In our first set of interviews with the Trove team we head straight for the top, and have a chat with Andrew aka Avarem.

Thanks to Market from Defiant Few for the questions.

Could you introduce yourself?

Hey! I’m Andrew “Avarem” Krausnick, Lead Developer on Trove. I’m responsible for managing the project from a high level and also designing many of the systems that go into the game.

How did you get started in games development and with Trion?

I got started in game development working at Sigil Games Online on a game called Vanguard. It didn’t turn out like we had hoped, but it was still a great learning experience. I started at Trion working on Rift, I designed the systems behind invasions and zone events, among other things.

Do you have any proud moments you want to share from other projects?

I’ll give a shout out to the Vanguard players and go with Ancient Port Warehouse. If you were there, you know what I’m talking about.

Can you take us through a typical workday?

The first thing I do is check our daily reports. These show our player activity and it lets me know at a glance if something ‘weird’ happened the day before (good or bad!), did we suddenly see a bunch of new players? Did we see fewer people log in than normal? Usually we know in advance why stuff like this is going to happen, but sometimes it’s not obvious, in which case I dig in deeper.

After that on most days it’s time to check in on the various projects that we’re working on, if something feels like it might be blocked or if it seems like we need to adjust what we’re doing, it’s always better to figure that out sooner rather than later. After that I usually have a meeting elsewhere in the company with departments like creative services or marketing, to make sure we’re all in sync with what’s going on with Trove.

And finally, I try to get a little work done on the game myself. We’re a relatively small team and everyone is hands-on, I still do a decent bit of design work, although less than in the past. Oh, and somewhere in there I usually make a stop or two to the forums to chat with our players.

Could you tell us how the Trove project started?

It started with a small team here internally at Trion. A handful of us started kicking around ideas and we all liked games like Minecraft and Terraria but missed what MMOs brought to the table. At the same time MMOs have gotten more hardcore over time and we wanted to make one that felt more accessible but still with plenty of depth.

What is different about working on Trove from other projects?

We iterate on the game so fast. I’m not sure any PC project puts out more pound for pound on a weekly basis.

Do you have a favourite biome?

The sky realms are just so zen and peaceful, not to mention giant floating sky islands are always badass.

What do you think is Troves biggest success so far?

I think our action combat and classes have all been big winners. I also love our collection and mastery system, it scratches that progression itch without being too daunting.

What's on your desk right now?

3 mugs, and a box full of Trove carpet codes.

Is there a story behind the name Avarem?

Only a little one. Basically if you’re going to work on online games you need a handle, and it sounded a bit like the last name of the character I played on Everquest, so I used it when working on Vanguard and haven’t gotten away from it since.

If you could introduce one feature to the game with no resource constraints, what would it be?

This is such a dangerous question. But you knew that already! I would do a lot more with our NPCs. We’re always tackling this, but it seems like we can never give them enough love, and they really bring our game to life (not to mention make it challenging).

What acomplishment by your team are you most proud of?

The many different types of movement in Trove have all felt unique and killer. I love the mounts, mag riders, wings, and ships and love what they all add to the game in terms of the fun of movement.

Are there any amusing development tales you would like to share?

Search for “hot pepper gaming” and “trove”.

Outside of Trove and excluding Trion products, what do you enjoy doing or playing in your free time?

I play a tonnnn of games (although not many for long). Recently Bloodborne has kept me hooked and I’m just starting to sink time into Pillars of Eternity. When not gaming I enjoy cold brew coffee, cats, and old fashioneds.

Could you talk about your relationship with the community and how that has impacted Trove development?

I love chatting with our players and we have a great relationship I feel. It’s obviously impossible to please everyone all the time, but at the end of the day we all want the same thing: an entertaining game that is going to last a long time. The ability to talk to players has definitely helped us polish the game and build the community we have, not to mention driven the types of things we work on. Our players are what make our game the game in every definition (in short: without them, we wouldn’t have one).


 

The developer interviews series focuses on the developer backgrounds and not future and current development. Let us know what you think about the format, who would you like to see next, and what questions you would like to ask either here or over on the forums.

Comments and Likes Comments 2

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[Deleted User]

Lots of EQ peeps on the TW team, very cool even though I only started EQII last year heh
Nice interview ETAEW!

[Deleted User]

An Everquest player!! Finally someone who played everyquest doing something else cool that i can play and enjoy!! Keep up with the game its awesome, i really look forward to seeing how it will progress.