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Interview: Bill Roper on Flagship vs. Blizzard North, approaching a game announcement, and meeting high expectations.
Date: March 7, 2005
Source: CGM Online (Link dead.)

Computer Games Magazine Interview

It's been nearly two years since the founding members of Blizzard's North game division left the company to later form Flagship Studios but 2005 is looking to be the year where the start-up finally reveals some details about their first title. While we wait for those details, Computer Games Magazine wanted to touch base with the company and got Flagship's Bill Roper to answer some of our questions.

Computer Games - First, Flagship Studios has been pretty quiet since the announcement of its formation over a year ago. How has the company evolved since it opened its doors?

Bill Roper - We've spent the past few months working on our first game while also selectively hiring and building the company. We moved into our permanent office last October and are up to 22 employees. Flagship's goal is to remain a smaller studio, with all of our talent focused on a single major product at a time, so we have only a very few people left to find to complete the team. We're excited about the relationship we have with our publishing partners, Namco and HanbitSoft, and are looking forward to breaking things open this year in terms of sharing information about our game.

Computer Games - Many of the folks who formed Flagship worked at Blizzard North. How does the atmosphere at Flagship differ from what was experienced at Blizzard?

Bill Roper - Much like the earlier days of Blizzard as a whole, there is a real sense of family, here. That is one of the benefits of being in a smaller company. At the time of our departure, Blizzard North had upwards of 60 people. In a recent article, Blizzard was quoted as having 750 employees worldwide. Obviously, these are signs of antastic growth and great success, but it also means that unfortunately, it becomes impossible to know everyone you're working with anymore.

While we hope to be a successful company, we're focused on getting there by making absolutely the best game we can while maintaining an excellent quality of life for ourselves. It is important that everyone at Flagship know they have a voice in the development of the game, has direct interaction with each other, and can feel a true sense of wnership over what we're working together to create. So far, we're having a great time making what we believe is turning out to be a very fun and innovative game.

Computer Games - Flagship was the first PC game developer to be signed by Namco. How has it been working with them so far, especially since Namco is known mostly for its console games?

Bill Roper - The relationship with Namco has been exceptional. They are very dedicated to not just putting out a couple of games, but on creating a PC division. Namcorealized that while they had gained a well-deserved reputation as afantastic developer and publisher in the arcades and on the console systems,they had not put any attention on the PC market, and when they decided to change that, they started by looking for an experienced team of PC developers. One of the key reasons we chose to work with Namco over the dozens of other publishers we spoke with was that we knew we would be more than "just another box on the shelf" for them and that we could both bring knowledge and expertise to our partnership in not only bringing out Flagship's first game, but also in building up Namco's PC division.

Computer Games - While we know that you can't talk too specifically about the game you are working on, can you give us an idea on if the initial game design has changed significantly since Flagship first started work on it?

Bill Roper - The core concept of the game has remained intact from the very first time Dave Brevik pitched it in his living room on day one of the company. We have been building upon that idea, fleshing out the design and then adding and iterating as we create the game. Our development process is best described as organic since we are constantly evaluating and changing the game, whether slightly or extremely, every single day. Obviously, we lock down content and design at some point during the process, but we definitely don't write up a design document on day one and then make the game according to what's therefor the next 2-3 years. We have found that constantly playing the game andleaving ourselves as much flexibility as we can to incorporate feedback and new ideas that come from playing gives us the best possible end result.

Computer Games - Is Flagship conscious of the fact that any game they release will likely be compared to their previous work at Blizzard and if so how do you think fans of Blizzard titles will respond to your new game?

Bill Roper - We certainly have high expectations of ourselves, and we think that people who have played our previous games have a built-in level of expectation for what we're doing now. We have a solid core of people how have worked together for many years, and our basic philosophies and concepts of whatmakes a game fun and compelling haven't changed. Flagship is a company comprised of gamers who are dedicated to making great games. We just hope that everyone who played and enjoyed the games we worked on at Blizzard will give the game we're making as Flagship a try.

Computer Games - What can you tell us about the graphical features that will be used for Flagship's first game? Is the game engine an in-house creation or has Flagship opted to license an existing game graphics engine?

Bill Roper - After looking into the various engines that we could have licensed, and then discussed what it would take to change them to support what we need our game to do, it actually made the most sense to create our own 3D engine. We have some very specific demands from our graphics that are somewhat unique, and the time and effort it would have taken to retrofit an existing engine was comparable to creating our own. Fortunately, we have a great team of programmers who were really excited to take on the challenge.

Computer Games - Can you give us any hints about gameplay features that will make this game stand out from other PC games?

Bill Roper - We're still staying pretty tight lipped about game specifics for a little while longer, so adding anything past what we've already said (RPG, non-fantasy setting, staying true to our core development values) is tough. I do honestly believe that a variety of gamers, however, are going to beinterested in what we're creating. We hope to do our part in expanding the RPG market.

Computer Games - When does Flagship plan to reveal more specific details on its first game?

Bill Roper - We will be making some big specific announcements about the game in the next few months. We really wanted to wait until we had something that was representative of how the game will look and play before we started talking about it in detail. Everyone who has heard about or seen it in the past always has questions, and we felt it was important to have the game itself answer as many of those as possible. As they say, "seeing is believing."

Computer Games - At the moment, can you give us a hint as to an actual release date of the game to stores? Will we have to wait a couple of years to play as we have had with Blizzard titles?

Bill Roper - Talking about release windows is always a tricky thing since once you say anything, that becomes the "promised date." And to be honest, while we do have an internal schedule, past experience has shown that dates need to be flexible to allow for game design to happen properly. That said, it is not our intention to take years and years and years to do our first game as a new studio, but we also don't want to rush our first game out the door. I think Blizzard has proven time and again that a high quality game that takes a little longer to release is better received and has a longer life than one you just get out to meet a date.

Computer Games - Finally is there anything else you want to tell us about Flagship and its future plans?

Bill Roper - The next year should be a very exciting time for us, as well as gamers who are interested in what we're up to here at Flagship. We look forward to talking more about the game and continuing to build the great relationship we have with players all around the world.