EverQuest History: talking with Ryan Barker, former Lead Designer on EQ, and Content Lead on EQ Next

Рет қаралды 5,852

2 жыл бұрын

My guest for this stream was Ryan Barker, former Gameplay, Spell, and Lead Designer on EverQuest. He was also the Content Lead and Lore Master on EverQuest Next.
Since then he's worked at Intrepid Studios on Ashes of Creation, and most recently returned to work with Smed and the crew at Amazon Game Studios in San Diego.
This is Ryan's second appearance on the stream.
For this video, with Twitch comments visible, watch it here: / ppnhu9f-fhab2a
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About This Format
I've started streaming EQ as part of the Aradune TLP release. I'm a former EQ designer, turned Producer and games Exec (see below), who currently streams at: / alovingrobot
I'm using this stream as a means of reconnecting with my old colleagues, tapping into the nostalgia of a great era in our lives (and MMO gaming), and ensuring that some of the fun stories of the past aren't forgotten.
About Me
I'm a American game designer, producer, and executive who currently lives in Germany.
My past roles include:
Star Stable Online -- EP & Chief Product Officer
DarkOrbit -- Senior Live Producer
Wizard101, Pirate101; "Unannounced" -- Producer
DC Universe Online -- Lead Content Designer
"Unnannounced MMOFPS" -- Lead Game Designer
EverQuest: Omens of War -- Lead Game Designer
EverQuest: Legacy of Ykesha -- Lead Game Designer
EverQuest: LDoN -- Lead Game Designer
EverQuest: Planes of Power -- Lead Game Designer
EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin -- Game Designer
EverQuest: Scars of Velious -- Design Apprentice
EverQuest Live -- Customer Service

Пікірлер: 45

@sabbracadabra8367 2 жыл бұрын

Looking forward to this video. Us fans were clamouring for a new EQ for years, but as that turned into many many years it made people wonder if a new EQ could even cut it. If you remade EQ in a modern engine with some modern tweaks, it could probably be quite popular. But EQ was genuinely revolutionary when it was released. So really to be like EQ now, would need a game so advanced that people can barely even comprehend it, like Star Citizen sorts of huge but actually be able to pull it off. Because that's how advanced EQ was relative to the time. I think EQ Next was the nearest I've ever seen to that becoming a reality. I think they could have pulled it off well too, if only the budget could have been found to take it to conclusion. I suspect by the end, SOE had wasted so much of their money on other projects that didn't work out so well, that there wasn't enough left in the pot to finish EQ Next.

@bequakynskagroupie3751 2 жыл бұрын

Agreed...!! (R/t first paragraph. I started playing EQ phase 2 beta as a lil junior high schooler, haha. Wasn’t really in the know about EQNext by the time it was a burgeoning/hopeful glimmer in many peoples eyes...).

@Merknilash 2 жыл бұрын

A new EQ would absolutely cut it All you have to do is remake the first game - EQ classic - same zones, same everything - with a new vision. Keep the art style - like this: cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/034/679/042/medium/connor-zukan-o-donoghue-frontshot.jpg?1612919875 Update the combat so that it's a little more interesting, rebuild your zones, and use an engine that has the same floaty FPS feel that EQ1 had - and you're off. You could build this with a team of 50 in a couple of years and tons of people will play it - in fact the launch alone would be incredibly successful. The biggest lifting is just building the zones and the models.

@sabbracadabra8367 2 жыл бұрын

@@Merknilash It would be awesome. But I think getting people to try it would be the hard part. There are games that get really big all of a sudden, like Valheim and a new one that's similar. If they could somehow tap into that audience... :)

@Guntherthefool 2 жыл бұрын

very interesting. thanks for posting this

@socratesrising 2 жыл бұрын

In 2000 was banned by a GM for calling them an A-Hole. Lost my best gear going LD on the boat ride and the GM refused to help after a necro did not work. Sucked losing all my gear and my first toons in one sitting. After getting banned, I took the EQ cd outside and lit it on fire with lighter fluid then put it out with a full-sized sledgehammer as my family watched on in horror. They loved watching me play so did not take long to buy a new game and start over. Was lost in EQ for about 5 solid years and still play. Started playing video games at pong in an arcade across the street I just about lived in. A writer and often thought about writing quests; that sounds all kinds of sledgehammer fun...

@socratesrising 2 жыл бұрын

Don't suppose a self-published sci fi novel and a sea of blogs, articles and poems would count as a resume? Not entirely sane but a very passionate writer I'm told. Seems to be what's missing from most quests is the passion. The sense of urgency. Starting out with quests that just leave the same creatures milling about when your done seems to be a poor beacon for future expectations. Seeing the farmer plagued by wolves being no better off when your done has grind written all over it. I think you should start with drama and intrigue that is the opening scene of sorts, the way ESO starts you out. If it was in the same 1- 10 area and no load screen that would be so much more immersive. Living the prologue as the tutorial to become invested before the pointless wolves. The first beta just a huge city, or cities, with housing, farming, gathering and crafting. Make it a social thing until that is balanced and bugs are fixed as a free place to hangout. By the time the game everyone was waiting for came out, there would be a world already alive and breathing. Everyone keeps their characters and names at launch if you bought by a certain time. PS: EverQuest redone as an open world Minecraft game with no load screens, housing and of course VR. After playing MC in VR I keep wanting to play a game that does not exist but sounds so much fun!. EverCraft!

@LexFilm Жыл бұрын

Haha.

@DJFootfingers 2 ай бұрын

Commenting on an old video, but I gotta say I absolutely love the idea of a bounty board for corpse recovery especially for those occasions where you die like just before going on a big real life trip or even just before you go to bed for the night. Put up a bounty for some enterprising rogue to go sneak in somewhere, recover the body, and deposit it in like a graveyard. Give Rogues and monks a way to make money with their skillsets similar to Druids and Wizards making money porting. Just put in a mechanic that if they can't get it to The Place in X amount of time that it resets so someone can't troll by dragging your body into even more inhospitable areas.

@Guntherthefool 2 жыл бұрын

incidental implementation that creates community is so important

@chadweirick 2 жыл бұрын

Man the “what could haves.” Given how WoW has been and the Bliz PR issues, EQN could have capitalized.

@ishiwatari8327 2 жыл бұрын

commenting for the algorithm. let's go !

@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube 2 жыл бұрын

Still waiting for a game that realizes the different zones can have different rules for things like corpse recovery. If you set it up to give different zones different rules potential

@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube 2 жыл бұрын

This way segments of the game can fit to different niche preferences. Which is going to happen anyway so why not leverage it

@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube 2 жыл бұрын

Nasty trial and error with levitation in a reworking of plane of Fire would be triggered barriers that move at a speed you can't correct with levitation but you could on foot. This way you're not blocking the use of levitation you're just making it something that is earned and has some limitations

@angeloserraino5273 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe DB will remake EQ. To me it seems like the perfect time and opportunity. Heck, what else is being done with the IP?

@nulltheworm 2 жыл бұрын

I want them to remake EQ1 with graphics comparable to Palia's, with just a few QoL/leveling improvement changes. Like faster exp, raid/dungeon instances, and a modern UI. I'd be in so hard on that.

@Merknilash 2 жыл бұрын

@@nulltheworm cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/034/679/042/medium/connor-zukan-o-donoghue-frontshot.jpg?1612919875

@RagnarokCo 2 жыл бұрын

I think on paper you make a game like Dark Souls and plenty of people will tell you it's too hard for mass success but look how it did. I think the market is ready for a hardcore MMO. Often people don't know what they want until it smacks them in the face and it'll take someone with the courage to go against the grain to tap into it.

@bequakynskagroupie3751 2 жыл бұрын

True true tra truetatats trueeee

@batindogu6001 2 жыл бұрын

nicely put...

@andrewbaker3954 Жыл бұрын

"QA was pretty small..." Yep... We could tell.

@EQOAnostalgia 8 ай бұрын

😂

@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube 2 жыл бұрын

Eatswhitekids and Gundamn I never had a GM come make me change

@janotse 2 жыл бұрын

They just finished the first phase of alpha one

@rorrimcigam 2 жыл бұрын

If that's a live server, I'm a bit surprised there are new characters zoning into Unrest. I was also really disappointed when they shutdown landmark and stopped eq3 dev. I definitely felt like they were on to something in the early part of Landmark when they still had microvoxels. If they had taken that and turned EQ3 into some massive next level sandbox mmo, it would have been great.

@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube 2 жыл бұрын

Why not have newbie areas with a corpse summoning Stone that goes off once a day. So they get the idea what to expect in places that doesn't have that.

@wade6523 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like this guy, might know Brunt. EQ programmer that went to Amazon.

@kevinironside8062 2 жыл бұрын

Would love to see some one RIP EQ up to Kunark into a app do away with NPC chat quest commands and make them clickable via touch so you dont need a keyboard. movement like Call of duty. Set the app as a subscription and you could make a decent amount of revenue I know I would definitely pay to play on my phone as life is to busy to grind at home. Totally possible lots of terrible anime/Chinese games have same setup like order and chaos or Celtic heros. Never understood why they never took advantage of the app profit.

@bequakynskagroupie3751 2 жыл бұрын

J-rpgs have made me loathe them so much due to their current evolution of suXX0rz-E-ness with pay-to-win, and ultra-cringey ness. Sucks because I used to enjoy them.

@kevinironside8062 2 жыл бұрын

@@bequakynskagroupie3751 that and they are all anime themed I dont want your Chinese dragon or your panda bear, let alone a unicorn rainbow color decor. I want real dungeon crawl D&D style.

@Jester8890 2 жыл бұрын

Will you be interviewing anyone that worked on EQOA? Always curious why the second expansion got scrapped and how working on that was compared to EQ

@RagnarokCo 2 жыл бұрын

I think Michelle Butler worked on it and he interviewed her.

@Jester8890 2 жыл бұрын

@@RagnarokCo nice I’ll check that one out thank you!

@alovingrobot406 2 жыл бұрын

Will also be posting one from Harvey Burgess next week. He was on EQOA as well. And I have a couple of other people from EQOA that might be on in the future as well. :)

@Jester8890 2 жыл бұрын

@@alovingrobot406 nice! Looking forward to that