Every month we bring you an exclusive Q&A with a member of the Horizons Development team. This month we spoke with David Bowman, Co-President and Creative Director of Artifact Entertainment.

Can you explain exactly what you do as Co-President and Creative Director?

The Co-President part is straightforward: I work with James Jones to make sure that we have the right partners in place to bring Horizons to market and that Artifact Entertainment is in the best position to expand the Horizons’ franchise and support Horizons for many years to come.

The Creative Director role is a combination of keeping the Horizons’ team focused on the end goal, resolving implementation conflicts, and dreaming up new ways to extend what we can do with our existing technology while building toward the greater world that Horizons will become.

How did you get started in the gaming industry?

I was a programmer in the early 80’s creating games for the C64. I was only a decent programmer, not a good one. I left games and went into teaching to try and make the world a little better than when I entered it. Ten years later, much poorer and trying to start a family, my wife convinced me to try again. (Yes, I did try to explain to her the crazy life that the game industry in general leads.) I applied at Bungie, the only company that I ever wanted to work with, and they were intrigued enough by my material to give me an interview. That went well and I was hired for design on the Myth series.

What's an average day in the life of David Bowman like?

My son wakes me up between 5:30 a.m. and if I’m really lucky 6:30 a.m. (He’s three.) We play until his sister wakes up and then it’s time for everybody to get ready and I’m off to work by 8:00 a.m. When it’s not a school day, I ride my bike. Morning emails and website reviews and from there; everyday is different. Currently, many meeting about Beta III and what goals remain to be met, design meetings, art asset viewings, customer service policies, contract reviews, and Atari conference calls (consistently positive and constructive, I’m very impressed by the professionals at Atari). In the afternoon, between meetings, I do interviews; help with the storyline, back-story, and any other press/marketing needs. Usually, dinner is sometime after 6:30 p.m. and if things are going well I head home for an hour to put the kids to bed. We’ve recently started encouraging the majority of the staff to try and leave the building by 7:30 p.m. but depending on responsibilities, people stay much later. The later night is usually much more laidback, people play games (research, rest and recreation), talk about future ideas that we’d like to see in Horizons after we launch, summarize what went wrong and what went right and what that means for the next day. Most nights I head out around midnight. If it’s not a school day, that means an all-uphill ride home, shower and sleep.

It's rumored that you sleep on opposite days as Steve Snow, is this true?

Steve is not allowed to sleep; therefore it is only a rumor.

Can you give us a rough estimate, as to how many different monsters/creatures are in the game?

There are over fifty that are being used in our internal testing today, but since we are not yet live and we have a steady stream of new creatures going into the world that might be misleading.

Will there be attribute and skill caps in Horizons?

There will be times when a character cannot advance further in a skill or increase a statistic. The limitation is in finding a challenge within the world that would result in that improvement. As we continue to add new challenges into the world, characters could then find and overcome that challenge resulting in improvements to their skills.

What aspect of Horizons do you feel has evolved the most since you first started working on the project?

It’s difficult to select a single aspect, but the technology has gone from very early experimental to a functioning world. The client is amazing and the tools to create and modify the world are light-years ahead of where they were two years ago. This allows us to build a world that is large, seamless, and full of intent.

What will the in-game map show players?

It will primarily show them where they are in the world. The other functionality is not yet completed, so we aren’t discussing it.

What steps is Artifact taking to ensure that all schools and races are balanced?

If balanced means equal then we are doing everything we can to not do that. The school system lets players decide what role their character is going to play in the world, and since they can change that decision, it is not necessary that all skills within a school be exactly balanced against all skills in another school. In many cases, skills are present in multiple schools. The races are each different. If you like those differences and think that one racial feature is greater than the others, then play that race. I’m certain that many people will be attracted to Dragons since they are new in massively multi-player games, but the play-style will definitely not suite everyone.

If you were to create a character in Horizons which race would you play and why?

I’d probably go with the Saris today, but almost everyday I change my mind. The Saris are very nimble and quick. They look fantastic and I think they make a cool Warrior or Monk… though I’ve been playing one as a Scout a lot recently.

Can a character independently create various equipable items or will a team effort be required to craft equipable items?

Individual crafters create most items. It is often far more efficient to divide the effort among different players, but it is possible for the lone player to obtain all of the requisite resources, process them, acquire the proper tools and machines, obtain the formula and craft the item.

Will Horizons feature in-game libraries with different lore and fiction?

There will be books in Horizons. Some of these books were created and written by designers and will include back-story and lore. The crafting system will allow characters to craft and scribe their own books. A library structure has not yet been built, but I could see that occurring in the future.

Is it possible for players to wipe out all of the undead from Istaria?

The Withered Aegis will not easily be destroyed and they will continue to raise the dead for a long time to come. You’ll have to play the game and fight the fight to see whether they are banished to one of the other planes of existence permanently. There will be many dangers, challenges and opponents that players will discover, the Withered Aegis are just the first.

From a gaming standpoint - What is your favorite aspect of Horizons?

Community building. Being able to own property and develop it how I choose.

From a technical standpoint - What is your favorite aspect of Horizons?

The dynamic world. The ability to make changes to the world that persist while my character is not logged in. Pushing back the Undead and knowing that it’s changing the world, whether I have an hour to play or a weekend.

What's the funniest thing that's happened in the office?

Well, the latest thing that had many of the people in the office laughing was: We have a Beta participant who is very enthusiastic and actually quite clever at finding ways to circumvent our processes. During the most recent Quality Assurance pass on our internal shard, one of the Customer Service Representatives created a character with the same name as this well-known Beta participant and logged into the “impenetrable” shard. He then pretended to be the Beta participant while interacting with the QA lead, saying “Hey, I just found a way around your security to get in and help all of you find bugs!” There was no response from the QA lead so the CSR ran over to the other building to explain that it was a prank to the QA lead. The QA lead was already in “hot-fix” mode meeting with senior management to prevent further severe security breaches… he didn’t find it too amusing to discover he was duped… but everyone else did.

In your opinion, what makes Horizons unique?

The ability to make a difference in the world. This allows for greater goals than just character advancement. Combined with unique technology for content creation and world maintenance, fully realized 3D world, racial selection and a great team of talented people that want to push massively multiplayer gaming as far as it can go.

What in Istaria is a Welger?

Welgers are a large race of creatures that have been subjugated by the Withered Aegis. Players will first encounter them as opponents, bent upon the destruction of the Nine Living Races. Later, if players can successfully counter the spell that binds them, the Welger will become available as a race during character creation. I’m being deliberately vague about their appearance and history, since that will be revealed within the game.

[ Return to Horizons Interview Index ]

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