I know I say it a lot, but it really is an exciting time around the office as the last pieces of the Broodcall expansion are falling into place. Everyone is working a little harder in anticipation of our early launch tomorrow morning. What I’d like to do is share what a few people around the office are doing right now. As you can see my desk is over with the folks who do our programming and testing. All of these guys are making last minute polishes to features and assuring things go as smoothly as possible tomorrow.

Slugbait - This champion of code is going through line after line diligently trying to make any necessary adjustments. I wanted to talk with him more but the sound of a whip cracking in the background spurns me on.

qwerty and asdf - This dynamic duo is doing their best to break everything now so the players can’t do it later. asdf wants to take a break to do some dancing, but the Trading System can’t wait.

Elrac and Paragon - These two are discussing the new Drums of War system and making changes to the website. They are using a lot of technical terms that I’m sure I can’t share even if I did understand, so I just slide over to someone else.

MaxGoliath - His work was on a number of the new abilities in Broodcall. One in particular he helped create was Stormwrack which you’ll see tomorrow. He’s wearing headphones so he doesn’t have to listen to me crunch Cheetos.

After this I make my way over to the designers who think all this stuff up. Now as you can see Kaervas, CorpsE, and Sir Quimbel sit in tight quarters for maximum creativity. It’s also so CorpsE is always in range with a wooden sword he has at his desk. I can’t show you the dry erase board behind me, but it’s safe to say these guys are already sketching ideas for the next expansion. What do they do the day before an expansion?

Sir Quimbel - This is our writer and he’s actively creating a compelling story to go along with Broodcall. I expected more quill pens and such on his desk but apparently that’s “really old school.”

Kaervas - Kaervas takes a moment from whaling on the AI to tell me what he’s working on. Balance testing on the Drums of War is currently a priority and I can see he’s tinkering with all sorts of abilities.

CorpsE - As I approach his desk I get the obligatory glare and reminder that he IS buffing Gnark. CorpsE is working on a lot as the Senior Designer, checking the adjusted Ironfist Stronghold map and the new K’Thir Forest map going into Ranked Play. He’s also testing the Full Plate Armor, and renaming a rune that was apparently going to be Nosferatu.

KaizerSozay - My last stop is with the Producer himself. The guy in charge believe it or not is just as busy as everyone else coordinating pieces and making sure everything is on task. While I’m standing there he is looking at some Broodcall assets to use on the PoxNora website. I didn’t stay any longer than I had to for fear he would start asking me to collect data on what the Community thinks on Broodcall changes. I’ll have plenty of reports to do in the coming days.

I hope this gives you an idea of what is going on at SOE Tucson today and the type of work we put into an expansion. Admittedly this is all from a Community Managers perspective, but if nothing else you’ve now seen a few pictures of our new offices.

Most people outside North America know little of Gen Con and even resident geeks can only tell you they’ve heard of it. Started a really long time ago, Gen Con was a convention to bring together pen and paper game players to share their love of Dungeons & Dragons and foam weaponry. Over the years it’s evolved into a major commercial venue showing off miniatures, trading card games, and tournaments. Thus the 2009 Gen Con was the perfect venue for PoxNora to present its awesomeness so Slugbait, Kaervas, and I made our way to Indianapolis.

I arrived just before dinner and got a message from a few co-workers on the Community Team to meet up for dinner at a restaurant in the mall. The mall across the street from the hotel was a spiraling maze that would rival any good MMO dungeon. I ascended 2 levels, wandered past NPC’s at a Cinnabon, and tried to use a map but to no avail. Leaving the building and wandering around eventually brought the results I needed. Poor Kaervas and Slugbait got in around 11:00 PM local, and we made our way to Champions to enjoy some wings and Salsa. After receiving an odd marketing pitch about a pen and paper gaming product, from someone who had a few beers, we called it a night.

The next day started early as we made our way over to the convention hall well before 8:00 AM. This event usually sees about 25,000 people so you can imagine the commercial opportunities here. Every trading card game or boardgame you’ve ever heard of , and many you haven’t, were not only for sale but being demonstrated. The booth as you can see was 12 PC’s with 30 inch flat screens showing off Legends of Norrath, Free Realms Trading Card Game, and of course PoxNora.

One of the most exciting things about the event, was SOE got the lanyard for the entire show. That means tens of thousands of people were wearing something that said PoxNora! How fricking cool is that? As the doors opened up and everyone started streaming in, it became clear to me this would be the biggest showing PoxNora has seen in quite awhile. The lanyards however weren’t it, as we printed thousands of cards with rune art on them letting people know about the Gen Con packs being offered. So not only were thousands of people walking by looking at the game, but we were handing out reminders for people to try it out.

The first day was rough as all three of us spent nine straight hours talking to people about the features of PoxNora. Things were just getting started however as we made our way to Jillian’s for the SOE Meet and Greet. I have to admit, they went all out for this. Open bar, free food, and tons of swag were available and I can’t remember a single complaint the entire night. Kaervas bravely accepted the less glamorous duty of manning our PC’s in the Tournament Hall in case anyone wanted to play PoxNora. Slugbait and I sat in a booth for just moments before we were cornered by a few very happy fans which were enjoying the alcohol. It was an interesting night, and we learned a new term called “pure” which describes something beyond awesome.

Friday and Saturday kept getting busier as we sat down hundreds of people to try out the game. Most of the demonstrations blurred together but we had an amazing opportunity to get together a few PoxNora players Saturday night for dinner at Champions. Phaeton426, Ssez, and PoxAurora all showed up and it was great to meet a few of you guys in person. We had a good time hanging out and I think they can tell you we’re probably a little different in person than you think.

Sunday finally arrived and was supposed to be the “easy” day, but hundreds of families showed up which gave us plenty to do. Slugbait got the Bubonic Plague at some point, and Kaervas had people coming up to him asking him if he was RadarX. Sure, I pointed them over to him, but it was funny right? At 4:00 PM everyone who wasn’t an exhibitor was sent out and clean up began. If I hadn’t been packing up and shrink wrapping a dozen PC’s and monitors, I would have marveled at the buzz of activity. Forklifts whizzed by picking up pallets and the sound of zip ties clicking were consistent the rest of day.

Overall Gen Con was an unbelievably tough job, but did so much for PoxNora it was worth every second. There was so much more that happened I wish I could share, but this has already gotten lengthy enough. We hope to see a lot of new players in the next few weeks, so if see one saying they are from Gen Con, just say “We apologize for RadarX” and welcome them into the community.

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This weeks Developer Diary comes from the newest member of the PoxNora team. You might recognize him as a player, but his experience goes far beyond that as you’ll see below. Today you’ll get to meet the man behind the CorpsE and hear about just what he’s working on for the game.

How I Started Working in the Gaming Industry:

I was playing an Real Time Strategy game called Battle Realms hardcore. I played a lot. I posted on the game forums in a constructive manner, never flamed anyone, and always tried to help out. I was also one of the top players in the game. One day out of the blue the game producer contacted me and asked if I was interested in a job as a game designer for the upcoming expansion. So I left my tiny hometown of Galion, Ohio and booked it out to L.A.

Games I’ve Worked On:

POXNORA!

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (2009), THQ Inc.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (2009), THQ Inc.
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (2007), THQ Inc.
Company of Heroes (2006), THQ Inc.
Company of Heroes (Collector’s Edition) (2006), THQ Inc.
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard (2005), Atari, Inc.
The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring (2003), Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf (2002), Crave Entertainment, Inc.

What My Role is at Sony Online Entertainment Tucson:

Most of my role here at SOE Tucson is heading up the design and balance for future expansions of PoxNora.

How I Design:

This is a hard one but I feel it’s worth talking about so the community understands the direction PoxNora is headed. I am not a fan of nerfs. I loathe them and believe they are a last resort to something that cannot be fixed any other way. I would rather introduce counters to runes that are considered a problem. A good example of this was the ‘Predator’ ability we put on Doombringers. Harbingers have long been a sore spot with the PoxNora community so instead of nerfing the rune directly, we introduced a strong counter to them. This makes sense from both a business perspective and it also gives the players the capacity to make the choice to upgrade that ability. PoxNora will most likely continue in this direction since it helps grow the game and gives you the player choices.

My Hobbies
I love cigars, Scotch, baseball, my Jeep, working out, PoxNora and my sweet, sweet Dachshund, Rose.

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CorpsE Senior Game Designer