Hellgate: London Interview

Gamona.de has kicked up a three-page interview with Flagship Studios’ Bill Roper about their upcoming first-person RPG, Hellgate: London. An excerpt to follow:

Q: How much of an RPG is Hellgate: London? Are you creating a real main-plot, a whole roleplaying-world with known heroes and villains? Are there NPCs populating the world besides merchants and trainers? Will there be options for actually role-playing the game, like rp-servers and emotes? Will there be places where role-players can meet to share their stories?

A: Hellgate: London is first and foremost an RPG, and even in our MMO play we have a dedicated storyline for players to experience. We have a rich world with thousands of years of history, named heroes and villains (both past and present) and more backstory and research than we’ll ever be able to cram into the game. We have created a writer’s bible for use in both the design of the game and in creating other media such as comics, books, collectibles, movies and so forth. We definitely want the world of Hellgate: London to be much more than just a thin veneer slapped onto a game engine.

Role-playing is something I am personally into, as are more than a few of the members of the development team. We have yet to get into detailed discussions as to how deeply we will support this, but we definitely want there to be ways for players to get as into their characters as possible.