With the introduction of Neriak, there was definitely a new
feel to the NPCs found in the zone. There is a whole new vibe and
theme, and we were curious as to why. So, we got together with
Elizabeth Sigmund, Game Designer II, and who was a large part in
creating Neriak proper's citizens. Here's what she had to say:
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Stratics:
What was the story behind deciding to populate part of
Neriak with vampires? Liz:
I'll drop some lore on you guys:
In Darklight Wood were the remnants of the D'Morte
clan, mostly the vampires deemed too weak to journey with
the rest of the clan. One of those left behind was a
vampire named Lazarus D'Ryil. He was not physically
powerful, but was skilled in the arts of intrigue,
seduction and flattery. The power he craved was social
and political.
Once the D'Morte clan was gone, Lazarus decided his
best bet at survival would be to find someone stronger to
protect him. So, he made contact with the agents of The
Dead and agreed to share all he knew of the D'Morte
vampires, vampirism in general and Mayong Mistmoore in
exchange for a home in Neriak and the rights to sire his
own clan.
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The Dead and our lady Queen Cristanos have always been looking
for new ways to gain power and immortality. They see some of what
they are looking for in vampirism. The Queen agreed to Lazarus'
proposal, with the one stipulation that his progeny could never
number more than twenty and they were subject to the rule of The
Dead, meaning that they could be taken for "research"
at any time.
Lazarus agreed and he now lives happily ever after in Neriak
with his clan.
| Stratics: Each
new zone has its own style, and thus so do the NPCs with
their personalities. What is the overall feel you were
going for with the NPCs' personalities in Neriak? Liz: The overall
goal was to make the NPC's feel "evil", but not
condescending. Most Nerians are greedy, self absorbed,
megalomaniacs.
Stratics: You're
a Game Designer 2. How does that differ from Game
Designer 1, or Associate Designer, etc.? Does it mean you
get more chocolate?
Liz: The
difference between a Game Designer I and the elusive Game
Designer II positions are we get chauffeurs to and from
lunch, a daily hug and/or high-five from Scott Hartsman,
and in some cases we get our very own apprentices.
Stratics: When
you create your NPCs to go with the quest lines and lore,
do you get into character and act the role out, or just
write your ideas down and let it grow on paper?
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Liz: Funny you
should ask this, just yesterday Adam Stevens (Zaphax), my office
buddy Ellery Jones (Saerkin), and I were acting out a quest line
Adam is implementing. It involved lots of gigglegibbery and pie
throwing. True story.
But normally I just ramble off my crazy ideas to Ellery who
usually has headphones on, so I think he only hears the last 30
seconds of whatever I was saying, but if he laughs I put it in
game. This is how the complete tome of Gigglegibber lore was
written.
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Stratics: Do
you base any of your NPCs on people you know? Like... is
there one based on Scott Hartsman or Alan Crosby, etc.?
Or friends, family, the guy at the local corner store? Liz: I won't lie,
sometimes it is hard to make up new names, so I borrow
from real life. There are 2 NPC's in Neriak named after
my special someone's cats, Riley and Tobey… There is
in NPC that was part of a live event that was named after
my aunt Merle, because I made a character that looked
exactly like her, it was kind of freaky actually. People
have names, NPC's have names, it's an easy way to
breakdown the walls of naming-block.
Stratics: When
working with the folks over in Taiwan on this
mini-expansion, is there any one thing you learned in the
process that you will definitely take with you in the
future of your career?
Liz: I
learned that I must always check in the zone art file
before I leave work, because the artists at the SOGA
studio are in a different time zone and can't make
changes to the file while I have it checked out.
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Stratics: If you could
join the costume contest at Fan Faire, what/who would you dress
up as and why?
Liz: I'd want to
be a rust monster, because they are awesome… Who doesn't
love a rust monster?
| Stratics: When
you consider a new NPC, do you first work on their
personality, or do you build the personality off their
appearance? Or is it built upon their purpose in the
zone? Liz: I
really try to go out of my way to identify with the NPC
to do them justice and give them a "voice". For
example, when making the mender in Neriak I went around
and just starting fixing things for people. Ellery's
computer had been acting a little wonky, so I fixed it by
giving his computer a fresh start, formatting the hard
drive, installing a shiny new copy of Vista, I mean its
better than XP, right? But for some reason he really
didn't appreciate it… Based on that experience I
made the mender in Neriak believe his life is futile.
Stratics: Finally...
the most important question of all... Pirates or Ninjas?
Liz: PIRATES!!!!
YARRRRR!!!
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Thank you, Liz, for taking the time to answer our questions.
It certainly was a pleasure to get some details on what goes on
behind the scenes, and to learn just how your work and your life
come together to give us some fantastic content! We look forward
to your next creations... maybe a pirate will show up, in the
form of Captain Yarshebloes will show up next, hrmmm? 
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