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Free for All: An interview with Ever, Jane's Judy Tyrer
Ever, Jane caught my eye as soon as I read about it. I wish we had access to more non-combat MMOs, or MMOs that attempt to do something so different that they are hard to categorize. I have to say that I had never read a word of Jane Austen -- the author whose books Ever, Jane is based on -- but I didn't care. If anything, the interesting gameplay described by Judy Tyrer, the creator of the game, made me want to pick up a book or two. Of course, the game is barely in a playable state at this time and will likely be in development for a time longer. Still, the MMO genre needs games that takes chances, or we'll all find ourselves stuck on some hamster wheel of grind. I asked Judy a few questions and she surprised me with some of her answers. She's been making games for a long time, so hopefully you'll be hearing more from her here on Massively for a while! Let's get to the interview.
Women are a major marketing target for Ever, Jane
Maybe you're not quite the target market for Ever, Jane. You may not like the works of Jane Austen, for example; that would be a major deterrent. But according to project head Judy L. Tyrer, one of the major areas she wants to target is the women's market, which she feels is neglected by companies as a whole. She feels that one of the major failings of game companies is failing to realize how large the game market is for women. Tyrer goes into more depth about the game's mechanics, noting that what appealed to her as a designer was the rigid stratification of social classes in Austen's work. Social movement is a major element of the gameplay, with most of players' time devoted to attending balls and gossiping about one another. No word on endgame raids against Mister Darcy or whether or not wit will be seen as an overpowered stat.
