Dungeon Fighter Q&A: Talking with Luis Reyes

With two updates in a mere four months, we sat down with DFO's associate producer, Luis Reyes, to talk about this MMO's past, present, and future development.

As technology marches forward, gamers have come to expect more, graphically and technically, from their MMORPGs than ever before. It's funny, however, how even though we demand prettier pictures out of our games, there are some of those classic RPGs that still hit us with waves of nostalgia, every time we think back to those countless hours spent playing on our Super Nintendos, Playstations, or even PS2s. In fact, it was really only a matter of time before a someone decided to tap into those classic sprite graphics to bring us some pure, good old fashioned fun in an MMORPG format.

That game, of course, was Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online, a 2D sprite-based, side-scrolling MMORPG that was released a few months back in September, 2009. Since then, DFO has seen two large-scale updates, in the form of their "Dawn of Retribution" patch, a month or two back, and their latest, the "Threshold of Power" patch, which saw a level cap increase to 50, and a plethora of new abilities added into the game. Of course, we, here at ZAM, were already enamored with the nostalgic fun of Dungeon Fighter Online, but now that the game is firmly moving forward into 2010, we decided to sit down with Luis Reyes, the Associate Producer for Dungeon Fighter Online, to dig deeper on their classic 2D MMORPG.

ZAM: ZAM: Hello and thanks for taking the time to answer some questions we had about Dungeon Fighter Online!
 
Luis Reyes: Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity to answer questions.
 
ZAM: To start with something light and to introduce our readers to Dungeon Fighter Online, it's been noted by many that DFO is a unique MMORPG in comparison to other free to play MMOs. What, in your opinion, really sets DFO apart from its peers?

Luis: In the world of MMORPGs, Dungeon Fighter Online is defined primarily by its fighting, action-arcade aesthetic. You move through this world with the express purpose of beating things up, and so all of the RPG aspects of the game (the lore, the characters, the story) feed that approach. It brings together all we love about fighting games in the arcade and all we love about epic, role-playing adventures and then puts them both online to take advantage of the excitement an integrated online community brings to a game. What is particularly cool about the game are all the skills you can use. Each character class comes with its own set of skills, each with unique animations. And as you play, you get skill points to buy more skills, and level up ones you already have. 
 
ZAM: When Dungeon Fighter Online was released in North America, a lot of players were concerned over the massive EXP requirements needed to progress to the level 30-40 range. Since then, Nexon has released the content update "Dawn of Retribution," where you note that you've lowered experience curves and have made early monsters easier to beat. For players who have not had the opportunity to revisit the game after these changes, do you think you could explain just how significant a change these lowered experience curves were? With a player who can spare a few hours every day to run dungeons, how long do you think it would take him or her to reach the current level cap?
 
Luis: As a part of our beta test, we made the game more challenging, but it ending up creating a few grind points. With the update, we found a balance that works well for North American players. And by lowering the difficulty level of monsters in the earlier dungeons, we offer more of a learning curve to first time players. Dawn of Retribution was definitely a significant update. For a player that spends a few hours a day running dungeons, it would take a month or two to reach the level cap. And that's if they ignore the Player-versus-Player Arena, the time trial quests and other aspects of the game that really add to the experience. Plus, the level cap was recently raised to Level 50 in the new Threshold of Power update to further enhance the game.
 
ZAM: Outside of the experience curve changes, it's been a mere four months since Dungeon Fighter Online was released in North America. What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced in bringing it over here?

Luis: Well this open beta period has definitely revealed a lot to us about the game, not the least of which [was] exposing vast differences in the network infrastructure between a smaller more concentrated country such as South Korea and a larger more disparate country such as the United States. Lag and connection errors popped up in the early days. But we have been able to change our system to account for these differences, and continue to do so, finding new ways to improve the game's performance. By the time we officially launch Dungeon Fighter Online later this year, we plan on having an incredibly smooth running game. Another big challenge we face is localization. There are a LOT of pieces of text in the game if you consider the sheer amount of quests, items and general descriptions that pack this game. And more is being added all the time. But localization also involves fitting the game to the different playing styles that exist in North America, and creating a content update schedule that will make sense with the player base on this continent. We have to carefully plan everything.
 
ZAM: It's no secret that Dungeon Fighter Online has been alive and kicking for the past four or five years in Korea (under the name Dungeon & Fighter), but it's managed to see the light of day in North America thanks only to you. Are you planning to develop DFO along the path that the Korean Dungeon & Fighter has followed, or do you think DFO will ultimately follow its own development schedule? Do you think we might even see some exclusive North American changes?
 
Luis: For the time being we are bringing in the Korean content primarily. However, we are definitely pushing to create more localized content for the North American DFO service. We have discussed the possibility of original North American content and are right now brainstorming what it might be. We just increased the level cap from 40 to 50, which came with a whole new set of quests, skills, dungeons and monsters. And once we finished with the aftermath of that update, we are looking at another update right on its heels. So stick around.
 
ZAM: Dungeon Fighter Online plays, and feels, like a classic arcade style fighter - perfect as a competitive gaming platform. Do you think that DFO will ever be able to attract enough popularity and support in North America to be seen as an MMO with competitive gaming potential? Are there plans to push DFO in this direction?
 
Luis: We love the Arena. Getting into a PvP match is so much like indulging in good old arcade camaraderie. It is already a hugely popular part of the game and we are planning game and web features that will allow players to get even more competitive with it. We would like to see well-organized tournaments begin to spring up around the Arena and are looking at ways now to facilitate that. We would like to reach out to pro gaming leagues with an interest in DFO to add the game in their competition line up. We're very excited about the potential of this. DFO competitions already exist in Korea, China and Japan, so we know it's something DFO fans like as part of the game's greater reach.

ZAM: When the cash shop was implemented, some players were slightly disgruntled over the high cost of a skill reset (25,000 NX, or approximately $25 USD), not to mention the rumor that a user can lose anywhere from 4 to 24 SP (after the reset) just by using the item. What was the thought process behind the high price of a skill reset item? To make players think very seriously about their character skill builds? In a broader sense, are there any changes or new additions planned for the DFO Cash Shop?
 
Luis: Let me first address this rumor about lost Skill Points. We have read about it on our forums and have received a few Customer Support tickets. We are currently investigating the issue. If we discover there is a glitch in the database, we will find a fix and work out a way to compensate players. As for the price, yes, changing your skill build is a serious part of the game. We do want people to be thoughtful about what it means before they reset. A lot of the strategy of the game depends on how you choose and use your skills. This is a price point we have built off of other Dungeon Fighter services around the world. Also, at Level 18, Skill Points are automatically restored to the player to build an alternative Skill Build, which a lot of players use to their advantage. As for the Item Shop, we are, of course, going to be adding new items to the shop. In the upcoming Valentine update we will be including-along with some special Valentine's Day packages-Megaphones to the mix. Megaphones allow players to send messages out to either everyone in their channel, or everyone in the whole DFO server.
 
ZAM: I'm sure you've heard this question many times before, but will Priests ever get a fourth subclass path, like the rest of the DFO crew?
 
Luis: Perhaps, if there is enough demand in North America, we can make it more of a priority, but right now it is still in the planning stages. Obviously it is something we want to bring into the game. The game continues to grow, even in Korea, so you will be seeing lots off new content added, including new character classes, subclasses, skills, etc. I can't speak to what lies ahead in the moderate future, but as for the present, the Threshold of Power update that we just had on January 27th includes a whole swath of new skills for most of the subclasses.
 
ZAM: To look to the future of DFO, what sort of updates do you have planned for this upcoming year? Can we expect big things to come?
 
Luis: Absolutely. Big things are on the horizon, and probably sooner than everyone thinks. We expect another major update in March and will be sharing more details as plans are solidified in the weeks leading up to the update. I can't really say exactly what's coming out, but let me just say that our recent Level 50 cap raise in the Threshold of Power update…we're not stopping there.
 
ZAM: And that's pretty much all we have for now! Thanks so much for the interview, and good luck taking Dungeon Fighter Online into 2010!
 
Luis: Thanks so much for speaking with us.

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