Interview – Acwder and Martel

Interview with the Admins – Acwder and Martel

OT Q1: Martel, when was it that you first started as Admin of Orkfia and what does this involve?

Martel I started as Admin in the old ORKFiA (the version created in 2001 by MoDo, Kadagar and C4lv1n) around 2005 to be fRoSt’s “right hand”, I was the last admin of quite a number. It involved running staff, re-organizing it, and working with code (by 2006 I had removed most known bugs and I ran several problem free “Old” ages).

The nice thing with Alliances at War (AatW) is that it will run without me interfering. It’s what players do that matters the most (you can start a war, or not, or you may go all dragons, or remain on top… Players and their actions make AatW exciting). I really only must be here to start and end ages, but that will also change, it’s just a matter of time until dev and players work out what achievements may trigger age victories.

OT Who arranges/pays for the server that AatW runs on?

Martel AatW has a dedicated server that I personally pay for, but everyone who sponsors contributes to decreasing that cost.

OT Do you still code for AatW?

Martel Almost everyday, I take the time during ages to prepare changes and improvements that will show up for next age. Lately I’ve had company by HaRRy (Development) and we’ve been quite productive for next age (Age 18).

OT Q2: It must have been a difficult decision to essentially “give away” the code of the game you had been working on, along with server space and potentially players to Scarlo for the “Classic” version of Orkfia.. what was your thinking behind this and how do you think it’s working out so far?

Martel Giving away my code, well, I felt that I owed it to the old ORKFiA coders, that game began as open source, and with Classic I’d like to continue in that spirit. I can’t force that Max (their current coder) does the same, but someone might take over from him one day, and then that tradition is kept up with. It also allows me to consider Alliances-at-War actually, truly, my own.

It was all my code, I spent several years rewriting it, creating new pictures, etc. but I made it in that spirit and I always accredited my work to “ORKFiA”. Now with Alliances-at-War, I can finally credit myself for the code I write and the graphics / interfaces I produce. It’s such a relief, and it’s thanks to giving away the “new” Classic version for a new admin in the old tradition. So while I wrote before that I was the last old ORKFiA admin, one could say that Acwder is the first of a new generation.

I really rely on the players. Without players it wouldn’t be much of a game, I wouldn’t get input from anywhere and no response on game changes, players make up all of staff, players outside staff help sponsoring, players outside staff posts game suggestions and discusses with those in dev, etc. – I’m just building this game from their input.

OT yeah its a real community feeling to the whole game..and i think part of what makes Orkfia special is that here, players feel staff (you) listen to them and act on their ideas like no other game they play.

OT Q3: Acwder tell us a bit about your history, how did you make the transition from regular Orkfia player to Admin of a Classic version and what makes you so passionate about this?

Acwder Its a kinda odd story really, I was contacted by several old vets back in late November last year who said that Orkfia Classic was gonna go live soon, there had existed a small forum about this for some time that I visited once in a while (Origin which was set up by Scarlo and Natix). The game got launched, during the first age I volunteered to be a moderator on #Orkfia, as time went on I noticed several flaws in the setup; the guide being one of them, so during Christmas last year I sat down and updated it. Next project I had (which is ongoing) was the creation of the Orkfia Portal, a place where the community could grow. Somehow I kept climbing until I became one of the admins

About the passion I have for the game, well its hard to explain, I simply do what I can to improve it, I never expected to become one of the Admins on Classic, and there are loads of projects going on, I just simply love this game and it’s potential! Its been small steps, but continuous ones, I don’t believe in slacking and I think most ppl around me have noticed that

OT Q4: Do either of you play either version?

Acwder I tried out Infinity way back just after it got launched, tho busy with other stuff it never sticked, at the moment I only have a tribe in AatW for the Orkfia-Portal to keep up with the stuff happening there:)

Martel I got the chance to play Classic competively this age, in Acwder’s alliance even, which was a blast (to the past?)

OT Oh – did you play in an alliance together in the past?

Acwder Martel recruited me into Interflora I think it was way back after the first age of FUN

Martel we did.. I once recruited a big dragon (it was right?) to my first alliance, guess who that was

Acwder hehe

OT Q5: There has been talk of new races appearing in Alliances at War, with Owls and Rept Hai even sneaking into the player guide – are these real races that are being worked on and if so when are we likely to see them?

Martel You would have to ask HaRRy, but I’m as excited about this as anyone else, all I can say is that we’re going to expand the Orkfia universe now with Alliances-at-War on it’s own new track It’s a good opportunity for anyone to suggest races to be added as we’re listening completely to non-staff players on this one… Relying on players, even.

OT So essentially now that Classic carrys the original code you are free to make any changes in AatW that take people’s fancy?

Martel Essentially, yes

OT No doubt others will be surprised too to see the addition of Classic is a positive thing for you in the end too

Martel I love Classic, I played it this age and relived many old memories (good and bad). I was just worried about bugs and such, what drove me to be admin in the first place.

OT Q6: In Classic last age you removed some buildings and introduced entirely new ones (Tents and Temples) how has this worked out and did it have the effect you hoped for?

Acwder Yeah, we removed Markets and Labs – starting with the removal: One thing that makes it hard for new people to learn this game is the protection, where you spend 48 hours protected to get your tribe ready for the age, this time is really important in Classic since one age only lasts for four weeks, Markets made this time really hard for newbies unless they had some vet in the alli to teach them how to use it, other than that this also gave room for more % of other buildings speeding things up even more. The labs were removed cause I personally and lots with me hated how Orkfia became “Scifia” where you would run max labs for 3 weeks to max those 66% and own some alliances late age, now you buy rps for cash instead and the sci is limited to 25%.

About the new buildings – we wanted some new dimension to the game, up until last age there were only 4 ways of gaining acres; exploring, grabbing, random news and the selfspells for Birds and Elves. With Tents we added a fifth way that would work as a option for exploring and in addition would give more acres percentage wise for smaller tribes than for the larger tribes.
The other new building Temples was also added to further enhance the game, especially with the changes for Age 34, Temples and it’s units Priests really are playing a bigger role in wars now, which really is what Orkfia Classic is all about. The Tents worked out great during this first age and now with the Temples improved we think that things can only get better!

OT Q7: Orkfia is very reliant on a strong staff team, although it’s been a feature of past admins to “burn out” and then disapear. What keeps you doing what you’re doing and can you see an end to it?

Acwder For me it was just about taking over what the previous Classic staff failed/burned out over, I mean Martel was never supposed to take care of both Classic and AatW, and the ones who were supposed to take care of Classic all went missing in action one after another. I just wanted to help out, it took me all the way up here, only end I can see is if someone comes around and does a better job then me then I’ll gladly step down and focus on my other projects instead. It’s all about evolving, if one stops the progress the game will become static and die on itself, one single person can only bring so much to it, new blood is always needed.

Martel I’ve seen my relief from ORKFiA adminship just how Acwder describes it (he does a better job in Classic than I would) I constantly was on the verge of burning out recoding the old game, the big question was always ‘for who am I doing this?’ as long as I managed to answer that question to myself I kept at it I guess. With AatW the answer is more and more for ‘myself’, which really helps to keep motivation up. I get rewards for this on a daily basis with player comments, chatting in IRC and players becoming sponsors to help me out. It’s just a great thing to be part of Orkfia as a whole.

Acwder and now with two different version both being developed it adds more competition between us which in return makes us improve the versions even more.

Martel it really does, as long as I can refrain from just stealing their ideas :p

Acwder haha likewise

Martel need to work in different directions, but some good ideas can be used in both games, which is really what you’d call synergy.

OT Q8: Science has always been a big part of Orkfia in the past and was a bugbear for many players of both versions. In the last age both versions developed different ways of dealing with this problem. How do you think your solutions have gone?

Martel well in AatW it has become an optional tool, like how Joe wanted it, maybe something could be done to make that tool even more useful in the future (now all alliances are on a more equal footing which should be good for the game)

Acwder I think the Classic version’s way of dealing with it will really show in the next age since the price has now been sorted on a better level then the first age, science should be an addition to the game not be the game

Martel i really like how in Classic game play suddenly got a lot more focused and not stopping up growth mid-way to pump sci (and sacrifice growth), some would call that a feature, but for me playing classic was as most fun when you simply just compete in growth

Acwder yeah both Classic and AatW have now adopted the idea that it shouldnt be Scifia anymore, 66% bonuses gave a huge advantage

OT Q9: Although these are two distinctly different versions of Orkfia, with different staff and different ambitions, both versions share the name of Orkfia and the community. What are your feelings about this… is it better to keep everything as separate as possible or do you think both versions will prosper through sharing some things?

Martel For AatW we’re giving up the Old “ORKFiA” name, but our heritage includes the world Orkfia, and that world we wish to keep expanding on in the future.

OT Oh really? so Alliances at War will now be just that – no more “Orkfia”?

Martel I’m not too sure yet, at the moment it’s just “Alliances At War” but we also go by Orkfia Infinity, maybe they will become synonymous. Still i’d say we’re all Orkfians no matter domain name changes :p

Acwder Indeed we are.

Acwder The whole goal for the Orkfia-Portal was to bring AatW and Classic closer, lately the development has been more focused on Classic due to the world forum being replaced by the Portal forum, though about the different staff Im quite sure we got several staffmembers that are part of both versions, the versions will grow on their own but the community as a whole would prolly gain more on having some common ground Orkfia Classic is also going to be changed, atm its not sure if we aswell are droping Orkfia or not, prolly not, its just the “Classic” part that rings the bells of a static old version thats not being developed anymore.

Martel it’s just the odd ORKFiA acronym that I think we’re both getting rid of (?)

Acwder still not decided for the Classic version but we are working on it:)

Martel In my opinion it symbolises the old ORKFiA version which I have given up, in order to let AatW prosper on its own and strictly speaking from a code context, the code has been rewritten so that connection with the old has been gone for long

Acwder There is a danger with being named Orkfia, that is that ppl coming back from being away for several years expects to find just their version of the game, this isnt the case here since both the games are constantly being developed.

Martel I agree with Acwder there too

OT Thanks for your very interesting answers – is there anything either of you would like to add?

Acwder yeah one add would be that don’t hesitate to play both versions:)

Martel Indeed, I find classic to be time consuming, but that is the whole point of it too.. a hardcore game experience no other game can offer… at least in my opinion I play Alliances-at-War to enjoy other people, the fantasy surrounding and a different world that is quite enjoyable. Nothing says both aren’t possible to play at once, I know many do.

~ Thanks to both Acwder and Martel for this interview, I hope it is interesting for everyone to read – Interview conducted by Jamzi for the Orkfian Times~

1. play games says:

   November 11, 2008 at 13:23

   play games…

   Think playing video games……

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