New Graphics Engine for First MMORPG will be Unveiled at GenCon

Before there was Star Wars Galaxies, or Asheron’s Call 2, there was Ultima Online and EverQuest. But those two titles were not the beginning of the online gaming world. Only one title holds that honor, and it is Meridian 59.

The fantasy game truly broke new ground in offering involving gameplay, strong character and communities and player-versus-player combat. It did not follow the crowd, it pioneered the trail.

But in the seven years since its release, aside from content changes, little else has been changed about the title. While computer processors and video cards brought incredible graphical content to the gaming world, Meridian 59 retained the look it launched with.

Well, that is about to change.

The creators of Meridian 59 will be unveiling a new graphics engine at GenCon (a gaming event held twice a year: July 24-27 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, and December 11-14 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California). Not only will the game look better than before, but the new graphics engine, according to press releases, will be offered free to game subscribers at its launch.

Brian "Psychochild" Green, Co-founder Near Death Studios, Inc., talked with GameZone about the new engine, Meridian 59 and the state of the genre.

Question: Meridian 59 was launched back in 1996, making it one of the granddaddies of the online gaming industry. There has been a lot of changes in the genre. Why, now, are you changing the look of the game?

Brian: Meridian 59 launched a while before most other games on the market were launched; it was launched a full year before UO, which was the next game to hit the market. It didn't have a lot of other games to copy and it has a lot of originality because of that.

We think that Meridian 59 still has a lot to offer online RPG fans with it's innovative gameplay, interesting character advancement, well-balanced PvP, and great communication tools. Unfortunately, the graphical presentation gets in the way of people appreciating the game.

As much as we'd love to live in an ideal world where people enjoy a game based on gameplay instead of on graphics, the reality is that people will often not even try a game with graphics that are significantly behind the times. Meridian 59's current graphics certainly fill that description. We hope that the facelift will give people a good reason to take another look at the game and appreciate the originality and aspects that remain unique to it even after many other games have launched.

Before and after shots of the same environment with the new graphics engine and the dynamic lighting effects

Q: Tell us about the new engine? What does it allow you to do and what do you think will be the first thing that bowls players over about the new look of the game?

Brian: The new engine is rather interesting. It uses the same room layout information, same textures, same sprites as the current game. But, the game now renders this information through a 3D engine that supports hardware acceleration. We also added modern features such as dynamic lighting and bloom effects on the sun, as well as new skyboxes to give a better impression of the sky. The difference is simply amazing.

The biggest thing it allows us to do is show off the great artwork in Meridian 59. A lot of the textures are actually very nice looking, they just are not presented well in the DOOM-like software renderer we currently use. We are also able to use features built into video cards to smooth out the game world and make it look much more impressive.

I think the biggest thing that blows your mind about the engine is the dynamic lighting. Seeing a fireball travel down a room casting a radius of light is impressive. Wielding a torch and seeing the edge of the light fade out in front of you (instead of the palette swapping tricks used previously) is very cool. Dynamic lighting really helps make the game look a lot more attractive.

Q: Has the player interface changed at all? Will gameplay be affected?

Brian: We are working on changing the interface to make it more user-friendly. One of the biggest changes is rebindable keys. This will allow people to set the keyboard to layouts they are comfortable with instead of having to learn the set layout M59 currently features. In addition, we're going to introduce mouselook to the game, allowing players to move around more freely.

These changes will undoubtedly affect Meridian, since it is a PvP game that relies on an element of player skill as well as character ability. However, I think the increased customizability and more familiar movement is a big bonus and should outweigh potential gameplay changes.

Q: This is a game that has had seven content upgrades since its inception. Is anything new being added with the graphical upgrade?

Brian: No special content is currently planned for the graphical update. However, we have patched the game many times since the relaunch, adding new spells, skills, monsters, areas, etc, to the game each time. The most recent patch was only a few weeks ago, in fact.

We hope to release the graphical update as soon as we can, after thorough optimization and compatibility testing. I would not completely rule out some additions to the game being made when we update the game for the new graphical client.

Before and after shots of the same gameplay area with improved environments and better character detail

Q: In the seven years that Meridian 59 has been online, what have been the biggest things you have learned about the online gaming market?

Brian: I think the biggest lesson learned is "it's always harder than it looks." Building a successful online game is a wonderful combination of software engineer, art, game design, writing and storytelling, sociology, customer support, and all that is just a start. A good online game developer has to have a working knowledge of many different disciplines; it becomes truly amazing that a developer is able to keep everything straight most of the time. Failing at even one of these areas can mean a lot of troubles for your game. Therefore, I think it's safe to say that no matter how easy someone developing and launching a game looks, it's always harder than you might first think.

Q: What, in your opinion, accounts for the longevity of Meridian 59? In the same vein, what do you think is instrumental in making a great online game and how does Meridian 59 fit that bill?

Brian: I think the biggest thing is the fact that M59 caters to a target audience instead of pandering to the masses. Meridian 59 has always had a strong PvP focus and has worked to maintain that. The game has become more and more balanced, so that you see a lot more fair fights in the game. Likewise, the game appeals to more social-minded people because of the excellent communication tools. The server sizes are intentionally kept small, so you can easily make friends and hunt down your enemies in the game world. This makes people very interested in the game and extremely interested in continuing to play the game.

I think this is perhaps the most important thing about an online RPG. Focus on making the game fun for a target audience without trying to please everyone. Too often games try to please everyone with very broad but shallow experiences. Meridian 59 has very intense experiences in PvP and socialization (often mixed together)! We have really tried to stay true to the game's PvP roots and focus on socialization, and therefore have a very loyal fanbase.

Q: The coming year will see more MMOs launched than ever before? Why do you feel this market is taking off?

Brian: Looking at the larger picture, I think that the online medium has the potential to become a dominant source for entertainment. The opportunities for socialization with people you might not otherwise meet is astounding. Being able to play a game while socializing is really what gaming is all about. However, given that we have computers at our disposal instead of just physical items like playing cards, we can do much more elaborate and interesting games. I would like to think that a good share of the people working on these games are preparing for the future where online games play a major force in entertainment.

Q: Where do you see this genre heading, and how are you planning for the future?

Brian: I think the online medium is growing. I think the market for fantasy games is shrinking for now, however. This is not to say that fantasy games won't make a comeback in the future, but for now they seem to be "done to death." Therefore, I think we'll see a bit more variety of online games in the future.

Personally, I'd like to see more specialized games in the future. Rather than being one player out of thousand and thousands of others all trying to get to max level as fast as possible, I think players would be happier as a notable hero standing out of a crowd of a few hundred. This is really about giving players more interesting games tailored to their tastes.

Near Death Studios is hoping to be a part of that future. While we certainly intend to maintain Meridian 59, especially given it's historical significance, we're also interested in working on other projects. We've done some planning for other game projects previously and hope to start work on them soon. Using the lessons learned from working on M59 and observing other games, we hope to make some great games in the future.