We conclude our interview with Red 5's Lead Class Designer by talking about class balance, building the world lore and the team's approach to beta and free-to-play.

Rebuilding the World

Although the exotic setting and exaggerated armor sets have helped, FireFall has gained significant attention for its unconventional art style. I asked Williams what inspired the team to choose this particular cel-shaded look. “There’s several animes that we’re really fans of, that we love the look of, that have this. Cel-shaded characters on a realistic background, we think make the characters just pop. You’re familiar with Appleseed? That’s probably one of the real big ones for us, visually, in terms of realism.”

There’s an additional benefit, in making characters easier to spot in PvP arenas. While it helps to identify targets, it also means that spectator-mode combat is even more enjoyable to watch. Williams added that “We think it makes characters look more heroic than if they were ultra-realistic.”

I also asked how important the lore and backstory was in FireFall, following the recent launch of their own manga. “We want to make it so that if this is something you care about, you can dive really deep. That it’s all out there, you can find it, you can really dig into the lore as deep as you personally want to. But if all you want to do is jump into the game and shoot your buddy in the head, that’s OK. The story in the world is there, its coherent, and it doesn’t slap you in the back of the head going ‘That doesn’t make sense!’ The more work we do making sure the backstory is deep and self-contained and self-coherent, the more it’ll feel like a real world, just by being in it.”

The Philosophy of Free

After taking a deep look at FireFall itself, I wanted to ask Williams about Red 5’s approach to releasing the game. Did they plan to have a fixed release date, or did they prefer the Google-style setup of an extended, rolling beta? “We don’t believe that it makes sense for our game to have a ‘release date’. We’re going to just keep improving the game, keep adding content, keep adding features, add more players. And we just keep doing that. And at some point, it won’t really make sense for it to be called a beta any more, and the tag will kind of fall off, and we’ll probably have a party.”

“We’ve been trying to treat the game as a released product for our fans that are playing in the beta. And while it is a true beta, they are fans of the game and they’re our customers. And we’ve been trying to treat them that way since the beginning of the year since they first started participating in the beta. We were doing weekly updates, weekly patches to the game, and that’s not something that people do in a traditional beta.”

With the attention that Williams and the team are lavishing on those in the beta, I was interested to know how he felt the free-to-play model stacked up against traditional videogames and MMO publishing. “It’s one of the real advantaged of a free to play game over, say, a sixty dollar, send it out the door and then never think about your players again game. It’s one of the reasons I believe so strongly in FireFall, and so strongly in the free-to-play model, is that I just think it’s better for everyone. It’s better for the players.”

“The thing I love about free to play is that it doesn’t have to be the perfect game for you. Or the nearly perfect game that your friends are playing, that’s also completely legit and really fun. You find that game that fits your style, what you want out of a game, and then it’s constantly getting updated, constantly getting improved and rebalanced.”

In fact, it’s these regular updates that Williams thinks will keep people in the game, emphasizing the shift in philosophy to treating gamers as long-term customers. “As much of a massive Halo fan as I am, and I love Halo, the time between updates or patches or improvements in Halo, was 6 months or more. Whereas we’re doing weekly patches, weekly updates, weekly improvements, and that’s the real advantage of a free-to-play game, because you’re selling a service and not just a game.”

“I think [free-to-play] is generally a stronger model; it has fewer restrictions and it’s easier for players to try out. It’s egalitarian, because if you’ve got a good game, people will play, and if you do not have a good game people will not play. And I am totally fine with that.”

FireFall is currently in closed beta, but actively inviting new waves to jump in. With recently unveiled Founders packages to get permanent XP boosts, in-game items and discounted in-game currency bundles, that hypothetical launch party is edging ever-closer.

Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer, Staff Writer