Marcus Thorell Björkäng is the Game Director at Star Stable Entertainment. In this special exclusive interview, he'll answer a few questions about the upcoming awesomeness in Star Stable for 2016!
Game Director at Star Stable Entertainment, wasn't it Pixel Tales before?
Yeah, it used to be Pixel Tales until me and the whole team moved in with everyone at Star Stable HQ! Since summer, we've all become part of the same Star Stable Entertainment family. To be able to have everything happening in one place is making everything so much more easy and fun to work with, which means we can put even more focus on making Star Stable Online the best horse game ever!
So much happened during 2015 in Star Stable... Brand new horse breeds, the Mall opened, the new area Epona was released and we finally got to lead our horses! You know what this means we're gonna ask: is 2016 gonna be just as cool? Is there anything you can reveal for us?
2015 was an amazing year for the game, and we were able to upgrade loads of different parts of the game and introduce lots and lots of cool new stuff. We plan to keep up the same pace and continue to deliver tons of amazing content for our players in 2016! The weekly news will always keep you posted of all the new stuff coming up.
Aww man, come on! There must be something you can tell us?!
Haha, okay I can maybe tell you a couple of things... As soon as this spring there'll be a new area opening up! It's of course not as big as Epona, but there'll be brand new territory to gallop across, explore and have adventures in! You'll have to wait and see which area it's going to be though! Later in the year towards winter is when you'll get another new area!
This year we'll be developing and expanding 'My Stable' with loads of new functions! We're also aiming to bring you guys a brand new function where you and your horse will be able to learn special abilities that'll help you improve your results when you race!
There's loads more cool stuff we've got planned, but you'll still be able to expect a fun stream of great features in our weekly updates such as new quests, new gear, clothes and horses and much more. At the same time as all of that, we'll be working hard to improve and upgrade the game with new graphics, sounds and more!
Wow, this all sounds incredible! 'My Stable' though, what's happening there?
I don't want to go into too much detail and promise too much, but our goal right now is to work towards allowing you to get a bigger stable that you can decorate and personalize in your own style! Along with all that, we've been thinking of more fun features, but you'll have to wait and see what they might be...!
Bigger stables! We've been waiting for that! Awesome! What else did you mention just then? Something about special abilities in races?
Yeah, we've been wanting to do this one for a while! You'll be able to learn special riding abilities from the horse trainers in the game, just as you learn from them how to lead your horse. You can use these abilities with your horses to, for example, ride faster for a short time, go instantly from standing still to a full gallop, and much more!
Are these magical powers?
No, at least not to begin with anyway. Our thought here is to try and make it so that the boosts you get are similar to the advantages you'd have if you were an extremely good rider in real life. You won't be able to constantly use the boosts, or use them all at once, so you'll have to be careful and tactical in your choices when you use them in a competition.
Sounds like racing is about to get a whole lot more exciting!
Yeah, absolutely! The championships and races are such an important part of the game, and we know there's lots we can do to improve them in the future.
So when can we expect all this awesomeness?
These are advanced features that require a lot of work and programming, so I can't really promise exactly when it'll all be done except to say that the My Stable features and special racing abilities will most likely be released at some point in 2016. Keep your eyes on the weekly news for more information as it comes out, because I think I've already said way too much! Haha!
You also mentioned improvements to sound and graphics and other things. Is there anything in particular you'd like to tell us about the stuff that'll be visually upgraded?
We're going to keep on working to improve and upgrade the older areas like Silverglade, and there'll be great graphic improvements for the game's lead characters. Alex, Lisa, Linda and Anne will gradually get a new look and new animations. I think there's a chance you might see a few concept art sketches of this stuff pretty soon...!
So exciting! Can't wait to see how they turn out! But, umm... Anne? You just said Anne...
Did I?
Haha yeah! Does that mean she'll appear soon?
Umm... We'll see! There's a pretty good chance Anne may soon be reunited with the other Soul Riders so they can eventually reform their group in its entirety...
Marcus, we know you're busy developing the game and we should really let you get back to work, but we want to ask you about the lead characters in Star Stable. Will we get to know more about them? We got some new background on Alex in the latest story quests, after all...
Yes! We plan to give you all a lot more back-story around these important characters. We think it's really important for the players to learn as much as they can about the Soul Riders and that it's fun to get more info about them as well as about Jorvik in general.
Before you go, one last question. You said ages ago that there'd be some kind of nail salon function coming to the game. We haven't seen anything yet, so we're wondering what's happened to that idea?
Oh yeah! Umm. Nails. Yeah. So... James was supposed to open a manicure studio in Fort Pinta, but I don't actually know what happened to it... He must've messed it up as usual! I think we should try and open one up in the Mall instead in the near future, and make sure James has got nothing to do with it!
Marcus, it's been great to talk to you! You've shared some really exciting stuff, thank you so much!
Anytime, thanks!