The storyline elements were carefully defined to provide a real purpose that gets players into the conflict. New quests and content are added on a regular basis; our back end structure is very dynamic, featuring in-game streaming technologies.

Jonric: What were the major factors that influenced you in terms of the game's art direction? And how would you describe the overall look you came up with?

Nicolas Lamanna: Regnum Online has been designed to run on low-end computers, adding graphical effects as it scales up to better hardware. The main goal was to make a believable world - one that doesn't look like a cardboard theme park - within the constraints of a 400 MB download and our target specifications.

The game's graphical style has a cartoon-like feel, with strokes of anime and comic-like characters and creatures. The color palette and illumination have been carefully designed to be appealing, and to represent very different landscapes and creatures. Man-made structures and items have been created to convey the cultural differences of each realm, considering their respective origins, territories and natures.

Jonric: What did you set out to achieve in the design of your world? How large is it, and does it incorporate various types of terrain for players to explore?

Nicolas Lamanna: Regnum's world was originally planned to be several times bigger, but due to resource constraints, we ended up with a medium-sized one. This actually turned out to be really good for the main theme, which is our realm wars.

While you can roam freely almost anywhere on the world, you'll be advised by your realm members that you need to be at least level 30 to participate in the wars, and that you don't want to be alone.

The settings range from mountains and snowy lands to deserts, forests and swamps. Each realm has a very defined setting, to which the players can easily relate. Another good thing about the world is that because it's continuous, you don't have to wait for zone loading; this makes exploration a much more rewarding experience.

Jonric: Are there many NPCs around for the players to interact with, and what types of roles or functions do they fulfill?

Nicolas Lamanna: Regnum has various types of NPCs such as merchants, quest givers, trainers and guards. Most of these assist the players in selling and buying items, telling the storyline and helping them when they're chased by monsters near the cities.

Guards are located on strategic positions, so even an undefended fort or castle cannot be taken without a fight.

Jonric: How much latitude do the players have when they create their characters? Which aspects are they able to customize?

Nicolas Lamanna: There are several customization options, such as choosing loyalty to a realm, gender, race, class, face, hair, facial hair and height at the beginning, and then further personalization is possible through items.

At creation, the game also lets you assign five points to any attributes of your choosing, but since you usually don't know very much about what they will mean at this stage - unless it's not your first character, of course - this decision won't hinder you if you happen to make choices you wouldn't if you had already played the game.

Jonric: How does your advancement system function? How different can a given starting character become depending on the choices the player makes over the long term?

Nicolas Lamanna: To ensure the need for cooperation in the realm wars, Regnum was designed as a class-based MMO. You can choose from three main ones: Mage, Warrior and Archer. And farther along in the game, each of these can specialize into two sub-classes that are tailored mainly to defense and offense. For instance, a mage may become a conjurer (emphasizing support and summoning) or a warlock (medium-range damage dealing and area spells).

To earn skills, you must advance in the required discipline. Points for both skills and disciplines come from gaining levels. Although you are limited to a set of skills for your class / sub-class, you can only max-out a certain amount of disciplines, giving you a wide variety of possible character types.

Adding points to spells and disciplines is performed through trainers, which are located in every city and town. You can fully re-spec your character at any time, either using in-game currency (gold coins) or by buying a special premium item. This provides a more flexible and dynamic scenario in which players can customize their characters according to their playing styles and temporary goals.

Jonric: Since it's clearly a core gameplay element, what is combat like in Regnum Online? How much is it oriented to PvP vs. PvE? What are the notable features we can expect to see?

Andres Chilkowski: Combat in Regnum is easy to grasp. It uses a combination of mouse and keyboard, and target selection. The complex part comes from the spells you use and how you do so.

Regnum Online is pretty much PvP-oriented within a realm vs. realm context. There is PvE in the beginning, but instead of being the main goal, it just works as a big introductory step into. The really fun part begins after level 30, which is really quick to get to, when you are finally able to get out of your realm's confines and wander into a no-man's land called the War Zone. Here, you will find allied and enemy players alike.

Also, there is a wide range of spells designed to assist you and your allies. For instance, hunters can track enemy players so you can hunt them down, and most classes can use auras and area spells that allow you to create ambushes and protect yourself from enemy armies.