SCOTT HARTSMAN, CEO OF TRION
Scott Hartsman Talks Guilds, Games, Corgis and More
Interviewer statements identified by Bold
00:05 - Intro for Scott
00:22 - "Tell the community who you are and what you do"
00:28 - Scott gives gaming pedigree (Produced back in the everquest era and MUDD era)
00:56 - Loves games that promote group gameplay
01:07 - "Can you give the viewers a little bit about what your day to day life is?"
01:20 - Used to enjoy creating something that didn't exist yet
01:45 - As a CEO I enjoy creating a good environment for people still creating. Figuring out holidays, game pitches and fairness between employees, etc. (Both players and employees)
03:14 - "Which technology are you most excited about?"
03:22 - Cloud computing. It's not there yet, but would love to put all the servers in the cloud due to the ability to have "elastically scalable" servers. Mentions Google and Amazon. Capabilities and price points aren't quite there yet.
04:54 - "Do you have any details on how Trion was founded?"
05:04 - Came in 4 years after Trion was founded. Trion wanted to be a technology platform and an entertainment network. Original name was Trion World Network. Turned it into a platform that could launch MMO's like they did with Rift.
06:42 - "Rift was one of the smoothest game launches I have ever seen"
07:00 - "Now that you're at the top of the food chain do you miss coding?"
07:03 - Yes, constantly. We live in Skype. Still sits in the engineering chat, but has become distant from the coding unfortunately. Assisted with support coding for ArcheAge at release on off hours.
08:38 - "So now that Trion has gone from a little development studio to this giant titan that is now a publisher, what have been the biggest challenges for bringing your games to market?"
08:50 - Wouldn't call it a titan, but thanks! We need to get better at communication, communication, communication. It becomes more difficult when you're working on six games instead of one.
10:17 - "I hear you're starting off a new title, Atlas Reactor. Can you share a little about the game?"
10:27 - We announced it at PAX last year and it was already playable. We wanted to try a competitive game but wanted it to be completely different. They took the idea of "competitive simultaneous turns". Make it about thinking and predicting. You get about 20 seconds to make a turn. Aiming at 12-20 minute round time. Chess with guns, lol.
13:26 - "I introduced my mom to it and she loves it. But I'm terrible at it"
13:58 - It comes with practice. Try using different freelancers. Scott sucked at it, but started playing Aurora and got gud.
14:50 - "What else does Trion have lined up? Another expansion?"
14:48 - 2016 is probably our biggest year.
17:46 - 1. The weight of the technology. How much data is being stored per guild member. This can crush servers. 2. Depends on the type of gameplay you're creating. Rift doesn't have head to head guild competition so you don't have to worry as much about guild size. Yes, there's guild progression, but you're not competing against other guilds.
20:26 - "You'll find the industry tends to favor large guilds? How do you make it fair for the casual player?"
21:43 - People aren't used to thinking about it like that. Other places that's a completely foreign concept.
23:00 - Scott does a goofy eyeball thing.
23:02 - "Serious question. CORGI'S! What's with the corgi's in all your games?"
23:08 - It started in Rift, then through Skype they have an off-topic and it frequently devolves into corgi pics. Lots of corgi fans in Trion. Anuxy(SP), who's now a DOTA designer, made their first Corgi pet. From there actual corgi adoptions (several) started happening in the company. Even outside developers that work with them (Devilian) just put corgis in the game now.
25:27 - "Back when this magazine started you were the first person to agree to an interview. Did you imagine we'd both be here today doing another interview?"
25:44 - Absolutely. I've been making online games for 25 years. I think there is nothing more powerful than activities that bring people together. That's what your magazine is all about. Of course I had faith.
25:36 - "Do you have any inspiring words for for future game developers?"
26:40 - It has never been easier to download free tools and make a game. Define yourself and your game and develop for yourself.
27:57 - End Interview
- By: Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley <Gaiscioch Magazine>
- Scott Hartsman <CEO Trion Worlds>
Interviewer statements identified by Bold
00:05 - Intro for Scott
00:22 - "Tell the community who you are and what you do"
00:28 - Scott gives gaming pedigree (Produced back in the everquest era and MUDD era)
00:56 - Loves games that promote group gameplay
01:07 - "Can you give the viewers a little bit about what your day to day life is?"
01:20 - Used to enjoy creating something that didn't exist yet
01:45 - As a CEO I enjoy creating a good environment for people still creating. Figuring out holidays, game pitches and fairness between employees, etc. (Both players and employees)
03:14 - "Which technology are you most excited about?"
03:22 - Cloud computing. It's not there yet, but would love to put all the servers in the cloud due to the ability to have "elastically scalable" servers. Mentions Google and Amazon. Capabilities and price points aren't quite there yet.
04:54 - "Do you have any details on how Trion was founded?"
05:04 - Came in 4 years after Trion was founded. Trion wanted to be a technology platform and an entertainment network. Original name was Trion World Network. Turned it into a platform that could launch MMO's like they did with Rift.
06:42 - "Rift was one of the smoothest game launches I have ever seen"
07:00 - "Now that you're at the top of the food chain do you miss coding?"
07:03 - Yes, constantly. We live in Skype. Still sits in the engineering chat, but has become distant from the coding unfortunately. Assisted with support coding for ArcheAge at release on off hours.
08:38 - "So now that Trion has gone from a little development studio to this giant titan that is now a publisher, what have been the biggest challenges for bringing your games to market?"
08:50 - Wouldn't call it a titan, but thanks! We need to get better at communication, communication, communication. It becomes more difficult when you're working on six games instead of one.
10:17 - "I hear you're starting off a new title, Atlas Reactor. Can you share a little about the game?"
10:27 - We announced it at PAX last year and it was already playable. We wanted to try a competitive game but wanted it to be completely different. They took the idea of "competitive simultaneous turns". Make it about thinking and predicting. You get about 20 seconds to make a turn. Aiming at 12-20 minute round time. Chess with guns, lol.
13:26 - "I introduced my mom to it and she loves it. But I'm terrible at it"
13:58 - It comes with practice. Try using different freelancers. Scott sucked at it, but started playing Aurora and got gud.
14:50 - "What else does Trion have lined up? Another expansion?"
14:48 - 2016 is probably our biggest year.
- AR free mode launched.
- Brand new Rift expansion. Still plays rift hardcore about 3 months a year. Says a lot of their players tend to do that. Big feature is new advancements to the way items are upgraded.
- New expansion for ArcheAge - Revelation that comes with new servers, new space and new mechanics.
- Trove in partnership in China with 360game and working on Chinese Trove. Also working on console version of Trove.
17:46 - 1. The weight of the technology. How much data is being stored per guild member. This can crush servers. 2. Depends on the type of gameplay you're creating. Rift doesn't have head to head guild competition so you don't have to worry as much about guild size. Yes, there's guild progression, but you're not competing against other guilds.
20:26 - "You'll find the industry tends to favor large guilds? How do you make it fair for the casual player?"
21:43 - People aren't used to thinking about it like that. Other places that's a completely foreign concept.
23:00 - Scott does a goofy eyeball thing.
23:02 - "Serious question. CORGI'S! What's with the corgi's in all your games?"
23:08 - It started in Rift, then through Skype they have an off-topic and it frequently devolves into corgi pics. Lots of corgi fans in Trion. Anuxy(SP), who's now a DOTA designer, made their first Corgi pet. From there actual corgi adoptions (several) started happening in the company. Even outside developers that work with them (Devilian) just put corgis in the game now.
25:27 - "Back when this magazine started you were the first person to agree to an interview. Did you imagine we'd both be here today doing another interview?"
25:44 - Absolutely. I've been making online games for 25 years. I think there is nothing more powerful than activities that bring people together. That's what your magazine is all about. Of course I had faith.
25:36 - "Do you have any inspiring words for for future game developers?"
26:40 - It has never been easier to download free tools and make a game. Define yourself and your game and develop for yourself.
27:57 - End Interview