Creating an MMORPG with an all volunteer team is hard enough. Having to create it while a camera crew is following your every move would seem to add on to the challenges. However that's exactly what Damon Grow decided to do with his company Shattered Reality Interactive. He and his time are trying to make their MMORPG Kaos War under the cameras for Creating Kaos, a new web video reality series that launched its first episode on Games.net last Friday and will continue on a weekly basis. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with Grow about both Kaos War and Creating Kaos.

FiringSquad: First, how did you get interested in creating games?

Damon Grow: I started in 1997 with Ultima Online. What an adventure that was! We all have that special moment in MMOs, that transcendental moment when you discover the coolest thing in the world; online games. Mine was standing in a forest outside Trinsic in that isometric view (top down), with my headphones turned up on a killer HP Pavilion 133 with a 36k modem! It was awesome, I heard birds chirping, ambient noise, and saw trees, animals and shadows, and I thought…I am in a world connected with thousands of other people at the same time! It was the coolest thing in the world and knew it would be the future of gaming. Then an ogre came out of nowhere and beat me over the head with a club, and then a specter joined in and violated my corpse. From there my love of MMOs never abated.

Like most of the first generation MMO players, moving from UO to Everquest was natural. It was 3D and so far ahead of its time that I played it for 6 years. Even back then I knew someday I was going to start making these games. The game that changed me was Shadowbane. I was a pvper in UO and a bit in Everquest, but in Shadowbane something happened. I joined the Scorn server, started my own guild and joined the Rolling 30s alliance. This alliance had some of the most powerful online pvp guilds ever. Sinister, DDH, Nurfed, Regulators, Demise and the R30s were lead by the likes of famous leaders BoneDancer and Darph (from Fires of Heaven) to name a few. Playing with these guys and leading a guild myself taught me a lot about determination and leadership. I mean, commanding a guild of over 200 guys is daunting…now just imagine thousands!

After Shadowbane, I moved on to SWG, Lineage 2, and World of Warcraft. One day after clearing MC and grinding my 4th level 60 I had enough. It was time. I learned all I could about MMOs during 10 years of online gaming. I got up one morning in early 2005 over a year ago and began the greatest adventure of my life – to independently create the largest and most successful AAA MMO. I was not sure just how it was going to be done, or who would help me, but I was positive I would succeed with enough luck and tenacity.

FiringSquad: How did the idea for Kaos War come about?

Damon Grow: For years I was talking to my guild about making a game with epic PvE and unreal PvP to put our years of gaming experience to use. I had this beautiful world in my head. I was a philosophy major in college so things like truth and deeper meaning came natural to me and were what led me to Kaos. I wanted to make a game world that had a soul behind it, something special - not orcs and elves. Kaos manifested in my dreams. I dream about demons and angels and the battles of creation. A world filled with ancient dread and humans ascending to their destinies, a path set before them since the beginning of time. These dreams are what lead to Kaos.  

FiringSquad: How hard is it to develop an MMOPG with an all volunteer development team?

Damon Grow: It is unbelievably hard. What made it extremely difficult from the beginning is that we are spread all over the world. We have to deal with time zone differences, the inability to work face-to-face, and many have daytime jobs to pay the bills while they work on the game. We lessen the hardships as a virtual company by using tools such as email, instant messenger, Voip programs like Teamspeak and Ventrilo, and passing data along by FTP and Sourcesafes such as Subversion. Many of our developers are currently on their way to our headquarters in San Francisco, which reduces the obstacles significantly.

On top of all that we are not just building a small game. Kaos War is an epic AAA MMO title and at this time an MMO game is simply the hardest and most time intensive game to develop. This means that without further funding, we’d need 100’s of industry quality volunteers to get enough work done to actualy finish the game. Getting financial backing is essential for a game like this.

FiringSquad: Why do you think Kaos War will be a memorable game, especially when all of the current and upcoming MMORPGs on the market?

Damon Grow: Ever since day one we set out to make this game memorable, built with imagination and heart. With the level of polish expected from a Blizzard title and the level of graphics expected from a company like Epic. We are players ourselves, and consequently have set our standards very high. We are extremely hard on our design and want to give our players the best experience possible. Kaos War is given a soul in everything we do, and we believe it shows sometimes. The spirit of the game leaves a lasting impression.

Kaos War will also be memorable because it is built on our own technology. SRI is not just about making stellar games. With Loren Roosendaal, our CTO, designing technology and gameplay elements that blend together perfectly, we hope to provide advances in interactivity, graphics and networking. You can certainly count on a few things when it comes to Kaos War - revolutionary game play and revolutionary technology. If it doesn’t look awesome and play great, we won’t put it in! 

FiringSquad: What is the game's current development status and is the company close to gaining a publisher?

Damon Grow: We are close to gaining everything, and what we gain really just depends on the day! We had to go through a major transformation from an independent to a legitimate game studio in less then a year. Most people do not understand what that takes. Not only do you have to make a great game but you have to run a start-up company, which includes a business plan, contracts, copyrights, trademarks, attorneys, and massive amounts of other work.

The game state is fantastic! Our “Beast” SRI’s proprietary game engine Kaos Engine is looking awesome. We aim to be at E3 next year to show its capabilities off to the world. Our poor programmers are locked in their dungeons and we won’t let them out until the techdemo is done. As for publishers, we are talking to a few who really like our design and vision, things are going well. We believe it’s only a matter of time.  

FiringSquad: Let's talk about this Creating Kaos series. How did this come about?

Damon Grow: Six months ago Games.net’s video producer Wendy Chan let out a call for independents to be a part of a reality series showcasing the struggles of independents as they try and take on big corporations with only dreams, 3 dollars, and a pocket knife. I went to the GamePro offices in Oakland and it was like walking into paradise for gamers! Then I showed them Kaos War, and told them our story. I remember one of the guys in there saying, “wait you’re an MMO?!” Not only one whose goal was to be AAA title, but also to be #1. So basically that was what they were looking for, though way more extreme. It was the equivalent to being dropped naked in the African jungle with juicy steaks tied to your legs. Get running Damon. Don’t mind the lions. Have fun storming the castle!  

FiringSquad: How much input do you have in how you are portrayed in this series?

Damon Grow: All of the footage is very raw and visceral. I have a small bit of input but Wendy does such a great job. From the videos it may seem that it is just me doing everything, but that is so far from the truth. We have a full studio with amazing and dedicated people who make this possible. If it wasn’t for them we would not be here. You will see everyone in the next episodes. We have become a family and we hope to continue this family atmosphere with everyone that joins us at Shattered Reality Interactive.

FiringSquad: Are you afraid that showing yourself and your challenges in making this game in this way might portray you in a bad light?

Damon Grow: I guess everything in life is a double-edged sword. There will be hate, but there will also be love. I cannot hate people who spit in my face and throw tomatoes at me. You just lift your chin and keep going. Since we started people have said that we would fail, that we simply can’t do it, that it’s impossible. Well, they said the same thing to every person that changed the world. I get a lot of inspiration from the past, and no matter how many times someone kicks you down, what matters most is getting back up. We just couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to tell gamers our story, including all of our setbacks and triumphs.  

FiringSquad: How did John Romero get involved in this production?

Damon Grow: That was through IDG and GamePro. Romero is really a great guy (I have yet to meet him) but he speaks his mind and has a massive amount of knowledge. I’m hoping to have a sit down with him and glean as much experience that I can. I mean, as much hate as he gets sometimes, any gamer would love to have a few pitchers of beer with the guy to talk about the days of Doom and Quake! He helped start a revolution, no one can deny it!  

FiringSquad: So far what has the response been like to the first episode?

Damon Grow: Better then we expected for sure! This would be a dream come true for so many gamers out there, and I think it resonates with a wide range of people. Infact we’d like to thank everyone that has stood up and supported us over the past week!  

FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Kaos War and about Creating Kaos?

Damon Grow: Yes! Kaos War is coming, and we hope people will love it. With killer gameplay, graphics, environments and copious amounts of things being set on fire! Anything less would be too civilized! You can count on me still in that jungle being hunted by packs of lions, running my ass off, while everyone gets to watch it live, every week, in Creating Kaos! “Haha! He tripped, he’s screwed now!”

Thank you Firing Squad!

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