News: A Minute with Alf

[Skam]

Whatever image you had of the FPC crew, I bet it wasn’t anything like him.

Alf Svensson sits down in the chair next to me, casually. He’s wearing a shirt that shows off the tattoo-sleeves covering his arms, making an impression of a down to earth guy, but also one who cares about his appearance –you know, in that rock star sort of way.

A decade ago Alf worked as a tattoo artist in his own studio, and spent a lot of time making music before pursuing a new career in 3D-modeling. Some of you may know his work from outside Entropia: He’s also known as the former guitarist of Swedish metal bands «At the Gates», «Grotesque» and «Oxiplegatz».

Problematic times

The multitalented gothenburgian has a long history behind him in diverse creative arts, and you can have a gaze at some of it at his old webpage - but nowadays, as the Art Director of the FPC graphics crew, he’s devoted to making Calypso a prettier place for the rest of us.

Like the rest of First Planet Company, Alf is a busy man these days. The CryENGINE2 conversion has been anything but easy and painless, and a lot of work remains to be done. In addition, Alf does «Tech Support», as he puts it, for Creative Kingdom and their upcoming Cyrene planet.

- I’m pretty much everywhere. Officially I’m on the FPC side of everything, but I also have a foot in the MindArk and Cyrene camp, helping them out. The new engine isn’t really made for MMO’s, and the conversion process has been a pain in the ass. I’ve been crying myself to sleep.

Alf laughs and jokes. Or maybe he isn’t?

- Seriously though, there have been ups and downs. It has been problematic, big parts of the code had to be rewritten for it to work, so naturally the programmers’ priorities came first. Graphics artists came second. We have a very small team on the graphics side right now. Normally, an MMO would have 50-100 graphics artists, and we have 4-5. We are still a small company, so I hope the players bear with us. As soon as we have the resources, the team will expand.

Bugs are a never-ending story when it comes to developing a vast world such as Calypso. Some of them are fun, some not so fun. So frustration at bugs is not something that is exclusive to the user-side experience, it also affects the developers.

- There was this one funny bug that someone had posted a video about, with a crazy arm. It didn’t look like an arm at all, more like some guys huge disfigured male member!

You can see the video here

- It really made me scratch my head and think what the hell was happening. But it’s not so fun when you have to fix it.

Sentimental changes

Considering Alf has lived with Calypso for nearly 10 years, he’s had to get rid of some of his old work during this big change. Some of it is dearly missed by the community, such as Minopolis.

- I was the guy who built Minopolis, so I hope we can reinstall it. It’s one of those unique places that had its own charm, you know? We need more of that.

Right now, the main objective is to make everything work, but cities and their feel is something Alf holds close to heart.

- Eventually my vision is a very specific style for each city, so you really know where you are just by looking around you. That’s in the future, though. Port Atlantis needed a revamp first, since it’s the newcomer city. It’s more sci-fi now, with the clean lines. The old Calypso had way too much concrete and dust.

Alf and his crew are going to redo a lot of what you see on Calypso.

- For example there are old trees with very low polygon counts that were made ages ago for earlier versions. When we get time, we’re going to keep the old stuff as concept art, and make it better with the tools available to us now.

Some new things will become available soon though. The Brontoflex, the winning entry of the «Create a Critter» competition made by Apsara Sofia Rozenkreutz will be introduced soon according to Alf.

- We have a guy working on it now, actually. It’s a really cool creature. I was pretty surprised by the amount of entries the competition got. There were literally hundreds of entries, and many of very high quality. I mainly looked at pictures, while the others discussed stats. I think it’ll be introduced during November.

Character customization

One major topics of discussion for the community is the character looks, often referred to as «Barbie». It is also bugging Alf Svensson. Luckily, he brings good news to the table.

- The whole character creation system will get a massive overhaul, with a full body upgrade. Actually, it’ll be pretty soon if everything goes according to plan. It’s going to be more realistic, and with more variation. You should have a very large spectrum of choices, from looking like Average Joe to the Incredible Hulk. First up to be changed is that plastic helmet that is called hair.

Whenever esthetics becomes a topic, there are always those who consider it so called «fluff», meaning unnecessary content. How important is esthetics really for a game like Planet Calypso?

- To me, being a graphics artist, it’s what matters. But it is a constant negotiation with the programmers. They might see the AI of a creature, while I see the exterior look. But I think it should be a compromise, in order to have the best of both.

- Esthetics is also a necessity when it comes to being able to compete in a market with other MMOs. Implementing CryEngine2 was a big step. Now we need to get the old content done, so we can fully use the possibilities it gives us to create the new.

Translated in following languages:
French
German
Polish
Italian

[Skam]

It didn't really fit with a full size picture in the interview, but here's one:


Click to enlarge

And again, huge thanks to the translators

[AtamiKiangola]

nice reading, thx

[RoteX]

Very nice, interesting reading, thanks!

Love the tattoo on his right arm!

[Wody]

Originally Posted by Alf

There was this one funny bug that someone had posted a video about, with a crazy arm.

That's a driver/videocard issue, just tell people to buy proper videocards and upgrade their drivers. Can I get paid too now? Thanks!

[Brooklyn]

Thanks Skam

This is really needed so we can relate to FPC and MA personnel as real people with real visions and real frustrations not just some faceless corporation we can dump all our Sh*t on just because we think it's just easy to do what they do.

great work Alf
looking forward to seeing your future

[Nixon]

im getting more and more trust in MA/FPC after every interview you have with them. I also become more forgiving with all the trubble thats is going on atm, its what we have to endure in the next month to achieve the great universe we are looking for.
As he also says in teh text "we are a small company". Thats true but i feel that this whole thing is going to stand in the spotlights and probobly open up doors for a whole new way of online gaming and a whole new way of people to earn their livings or just comunicate with people all over the world.

Mabey we will see an ex: online medical support when I feels really sick =) or any kind of company that fits the Universe in its complete stage.

Cant wait for more info fro them.

[Ter]

Another interesting article Skam thx again...

[Nobatbbi]

Originally Posted by Nixon

im getting more and more trust in MA/FPC after every interview you have with them. I also become more forgiving with all the trubble thats is going on atm, its what we have to endure in the next month to achieve the great universe we are looking for.
....
Cant wait for more info fro them.

Excellent points.

Pay attention Marco et al.

[Parlog]

a great article skam!

i also liked his page, i want Atrox Wallpaper in my bedroom now! ROAR!