Game Director Letter – December 2013

[Dynamiks]

Woot! http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/game_director_letter_december_2013

....And for those stauck at work that cannot see the text: (Note, I'll highlight the really exciting bit for us!!!)

Hey guys!



With Joel spending his vacations back in his country, doing what all Australians do during Christmas holidays, spending time with family, exchanging gifts, eating a lot, rolling around in the snow... err... scratch that, wrestling crocodiles and surviving an Armageddon of deadly insects, I find myself tasked with writing this month's Game director's letter.



"- Hey Joel, does that mean I will be the Game Director and all? Since I get to write The Letter?" I asked.

"- Shut up and get back to work, Frenchy." He replied.



It was worth a shot...



So before we chat about the state of the game, and everything that has happened this year, let me introduce myself quickly!



You might know me as Tilty on the forums. I also respond to the name Romain Amiel IRL, I'm the Lead Designer for TSW, and I've been Joel's partner in crime for the best part of the last 6 years, since our early days (and late nights) working on Age of Conan.



The main focus of my work is to make sure that the game play always remains fun, that the stories written by Joel and Josh come across in all their many forms (the obvious and the most obscure ones), and in general that the game feels alive and real, to make sure that your immersion is complete.



A Focus on the Community



I m also a big fan of the TSW community. I play a lot of MMOs, and I can honestly say that you guys are by far the best. I think we started a great relationship throughout our communications on the forum in 2013, and I hope to bring that relationship to the next level in 2014. Hopefully you won't think things are moving too fast between us...



I want to make sure that everybody feels they are an active part of The Secret World, and not just as players. We will keep listening to your feedback and add or prioritize those little things that make your life easier. Features like the pet inventory, the option to hide weapons, the giant FFA world raid monsters were all direct responses to things that you guys asked for.



For the more artistic ones, I want to see your creations and find a way to add them directly in the game. We have already featured music from some of you, we have in-game fashion magazines featuring some ensembles made by players (apologies for not updating this for the last couple of months, this will be rectified soon!)and some outfits designed by some of you (winners of the Get Your Art In The Game competition)will be available for everybody soon.



We are working on a way to let you guys stream music directly through the game as well, and I'm looking forward to see what all of you involved with radios and podcasts will do with it.



Krampus, Hel and the End of the World



The last year has been very interesting for us, and we have been able to create tons of great new stuff for TSW, from revealing new storylines, fresh Auxiliary Weapons, completely new types of content and locations, deep game systems and a whole bunch of special events.



But let's talk a bit more about the latest of those events, Christmas, which included a repeat of last year End of Days, and introduced a new character to TSW: Krampus (and his mum).



So why repeat the End of Days event? This really had 2012 written all over it. Well frankly, we wanted to be safe, in case the Mayans miscalculated. Also Joel having spent the whole of last year's Christmas period locked in his bunker, he never got a chance to experience all the cool stuff that happened in the game, or get his quetzal bird.



We figured some of you might have been in the same situation. So we removed some of the less popular mechanics from last year, reshuffled the rewards and added some new ones.



We also needed something new. But why Krampus over Santa? Why fangs, horns and mischief, over white beards, mistletoe and Christmas cheer? Well, since you would all get enough of the latter in the "real" world, The Secret World needed something less rosy-cheeked ... Plus we had all been watching those Austrian Krampus parade videos on YouTube, and they look way too awesome for us to pass on this opportunity!



We wanted to use some of the mystery game play of TSW and to create an event that can't be missed, but yet where no mission clearly tells you what to do. It needed several layers of hidden content, and that's how both Hel's secret summoning rituals came to be. For the PVPers, the lord of Misrule was added as a way to spice things up and to lure some fresh PVEer blood to the PVP playfields.



2014 means Tokyo!



2013 has been a busy year and it has been great for us to redefine and explore the boundaries of our own tech. It got us reaching the conclusion that pretty much anything is possible, so watch out for new crazy/creepy stuff in the future.



As for the rest of 2014, let's see. As soon as you are done cleansing the current gate of its Filth for the Whispering Tide, the next and final phase of the event will occur. You will finally get to fight "Flappy". After months of having him knocking you off branches in Agartha it's time for pay back.



You can take on "Flappy" in an massive 60-man indoor raid fight, but whether you join the battle alone or with a team you will be rewarded as long as you participate. This fight will be available until Agartha has been fully reclaimed and the way to the Tokyo branch has been discovered.



Issue #9 will be released within the first quarter of 2014, and as you already know it will allow each faction to continue following the main story, as well as discovering new characters that will offer a host of new missions. It will also introduce another progression system, the AEGIS, that Joel described in his last letter. Issue #9willbe our biggest content update to date by far.



Issue #10 and #11 should follow soon(tm) after, each allowing you to discover new areas and challenges in Tokyo. For the high end players, issue #10 will also add a new Lair, and issue #11 a new raid.



We of course have a lot more cool stuff planned for the rest of the year, but if I was to reveal anything now, Joel would probably cancel the rest of his vacation, come back here and stare at me angrily...



Alright that's it for me! I hope you all had a great Christmas Holiday, and that you enjoyed your time in and outside of the game. And finally, on behalf of all the Funcom team, I would like to wish you all the best for 2014!



Romain

[Lia]

Hmmmmm. Interesting. I wonder if they will work with the current radio stations / podcasters / etc to make sure this works properly and legally? Like, from a procedural standpoint. Or is that not a concern? (referencing the in game radio station tuning thing, naturally)

I really cannot wait for Tokyo, though!