Ask Matt Wilson: the answers
Last week we sent along a series of questions for Matt Wilson and he has taken time from his schedule to answer them and send them back to us for posting.
Thanks to everyone who posted a question and thanks again to Matt for taking the time to answer these for us.
Are there plans for a novel line or a compilation of short stories?
Let’s say we’re in the preliminary stages of plans. Are we going to produce novelized fiction? Yes. Currently, we are determining the best way to produce this fiction and get it out to the readers. So, this isn’t an official announcement that it’s coming, but our hope is to be able to see something on the shelves in 2008.
What goes into play-testing a caster? How methodical is it? With the extremely high number of possible match-ups (enemy casters, units, point levels, scenarios, allied casters, units) how do you cull that to a manageable size? How do you account for player skill (ie. one play tester is much better than another)? Do you use any automated tools that calculate probabilities and averages?
Playtesting a warcaster or warlock is probably one of the most intensive, time consuming tasks we have to deal with. As you would expect, the myriad combinations of spells, abilities and feats that can occur, particularly in multi-caster/warlock games is massive, and we do our best to try and find every single possibility that might come up. Generally, our warcasters and warlocks are playtested constantly over about 3-4 months, always evolving and refining. Anywhere from 50 to 150 hours could go into playtesting a single model. Naturally, this is nothing compared to the first day the info actually hits the public when suddenly thousands of people spend time with the models!
To help manage the monumental task though, we’ve created quick references for things like dice rolling probability, etc. that we can use to compare to our baselines for various factions, races and model types. We also use a lot of playtesters- about half the company participates in ongoing playtests in-house and we have a number of excellent playtest groups remotely who provide critical and invaluable information at crucial stages of development. Many of them have been providing their input for years now, and have made huge contributions to the quality of our development.
Any hints on the progress of the story arc?
Which one?
Naturally, in Evolution we’re going to see some really brutal things happen this summer. We expect to see some of Doug Seacat’s gripping fiction show up in No Quarter to herald its release as well and pave the way for some of the carnage to come. You’ll also see some interesting crossover between WARMACHINE and HORDES…not in a way that intermixes the storylines so much as you’ll get to see how the actions of one may affect the experiences of the other.
Meanwhile, the WARMACHINE storyline continues to spin on in the offices, but we haven’t reached the proper intervals where we’ll be releasing information. Look for that after Evolution…
What thematic direction will the next expansion of Warmachine releases take the game? Superiority added a heavy flavor of trench warfare and dug-in line fighting along with cavalry. All of these give the feeling of a static war settling in as the attrition game begins. Will the next release continue this flavor and add weapons of war, meaning siege engines and such-not warjacks, or will something shift the dynamic of the setting?
This is a hard one for me to answer. We have a lot of stuff planned for WARMACHINE, but the order in which we will be rolling the material out is contingent on a few very mysterious and cosmic factors that have to be resolved before everything is clear. If you asked me this in say, three months, I think I’d have a much more definite answer for you. Here’s what I can say- future releases of WARMACHINE will concentrate very heavily on characters in a similar way that Apotheosis did, though not just on warcasters and warjacks. We’ll be adding more character solos, for instance, like Capt. Maxwell Finn. As well, you’ll see character units-celebrated and known units in each of the factions-and a few more unique warjacks. As far as new themes…*most* of the different types of things we’re going to do are established in one way or another though there are one or two things we’re holding up our sleeves until the time is right…and it’s getting close!
I think it would be interesting to hear some more info about the rules changes in ReMix…particularly, the hotly debated Sorcha and Haley changes. What alternate ideas did they try, the specific reasons behind the changes, what reactions they expected from the players.
We spent a long time-a long time-deciding how to address these issues. In the end, the rules changes we made were determined in the best interest of the entire WARMACHINE community and the play environment. Obviously, we took our time coming to these conclusions because we wanted to make informed decisions here-these changes weren’t made lightly. And honestly, the reaction was much better than I (or I think any of us) anticipated. Of course there are individuals who will not agree with the decisions-nothing we do can ever satisfy 100% of the players-but most of the feedback we have received has been very understanding of our reasoning. I think that this is due in large part to the fact that people know these weren’t snap judgments, nor were they some sort of insidious plot to make people buy more models, nor did we invalidate the usefulness of the models they have invested in. We try and remain very transparent in our motives and take a lot of time to explain our reasoning and as a result, we have been well supported in these decisions.
What, if anything, will we see as pre-releases from the next Hordes book, Evolution?
Well, as you probably know, we like to play these cards close to the vest. We almost never announce pre-releases ahead of time for a variety of reasons. First, we just enjoy the surprise- it’s awesome to see people show up to our booth first thing on opening day and be stunned to see something they didn’t expect. Second, because the products are being manufactured ahead of time and not in our normal manufacturing schedule, we’re never 100% sure that we’re going to have certain items, and nothing is worse than seeing excited people show up to our booth first thing in the morning at a convention only to find out that what they expected to find didn’t make it. So, this isn’t something we we’re likely to disclose, especially not this early, but if you’ve been paying attention for the last few years, you could probably make a pretty good educated guess. You could also check out the next couple issues of No Quarter Magazine- we’re showing off some really choice bits from Evolution in there.
Were there Warcasters/units/warjacks/solos that were originally planned to be in any of the books, that never made the final cut?
Definitely! Not a lot of them, but we have had a number of instances where we completely scrapped an idea, although more commonly, we shelf ideas due to space restrictions. There’s a character, for instance, that was originally meant for Superiority that didn’t make it. The concept art is done, the stats and rules have been written, but before the character went into production and playtesting, we pulled a block out of Superiority to save for the next WARMACHINE expansion because we had reached maximum capacity on that project. In another case way back in the development of Escalation, we had started developing a block of units that we realized that while thematically they fit the setting very well, the impact they had on the game was not one that we believed supported the gaming experience we wanted to preserve. So, we cut them unceremoniously and never looked back. They were well into playtesting by that point, though, but it wasn’t until they had seen considerable field-time that we realized they weren’t right for the game.
At the end of the day, game play reigns supreme. When we’re developing new concepts, we’re looking at a long list of variables that include everything from the aesthetic appeal to how the model affects both the fun of the player who is using it as well as the fun of the player who is going up against it. When we introduce new material, the response we’re looking for is, ‘yeah, things just got turned up a notch’, not, ‘oh, that’s going to drag games out for days.’ So, we avoid getting so attached to an idea that we’re never willing to trash it.
Any plans for alternate sculpts for the Hordes Warlocks?
Currently, we have no plans for this, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
With a lot of the recent doom and gloom predictions for the entire hobby gaming industry, where do you see Privateer Press in a year from now? Do you see yourselves as, for lack of a better comparison, being the American GW?
I think if you talk to most people who have had a chance to watch Privateer closely (possibly financially) over the past few years they would tell you that Privateer definitely has not adhered to any doomsday prophecies about the hobby game industry. I don’t think it’s that we’ve bucked the odds as much as that the nature of our industry is that stores, distributors and manufacturers rise and fall quickly, sometimes cyclically. There are those that pass like a ship in the night and others that become institutions that will endure for decades. So, looking down the road one year for Privateer is kind of like asking what you see in your own future next week. We take a very long view here. Everything we’ve done up to this point is an investment in the future of a company that we hope in twenty years is one of those institutionalized companies known for a long track record of putting out excellent, high quality products.
Over the coming year, you’ll see some new things from us as we branch out from miniatures games into other product categories, some that will continue to explore the Iron Kingdoms setting, and others that will have nothing to do with it. I also feel that there really is no other manufacturer comparison to Privateer that is currently in existence. We’ve modeled a company from scratch with no template- there is no board of directors or investors nor do we have a complicated bureaucratic management complex that we must fight with to get anything done. Privateer is a collection of very hard working, very talented, very devoted individuals who all possess the keen (and rare) ability to visualize a tomorrow that is better than today and are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. It doesn’t hurt that we get to play a few games along the way.
Will we be seeing Iosan elves with Myrmidons or the cult of Cyriss as factions for either existing game, or perhaps as factions for a third game?
Heh.
Editor’s Note: I really seriously doubted that we’d get any information about this question but I had to include it as I’m a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the Cult of Cyriss :-)
I’ve noticed that while Matt Wilson’s art has appeared in the Spectrum series of art books, that for the first time ever, a painted miniature has made an appearance in Spectrum 13 (Cryx warjack on p.112, attributed to John Winter as the artist, Matt Wilson as the designer, Mike McVey as the art director, and Alison McVey as the painter). How did this come to pass, and does Matt think that this is a sign that miniature painting is slowly becoming acknowledged as a legitimate art form, much like canvas art or sculpting?
I’m thrilled that someone has noticed! I’ve been participating with Spectrum for quite a few years now. For those readers who aren’t familiar with it, you’re really missing out. Spectrum is an annual collection of fantasy and science-fiction artwork that comes out every fall. They’re big, fat beautiful tomes that contain hundreds of book covers, card art, sculptures, comics, and many other illustrations by the best artists in the world. A panel of qualified experts jury the entries and decide what will be in the book, so the artwork is almost always very high caliber. If you are even mildly interested in fantasy/SF artwork, it’s a must see.
Entries take place about a year before the book comes out. For the past several years, they have had a growing ‘Dimensional’ category, which encompasses anything done in ‘real’ three-dimensions. Privateer has had many incredible sculptures created, and after Apotheosis, I really felt we needed to enter some of these into the competition, so I sent a few photos in to see what would happen. As luck had it, the Deathjack was chosen to be part of the book, and I couldn’t be happier. To the best of my knowledge, this is indeed the first gaming miniature ever displayed. Whether or not this will open up the door to see more such entries, I don’t know. We’ve sent off a couple more this year and I hope to see the Extreme Dire Troll in Spectrum’s pages next year, but it’s anyone’s guess right now. I think it’s a great thing for manufacturers to do though, as putting more exposure on the hobby is always good.
Also, has Matt himself tried his hand at miniature painting, and can we see pics?
I have had my hand in a lot of different aspects of the creation of our products- I’ve even helped cast a few of the miniatures myself. But one thing I’ve never done is paint a miniature that has been used in our photography. I have found that my skills as an illustrator have virtually no application when it comes to painting miniatures. In reality, I painted miniatures for many, many years before I ever made a single painted illustration. But during the part of my life that I started my career as a professional illustrator, I had to let my minis sit for a while. When I came back to them upon establishing Privateer, I found that I had forgotten more than I ever actually new, and I had developed certain habits with painting illustrations that just didn’t work with miniatures.
I gave it a shot, though. I tried painting a Defender using similar techniques from my illustration. About 60 hours later, I had a goopy, globby hunk of junk that still wasn’t finished and was driving me nuts. So, now I use tried and true methods, and I’m trying to get better, but more than anything, I’m just trying to get all my figures covered! I like to spend a little more time on the characters and ‘jacks, and I kind of blaze through the troopers. But can you see any of them? Only if you can manage to get me to break them out at a convention…and so far, that hasn’t happened!