With the launch of the open beta, we had the opportunity for an interview with the lead artist of Trove, Brian Clarke. The voxel MMO adventure is a sandbox title with RPG elements and a blocky engine in a comic style. Players can let their creativity run wild in Trove and interact with the environment in various ways – together with other players.
That’s enough about Trove. Let’s start with the interview.
Please introduce yourself briefly to our readers. What are your tasks at Trove?
I am Brian (also known as GrumpNTu online) and the lead artist on our team. This means that I take care of the overall visual presentation of the game. I am responsible for areas such as character design, lighting effects, colors, and oversee pretty much everything that your eyes see, including the UI. Additionally, I also lead the Trove Creations on Reddit, where players can create their own content for the game.
Hello Brian. Since November 5th, Trove has been in open beta and accessible to everyone. What timeframe are you aiming for the release and what do you want to expand by then?
We haven’t set a timeframe for the release. Our goal is to leave beta status when we believe the game is ready and mature. Of course, we will continue to work on the game for a long time afterward – the beta is mainly there to get the core elements of the game, which should feel relatively complete, running smoothly.
Looking at the updates, Trove has been enriched with many new features and content in recent months. Does the voxel adventure hold a higher status internally at Trion now than at the beginning?
Trove has always received great attention within the team, and Trion has done a wonderful job giving the project all the opportunities it needs to thrive. It’s always been the team’s biggest goal to release new and exciting content regularly. Since the beginning of the project, we’ve had interesting updates almost every week. And we try to outdo ourselves with each patch. I think the company as a whole recognizes the importance of this and therefore shows great support.
In the market, there are three other sandbox games with Minecraft, Cube World, and Landmark. How do you differentiate Trove from the others, and what target audience do you want to reach?
I believe that Trove surpasses all others in terms of support. The game itself is incredibly entertaining and has grown tremendously in a very short time. However, that doesn’t prevent us from being very engaged with the community. The entire team checks the forums, Reddit, emails, and more every day. So it’s not just our community team that is amazing (which it is). The game developers genuinely want to create something that players are asking for. We offer many aspects of building and exploring, and lots of ways to experience adventure. We add new ones every day, but we really listen to our player base and involve them everywhere. I don’t think you would find such an intense player-developer collaboration elsewhere.
Why did you choose a comic and blocky voxel engine? The world and the art design are quite abstract. Were there initial discussions about a more realistic graphic style?
We never intended to make Trove realistic. We knew it was going to be fantasy and something fun, but we experimented with a lot of different varieties and approaches to the art style. The idea of using voxel to remove barriers from building became a necessity. The team was very small at the start (yes, even smaller than our current team of 12 developers), so we needed something that allowed us to be flexible with both concept and graphic changes. We also wanted a unique look that set us apart from others, which is why we decided to go with a very colorful and crazy setting. I prioritized a cartoon style first and voxel second. I feel we’ve done a good job so far while continuously growing and developing new techniques that aren’t typically found in voxel games.
According to the definition on the official website, Trove is an MMO. How “massive” is Trove really and what makes it an MMO?
Trove allows all our players to play together; if they are on your friends list, you can instantly switch to the world they are in. No character transfers, no ensuring that you are really on the same server as your friends, or anything like that. Once you are in Trove, it is very easy to play with your friends and find new ones. The entire game world is regularly enriched with community-created adventures and dungeons. These are randomly assembled, so your gameplay experience never feels exactly the same. There are also many classic MMO gameplay elements in Trove: professions, crafting, leveling, and more. Based on that, we’ve introduced a few fun things that can be experienced alone or with friends. It is also very easy to create a club (our version of a guild) and design an entire world according to your ideas just among club members. There is something for everyone in Trove, and more is always on the way.
It seems that many players are longing for sandbox content or are at least curious. There was quite a hype with ArcheAge recently, with hours of waiting times. Did you benefit from the influx caused by ArcheAge?
I think so. I feel that many of the points that attract players to ArcheAge are also present in Trove at a beginner-friendly level. The freedom to take your own path and gradually improve your character through new skills and adventures. You create a very unique and immersive experience when playing ArcheAge. I believe that Trove satisfies many of those needs as well. You receive your own “cornerstone”, a piece of land where you can build whatever you want. To realize that, you only need to gather resources. All sorts of loot and crafting resources can be obtained during your adventures in the world. This also makes you a better fighter. Whether building or shadow invasions (note of the editor: dynamic events with intruders), alone or with friends, in a small or massive scale – so much is possible. Whatever you are looking for in a sandbox game, I am convinced that Trove can deliver it.
Trove contains relatively many elements of online role-playing games, which is unusual for a sandbox game of this kind. Which do you consider to be the most important at Trove?
I would say personally, the community. There are many great things that Trove offers that other games of this type do not. But for me, it’s special to play with friends or meet new people – that’s not usually offered by sandbox games. Most sandbox titles are single-player or allow only a very limited number of players. Trove gives you all these exciting elements from the sandbox genre and combines them with the online experience that I have come to love from other MMOs. Respectfully, Trove has some great features, but in the end, it’s the people who make an MMO so special, and I find our community to be amazing.
Currently, players have 5 different classes to choose from, each with their own skills. Why did you introduce them? Are they simply to provide a different gameplay experience or do they play increasingly significant roles in game design?
Each class is packed to fulfill a fun fantasy role. We have the tricky wizard, the steadfast knight, a transforming dragon magician, and so on. Our aim with all classes is that they play as you envisioned during the class selection.
Right now, you are totally focused on PvE. Will PvP content also be added in the future or are you intentionally excluding that area?
We are very focused on PvE. We like the community that has formed and think that PvP promotes a player behavior that currently doesn’t fit the game – not for the Trove we are creating.
With the last patch, you introduced a new profession called “Gardening”. What can players expect in Trove?
Gardening is all about investing time to create new resources. You plant your plants and wait for them to sprout! It’s also our first profession, a type of crafting that unlocks new recipes. This happens by creating products that come from recipes of the previous tier in the progress tree.
Do you have plans to expand group content in Trove? Would raids for, let’s say, 12 players be conceivable?
We already have group content! Up to 8 players can participate in the “Shadow Arenas”, which is essentially our endgame. We have further plans for this, including expanding it into content that can also be created by the community.
Building, exploring, and fighting can certainly be fun, but long-term incentives must also be created. What features or systems will ensure that players remain loyal to Trove and always have goals ahead of them?
I believe that the “Mastery System” is very well suited for this. There are many other ways to obtain the best gear, craft the best rings, collect everything conceivable in the world, but the Mastery System ties all this together and offers even more. Each class has its own, individual level that gradually increases. As a player, you also have the mastery level. This level increases by pursuing all the content that Trove offers as much as possible. Collecting recipes, leveling classes, claiming weapon skins, and much more increases your mastery level. With each new level achieved, you receive something new, such as an increased number of health potions, improved stats, credits filling your wallet, and new mounts as well. The mastery system will continuously be expanded, as we plan to add a large amount of content to the game. There are many reasons to keep playing, but personally, I love the mastery system.
Do you have a personal favorite among the player-created content?
Choosing a favorite is always dangerous for me because I edit all the reviews and decide which player-generated items make it into the game. I want them to still like me after this interview. As long as they understand that I still care about them, I can reveal that we are adding a new dungeon soon, which I think is very well made. This comes from our players Uniquisher, Stedms, and Brolycia. Awesome job!
What major features can we expect in the future? What’s on the “Wall of Crazy”?
Fishing! Ice Wizards! Pet Eggs! Festivals and Seasons!
Trove is free-to-play and thus relies on an item shop and supporter packages. What advantages can players purchase in the shop?
I have a feeling that the shop designers have done a great job introducing items that are worth buying but leaving out those that would offer too many advantages. Trion is generally very much against the whole “pay-to-win” concept, and we take great pride in that. We want to give players items that they would like to have but don’t necessarily have to buy – like cool-looking mounts. Players can get everything they need to have fun and improve by playing Trove. We are interested in enriching the shop with unique items that are meant to bring fun, but aren’t necessary to play the game.
Last but not least: How do you want to convince our readers, who haven’t played Trove yet, to give it a try?
I believe that Trove offers a lot for many different types of players. We have adopted known and popular features from classic MMOs, but we also offer everything you would expect from a sandbox game. It is by far the most unique and exciting project I have ever worked on; the only one where the team collaborates so well with the community. We not only take suggestions every day and respond to player feedback, but we also let the community participate in shaping the game. Each of us on the team is very connected to Trove, and I think you can see that passion in Trove. We will regularly add updates with new content and fix issues to provide the best possible player experience. What’s great about Trion in general is that they strongly support their products and listen to their player base. Our team believes in that. I think all these things make for a great experience for our players.
Thank you for the interview, Brian.
Those who would like to take a look at the sandbox game Trove after this interview can sign up on this website, download the client, and play for free: http://www.trionworlds.com/trove/
