We all know the phrase, ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’, and while I’ve still yet to figure out exactly what that means, Reading Sid Shuman’s interview with Runic Games boss Max Schaefer put me one step closer to understanding.  You might remember that Max, along with Travis Baldree and a host of other former Flagship Studios employees jumped off that sinking ship and decided to have a go at it themselves with Runic Games.

Max Schaefer is an industry veteran, having worked on Blizzard’s Diablo II and Warcraft III, as well as producing Flagship’s Hellgate London, and the now, nowhere to be seen, free-to-play title Mythos.  And while I’ve covered the big ol’ drama over at Flagship Studios regarding their IP and who owns what and where what may or may not be played, Schaefer and co. seem to have put that debacle well behind them and are currently hard at work developing a yet to be named free-to-play action RPG.  In his interview with gamepro.com’s Sid Shuman, Schaefer discusses the upcoming title, the business model, and challenges facing indy developers in a less than ideal economic climate.

When asked specifically about Mythos, and how it’s development influences Runic’s new title, Schaefer responds,

“We’ve begun work on a game that is very much in the spirit of Mythos. We’re starting from absolute scratch, of course, but we’re still committed to the idea of an easy to play, action-RPG. This time we plan to start with a single-player version, and then expand to an MMO.”

“…we’re already running around randomly generated dungeons, killing monsters, equipping the loot that drops, quaffing healing potions, and opening chests. The basic feel of the game play is already there. It’s not ready for screenshots quite yet, but it won’t be long!”

“Our goal is to release the single player version of the game this year, and we’re well on track for that. The MMO will be a couple years later in all likelihood.”

An interesting approach.  Instead of biting off the entire MMO piece, Runic is going to release a single player version first, presumably work out the kinks and develop player interest and a community, and then take on the whole enchilada once it’s reached a ‘polished’ stage.  Smart.

Speaking to the free-to-play, microtransaction based business model, Runic is clearly in touch with what gamers want, and likewise what they do not want,

“We love this model [microtransactions] for MMOs for a lot of reasons, among them that people can play the game and decide if they like it or not at no cost at all. We fully expect a good portion of our players to never pay a penny. Those who want to speed things up or buy extras for their characters can do at their discretion. Done properly this is a fantastic way to run an MMO.

Like I mentioned above, we also plan to a single player version first, though. This will be sold at a low price point, and primarily available by digital download. We’ll probably get boxes on shelves as well — we’d like to get it as widely available as possible.”

Naturally, Schaefer gives a nod to the Asian free-to-play phenomenon, and talks about how it’s currently influencing Runic’s development,

“We are using many of the Asian MMOs as inspiration, as they’ve done such a great job with their communities. Our game will play much differently, of course, but we think those social features will match beautifully with the Diablo action style.”

And now to address that 900 pound Gorilla in the room; just how does a small independent gaming studio survive in today’s economic climate?

“The days of publishers freely throwing around big money are over. The biggest challenge young developers face is cost control. Publishers want games faster, cheaper, and better. It’s up to us to make it happen. We’ve structured Runic as a small, tight crew operating with full consciousness of the economic realities. Thus, we’re emphasizing efficient production pipelines, robust tools, and partnership with experienced and talented publishers who know how to run this type of game. Game developers have to continuously adapt to moving targets, and startups especially have to stay small and nimble. We learned a lot from the mistakes we made at Flagship Studios, and hopefully emerged smarter and better developers as a result.”

All in all, it sounds like the Runic folks have indeed learned some lessons from the Flagship incident, and are forging ahead with some great ideas, a great new title, and an outstanding business model.  While I couldn’t find them listed on the GDC site, here’s to hoping that Schaefer and Co. make it down to San Francisco for the convention, as I think we’d all like a look at those screenshots, and perhaps a hands on review.