Microsoft Ubelly Interview

Microsoft’s Ubelly blog took some time out to interview Illyriad Games CEO, James Niesewand about the Develop Awards, the team’s current projects and use of Windows Azure.

Please note that this interview contains some inaccuracies (entirely my fault!), as when I spoke to Chris we were planning to make AoA a “team based, arena combat game”. Now, having realised that we don’t know much about team-based arena combat games (but really know quite a lot about doing MMOs right!)… AoA is going to be a full sandbox MMO instead.  So, don’t take much that was said in this interview as gospel; things have changed 😃

Read an excerpt from the interview below:

Q. We understand that you have a new game in the works called Age of Ascent. What can you tell us about it and what inspired you to take on a game in such a different genre?

Niesewand: Age of Ascent (AoA) is a fun, team-based, arena combat game set in space. We’ve always loved the direct piloting of games like Freelancer, Elite, and Wing Commander; and we’ve also seriously enjoyed the arena battle genre – I’m a big fan of World of Tanks, and it’s hard to pull Ben, our CTO, away from MechWarrior Online. If you can imagine a mash-up of these types of games – with a taste of the depth of our first title, Illyriad – then that’s pretty much our goal with AoA.

(except, as noted above, it’s not and things have changed 😆)

Read the full interview at Microsoft’s Ubelly blog.