Momchil Dilov  is the Lead Writer of Masthead Studios. We told with him to know how the Earthrise story-line was born ...



GS: Your work is surely original and coherent, even in a hard setting such as the sci-fi/post apocalyptic one. How much time did you spend working on the core of the story?

Momchil: Well, the original idea was at hand and I sat down wondering how I could shape it into something more coherent and logical. This took me more than several months of hard work on it, but the result was more than satisfying and I knew it would help us create a unique game world that will intrigue and involve the players.
 

GS: Have you been influenced more by books or movies when writing Earthrise?

Momchil: This is hard to say. I feel that my imagination has mostly been fuelled by books, but it has been the mass media – including movies and games – that has really taught me how to express my ideas to the players.



GS: We saw several introductions to the main story even a couple of years ago. Coming back, would you publish those texts as they are or would you like to change something? How has the story evolved from your original idea?

Momchil: When creating the story, I spent several days and nights pondering about the best way to introduce it more clearly and in a more approachable way to the players. The goals of the original story are still present; however, I’ve tweaked the execution and presentation of the storyline slightly.



GS: What kind of experience is needed for a writer to collaborate with a software house developing a MMO? Did you have to change your way of writing to adapt it to the game contents?

Momchil: Sure, writing for games is very different from writing books or short stories. Game writing requires the writer to be able to tell the story in such a way that the player will experience it on his own, but without restricting his imagination and curiosity. The greatest challenge in game writing is to tell the story, but not to confine the player inside it.



GS: How much will the storyline matter in Earthrise? Will it be a simple background or will it be influenced by the player's progression like in the so called "theme park" mmos? Did you ever considered writing new quests and fictions based on the single servers' events?

Momchil: We are trying to stick to the concept that the players can advance through the game via purely sandbox game experience. Of course, this does not mean that we are creating an underdeveloped storyline. The players get involved in the mysteries of Enterra from the very beginning of the game, and it is up to them to find out what's going on. They can go searching for answers via questing, or by exploring the world on their own, or choose to disregard all of this and create their own point of view to the whole story by experiencing the gameplay.
 

GS: It’s very difficult to link together every ideas, piece of content or part relating with the story-line, such as quests, NPCs personality, background, events and so on. What’s your method of approach, your work scheme to proceed and develop all these elements? We would love to hear how the whole thing becomes playable.

Momchil:  As with any projects, ideas are constantly evolving so I begin by writing all of the ideas down; imagine a giant Earthrise idea log! Then it’s time for feedback from the other writers and the game design team, this is where ideas are butchered, scrapped or completely reshaped. Although sometimes brutal, this process ensures that the ideas are clear and playable. Then, when you are completely sure that your work stands its ground, the testers come and begin to ravel through every aspect until it is back to the drawing board. The process is repeated until everyone feels comfortable with the finished product.



GS: Do you think that in the near future it will be possible to have a MMO where the storyline (or a smaller part of it) could be written in real time by players, maybe with the help of a dev team playing/working in the same time? Will there be the technology or structures to do it? Or is it already possible?

Momchil: The pace with which the modern IT technologies develop allows us to produce extraordinary stuff, and I am pretty sure that such a project can be created, given the proper amount of time and effort. It will require years of intensive testing but the results could be tremendous.

Thx to Momchil Dilov for the interview.