Bonnie Wang, the Product Communication Supervisor for Voyage Century, has answered a slew of our questions on the recently released online pirate game.
Answers by Bonnie Wang (Product Communication Supervisor)
Questions by Dana Massey
WarCry Network: Voyage Century has just launched. How did the beta roll-out of the game go? Were there any major surprises?
Bonnie Wang: The beta began on Dec.22nd. In the first hour that registration was open, thousands of gamers signed up for accounts hoping to participate in the game’s beta test. During the past two weeks, over 500.000 gamers helped Voyage Century on its way to becoming one of the best MMORPGs. The community is passionate and has been a tremendous source of information and feedback for the development team. Now, the beta is being carried on smoothly and successfully. The open of the third server in such a short time is really a big surprise for both players and development team. The Double Exp Event is also a surprising gift for the players.
WarCry Network: How has the game been received by the players? We see you’ve added a third server. Can you give us an idea of how many people are actively playing?
Bonnie Wang: Voyage Century was highly popular with players and received great reputation. Hundreds of thousands of players get together to adventure in Voyage Century. The extremely high concurrency numbers that we’ve seen since the game’s launch have required us to add servers, which is much faster than we had initially planned. According to our data, three servers are stuffed now. The fourth server will soon go live.
WarCry Network: This is one of those games that snuck up on people. As an adaptation of a foreign game, it obviously didn’t need the same time in production before we knew about it. What exactly was done to get the game ready for a North American audience?
Bonnie Wang: Before we market Voyage Century in western market, we have done a lot of market research. We know that western countries have a long navigating history. To the westerners, the 16th century is a very fascinating and charming time. Furthermore, in order to make the game easier to be accepted by the local market and to emersion the voyage culture of the 16th century, we translate Voyage Century make it fits the western audiences. So, we believe that Voyage Century will win people’s heart in the western market.
WarCry Network: What post-launch plans do you have for this title in terms of add-ons and expansions? Are you simply translating the work done overseas or developing your own unique content?
Bonnie Wang: What we launch now is just an elementary edition. Along with the development, we will add new content to the game continuously. More sea areas and cities will be opened and more mysterious relic will be presented to all adventurers to explore. What’s more exciting, we are planning to open City Siege function for the guilds. The guilds can take the city and control it by their strong power, which will certainly make the player’s blood boiled.
WarCry Network: Are you worried about the impeding release of Pirates of the Burning Sea this summer? Why do you feel your game can hold its own?
Bonnie Wang: No. We are confident about Voyage Century’s bright future. We have our own features. First, differ from Pirates of the Burning Sea, Voyage Century has an overall worldview. The game map is a realistic shrunken world map, the storyline of the game involves Europe, Asia, Africa, America and even Australia and North and South Pole. Secondly, compare with Pirates of the Burning Sea, Voyage Century not only focus on Pirate System, apart from sea battle and land battle, foreign trade and exploration are also listed as its major game play. Voyage Century is an integrated game, which will attract more players with different fancies.
WarCry Network: Sea-faring games face their own unique set of challenges, especially when it comes to pacing. How did you balance between realism and fun with your ship navigation?
Bonnie Wang: Voyage Century is a combination of realism and fun. As a game featured for its realism, Voyage Century provides a lot of lively challenge to the players. Players may encounter a lot of difficulties and obstacles. Players may find a lot of fun in overcoming these difficulties. The moment when the players overcome these difficulties and get the treasure may be the most exciting moment.
WarCry Network: The game is a bit confusing to some western players. It is both “launched” and in “beta”. Can you explain the different stages of development as they apply to the game?
Bonnie Wang: The development of Voyage Century will be divided into three stages: Alpha Test, Beta Test and Final. In Alpha Test, Voyage Century aimed at testing the programme. We only delivered the accounts to the players who apply for it by email. All characters and data were wiped after the test and the test accounts became invalid. Now, Voyage Century is on its second stage Beta Test, which aims at finding the text mistakes and bugs. All players can register and apply to the game on our official site. The accounts and the characters will not be deleted, some gamers might think that it is almost launched. Actually, after the Beta, a more steady edition will come out and be officially launched.
WarCry Network: What are some of the trading and crafting options available to players?
Bonnie Wang: We have a full trading system in the game. Smart merchants can purchase special local products in a city, portage and sell them to other cities and make rich profit from it. However, the profit is not everlasting. The price will fluctuate accord with the change of supply and demand. So, trading is a proof of your business brain. As for those players who are not interested in warfare and wealth, they can choose to become a handicraftsman who is skilled in sewing, forging or fishing and ect.
WarCry Network: What about combat? Can you delve into some of the fighting mechanics at both land and sea?
Bonnie Wang: The development of fighting mechanics is on the schedule of our develop team. We will create more fighting mechanics according to the weapon of the 16th century, which will be added to the game soon. These weapons are divided into two offensive weapon and defensive weapon which will respectively increase the attack and defend of the players in the fighting.
WarCry Network: In a sea-faring game, I always want to be a pirate. I want to burn the ships of other players and steal the treasures in their hold. For the blood-thirsty among us, what options does the game offer?
Bonnie Wang: In this game, the pirate system enables the players to become a notorious pirate. To become a pirate, the notoriety of the players must reach certain level and join the pirate gang. Players can increase their notoriety by attacking other players. When player’s notoriety meets the requirement, they can join the pirate gang and experience the crazy pirate life. Rubies, emeralds and pearls, gold doubloons, Silver chalices encrusted with diamonds and jewels, rob and plunder, do whatever you want.
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