Atanasov has a nice smile, one that says he's proud of his game, and is fully aware of its huge potential. He showed up in the press room in Cologne with a Masthead Studios shirt, as black as the background of our own site. The document wallet is holding actually clashes with it, but since we're the first and most important Italian site to pay this much attention to the game (his words, which made us glad), he didn't care. Quite the opposite.

Earthrise is the dream of a better world (MMO), the hope that we'll finally be able to say: "That's it! The next-gen is here, and it's not just pretty graphics.. ". In fact, the Bulgarian developers are so attentive to details that everyday they examine and improve concepts, gameplay, ideas e suggestions from beta testers, and this just goes to show how professional they are.

"We're improving the battle system" - he told us. "The feedback we got from the beta version indicated that what we were doing wasn't exactly the best. And the best is the only thing we want for our fans."
A closed beta phase is going to start again soon, with implemented crafting system and a better version of the graphics engine, so that it'll be able to run on less powerful PCs and thus enlarging the number of players.
 

During crafting, there are going to be "secure spots", places where crafters won't be engaged in PvP while they work. Masthead is working to make Earthrise a game for everyone. For casual players, which will be able to take on a large number of quests PvE by themselves, without group instances, starting from neutral areas which allow them to follow the tutorial without the fear of being attacked. This will allow them to understand the game without getting tired, thanks to simple but effective UI, controls and camera.

If you think about it, the equation "sells a lot=casual player", and "doesn't sell much=hardcore player", has a lot of negative influence on the developers. Recently, browser games are gaining popularity exactly because of their Nintendo DS approach, which allows the users to play for 5 minutes before shutting down the console. Obviously, this won't happen with Earthrise, but alienating a lot of players because of a misunderstanding of the idea of sandbox isn't an intention of Atanasov's. This is why quests, even in a game like this, are simply essential, and have a whole team dedicated to them, that's shaping up the plot, the clash between factions, which makes them different in their own respect, granting players exclusive rewards celebrating their belonging to one or the other.
Sandbox fans have no reason to worry. "There aren't going to be loading times", Atanasov's assures us. "It'll be a completely open world. PvP will be everywhere, of course, there will be areas dedicated to it and areas dedicated to PvE, but nothing will stop players from attacking someone in the latter, or from farming mobs in the former"
And while we're talking about PvP, Atanasov unveils a certain kind of battleground called "Strategy Game", sieges with a limited number of players where we'll be able to choose the place most becoming to us and our characteristics. An endgame touch, on which the Bulgarian developers are working a lot. Returning to the equation, it could be said that this kind of battleground is dedicated to groups, like some kinds of PvP battles, while the essential PvE part is dedicated to the single player, almost as if the game wants to lead him slowly but inevitably to a one-on-one battle, true propelling force of the game.
 

Resources management is going to be fundamental. Prices will be influenced by their availability, so that if an enemy or a mob is controlling a resource area, that resource's prize will go through the roof. Conversely, if a resource is easy to obtain it won't cost much (which makes crafting extremely related to this aspect). Besides, the longer we've been controlling a certain territory, base, or resource, the higher the chance that it'll be attacked by a mob or other players, which will gain more and more determining options with time.
A wise use of the classic "guild bank" will influence the economy as will all other decisions made by players. Selling certain items only to clan members or to the public, will cause important changes to their availability. A complex game, that if carefully studied will allow only certain guilds to have certain items. Also players will be able to affect the delicate political balances, since they'll be able to switch factions very easily. We'll even be able to attack members of our own guild (but only after certain events) and thus betray them.

Atanasov has also confessed that he hasn't thought of in-game events, but this doesn't mean there is never going to be any. "Our first priority right now is the game, we have to make it perfect in every aspect and carefully follow feedback from our beta testers. We'll be able to dedicate ourselves to other things when everything's perfect."
But the smile on his face makes us hope for the best.

We wish to thank mister Atanasov for considering us and for his time.