2nd interview with Mike Legg (comming soon)

[Ismael]

This is the old one, post under your suggestions of questions and interview structure design :

 

 

1. Hello Mike and how are you this days ?

 

 

2. How is the rest of the Petroglyph team doing ? Do they have all they need for working at EaW ?

 

 

3. How do you like our small little forum ? When Petroglyph will have his own forums will you permit to asimilate our forums in yours ? This means that our structure and members will be taken from here and transfered to the Petroglyph Official Forums.

 

 

4. After you will see next week Episode III will you be able to be inspired by it and transmit this inspiration to the EaW ? Many fans know about alot of new E III stuff and want to sleep well at night thinking that EaW will satisfy theyr strong impresions and desires after the movie.

 

 

5. We all know that after a game is lunched soon Realism Mods start to pop up like mashroms after rain. Is the EaW team thinking to see to all SW original aspects ? I mean the size, scale, descriptions, encyclopedia and who knows what details. If they do that no Realism mod will show up.

 

 

6. Can you show us a list with the Petroglyph members that work at EaW ? and were they at working ? If you can of course

 

 

7. You know that we have the Petroglyph miniQuest forum section here. Can you update the miniQuest site with a link to our forums so people will be able to talk about the Petroglyph adventures. Also can you post in the miniQuest Forums a small funny story from an adventure ?

 

 

8. Back to EaW now - For some fans the ships names (not types) are very important. The renameing of a ship and the AI ship generated nameing. Cain has posted here a full list on the official LEC Forum. Pls. send it to be seen by by the Petroglyph .txt and Encyclopedia man.

 

http://forums.lucasarts.com/thread.jspa?threadID=39353&tstart=25

 

 

9. Our team has always asked for a change side posibility once per one singleplayer game. Can you pls. ask the Petroglyph team to think about it in the next "brainstorm" meeting ? The game scenarios endings will double cause of this thus the interest of the player in replayng the game will also double cause he will to try to se what will happen if he becomes a traitor.

 

 

10.LucasArts producer Brett Tosti said this in his Gamespot Interview - 04/19/05 :

 

...including major heroes and minor heroes, who may join the Rebel Alliance or the Empire.

 

- Is this meaning that some characters will not be hardcoded to one particular side ?!

 

 

11. From the same interview :

 

... larger ships can dish out more punishment, but they can't turn quickly to deliver repeated broadsides.

 

- Corect me if i'm rung : The Imperial Star Destroyer is designed to diliver the most ammount of firepower infront and not on the sides like the Mon Calamari ? (*Some EaW previews show a ISD fighting like a Mon Calamari Cruiser).

 

12. From the same interview :

 

Your missions will include critical operations, like those given to you by Rebel officer Mon Mothma or by Emperor Palpatine himself, or side missions uncovered by your spies or offered by neutral characters, like besieged merchants looking for clear passage in pirate-infested space.

 

- How bad it will be if you not follow the Emperors order ?

 

- Neutral characters !?! Are they usualy active in theyr neutral planets ?

 

- Besieged merchants and Pirate-infested space !?! Are this merchants neutral to the war and they are related to the neutral planets ? Can you "talk-trade" with this merchants and pirates ?

 

13. Quote from the same interview:

 

...You may even uncover a hidden cache of fighter ships or the home planet of a hero who will join your cause after you liberate it. Or, planets may be strategically placed in the galaxy as choke points.

 

 

- "...a hidden cache of fighter ships " this means fighters and capital ships ? Can you find old abandoned ships in space or scavange after the battle the remains of ships and find useful stuff from the enemy and use them for your self ?

 

 

- " ...in the galaxy as choke points" what exactly this means ?

 

14. We are tryng to create the best fan-maker relations possible so the people will know when buyng EaW that the fans had inspirational influence on the developing of EAW. I'm sure that this will appeal to many gamers and convince them to chose EaW. As you have seen we have a Feedback Public forum for offcial released EaW preview materials. What exactly will be practic to ask for or feedback it ? (future costumer demand). Pls answer with yes or no :

 

1. Existing Textures feedbacking ?.

 

2. Existing 3D Models feedbacking ?.

 

3. Ask for new animations to the models ?.

 

4. Scale and size of ships ?.

 

5. Ship and character nameing and names ?.

 

6. Star Wars music traks ?.

 

7. Ask for a specific planet ?.

 

 

I know this interview is quite large but pls. be as spartan as you can be and were is impossible to reply be as evasive as you can be. Here is a quote after you :

 

....This is fine, but all information for EAW needs to be coordinated through LucasArts, since they are publishing it and marketing it. They are very good people to work with!

 

... ask them about this interview. I'm sure that an interview with the smallest and simplest fan will be very apreciated by the press and public. Let's say that I'm the reporter now and they can all quote after this interview or discuss it by transforming it in a new one.

 

Thank you for your time Mike and as you know we are always near Petroglyph and LEC. We wish you all good luck at E3 and all the happines in the world.

 

Take care and seeyou soon

 

 

PS. If you have a question were you can't reply just say "can't reply now".

[Ismael]

The interview will be remaked and resent after E3.

[Siddus]

I've just read the old one carefully , and I'd have some comments :

 

I think it's too foclised on details that most of people don't care.

It would be better to ask the same thing with a manery more " general" to show we are interested in all one aspect and personnaly I think it's a clue of serious behavior.

 

For example :

We all know that after a game is lunched soon Realism Mods start to pop up like mashroms after rain. Is the EaW team thinking to see to all SW original aspects ? I mean the size, scale, descriptions, encyclopedia and who knows what details. If they do that no Realism mod will show up.

 

I'm a reader, mods aren't interesting me for the moment, I just want to discover the game. BUT , talking about the impact of SW in the game, the respect of original aspects , the immersion of the game in SW is really interesting people, because it's the "kind of game". I agree that it nearly the same thing, but you don't focalize on the detail of "mod" . Moreover, it's a good way to have (if we are lucky ) new stuff on the game

 

 

 

Then, it's a question of choices, but you have to think about the impact of your interview. It would be certainly published here, then linked on petro. From Petro(den/glyph) to EAW.org/.net/filefront , first fan sites on Europe (Deustch one and French one) . Moreover, after E3 , everyone will know Empire at War with details, the sucess (or the opposite of the game will begin after E3, we can think websites dedicated to the game will have new readers.

I don't think questions 2/3/6/7/ are really important. Actually, you have an extraordinary opportunity to interview Mike and with this kind of questions, you lose occasion to discover the game which is the most important I think ..

 

But as I said, it's a question of choice, you would prefer to focalize on these forums and on Mike's life

 

 

I'll work on this interview with my teammates I think I'll focalize on the SW aspect of the game (questions about immersion, respect of the Universe etc.)

 

15 questions is a good number, 20 is too long , 10 is generally too short

 

About the structure design :

 

Question 1/2 : Focalized on mike and Petro , welcoming question and decontracting one.

Block of 6 questions relative to SW Universe

Block of 6 question relative to RTS "universe"

I think after E3, we will have lots of thingsto ask

Question 14/15 : Conclusion question and, why not, a funny question.

 

 

Here is my opinion about interview

[Cain]

Yup we will have to wait for E3 I also have 1-2 questions but we must see what will be official so we could ask on the same range. I suspect some stuff will still be secret

[Ismael]

Update-I have just talked now to Mike and Ted They are all fine and working hard. I transmited them our team's nice feelings about them I also asked Mike if we can ask some questions also to Brett Tosti as you guys emailed me to ask for. We will wait for the E3 infos comming out next week so we will know what we will ask.

 

siddus, Cain and the rest thanks for you support in this interview.

[Cain]

I've already started to think about the questions. I will concentrate on Jedi and planets. Thanks for the PM update.

[Ismael]

OK I will also start the work , until sunday we must be ready.

[Seewolf]

mhh nice questions ^^

i had a lot of more questions but i will wait for more official informations. ^^

[Ismael]

mhhhhh I had a stie admin error ... loll . I don't think we will see more official infos. If you only got one nice question it will be ok

[Cain]

Is 15 questions a limit ? Can we make 20 questions ? pls-pls-pls ?!

 

 

admin problems ?! yeah me too ... the database rebuild made a glich. I hope it was the last one.

[Ghostly_Substance]

I have 3 questions

 

-How will multiplayer work ? Will there be IP search and/or gameroom search ? Something like the oldschool battlegrounds had.

 

-How big will be the playing field (map) on land and space be in single and multiplayer ? Will it differ at what kind of planet or moon it is ? If it is Dantooine will it be big and if its Endor will it be small ? But will the map be bigger then the ones in Battleground or bigger since that was so small and very quick.

 

-Will we be able to give control of our units to a teammate in multiplayer when one of our teammates is down on resources and units ?

 

That good ?

[DragonValoo]

Will you be able to deliver space to planet laser-assaults from a Star Destroyer?

 

Will the Death Star be able to fight with turbolasers and launch ships as well?

[Dark_Lord_Magnus]

Will units gain experience levels like other strategy games like Command and Conquer, Emperor Battle for Dune, etc????

 

Will we have any unit limitation?? Or this will be influenced by the credits, maintenance or resources??

 

Will the game follow known capacity specifications?? Example: AT-AT carries a crew of 5 (Commander, Pilot, Co-Pilot, Upper Deck Officer and Lower Deck Officer), 40 troopers and 5 speeder bikes or 2 AT-STs. (it would be great to see the AT kneel itself to deploy its troops or in combat, as the walker presses forward to the rebels, its troops would jump with harnesses, good thing heinn?? lololol)

 

I know this could be a terrible demand for the game, we can't have 7200 TIE Models in the Death Star unless the game uses something similar like homeworld 2 and Rebellion which on the first one squad had 5 fighters and the second one squad had 12 fighters.

 

Can we use ion cannons and tractor beams to disable enemy ships and therefor allowing us to capture them?? It would enable three advantages: 1- use them in combat, 2- scrap them and gain more credits with this, 3- taking prisoners for interrogation.

 

I hope they don't forget the Venator Class Star Destroyer

 

Won't we see other TIE models besides the Fighter, Interceptor and Bomber models??

 

Will we have the option to use hyperdrives in combat, unless of course there's an interdictor arround, to jump behond or near the enemy fleet????

 

I agree with the "naming ships thing" both automaticly and manualy.

 

Will we have classic characters, or newer, to helps us coordinate our fleets and troops, such as Tagge, Veers, Covell, Motti, Piett, thrawn, etc??? They could be given ranks by us or being promoted according to their achievements in battle, but in one way or another they should influence our ships and troops.

 

THIS ONE IS INTRUMENTAL, we must have a complete and advanced, yet simple to control, menu of tactics, formations etc of our fleets and troops specially troops

 

I Agreed with dragonValoo, we must have the ability to deliver planetary bombardments from star destroyers and other capable starships, and of course to counter this we must have the ability to conduct planet to space bombardments with ion cannons or turbolaser batteries

 

I hope that, according to the enviroment, there will be correspondent specialized units such as Snowtroopers, Swaap Troopers, Sandtroopers, etc (at least Sandtroopers and Snowtroopers will make a presence in the game from what i saw in some pictures, but these more exoctic special units would be am excelent adition to the game)

 

I love to construct huge bases in strategy games like command and conquer, Emperor battle for Dune Etc, but they all are incomplete in that department for we have limited options of construction, i give you an example: we should have gates, walls, turrets, and other defenses of various designs, sentry towers, "concrete" in star wars perhaps durasteel i don't know to put over the landscape, and PLEASE let us build anyware in the map whether near or far from or base

 

PLEASE GIVES US A LOT OF SPACE/TERRAIN as well as planets, as i said earlier they should reach at least to 200 lololol, to explore and conquer unlike warcraft where its maps are soooo small

 

I think thats all for now lololol , i guess you are thinking me as megalomaniac lololol, I KNOW I AM but i love star wars so much that i want it to be almost perfect and together we fans must to help perfect this one and quiet once and for all the critics and other rabble (we all due respect of course!!!)

 

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH US ALLLLL!!!

[Siddus]

Bad news, very bad news, EaW has an "officiel" website on LucasArts website. Awful websites where no community is possible , i'm very sad of that.

 

Moreover I think that there won't be forums on Petro website as dev Team can't work on public boards. It's not good news for the game.

 

But stay Optimist, EaW is the most popular PC Game from the E3 !

 

About the interview :

When do you think you'll send it ? I'd like to work a little with my community mates to have questions asked by the majority

Edit : Thanks Cain for information

[Zerogravity]

i agree with magnus, you should find out if they have any plans for increasing the size of the galaxy map to many more planets.....as to where the games in general last DAYS at a time :O

[Seewolf]

"What are the sys specification of your PC on that you try and develope eaw?"

[Zerogravity]

please include this question, as it would solve many many answers for which we can in return, know more about the game in general ^_^

 

http://swempireatwar.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=607#607

[Cain]

I should update you on this. Ismael PMed me that we will do it in sections. (*Ismael will be busy for a wile and not post)

 

5-7 question will be sent to Mike and Mike to LEc and from LEC back to Mike and back to us.

 

What will be those 5-7 questions I don't know. Probably something from here.

[Siddus]

Not surprising. I was hoping 10 questions but it will be only seven,which is not too bad ah this developpement time.

[Foshjedi2004]

Can you ask them: How many units will there be, more of less than Rebellion?

 

Will there be specifications for building units e.g. Have to control Tatooine to get Luke and Obiwan. Palpatine on Coruscant gives a bonus to all units etc.

[Cain]

Will see ... Mike is really busy this weeks .

[Zerogravity]

i really think that orbital bombard should be a question

 

i liked that question about a refrence to how many units, as to Rebellion. It would have a good chance of being passed because it is not specifically saying the units, but refering it to another game. Which is why i think it'd be good, the invasions/bombard seems like a 50/50 chance of passing

 

but if you take just one from what i said, take forshjedi's 'how many unit' question please

[Siddus]

I'm sorry, i'm really busy these days. What I can say fastly, it's that we had large participation, I don't know the right number of people but I can say that over than 2,400 people downloaded the video which had been used as work support.

 

About the interview, don't forget that we can't ask Mike for features, they are under LEC control. Perhaps we could ask for one at the end of the questions. About people reactions, we chose 5 topics which had been hot. (StarWars immersion/community managing/scale problems/beta test/One feature revelation)

 

I'll put a summary as fast as I can

 

Cain, could you PM me when you'll have news of our feedback submit ?

 

Cya

[Ismael]

If you are refering to the feedback 001 and 002 I already told Cain that we sent them and recive the confirmation. And I told him to find a way to send them to LEC also and if I understand well his email he also recived a silent confirmation from LEC.

 

2,400 people downloaded the video which had been used as work support.

 

This means wich one ?

 

As for the interview I will check with Mike the situation. Probably next week. Now that I'm back online I will try to catch up on what I missed.

[Foshjedi2004]

So when will this Interview come to fruition it seems to have been running for lots of time.