to the exit of the early access will package installation. Use this software leads to interesting interconnections between devices: you can send messages from within the game to anyone who uses Razer Comms on any platform and vice versa. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "There have been many rumors about possible publishers, we expect that the announced one for the output of the first module?"

Editor's note: The following response was dressed up with laughter and glances.

Miguel Caron: "This is an element that is holding me back from announcing many of our plans, we were very close to a particular publisher in the past but popped too many cultural differences between us and them * Editor's note: a few months ago had been virtually confirmed Square Enix as publisher *, there are things that even if I want I can not reveal, and I trust you being smart enough to read between the lines. However there are others that look very interesting and I hope to talk more potervene soon "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "What steps you intend to take to make people understand that the product that comes out of steam in 2015 is but a small portion of something bigger? personally I think may be a problem "

Miguel Caron, "is a problem! The only thing we can do is have a very clear description of early access the page on Steam and try to present it in the best way possible. That's all I can do. Happen that someone will do the wrong idea? you definitely, and that is where I put the trusts in our community and our fans to teach what is really Eternal Crusade. When we publish a video on youtube before they start the comments there are already some of our members who take care to specify that the game is only in pre-alpha stage. Most software companies do not show the development of a game from its beginning, if you see the state in which it was our job six months ago you can see a lot of differences, but the graphics was certainly not our priority: the fight, the mechanical, entertainment, fun, the feedback from the fans. I feel really hurt you when you shot or only seems to hit a dummy? I feel the damage they inflict and that I inflicted? These are the things on which we are focusing. Things like armor glinting strangely are normal: we have not yet set the shaders! Pretend that the reinforcement of the pre-alpha are gleaming because they are just arriving on the planet, then will be much more dirty and damaged hahaha. The consumer has been fed on by the industry as the McDonald: want a Big Mac? here is a Big Mac! We're showing how to grow the cow, how to take care of it because it has good meat, step by step, and some say, "Eww that's a cow! is ugly and dirty! I want my Big Mac! "Now ladies let me tell you one thing: his Big Mac is much dirtier than that cow. I'm talking in metaphors but I hope Cogliate point. At the moment we are among the few to show completely every stage of development, and to what some people still can not conceive it, but things are changing, more and more companies are doing it and and the people is getting used and are beginning to see the benefits of this. If I have to examine the Curricula know that 9 out of 10 are full of lies, is more likely to call for an interview, one that he lied because the honest truth of what seem still less of the lies of others. is a bit so that we were received by the industry: we are telling the truth, from the beginning, and are transparent to the public. "Yes, but all the others show us these wonderful things!" But because you are lying! That project started eight years ago and say "We have just started the project." Many are realizing and we are getting less and less negative comments. The market is changing and we are evolving in our project and we are getting closer to the point where normally the others begin to show the material, we are not there yet but we're getting closer. it was fun for you see progress? If you go on our site you can see how the models of space marines have gone from being ugly lime marshmallows to what we have now. You can see the progress, this was our goal, and if I were to start another project I'd do the same thing. I do not care if I make less money, I think it is the right thing to do to build a product for you. How can I do that if I show you from the beginning and do not ask for your opinion? "



Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "Speaking of that, in recent years more and more developers have taken the road of open beta to receive information from the community, as you are going to handle this feedback? you would have the means to do it directly in the game? "

Miguel Caron: "The open beta for their needs to know if you're ready for him to make money, completely another thing than to receive feedback from the community. One idea that came to us recently and we are assessing whether to implement is to create a committee of founders * ed: people who have pre-bought the game * elected by the community. Our goal is to get information from the community for real, not make-believe, but the problem is that with the number of founders that we have is very difficult to filter out the noise. This committee would represent a channel to have a real discussion. Having a tool for feedback interface, however, that we will have, generates 10000 posts of which at least half will be duplication of others, the Committee is required to get to the juice. Already now the community is helping a lot, for example by collecting answers to common questions we receive regularly , so we can focus in responding to the questions that most people are interested. We do not want only to take evidence dall'early access but already the stream: what we will show Friday could change slightly if people grasp of the problems in the level design. "

Simone "Cibra" Cibrario: "One last question: there will be prizes for those who bought or will buy it before the arrival of steam?"

Miguel Caron: "I have already been given the exclusive skin for the first founders. We are also doing a lot and we will begin to contest each stream to extract Razer products for listeners! 17/12 will also begin the discounts on the upgrade of our packages , only on upgrade from one package to another, not on the basis preorder "

Woah woah woah, what in the tits?
Flying Apothecaries?

Have a bad feeling about this.

i suppose is only a random example from Miguel because "an apothecary with bolter and jetpack" it's against all we know about the game. (requiem rifle is the italian expression for boltgun)

Look mum i'm on the official forum! by the way i'll try to make a proper translation (and maybe also a video) in the next days

EYYY they put the cosmetic only thing in writing. Most excellent. I am appeased.

eldar-orcs in 3-4th pillar, expect release to q2-3 2016?