Interview With Gravity Interactive
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We had a chat with Gravity Interactive. Gravity Interactive is the team behind such online MMORPG's such as "Dragon Saga", "Requiem", "ROSE Online" and Ragnork Online. We sat down and chat about Dragon Saga and what's next for Gravity Interactive.
OtakusandGeeks.com: The game was changed from Dragonica Online to Dragon Saga. Can you tell us about the new changes made to the game?
Gravity Interactive: Well, one of the main reasons the game title was changed was because the name Dragonica was already trademarked in the US. We thought it would be a good idea to give it a new name to give a fresh new start feel to the commercial re-launch.
OtakusandGeeks.com: The game has a lot of other elements that separate it from traditional MMORG. Why was it important to bring other gameplay elements?
Gravity Interactive: I’m sure this is the case with most game developers, but we started with the idea of making a ‘lively action game’. Thinking about it now, I think we ended up taking a different route while developing this game. “If movement speed is too fast, we can’t synchronize”, “Allowing jump makes it too hard to create maps and battle coordination”, “If line of sight is fixed, there are too many other situations that must go into consideration”, these are some issue that will restrict the abilities to create a fun game. Too many of these restrictions will lead to the ‘lively action game’ idea losing its identity. So we decided to think outside the box instead of adding restrictions. So our idea of anything is possible, such as changing the viewing angle to quarter-view to make it fun while showing the imposing view of the boss monsters, and allowing monsters to be launched into the air, makes our game seem different from other games out there.
OtakusandGeeks.com: We love the art style. Can you tell us a little about the graphical design?
Gravity Interactive: Thank you for the compliment. We feel rewarded for our efforts when the result receives positive feedback. The Dragon Saga in-game characters are a projection of the characters in the storyline. Instead of being just cute and pretty, we made it so the character’s personality with one glance. At the moment, we are working on some changes for new shapes and forms to keep it more interesting.
OtakusandGeeks.com: What separates this from other MMORPG’s is that this actually free. Will there be any premium features coming?
Gravity Interactive: Dragon Saga allows many customization of the character. Every month new costumes are available to the users, and we even allow the users to mix and match their costumes to try other costumes. We are not considering any pay to play services currently. We feel that the decision of free or pay to play should be decided upon the region and its market.
OtakusandGeeks.com: After playing the game I notice there are only four classes, but different variations of them. Can we expect to see more classes?
Gravity Interactive: We are planning to introduce new classes as well as adding more action to the existing classes. We will release more details in the near future.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Will there be any future phone apps for Dragon Saga?
Gravity Interactive: We are looking into the possibility of bringing Dragon Saga as mobile app. We always try to appease the wants of our users.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Any chance this game will be hitting consoles?
Gravity Interactive: Console version of Dragon Saga is not currently under consideration. Maybe after more contents are added to the game.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Can you tell us a little bit more on the customization in this game in terms of characters?
Gravity Interactive: When a player first creates a character, they can choose the gender, face, hairstyle, and hair color of the character. More hair styles and faces will continuously become available. Since face the only part the user can customize at creation, we plan to offer many different styles of costumes to allow the user to customize their characters.
OtakusandGeeks.com: We love the soundtrack in the game? Is there a soundtrack (OST) available?
Gravity Interactive: The game soundtrack was created by one of the most famous music directors in Korea, Byung Woo Lee. Unfortunately, there are no plans of the game OST to be sold separately.
OtakuandGeeks.com: Any plans on expanding the Dragon Saga universe?
Gravity Interactive: The world of Dragon Saga will continue to expand. You can consider the current world as the starting point. More information will be released as the new classes are introduced.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Will there any more attack and magic upgrades in the future?
Gravity Interactive: As mentioned above, we are planning to improve many elements of the current classes while introducing the new classes.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Finally can you tell us any upcoming releases that Gravity Interactive has plan?
Gravity Interactive: Gravity is in the wrap up stages of preparing the release of a new web-based MMORPG called Eternal Destiny. It will start its beta testing very soon. We also anticipate to start the testing for Ragnarok Online 2. More details will be released to our communities in the near future.
OtakusandGeeks.com: The game was changed from Dragonica Online to Dragon Saga. Can you tell us about the new changes made to the game?
Gravity Interactive: Well, one of the main reasons the game title was changed was because the name Dragonica was already trademarked in the US. We thought it would be a good idea to give it a new name to give a fresh new start feel to the commercial re-launch.
OtakusandGeeks.com: The game has a lot of other elements that separate it from traditional MMORG. Why was it important to bring other gameplay elements?
Gravity Interactive: I’m sure this is the case with most game developers, but we started with the idea of making a ‘lively action game’. Thinking about it now, I think we ended up taking a different route while developing this game. “If movement speed is too fast, we can’t synchronize”, “Allowing jump makes it too hard to create maps and battle coordination”, “If line of sight is fixed, there are too many other situations that must go into consideration”, these are some issue that will restrict the abilities to create a fun game. Too many of these restrictions will lead to the ‘lively action game’ idea losing its identity. So we decided to think outside the box instead of adding restrictions. So our idea of anything is possible, such as changing the viewing angle to quarter-view to make it fun while showing the imposing view of the boss monsters, and allowing monsters to be launched into the air, makes our game seem different from other games out there.
OtakusandGeeks.com: We love the art style. Can you tell us a little about the graphical design?
Gravity Interactive: Thank you for the compliment. We feel rewarded for our efforts when the result receives positive feedback. The Dragon Saga in-game characters are a projection of the characters in the storyline. Instead of being just cute and pretty, we made it so the character’s personality with one glance. At the moment, we are working on some changes for new shapes and forms to keep it more interesting.
OtakusandGeeks.com: What separates this from other MMORPG’s is that this actually free. Will there be any premium features coming?
Gravity Interactive: Dragon Saga allows many customization of the character. Every month new costumes are available to the users, and we even allow the users to mix and match their costumes to try other costumes. We are not considering any pay to play services currently. We feel that the decision of free or pay to play should be decided upon the region and its market.
OtakusandGeeks.com: After playing the game I notice there are only four classes, but different variations of them. Can we expect to see more classes?
Gravity Interactive: We are planning to introduce new classes as well as adding more action to the existing classes. We will release more details in the near future.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Will there be any future phone apps for Dragon Saga?
Gravity Interactive: We are looking into the possibility of bringing Dragon Saga as mobile app. We always try to appease the wants of our users.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Any chance this game will be hitting consoles?
Gravity Interactive: Console version of Dragon Saga is not currently under consideration. Maybe after more contents are added to the game.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Can you tell us a little bit more on the customization in this game in terms of characters?
Gravity Interactive: When a player first creates a character, they can choose the gender, face, hairstyle, and hair color of the character. More hair styles and faces will continuously become available. Since face the only part the user can customize at creation, we plan to offer many different styles of costumes to allow the user to customize their characters.
OtakusandGeeks.com: We love the soundtrack in the game? Is there a soundtrack (OST) available?
Gravity Interactive: The game soundtrack was created by one of the most famous music directors in Korea, Byung Woo Lee. Unfortunately, there are no plans of the game OST to be sold separately.
OtakuandGeeks.com: Any plans on expanding the Dragon Saga universe?
Gravity Interactive: The world of Dragon Saga will continue to expand. You can consider the current world as the starting point. More information will be released as the new classes are introduced.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Will there any more attack and magic upgrades in the future?
Gravity Interactive: As mentioned above, we are planning to improve many elements of the current classes while introducing the new classes.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Finally can you tell us any upcoming releases that Gravity Interactive has plan?
Gravity Interactive: Gravity is in the wrap up stages of preparing the release of a new web-based MMORPG called Eternal Destiny. It will start its beta testing very soon. We also anticipate to start the testing for Ragnarok Online 2. More details will be released to our communities in the near future.
