If like many hardcore MMORPG players you’re keeping half an eye on the very early MMO development at Playable Worlds, the studio Raph Koster founded last year, then you might wanna spend a bit of time this week soaking up a video by YouTuber and friend-of-the-site Napyet.
Nap’s done a lot of digging into the company and the developers Koster’s brought on board the team, specifically to speculate on what possible directions the MMO itself might go. For example, he plucks out the game’s lead designer, who has an extensive tabletop RPG design career in addition to online games experience, as well as the lead character artist, whose games have traditionally been more stylized than realistic. Those clues are important chiefly because of the fair concern that Playable Worlds might wind up making another game-platform rather than a game, more akin to Koster’s experimental (and now sunsetted) Metaplace than to his classic sandbox MMORPGs. But the staff roster, in combination with Koster’s commentary about his ambitions for the title, suggests something more like an evolution of online gaming rather than a pitstop.
The whole video is down below for your musing. Enjoy!
