Two Worlds Q&A: Interviews - The Armchair Empire

Polish developer Reality Pump is most well known to PC gamers for their real time strategy games, most notably their Earth21XX series. With Earth 2160 have recently been released, the studio is changing gears and pursuing a genre that they've wanted to sink their teeth into for quite some time: role-playing. Late last year gamers first caught wind of this project when Two Worlds was announced, and since then new morsels of information have steadily trickled out about the game. Recently we had the opportunity to pick the brain of Two Worlds' Technical Director, Miroslaw Dymek, about some of what the development team has planned for the game. Enjoy. :)

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Two Worlds Q&A

Conducted by Mr. Nash

April 18, 2006

The Armchair Empire: Where did the idea for Two Worlds come from?

Miroslaw Dymek (MD): The idea of making an RPG was with us for several years, but there was always no time or possibility to do so. When it became possible, we just knew what we wanted and how much it would take. I should say we were excited and happy, and you know, all that stuff, but, well, it was so natural that we finally make an RPG that we simply started pre-production. It had to happen sooner or later; many of the core members of our team are RPG fans.

AE: What do you think will be key in making this game stand out from other action RPGs on the market?

MD: Two Words is a full-fledged RPG with lots of quests, locations, and different ways to solve problems (including, but not limited to, combat). It is just a mixture with balanced proportions. We focused on a solid and very dynamic combat system, tons of weapon types, spells and stuff to collect and use, but it is only a part of the gameplay. An important part of the gameplay, I agree, but only a part. The rest is about questing, problem solving, exploring, meeting people and whatever a solid RPG can offer. My personal opinion is that there is always time for a new, fresh and engaging RPG on the market, but it needs to be a high quality product. Reality Pump is well known for technical superiority of their games; add great passion and you have the picture of Two Worlds.

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AE: Are there clearly defined character classes in Two Worlds?

MD: There are clearly defined classes like Warrior, Archer or magician; but only in multiplayer mode. Single-player mode presents a human hero with free character development; so all the skills are equally available. The sheer number of development options is huge, and the same time the number of skill points is definitely smaller, so no two characters should be the same.

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AE: Combat in Two Worlds is a cross between automatic attacks, and player-controlled special attacks. Can you shed a little more light on how this will work?

MD: We want the results of any combat to be decided on the basis of the fighters’ attributes rather than on players’ manual skills and hand-eye coordination, but some skill will be necessary anyway. Targeting is fairy easy and half-automatic, but that doesn’t mean free time. The player’s character will only block attacks. He has to launch the offensive by himself.

Another part of the combat system is the proper use of weapons and tools such as traps. Some weapons simply work better against certain enemies. It is much wiser to fight the mounted knight with the spear or other pole arm rather than with a short sword. If the enemy has a shield, your first objective should be to knock it out, etc. The choice of possibilities is also quite big. Over 50 different spells and around that number of skills, hundreds of weapons and several types of traps in various quality; all to be used both in open confrontation and stealth mode. There is also strong emphasis on the visuals. The moves are motion captured and partially synchronized. We strive to elicit the feeling of participating in something really dynamic and powerful but we never forget that first and foremost this is a role playing game based on character’s attributes.

AE: Animals aren’t just used for travel in Two Worlds, but also fighting. How will this take form?

MD: Some creatures can be summoned and sent directly to battle, some, like horses, can be your mounts. Summoned skeletons or beasts need not be controlled; they have quite a sophisticated AI to offer you real help when needed. Depending on what type of character you play, they will be your primary way to victory or you will need their aid only in certain situations. On the back of a horse you can fight or travel.

AE: Players can mix things together to make their own magic in the game. How many different spells can someone create? Is this all done through experimentation, or learning from NPCs?

MD: You collect and combine cards, that look like small metal plates, and allow you to channel magic energy. Cards can be stacked for more power; certain cards can be used to add extra effects; some of them can be used only in combination with certain decks. We decided on such system to avoid situations where the player is forced to invest valuable skill points in spells that turn obsolete later in the game. Now you invest only in certain schools of magic and the spells must be assembled from cards and placed in magic slots in the character window. It is really very fast, fun and extremely interactive.

AE: How large will the game world be in Two Worlds, and what sorts of environments can players expect to explore?

MD: In terms of environment diversity and gameplay time, Two Worlds positions itself in the upper half of modern games.

Our game world is growing day by day. We really can’t fix the whole size right now. But it will definitely need many, many hours to explore the Two Worlds universe. The terrain changes from grasslands to swamps, forest (various types of trees), mountain ranges, wastelands and even a desert. There are mines, caves, lakes, rivers, whatever you can imagine.

AE: How will multiplayer work in the game?

MD: The multiplayer is for those who want to play without too much consideration for the story and would rather concentrate on questing and combat. The selection of multiplayer maps is large and so is the pool of quests. It should suffice for a lot of play time, especially with randomly generated content.

The multiplayer is manly about cooperation. There is no separate deathmatch mode, but at the same time the players can choose to fight each other. The multiplayer supports up to 8 people playing at once. You can group with your friends or attack them, exchange equipment, go on quests and so on. The quests are generated with respect to the experience of the participants. You can also choose the race and freely customize the look of your character. Whatever you earn, find or upgrade will be transferred between maps and quests, so eventually there is a chance to build up a real fighting “monster”.

AE: Will there be any special content or features specific to either the Xbox 360 or PC versions of Two Worlds?

MD: We plan some minor differences, especially with Xbox Live in mind, but both versions of Two Worlds will keep the same quality and content.

The Armchair Empire extends a big Thank You to both Miroslaw Dymek, and Jörg Schindler for their time and making this interview possible.


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