Behind the Scenes

Hi everyone, I'm the PR Manager at Funcom and over the next few months I'll be introducing you to the people at Funcom who work on Anarchy Online. Don't worry, Gaute and other team members will still be writing detailed articles about game specifics for our web site. From the development studio here in Oslo, Norway, we thought it would be interesting to give a true "behind the scenes" look at the wacky people who bring the world of Rubi-Ka to you. Let's start with the AO design team.

While AO's Game Director, Gaute Godager, is the main visionary for the design process he also has other game-related responsibilities. So, he passes the torch on to the Lead Designer, Johan Karlsson, who handles the day-to-day coordination of design tasks. Johan still creates content for the game though, such as nano programs.

Some of you may remember Johan as GM "Belith". As one of several Swedes at Funcom, Johan studied information systems, graphic design, and even law for several years before becoming a GM. After showing interest and skill in the design process, he was invited to join the team.

"I learned two big things when I moved from customer service to design," Johan said. "First, it takes a lot longer to fix things than I thought and second, when problems do come up, production was more aware." So, what's the best part of his job? "Being able to influence the game I love and get instant feedback from the players…whether they love it or hate it."

After Johan's move, Funcom invited a small group of employees to join the design team with a testing period. They learned how to use the basic tools, were given tasks to complete with a deadline, and you've probably already seen the results from their initial efforts. They passed all the tests with flying colors and we are pleased to introduce the new members of our team.

Daniel Persson, another Swede, and Marius Enge who's Norwegian, have both joined the team from our Customer Service Department. You may recognize Daniel as GM "Longshot" while Marius creatively called his GM character "Marius". Their design perspective is certainly unique since they've spent so much time helping many of you in the game.

"I've always been in the customer service field," Daniel said. "I really liked being one of the faces of Funcom as a GM. But it's been great to see that designers are just gamers trying to make something everyone can have fun with."

Daniel has also enjoyed being part of the design process in general. "It's cool to watch an idea grow from being scribbled on a piece of paper, see it transform through brainstorming and interaction, ending up as a full fledged design that matures before going live." Using the new NPC chat system, Daniel most recently created static missions for The Notum Wars and is now making more for both live and Shadowlands. He pulls ideas from both his extensive knowledge of AO and his love of adventure games.

Marius works on general design tasks. He feels every designer should spend time working with players first. His GM experience allows him to see a design scenario from the perspective of a player, which he says gives balance for the best combination in a designer. So, what has been his biggest challenge with the switch? "Convincing everyone my idea is right," he says with a smile. "I am always right until someone proves me wrong."

While Tom Erland's name may not ring a bell for citizens in the mainland of Rubi-Ka, those of you who help us on our test server might recognize him as "Lorenzo". Tom has joined the design team from our PQA (Product Quality Assurance) Department. In his spare time, Tom is also our internal camera-man, capturing the great footage you've seen in our videos the past few months. (It's then edited and put to music by others who we'll feature later.) Tom is currently working on the testing environment the designers use for Shadowlands.

"When I was in PQA, I was always nagging the designers to fix certain things," Tom said. "It kind of backfired though because now, some of the bugs I complained about have been assigned to me to fix," Tom laughed. "It is nice to be in design though because I can see where we can add better testing areas within the design process, before the code even gets to PQA."

Tom is from Norway and is creating new mission camps, auto-generated-content for Shadowlands, as well as NPCs and their loot for the live game. He has most recently created the NPCs that you'll find in the "condemned subway" dungeon.

The final "new guy" is a Canadian who should be well known by those of you who post in our forums or chat in IRC. You've probably seen his posts and interviews on fan sites as well. As one of two native English speakers in the design team, Darren Scott is better known as "Dai-Galean" or just "Dai" from his days in the Community Team.

"I do miss working with The Family sometimes, but I'm still there in spirit," he told me. "It's great that I'm more involved now though, that I get to add things that will make the game even more fun, based on feedback I've heard for so long. I hope that what I do now will make everyone want to play more."

While Darren mostly works on missions, NPCs, and anything else they throw his way, he still actively reads the boards and often pops into the IRC channel to check things out.

Now, we move on to the veterans of the team.

Andrew Griffin is an Australian who specializes in nanos and general game design. He recently transferred to our US office and is the only member of the production staff working from there. With an education in math and computer science (with a little psychology on the side), Andrew enjoys being able to create something new and get it into the players hands. Before coming to Funcom, he worked for a company that created human resources software, but spent his spare time making new missions and creating frequently asked questions pages for games like Command and Conquer, Red Alert, and Total Annihilation. "I don't do that any more though, since I don't have any spare time," he added with a smile.

So, what's the most challenging part about Andrew's job? "There aren't 60 hours in the day," he answered. "There are a lot of things that I would like to see done, but there simply isn't enough time. Some things get prioritized above others and hence delayed or dropped. But that's just how it is, there are a lot of good ideas that could be implemented, but there simply isn't enough time in each day."

Trond Ivar Hansen is Norwegian and spends his time creating items, weapons, armor and trade-skills for AO. He says that his previous experience in theatre as well as table-top gaming has helped him visualize his design ideas. He says he views his job as that of a craftsman, using the knowledge he has of his tools and understanding the limitations he has to work within. "I'm more of a practical designer than a visionary, but I think it's necessary to have that balance in design," he said.

Trond likes getting instant feedback from players after implementing a new idea. "What we do gets noticed right away and I only wish we were better in English so we could explain things on the boards with a more casual style. It would be nice to use a little humor too, but it's just so different that it would come out wrong."

Lovingly referred to as the "Icelandic Brothers" Jon Helgi Thorarinsson has been with Funcom for over 2 years and Runar Thor Thorarinsson has been here for just over a year. The two were sought out by Funcom after they became well-known in their homeland for creating table-top role-playing games published in Iceland.

Jon Helgi is now our "story guy" as well as game designer for Shadowlands. He's also the designer behind all of the static missions in the game and enjoys creating each one as a story of its own. Although trained as a biologist, Jon Helgi says he's been writing role-playing games approximately since birth. I asked him how his game creation experience has differed at Funcom.

"MMOGs certainly have better graphics than table-top games," he smiled. "And it's wonderful to see player reaction. The most difficult part though is working within the bounds of your resources. You can't always go wherever your imagination takes you although I'm still hoping to get my giant penguins into the game." From his academic studies, Jon Helgi says it's biologically logical that penguins will evolve over the millennia into huge versions of themselves, as big as whales, with the ability to still walk on land. Hmmm...

With a master's degree in literature, Runar Thor, is Funcom's leading NPC and monster designer and also does general design. (Maybe Jon Helgi can convince his brother to make those penguins.) He most recently designed and implemented the new character creation system and arrival hall that was released in patch 14.6, with help from Jarl Schjerverud who has moved to another Funcom department. Runar Thor says that as a designer, he remembers very clearly what it's like to be a player and says that helped him when creating the new introduction to Anarchy Online. Even though Funcom has about 100 employees, Runar Thor says he doesn't feel isolated because working here is like being with a family.

"Of course, some days I want to strangle someone but the next day we are best friends," he smiled. "When people are this close, as families are, it's important to forgive and forget... or at least forgive," he added with a laugh.

He also likes that Funcom is small enough to give access to management and other departments. "Having everybody within reach is one big advantage for Funcom," he said. "You can stop the CEO in the hallway if you have an idea…and he takes the time to listen and reflect. Be professional and passionate, that's the order of every day."

This is the talented team at Funcom who designs the world of Rubi-Ka. Next month, I'll introduce you to our artists who visualize the ideas they get from the design team.

All the best,
April M. Jones
Funcom PR Manager