What was the inspiration to create the game and who had the main idea for the Guild Wars franchise?

[Cynder.2509]

I've been wondering about this since like forever because I'm a person who has lots of game ideas but I could never actually develop one. But I do get inspired a lot by the game(s) for my music production.

Keep up the great work and thanks for inspiring me! :smiley:

[JackassTheX.6351]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I was about to ask a very similar question: what came first, PvP or Pve? I realize the answer can be "neither" or "both at the same time" but I always wondered which was the "original" focus of GW1 (if there was one).

[Gaile Gray.6029]

Wow, good questions.

 

My first introduction to Guild Wars came in the summer of 2000, and as I recall it was Mo who talk to me about the game concept. I guess I've always credited him with the original vision, although I'm sure it was honed by the three founders in concert with one another.

 

As to which came first -- PvE or PvP -- what I witnessed in development was PvE first, but that's not to say that it was conceived first, or that it was given primary focus because I felt that both were being looked at with an eye to balance, even then.

 

There may be others active in this chat who can give you better answers, but that's my take on things from back then. :)

[MatthewMedina.5419]

Hmm, so this goes back quite a ways so I may be speaking a bit out of turn, but my recollection of those early days was that there was no one person who had the main idea for the franchise. The three founders, Pat Wyatt, Mike O'Brien and Jeff Strain shared a lot of the leadership duties when I joined the team in 2003, and even then the whole team was given a lot of power to help chart the course of what the game would become. One clear inspiration for the whole team from the beginning was "Magic: The Gathering", in terms of how the art of deck-building was a strong basis for our core skill build system.

 

I think as far as PvP/PvE goes, it was more the case that both were in development concurrently, and our earliest team playtests tended to alternate between the two. I still remember my first week we had a PvE playtest in a mission that we called "The Iron Witch" which involved our party of adventurers trying to scale an alpine mountain to confront the evil witch at the top (though more often than not we wiped at the group of Frost trolls who spammed knockdowns).

[Gaile Gray.6029]

Oh my gosh, Matthew, you mean my beloved Snow Peak!?!? I seriously **loved** that map. We used to do playthrough tests on it, die, and then there would be a puase as we all waited for someone to say ,"Go again?" and we'd be back at it... over and over again. It was a great map.

 

Question for you or @"PeterFries.1057"

I have to believe the Snow Peak became part of something in the game. Do you remember what? (I mean, part of The Shiverpeaks is obvious, but maybe one of the maps in that region?)

[PeterFries.1057]

I joined the environment team as of Factions, so I'm not sure what became of that prototype Snow Peak map. Maybe it inspired Spearhead Peak in the Southern Shiverpeaks…? I like the idea of that iron witch, though.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

@"MatthewMedina.5419" -- Do you remember who was involved in the creation of that map?

[MatthewMedina.5419]

@"Gaile Gray.6029" Hmm - I want to say it was either Joel or Lee.

[Redfeather.6401]

> @"MatthewMedina.5419" said:

> One clear inspiration for the whole team from the beginning was "Magic: The Gathering", in terms of how the art of deck-building was a strong basis for our core skill build system.

 

That was the best part of the game for me. Collecting and mixing/matching skills was like a constant adventure of discovery.