We spoke to Mark Jacobs about the progress and direction of Camelot Unchained.

Camelot Unchained is an upcoming Realm vs Realm MMO in development by City State Entertainment. It has been two years since the completion of its successful Kickstarter and the game recently entered Alpha 1 testing phase. We chatted with CSE's President Mark Jacobs about what players can expect from Camelot Unchained.

It’s hard to believe that it has already been over two years since the Camelot Unchained Kickstarter. Can you talk briefly in a general sense to the state of development as it stands today and what’s left to go on the roadmap?

Mark: "Yep, it’s indeed hard to believe. As of today, we are in Alpha testing and still have about five months before we hit Beta 1. As to what’s left to go, well, to put it mildly, an awful lot. Fortunately, we have been very open with our Backers regarding the difficulty we have had in recruiting programmers to join the team, and they have been very supportive of our willingness not to move forward with things such as world terrain and art, music and sound effects until we solidify our tech some more. "

The term “old-school” was used to help describe Camelot Unchained in the original Kickstarter, and even now with the alpha release. Often, that term gets associated with “hardcore.” Would you describe Camelot Unchained as hardcore?

Mark: "As I said before, during and after our Kickstarter, hardcore is an often misused word. In our case, it means players who want to play an RvR-focused MMORPG that isn’t all about hand-holding features, has a slower leveling curve and will allow you to make choices that will matter in the game."

While it’s known there will be building and crafting, can you speak about PvE content, or is Camelot Unchained strictly PvP driven?

Mark: "First, Camelot Unchained is RvR-driven, not PvP-driven, and that is a particularly important distinction. Everything in the game revolves around RvR in one way or another. For example, our crafters don’t have to be physically involved in RvR, but they can make items that are very useful in it.

"Second, we do have PvE in our game, but not PvE leveling. If you want your character to improve your skills, keeping sheep (or even sheeple!) won’t help you perfect them. On the other hand, if you need those sheep for their wool, you will be able to get it from them.

"In addition, as I always say, we need to have guards, animals and really nasty critters in The Depths™ if the game is going to feel alive, dangerous and challenging!"

You’re building a world dubbed as Tri-Realm, meaning that three factions will be present. This of course is well-known as the setup for Dark Age of Camelot. Can you describe why this works better than a two faction system for your game?

Mark: "With a TriRealm™ game, if one side is too powerful, the other two can gang up on it. Also, if the two most powerful Realms are too concerned with each other, that gives the third an opportunity to make some gains at their expense. In a two-sided game, one becoming too powerful can exacerbate the Realm population problems that many RvR/PvP games can have over time."

Might characters have the opportunity to defect to other factions through some game mechanic?

Mark: "Nope, not a chance."

Camelot Unchained has been billed as a world where crafters hold as much weight as combat players. Is it possible to play the game entirely as a crafter, without lifting a sword? How would this work?

Mark: "Yes. Crafters can buy the materials they want from other players if they don’t want to leave the safety of their capital city, then craft to their heart’s content."

Speaking of crafting, can you talk more about the crafting roles? The difference between “takers”, “shapers” and “makers”?

Mark: "My initial concept for crafters involved breaking them down into takers (they take from the land), shapers (they shape the raw materials) and makers (they make the finished item). This has been refined a bit, and I’ll talk about it more when we present the second crafting document, which will probably happen later this month."

On the topic of itemization, is everything in the world player-created? Are there any other sources for items? Can players loot items from other players?

Mark: "Almost everything. We don’t want our players to start naked in the game. As of now, there isn’t a looting system like you currently find in most PvP MMORPGs. We are trying to something more interesting than that."

Magic is a given in most high-fantasy games, but is being handled with extra care in Camelot Unchained, including giving a ton of customization to the player. Can you talk about how the magic system works in the game?

Mark: "Magic, like all other player abilities, is crafted by the players themselves. We give them a set of starting components (think of runes) that they can make into spells, which they then learn and place into their spell books. After that, they can use them like any other ability.

"Now, where it gets very interesting is that as you progress, not only does your proficiency increase with the ability/components, but you unlock totally different components too. So, you might start with the ability to cast a fire dart. But as you progress, you can change its size. You can then mix in infusions to modify it to add lingering damage (DoT) as well as other changes. It’s a balancing act for the players because as they make a spell more powerful, it requires more blood power to cast, and it might also be necessary to sacrifice other aspects. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the players work this all out for themselves."

How will characters measure their advancement and progression though the game?

Mark: "Depends on the player, of course. Some will measure it by their skills or the size and splendor of their house, while others will look at the trophies, commendations and other things they earn through RvR."

One of the biggest challenges for MMORPGs seems to be providing persistence with purpose, but without feeling grindy. Forgive the use of the term, but what will the “end-game” of Camelot Unchained look like? Where will players of both the combat and crafter persuasions spend their time?

Mark: "There is no end game in Camelot Unchained. RvR is the only game and that starts right from the beginning. In addition, most stats and abilities are soft-capped, but with very slow progression. It’s a never-ending battle for the lands of this world."

If players wanted to get in on the Alpha happening right now, is there still an opportunity to do so? How would they go about it?

Mark: "Easily, all they need to do is purchase a tier with Alpha attached to it. We already have 9K folks participating, so we are not desperate to add more. And since ours is an old-school Alpha, we think most people will actually be happier waiting until Beta when our game will be more of a game, rather than a really cool engine build. :)

"OTOH, if players can’t wait to get involved in large-scale battles and won’t get frustrated with bugs and irregular testing, the digital reward tier that has Alpha access also comes with a renewable, “life time” subscription ($1 per year after three years). So, it’s a pretty good value if you think you'll want to play Camelot Unchained for many years as we hope you will!"

Thanks to Mark Jacobs for taking the time to speak with us! Get more information about Camelot Unchained now on the official site.

Bill "Lethality" Leonard, Contributing Writer