How long did it take before you knew you had a good interface for Empire? Did you go through a number of iterations as you received feedback from testers, or did you magically hit a sweet spot from the beginning in this area?
The interface is pretty close to some of our initial implementations, but before it got to that point we’d already spent a lot of time dissecting what we didn’t like about other strategy game interfaces on iOS and doing a number of screenshot mockups before coding began. Of course there were some adjustments that came after our very dedicated and talented testers got their hands on it. I’m sure there will be even more once the game is launched, but the core flow of the menus remained pretty consistent once we got past the concept stage.
It seems like the number of possible nightmare scenarios is endless when you’re running an MMO, especially in a genre this complex. What precautions have you been able to take against server overloads and players getting their empires chewed up right after they log out of their first session?
Overloads aren’t much of an issue for us since Empire utilizes a server infrastructure more along the lines of what you’d see in an MMO like EVE or WoW, as opposed to a web-based solution like most of the F2P strategy MMOs that you see on the App Store. Each game is its own server, so if that game has 1500 players in it the resources have already been allocated for those 1500 players and they don’t have to worry about any load spikes, etc.
In terms of gameplay we made a few fundamental decisions early on to head off some of the largest issues we’ve seen with other games of this type. First off, we decided to have matches with win conditions and to have a single starting time for each match. This keeps new and old players alike on a level playing field. The finite game length also allows us to give players game-changing abilities like destroying planets or creating black holes, since we’re only maintaining a persistent game for a couple months as opposed to indefinitely.
As far as players getting their empires chewed up after they log off from their first session: it’s pretty much impossible for that to happen in the first day of a game because planets have a built-in defense based on their population, and a player’s starting homeworld is very heavily populated. Fog of war forces other players to find you before they can attack, and shipyards act as a throttling mechanism against grunt rushes early on because they need to be constructed to control greater numbers of ships. Additionally, technological research takes a fixed amount of time to advance so we’ve been able to do a lot of tuning in the game based on how long it will take players to get certain technologies in a best-case scenario. Lastly, players can set up push notifications for most events in the game, so you can be notified the moment your forces come under attack.
We’ve been very fortunate to have a good mix of testers ranging from more casual, peaceful types to aggressive number crunchers who play the game for hours on end. That’s been very helpful in balancing the game’s various dynamics.
What work remains to be done on Empire before release? Do you have a release window in mind yet, or is it still too early to set that in stone?
As of this interview Empire of the Eclipse has been officially submitted to Apple! It should be hitting the App Store in a few weeks.
Our thanks goes to ZarkSoft Games President Lee Dotson for taking the time out to answer our questions. In addition to the clip above, check out a whole bevy of tutorials on ZarkSoft’s YouTube account to get a good impression of how Empire of the Eclipse plays. Also keep an eye on ZarkSoft’s website, Facebook page, and Twitter account for the latest news.