By Jodie McIntyre

Swedish online game developer Lockpick Entertainment has recently released Dreamlords, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that emphasizes strategy. It is a very complicated and unique gaming experience for anyone who loves both MMO as well as strategy games. We had the opportunity to interview Dan Thronström a producer with Lockpick Entertainment.

Mark: With a name like Dreamlords, it implies dreaming is involved. The shots look sort of surrealistic. Is this the general look of the game?

Dan: In some quests, called spirit quests, you are able to fight with your powerful dreamlord. These quests usually play an important role in the story and we wanted these events to be special. We wanted the game experience in these quests to be different from other quests, and we felt that a more dreamy setting would do the trick. The setting in the other quests does not have surrealistic settings, but aims to show a more realistic setting of your patria.

Mark: With soulshards being the basic money, does this mean there is a lack of "Gamer Gold"? There appears to be a trading on an authentic stockmarket, what does this mean? Does this mean that value of the soulshard can go up or down in value?

Dan: Soulshards have dual purposes in Dreamlords. As you say, it is the main currency in-game, but it doesn't stop there. Soulshards can also be dissolved into gnosis, which is the main component for player progression. So players must make a decision how they should use their hard earned soulshards; Buying new equipment for your army, buy more resources or to progress (which makes your dreamlord more powerful)

The game houses an authentic market, which should not be mistaken for a stock market. The market (where players buy/sell items) is player controlled, so it is really a true supply and demand market. If there is a shortage of one resource the price will be quite high. So players can really earn some big money being active traders.

Mark: The races seem to exude a fantasy style game, but look a little like orcs from other fantasy games. Does this mean a character has to look slightly inhuman? (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)

Dan: Well, Dreamlords use the fantasy genre as inspiration, but if you look closely we really don't have the standard races like elves, dwarfs and orcs in the game. We really wanted to make our own universe and decided from the start that we would avoid the old (and quite over used) races and monsters. This gives the races, units, mobs and the game world as a whole a very unique look.

Still you can find out much about the races by just looking at their units. Covenants are proud (and quite shining) knights defending their faith. The mystical and cunning Nihilim in their turn look menacing and disfigured. The beastlike and feared Thul are all about brutal power.

Mark: I notice a huge emphasis on strategy and building empires and the like. Is Dreamlords meant to be a combination MMO and Strategy game?

Dan: We usually refer to is as an MMORTS, but we have seen magazines calling it a MMORTSRPG (have to be the longest abbreviation ever) as well. From the start we set out to develop a game that mixed long-term strategic empire building with action packed RTS-combat, within a game that could support a huge amount of players. We also wanted to have a true element of cause and effect in the game. So all choices the player makes in Dreamlords really have an effect on the game itself. For example researching new technologies will unlock new special abilities and military units that can then be used in RTS-combat. At the same time, loot and soulshards won in PvP and PvE encounters can be used to further develop and help you manage your empire.

Mark: The PVP looks quite Multiple in scale. How does this work? Can more than two users clash against each other?

Dan: With Dreamlords we wanted PvP to really have an effect in the game world, and we wanted a PvP-battle to actually mean more than just a win or loss. That's why PvP is based around public battle islands which are divided into territories. Players (belonging to a convergence, Dreamlords equivalent of a clan) can claim these territories or attack other players trying to grab them, so you actually fight for control over land. Owning territories will not only give the PvP player loot, but it will also give different kinds of bonus to all members within the convergence.

Currently Dreamlords only offer one-on-one battles in PvP, but of course it is our goal to scale this so more players can battle it out at the same time, both in PvP and cooperatively in PvE missions. This is something that will most certainly be added in the future, but I can't say when this will be done, but I can say that the dev team wants to see these features in the game as bad as our players do.

Mark: I notice the appearance of technology, specifically among the Nihilim race in this game. Does this mean that this game will ever grown in weaponry above swords? Perhaps guns or other higher tech weaponry can get involved?

Dan: There is currently no plan to extend the techs in the game even though it would be possible. We have a close relationship with our players and often speak with them what they would like to be added to the game. If there is a demand for something new, we usually take a look at it.

Mark: With 90% of the monsters being user-created, how will this really affect gameplay?

Dan: You are probably referring to a homepage we had called dream monster where our concepts artists did rough sketches on monsters. Site visitors would then give the artist feedback and the artist then redraw the monster and so on. Much of the feedback not only included how a certain monster should look like but also why. So many monsters have a background as well. Even though we have some monsters from that site in the game today, we have been balancing them quite a lot to fit the game.

Mark: It says you can win the game. Does that mean the game has a limit?

Dan: The game of Dreamlords is based around Eras, which could be compared to a season in sports. The big difference is that the Eras are not limited by time; instead it is up to the players to "decide" how long an Era might be. There is a storyline quest chain in the game and the first convergence to conquer the last mission will also conquer the Era. When this happens a new Era will start from scratch. So the game is very competitive and we have players investing many waken hours to be among the ones to win.

When an Era ends and a new start not everything is reset though. There are elements in the game that are persistent. During the game you might find new gear for your dreamlord (which you actually control in some parts of the game). These gear and other things like Traits, which are bonuses, will remain intact and can be used in the new Era.

Mark: How long have you been working on the Dreamlords game?

Dan: Dreamlords was developed for about 2.5 years prior to the release February 15th 2007, but we are still adding not only new content but also completely new features. We just released a completely new PvP-system and a new combat interface the other day. We really want the game to keep growing by adding more features.

Mark: Besides all the numerous strategy required to play the game, how did you construct Dreamlords so it is different than other online fantasy games?

Dan: This is a question that could turn into such a long answer thick as a book, but there are some points that are very different from other online games.

Most MMOs on the market pretty much look and play the same. We wanted to make a game that was different and that focused on strategy and tactics on a larger scale. By combining long-term strategy with RTS-combat we have created a new type of online game play.

Another innovative element of the game is that you manage you empire using the web-based patria manager. So all you need to manage your empire from any where in the world is only a computer with internet access. Many of our players login and check their progression during lunch breaks for example. To play the RTS-battle you need the RTS client though.

Dreamlords is a unique game which offers a unique gaming experience. Instead of mimicking other games we try to learn from them and to get inspiration on how we could solve issues or make the game even better. In the end we want the players in Dreamlords to have an entertaining and unique experience when they play the game.

We'd like to thank Dan to take the time for this interview. You can find out more about Dreamlords right here on MPOGD and on the official site. http://www.dreamlords.com.