March 12, 2002 - On the first day of March two years ago, developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Microsoft formally unveiled Dungeon Siege. At the time, team leader Chris Taylor described it as "an Action Fantasy RPG game that pushes technical and gameplay boundaries to the next level" while "breaking all kinds of rules in the genre" and providing non-stop intense action in both single- and multiplayer modes. The game also promised a number of interesting features such as a continuous world with no loading screens, a character creation process that would allow players to start playing almost immediately, a skill-based development system and more. And as if that wasn't enough, it was made known that the Siege Editor, the tool used by the developers themselves, would be made available to let players build their own environments and adventures.

Since that time, we've learned that the game takes place in the fantasy Kingdom of Ehb, a land of great diversity with locations ranging from icy caverns to desert canyons, mines, and murky swamps while the inhabitants include warriors and sorcerers as well as humans, dwarves and a strange race called the Droog. There are many fearsome creatures, both living and undead. Although a preview build circulated recently, it only includes about the first 10 percent of the single-player mode, so we still know only a limited amount about how the game plays. However, some people have a much better idea, and in this Dungeon Siege Developer Q&A; #1, we have the chance to find out from 12 team members how they like to develop their characters.

Jonric: Speaking from your personal preferences, what is your favorite way of developing your main character in Dungeon Siege, and why?

Chris Taylor
President / Designer
I am sort of wild and random. Every time I play, I try a different combination of skills, but I always seem to blend these skills around a fighter.

Bert Bingham
Production Coordinator
The single-player game seems to reward characters for maintaining focus, and with a group of four or more, each character can focus intensely on their specialty without worrying about multi-classing. The exception to this is basic nature training, which allows them to redundantly heal wounded party members, and eventually learn to resurrect, which is very important for the occasional wipeouts with one survivor.

The multiplayer game tends to reward resourcefulness in a single character, so while focusing on one area, much more time is spent developing the other skills at a sufficient level to gain access to lower-level rewards. The most intriguing aspect of multiplayer characters is the amplified effect of cross-class characters that have access to buffs and equipment that is useful in a variety of situations.

Magus. If I had to choose one character, I would choose a Magus, which is a Nature-Combat cross breed. He should have spent some time in physical training early in his career as a leg-up for the heavy armors that come available much later in life.

Steve Thompson
Art Director
I develop my main character as a melee fighter. This seems to be the most effective way to plow through the beginning of the game until I meet another character that can join my party.

Jake McMahon
Vice President / Producer
My favorite way to develop my main character is a split with a focus on Melee and enough Nature Magic to cast some useful spells. I prefer to play as a fighter, charging into the middle of the battle and swinging away. But you never know when you need to heal, resurrect, or use some of the buff spells. So even if the rest of the party goes down, I've still got my main character to clean up the mess and resurrect the dead.

Jason Moerbe
Tester
I like blending the classes together so that they compliment each other. My current character is a fighter / nature mage. He can buff himself up, lay the smack down, and heal himself afterwards. I'm also going back in now, and sprinkling in some archery skills too, for those times that he's cut off from the enemy.

Joe Kresoja
3D Artist
Major combat magic skills and enough nature magic to heal oneself.

Marsh Macy
Assistant Producer / Network Administrator
I dig the fighter / nature mage combo. This allows me to go in and bash heads while also healing and buffing myself to allow for more head bashing. In multiplayer, it really makes me feel a part of the team helping others stay alive, and enhancing the abilities of the whole party.

Scott Bilas
Engineer
I don't have a favorite. Each time I play I want to try a completely different party, and so my main character changes lots each time.

Lee Phemister
3D Artist
Combat mage all the way. In multiplayer, the tanks go out and round up baddies, bring 'em back, and then the combat mages just bring hell down on them. I believe visually playing as a combat mage is the coolest way to play DS - the SFX are insane.

Darren Lamb
3D Artist
In single-player, I prefer an archer for that safer distance fighting. In multiplayer, I like to use a combat mage for large radius attacking.

Darren Baker
Community Coordinator
I usually pick a combat mage for my main character. Combat mages have a nice assortment of offensive spells but can still pick up Healing Hands (a nature magic spell) to keep my party alive. At the higher levels they pick up healing and some pretty wicked spells.

Chris Burns
Level Designer
In my first "real" single-player game I look forward to using a pure fighter, a class I rarely use while testing. I'll probably give him level 1 in Nature Magic as well, so he can cast self-only melee buffs and Healing Hands.

As Dungeon Siege makes its way through its final few weeks of development, we're seeing a very definite surge in interest as gamers feel the opportunity to adventure in the Kingdom of Ehb drawing near at hand. As you might expect, we're looking forward to doing so as well, just as we have been for more than two years. In the meantime, we thank the 12 members of the Gas Powered Games team who took part in this Q&A; and we look forward to seeing more from them in the near future.