New family member: Travian Games launches second studio
Travian Games is well known for their high quality browser games, loved by players all over the world. Their motto can be described as "quality instead of quantity", as they only published 2 games so far. But this doesn't hinder the "Travian story" to be a huge success. We've had the chance to speak to Björn Lilleike, CEO of their new developing studio TG-Nord (Travian Games North).
Galaxy-News: You are CEO of the TG Nord GmbH, the new developing studio of Travian Games. Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us how you got into browser games?
Björn Lilleike: Hi, I'm Björn Lilleike, 33 and I started working in the games development in 1999. As a game designer I worked on strategy games such as Port Royale and Anno 1701. I created an interest for browser based gaming about 3 years ago and I'm extremely fascinated by the huge range of possibilities these types of multiplayer games (MMOs) offer to the players. The scene is still in a very early stage and I want to expand what's possible.
Galaxy-News: In how far do you think MMOs are different from classic computer games like the named Anno?
Björn Lilleike: The persistant world of the MMOs, especially within browser games makes a huge difference. Whoever tried playing a complex board game knows how difficult it is to organize getting all your friends around etc. Agreeing on a certain setting is not a real problem, thats why classic multiplayer games (even if their using the internet) aren't really providing a real benefit. This is where persistant MMOs have their killer feature. Plus there are two huge advantages of browser games: Firstly the money you need to invest into a game is a lot less than e.g. for a video game and bugs can be fixed any time without thinking about how to distribute them. The second and even bigger advantage is the platform independence making it possible to play the game wherever on whatever kind of computer.
Galaxy-News: Why did you start working for Travian Games?
Björn Lilleike: The first contact was made because of Travians, that by the way has recently been launched in Germany. I had the chance to give my outside opinion on the game in summer.
Galaxy-News: Do you really think your "dreams" can be fullfilled within a web browser? Especially good graphics seem to be a bad condition for a PBBG.
Björn Lilleike: A couple of years ago traffic costs and the bandwidth seemed to be insurmountable barriers. Today nobody is really thinking about these factors anymore. The browser offers a huge range of interesting technologies and both-way the computers are getting faster and faster. Now it's our job to use these changed circumstances while creating a browser MMO.
There already are a range of good appendages but we need to leverage these ideas. The classic computer game walked the same path from text based games via graphical decorated games to real graphic games. The only limitation at the moment is the size of a project - creating an authentic interactive environment is a lot more complex and time-consuming than simply using a drop-down list with all possible options.
Galaxy-News: How big is your team in Hanover? Are you still hiring?
Björn Lilleike: Yes indeed. We're especially looking for Flash/Flex- and Java coders, wanting to make their hobby a profession. This doesn't only mean working fulltime within our team in our beautiful downtown office, but luckily also, that the basic conditions are good.
Galaxy-News: Is there already a precise project? What are you currently working on?
Björn Lilleike: We will only be working on a single project for the foreseeable future. We already have a brilliant graphic engine and a coherent plan anyway. But it's gonna be at least another year before the launch.
Galaxy-News: Which role do you think TG Nord will have on the maket? Will you be publishing your own games? How dependend are you on your parent company?
Björn Lilleike: We're very happy to have a partner in Travian Games with international experience and success. We're working with the same passion and for unmistakeable games. As a developer we're prioritizing the cognition of the games we create - and if the company can be thriving as well, that'd be even better!
Galaxy-News: Thanks a lot for your time and good luck with TG Nord!
Interview originally given for Galaxy-News.de.