Welcome to the Saga Developers Journal.

Silverlode Interactive has released the worlds first “Collectible MMORTS” game, SAGA. This developers' blog is here to give you a never-too-serious behind the scenes look at the company.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Election Day is Here

Do you feel the anticipation in the air, SAGA players? The seemingly endless political campaigning is finally drawing to a close, and soon the nation will be able to cast its votes. No, not for the U.S. President- what are you going on about? It's time to choose SAGA's elected official!

The polls are open, and it's up to you to decide which elven candidate is best-suited for the office. The winning side will have access to brand new game content one full week before the other. To cast your vote, send an e-mail to vote@playsaga.com. If you are siding with Gandred Krull, send your message with a subject of "Brotherhood." For Yeven Nyrr, send "Order."

In case you're having trouble deciding, here's some background information on each of the candidates:

Brotherhood Candidate: Gandred Krull


Gandred Krull began his political career as a royal advisor in the small kingdom of Zhald. However, after the reigning king, the queen, and all five of their legitimate heirs tragically fell down the stairs, Krull’s grief dictated that he retire as the king's vizier. Out of heartfelt fondness for his old master, though, he offered to oversee the country's affairs until a new ruler could be found, and the reeling townsfolk happily accepted. The search for a suitable king continues even to this day, but Zhald has flourished under the direction of its temporary overseer.

Recently, Krull announced his intention to run against presidential candidate, Yeven Nyrr, in the upcoming election. “That tree-hugging, turtle-loving, sandal-wearing sissy is in no way qualified to hold a position of leadership,” Krull said at a recent press conference. “I mean that in the most respectful way possible, of course.” The summoner maintains that his extensive political experience, combined with his uncanny ability to command the demons of hell, makes him the obvious choice for the office.

A large portion of Krull's platform is founded upon the advancement of the rights of magically animated persons, a group that has been historically neglected by majority parties. Krull urges nations of all factions to reconsider their view of the humanoid constructs. “Just because a golem is made of unfeeling metal and possesses no will of its own doesn't mean we shouldn't care, you know? They have the same rights as everyone else.” When a member of the audience pointed out that nearly 95% of the Brotherhood's inhabitants are subject to the whims of their masters and have no real rights, Krull set fire to several innocent bystanders and ended the interview.

Order Candidate: Yeven Nyrr


Yeven Nyrr spent his youth in a countryside province bordering Machine faction territory. When he came of age, he joined the war as an eagle rider and quickly earned a reputation for being an ace pilot and a loyal comrade-in-arms. He headed several successful raids on War holdings until, during a botched rescue operation, his bird was shot down over enemy territory. Somehow, despite several grievous injuries, Nyrr was able to free the three captive soldiers, carry them on his back to safety, and also rescue the wounded puppy they found on the way. His heroic actions made his name famous throughout the Order nations, but due to medical complications, his military career was effectively over.

In the years following the accident, Nyrr completed training as a certified healer and traveled the continent, bringing aid to wounded soldiers of all factions. He believes that his exposure to multiple cultures would allow him to lead from a unique viewpoint, if he were elected. “I've fought alongside the elves, gotten smashed with the dwarves, and kicked peasants with the orcs. Heck, even the undead are alright, if they're not busy trying to eat your face,” he told the press on Monday. When questioned further about the moral implications of kicking helpless peasants, Nyrr muttered something unintelligible about local customs and quickly excused himself.

Along with the improvement of inter-faction relations, Nyrr's campaign is also focused on widespread economic reforms, one of this election's hot button issues. He asserts that the current market is “out-of-control,” and that corruption is running rampant. “The real question is not why human charioteers cost over 20,000 gold, but why we're even trafficking humans, in the first place. Isn't that illegal, or something?”

Lead market officials were unavailable for comment.


*These campaign posters have been approved by and are the sole responsibility of their respective candidates (who, incidentally, should not be approved of by anyone).

Monday, October 27, 2008

Interview with John Lawton

Our artists have been working busily behind the scenes to help make the Unit of the Week program a reality. Joining us today for the third installment in the series of developer interviews is John Lawton.

I guess to start things off, what's your official job title at the moment?
My official job title at the moment would be "lead artist," even though I do a little bit of everything right now. I've been here longer than all the other artists, and it's now at the point where I'm making less of the art assets, and instead managing the content our offsite artists create, and then implementing it into the game.

So what does it take to put a new unit into Saga?
It actually takes a lot more work that just plugging it in. First, you have to put a unit's mesh and texture into the game, and then you have to animate the unit. You also have to specify what particle effects the unit will use, and create them if they don't exist already. In addition to meshes, textures, animations, and particle effects, you have probably half-a-dozen scripts to tie all of those together. It usually takes about 3 hours to implement a new unit into the game, not counting the time it takes to actually create it. After we implement a new unit, we have to test it to make sure it works and does what it's supposed to do.

What goes into balancing a unit?
A lot of time is spent actually playing the game, both on internal and on live in PvP and PvE matches. If there's something that's not working right, the balance team will go in a tweak it, then play a couple of hours on internal to see how the changes work out.

There's a lot of time spent doing math. A lot of math is involved figuring out what a unit is actually going to do. We have a formula that we've worked out to figure out the actual value of a unit, and also its combat effectiveness (which includes both its stats and its special).

Not every unit is useful in every situation- there are a lot of them that are good only for niche situations. Then there are your overall good units. There's a variety in the game, but I don't want to say that there's ever a completely useless unit. They all have some use- you just have to know what their strengths and weaknesses are.

How did you end up entering the game industry?
Well, my major wasn't actually 3D animation; it was multimedia, which includes a little 3D animation, webpage scripting, and video and audio editing. Kind of the jack-of-all trades major, and that's why after being hired here, I've been filling multiple roles besides just a 3D artist. Most companies will look for what skill you have in animating, and not actually what your degree is. So even though I knew only a small amount of 3D animation compared to someone that had taken 3 years of an animation degree, the quality of work I did was still above-average, and I was able to get a job.

Most of what is comes to if you're looking to be an artist in the animation industry is just practice, practice, practice. If your artwork stands out, then there will be somebody out there that wants you on their team. You're not going to get hired right away. I went over a year doing odds-and-ends 3D jobs, but my goal was always to find a job in the game industry. It has been ever since I was little.

When I was younger, I always used to create my own table-top games- you know, figure out all the math formulas. Then I'd get my friends together, and I'd figure out what was working and what wasn't, so then next week we could do it all over again. There's not many people that do that at the age of 10 or 12. (laughter) I think the game industry was meant for me. It was always what I want to do. If you're patient enough, that will happen. Some people just have to get into the industry as something like a tester, and then work their way up into design. The main thing that counts is starting to get experience.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Dark Elf Assassin Revealed

Enemies of the Magic faction have a new reason to fear the shadows; the lethal dark elf assassin is set to be released today, after the new patch has gone live. This skilled (and sultry) blademaster is well-suited to picking off the unprotected or the unwary. With the highest DPS of any magic unit and the ability to teleport short distances, a group of assassins can quickly flank and dispatch any ranged unit unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open. Members of the Order shouldn't take it too hard, though- as far as mortal enemies go, you could probably do a lot worse than a leather-clad temptress with a homicidal disposition.

The dark elf assassin is the first faction-specific card released as part of the new Card of the Week program, and is a 2CP, uncommon troop. If you're a member of another faction, try to contain your raging jealousy just a little longer; additional faction-specific units are hot on the assassin's heels. Rumor has it that the peculiar combination of dwarven ingenuity and insanity has spawned yet another invention, and if it doesn't explode, it could spell trouble for the Brotherhood.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Hide the Melee Units

Dragons are renowned for their ferocity in battle. The blazing wrath of the reds and the righteous fury of the golds send infantrymen scurrying for cover. Few sane men would go toe-to-toe with a green or a black, and the tenacity of a shadow dragon is a match even for archers. However, among all of these fearsome creatures, there is one that stands above the rest: the great dragon.

Great Dragon
These ancient terrors signal the appearance of a new type of card in Saga. Deemed "ultra-rares," these cards are designed to be some of the most powerful troops in the game per CP point. Players of all factions can look forward to the opportunity to tame a great dragon, as this card will be neutral.

Ultra-rares will represent approximately 1 out of every 200 rares, though the odds of receiving an ultra-rare will double if you open you packs in a tournament.

The Great Dragon is also the first unit in a series of units that will be released. Each week, we'll be introducing a brand new unit. These new units will range across all factions and rarity levels. In no particular order, here is the first wave of warriors that will be stampeding onto the battlefield:
  • Nature: Treant Warrior

  • Light: Giant Magi
  • Machines: Flying Fortress
  • Undead: Humongous Ballistary
  • Magic: Dark Elf Assassin

  • War: Elite Ram

After the first wave of units has been released, a wave of faction-specific ultra-rares is set to follow. It is rumored that they will possess special abilities the likes of which Gaia has never seen...

New allies and unfamiliar foes approach! Are you prepared?

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Interview with Adam Ellis

Today we present you with the second in our series of developer interviews.

Adam Ellis is one of our quest designers.

Thanks for taking the time to do this, we’ll try and keep it quick so you can get back to work! As a quest-writer, what does the full process of creating a quest entail?

It varies slightly from quest to quest. I usually start with an idea or a map. If I start with a map, for example, I’ll develop ideas based on how that map works. Sometimes I end up coming up with both at the same time. Once I know what I’m doing, then I need to script it.


Can you walk us through the process?

Surprisingly, it takes some time to do a map; or at least to do one well. The introduction of the larger map sizes actually makes it easier since I don’t have to create the illusion of an environment—I now have enough space to actually create one. It takes a bit of work to make the topography look decent but still be usable to players. And yes, I know that lots of the maps already in the game need a lot of work.

Scripting and debugging is definitely the most time-consuming part. Each spawn, every chest and its loot (I promise they have loot), all the pop-ups, and everything else has to be put in. Some quests are less complicated than others, but we are working with the programmers to get more advanced features put in to quests so we can make them much more interesting.


What do you look for in good quest ideas?

Primarily, the quest has to be fun. That’s why I like getting ideas from players—they often know fun way better than I do. I actually have a number of really good quest ideas in my Inbox that I intend to implement somewhat soon. Our players have some awesome ideas that I need to harass the programmers to make possible (or teach me how to write). Some of the ideas we get from players give us new ideas for quest mechanics, so keep them coming. The game will only improve from players’ input.


Is quest balance a big priority for you?

Oh yes. As lots of players have noticed, some quests aren’t quite possible at the levels they appear. And some of them are just plain crazy (the players know which ones I mean). One of the big things I’m going to be working on soon is readjusting almost every quest. We want to make them much better balanced and make them more fun.

We’re also working on improving the presentation of the overall story arc for the five (soon to be six) factions.


I know you helped write some of the new quests that feature the Undead, how was that process?

There was a lot of work that went into that which I didn’t even expect. I spent a while playing with the map editor to see what the new buildings and ground textures looked like in various ways. I even got a new computer here in the office so I can crank out some introductory quests for the Undead a bit quicker. So The Shadow have single-handedly improved my ability to make maps. I suppose I should thank them for that.


Are you working on any exciting quests right now?

My top priority is getting some Undead quests in for the near future. We want players to see how powerful they’re going to be. I’ve got a number of simple quests that are designed to showcase them, and those are almost finished, but they need a little more work so they can do the new faction justice.

After those, I’ve got to go through my Inbox and do the players a little justice as well by putting in some of their ideas. It’s nice to have more ideas than I have time—I don’t have to think of quests myself.


And now onto our ‘video game industry’ questions – Due to the overwhelming interest to work in the video game industry, we decided to take the chance to ask some of our employees what they think .

How did you get involved in the video game industry?

I actually started here at Silverlode as an Intern. My interview was actually pretty interesting; I sat down with Jason and told him how bad I am a RTS games. Did you know I can’t even beat the demo for Starcraft? He hired me anyway and actually had me try to get a feel for the game back in beta to see how noob-friendly it was. I hope I helped simplify it a little for new players.


Working for a startup company is interesting – employees get the opportunity to help out in a lot of areas of game development. What’s the most interesting task you’ve been given?

Heheh. What task haven’t I been given over the past few months? I’ve helped fold the booster boxes to ship them, I’ve tested countless features, I’ve even had to translate for our cleaning guy. The most interesting one, I guess, is when they ask me to stay up all night to help new players in chat when we run promos. There are players who think I never sleep.


Sleep? I’m sure I’ve heard that word before…Well, for our last question, what advice would you give to someone trying to get into the video game industry?

Get in early, be willing to start out lower than the peons, and do everything you’re asked to do and a little extra!


Thank you again for your time. We’ll let you get back to working on balancing those new quests!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Testing Tournaments

"No!!!"
-Our lead tester just got matched up against our CFO for the second tournament in a row.

"I'll give you a $15/hr raise if you can beat me!"
-*Someone* in authority is pretty certain of his abilities.

"Do I get a raise if I beat you, Monk?"
"No, but if you lose you get to keep your job..."
-A tester

"How'd you get 4 units of Dark Elf Magi!?!?!"

-Me, after being ingloriously shut down by John in the Art department.

"Is the next tournament starting yet?"
-Pretty much all of us, right after losing.

"There's NO WAY you could have won without those spells!"
"That's my whole strategy!"
"Umm... Point remains guys, we're just testing tournaments right now... these aren't for real."
The lead tournament programmer responds to our head tester and CEO's conversation


As you might be able to tell, we've been having a blast around here testing out tournaments (still a few bugs to work out, but we're getting there), and inter-departmental tensions are at an all-time high. I just got beaten by John in Art - he managed to pull 4 dark elf magi! My single unit of Treants went down first, and after that the rest of my army fell pretty quickly (I don't normally play nature).

I don't think I'd ever realized what a competitive bunch we are! Put in an organized tournament and *wham*, smack talk galore. The losers are generally quite sore, the winners are generally quite immature, and treaties have rapidly come to ban the use of testing commands like 'F9', which instantly kills the selected unit (only on our test builds, never in the released game).

It's been interesting playing in sealed deck tournaments, because so much of the tournaments relies upon being able to craft a solid strategy with cards that were given to you randomly. Also, it's been very interesting to see the re-prioritization of spell usage. An earlier battle between myself and the CEO resulted in him deploying a single cavalry unit and blasting me with as many spells as he could.

Kiting aside, it's interesting to see what strategies are developed on-the-fly. Sometimes you only get one or two units you want, and a lot of filler. Sometimes you get a healer or two, and hope that a tank is coming soon.

Needless to say, tournaments are shaping up to be amazing - and we're all enjoying them immensely. We're working as hard as we can to get them to you, the players, as soon as we can! We'll be bringing you more about tournaments as development progresses ~

Monday, June 30, 2008

Origins Wrap Up

Apologies for missing the last show update. I lost my voice late Saturday showing Saga to new player #973. I’m not sure how that kept me from blogging, but that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

It has been seven years since I last showed a game at the Origins show and I can report that not much has changed. Sure there were new products on display, some that I didn’t even recognize, but overall the players were just as excited as ever to play their favorites and search out new products to bring home. Among the best of the new products of course was Saga.

We had many players stop by the booth who had seen a review in the past or were dragged over by their friends. It was rewarding to see their eyes light at the same time as a bulb did over their heads when they started to grasp the scope of Saga and imagine the possibilities. Many ran off with a copy of the game only to return hours later with more friends in tow. Saga really is a lot more fun when you quest with friends.

Amazingly enough the feature players were most impressed with was the anonymous help chat. They were astounded watching question after question get answered quickly by the community without the condescending attitude they are used to in many other MMO’s. I couldn’t have been prouder of our players.

When I get back to the office tomorrow, I will post some additional shots of new and current players, for now I leave you with this shot of Casey, owner of SagaUnits, trying to “catch them all”.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Interview with Mark Owen

While Slava's off at Origins, the rest of us have been busily working away, preparing for the Undead and other exciting new features.
Here we get a behind-the-scenes glimpse on how the new movement algorithms were developed and what's still to come.
Dennis: What were your goals in re-writing the troop movement algorithms?
Mark: Well, up to this point, everything in SAGA had been handled on a unit basis. For example, when you would move around a lake or around a building, the entire unit would move, but the troops themselves would often collide with mountains or buildings. We wanted it to look a little more natural.

Dennis: So how did you tackle this process? Where did you start?
Mark: Usually with designing any new system, I'll start with research. One of the perks of developing video games is that research doesn't always entail reading through textbooks - it's simply going and playing other games. I did read through several articles on systems like this, but I also went through and played many different games. After watching how a lot of other games had done it, I started to create prototypes and finally came up with a system that I really liked.

Dennis: What was the most challenging part of this project?
Mark: One of the difficult parts of it is that there are things that are very unique about SAGA. For example, as units move around obstacles, troops need to not only move away from the obstacles, but they also need to maintain their formation.
The most difficult part, however, is that at any given time in SAGA there are going to be hundreds of troops on the map - so I needed to create an algorithm that was efficient enough that we wouldn't lose performance.

Dennis: What features are you working on now?
Mark: For the movement architecture, there are adjustments that will be made. For example, right now the troops tend to move very quickly into their positions, where I'm going to make it so that they go a little bit slower, so it looks a little more natural.
Also, right now we're working to improve the AI of the enemy troops, which will be announced a little bit later on, so we have many aspects if that that we'll be working on.

Dennis: There are a lot of people out there who want to work on video games, so we figured we'd ask our staff about working in the video game industry. What is your favorite part of working as a video game programmer?
Mark: There are actually two things that I enjoy a lot. The first is that with every video game there are very unique problems to be solved, and I really enjoy finding solutions to those problems. The other thing is that in many cases you'll spend a lot of time working on something trying to get it to work - to fix something. Sometimes you'll be struggling for a while, but then you'll get it working, you get to see it running, everyone gets to see it running, and once it's in the game, it's there. Every time you log into the game or play through a battle, you get to see your work.

Dennis: And your least favorite part of being a video game programmer?
Mark: One of the hardest things is that we all have a vision of what we want to be able to do, of all the things that we want to accomplish. But due to time, resources, or even our own experience we run into restrictions. That can be frustrating sometimes. You get to a point where you have to say, "well, we'd like to do everything, but we have to just do this." That's probably the most frustrating part of it.

Dennis: What surprised you most about the job?
Mark: The thing that surprised me the most is that when I came into the industry, I had kind of an idea of the things I wanted to work on and the things I would enjoy the most. In truth, some of those things I didn't enjoy all that much. The things that I thought I would enjoy the least I really started to love doing.

Dennis:
Do you have any examples?
Mark: I had never worked on an MMO before, and when I started working, I thought "Oh, well I'll enjoy working on some of the AI, some of the mechanics of the game - but I don't know if I'll really want to deal with a lot of the network stuff, per se." In reality, I've come to enjoy that the most, and it's actually become the most interesting to me.

Dennis: Thank you for your time, we'll let you get back to work!

Thanks for reading, next time we'll be interviewing Adam Ellis, one of our quest writers.

Origins Day 2

Yesterday was the first day that the dealer room was open to the public. With the Saga booth positioned next to the door to the CCG room, we expected a lot of traffic. What we didn’t expect were some of the very strange people who stopped by.

I think the guy in the Pokemon suite may be a Saga player.
This peculiar quintet that stopped by to steal some of my shirts and claimed to enjoy the game as well. From left to right, Trevoria, Greshish, Many Arrow, Paragrin. That’s SagaUnits behind the weird bunch. Many other players stopped by who escaped my lens, but there is always tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Origins Report Day 1

I arived at the Origins convention center with Casey from SagaUnits who volunteered to leave his online world and help demonstrate SAGA to 35,000 gamers. We found our booth at the opening to the CCG area and realized we had our work cut out for us.


While a dumpster in the booth has a certain charm, we elected instead to put up some art that players could enjoy. Large vertical posters were printed for use to adorn the back of our space.



The booth still seemed a bit dark and sparse, but after a trip to the local WalMart and getting my site back after blinding myself with one of the flood lights, the setup was complete.We are both looking forward to four fun filled days, lost voices and sore feet.


I will be posting reports nightly along with plenty of pictures, hopefully catching some Saga players who stop by to lend a hand.






Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Fun at the office


As part of my continued efforts to expose players to the culture inside a game studio (I have been told that is all I am allowed to expose), I wanted to share these fortune cookies that our intern Sam made for us. You may remember Sam from her comics earlier in the year.

The game industry is a great place to work. The hours are long and sometimes things don't go your way. Stress is a huge factor, especially when you feel you let your community down with a bug that slipped through. The rewards however are well worth it, and the culture helps keep us sane.

The president of my last company wrote a great article on getting a job in the game industry that you can read here

Friday, May 23, 2008

More of the SAGA family.

Well howdy ho there. I hope you are all enjoying SAGA and everything else that has taken a back seat to you playing it. I wanted to take some time to recognize some of the folks here at SAGA that keep the wheels on the bus going around.

This is Dennis, yes that Dennis. Anyone playing the game has seen his name appear in the help chat. He's our Community Manager or something awesome like that. He speaks French and enjoys long walks on the beach.

Have a good one.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Are you busy??


Hey whatcha doing June 25-29?? If you have time and are in the area come down to the Origins Game Fair. You know you want to so just do it already. You know we'll be there. I know this changes everything right? Come down and meet some of the crew. Slava will be there and who wouldn't want to see him. You can volunteer some time and get a free pass and room. So do it.

John

hey you wanna trade? I have 500 gold I will trade for 1000 gold, I'd even take 3000 stone. Any takers???

Friday, May 9, 2008

So how you doing?

You know, we don't talk enough. I really feel alone, why don't you chat anymore?? Is it me? What have I done?? Let me know how I can be a better game for you. I really want to be. I'm willing to do the work for "us".

Just a reminder to use the in game chat. It's a cool way to connect with other players and learn a trick or two.

John

P.S Me and Dennis got our behinds handed to us today from some heroic quest. It was brutal. I hope you are all having better luck.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Hey EA, we've already made this game.

Just read a great article about a new game EA is coming out with. It's going to be blazing new ground or something. Well maybe not so so new ground since we've already done that. Check it out here. I think you'll love the comment by el_cheezer. Thanks el_cheezer, you rock.

Thanks to all of you for helping us really blaze new ground in the RTS world.

Friday, April 25, 2008

The wind beneath our wings


A good Friday to you all. I was thinking it's been a while since I posted about some of our team here. So I thought I'd throw up a picture of our fearless Director of Marketing, Slava(the one on the left. The guy on the right is Mark, he's too cool for school). Slava heads up the marketing here at Saga. I will have to say he's done a pretty good job. Look you're here right. It was probably through one of Slava's genius marketing ideas that made you want to play Saga so bad in the first place. So, if you meet Slava or chat with with him on the boards tell him thanks for bringing Saga into your life.

Monday, April 21, 2008

GAMA


If any of you are in Vegas this week for the GAMA trade show track down the Saga guys and make sure they are behaving themselves.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Undead

SAGA just announced a new faction. The Undead warriors are fearless and strike terror into the hearts of their enemies. Their abilities and tactical strengths will reflect conventional traits drawn from undead mythology with some surprises thrown in. Read the full press release here.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Do you have a hard time understanding??


I know I do. So, for all of you out there like myself Saga is coming to the rescue. The new Saga manual has been uploaded. It will answer all of your life's questions. Some question you may or may not find answers for are. Does Slava really like PiƱa Coladas and getting caught in the rain? Do they still call John Captain Awesome? You might also find some great info about Saga. So go check it out.

John

Friday, April 4, 2008

the secret is out


This is the new Saga logo. What do you think about it?

I have a secret


Ok I have a secret, about Saga. I want to tell you guys sooooo bad, but I can't. I just wanted you to know that I wanted to tell you.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND PLAYING SAGA!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

A Billion Game Sites, give or take a million

I've come to the realization that the internet is huge. I mean really it's big, and there are at least 253 web sites out there. Of those 253 sites a billion of them are game sites. All billion of these games site are wanting Saga to be listed on their site. Being the loving, service oriented person that I am. Really it comes down to the fact that I just care. I'm trying to fulfill each site owners dream of having Saga listed on their site. So here is my question for all you so called gamers. Is that an ok term to use? Will the non gamers be offened by that? The last thing I want to do is exclude people from the joy of playing Saga. Oh, my question, where do you go to find games?
Second question. If I were to make Saga not only the worlds first collectible MMORTS game, but also the first collectible MMORTS MLM game. Would you be in my downline? On that note if you tell 3 friends about this blog you will feel really happy about yourself. You should give it a try.

John

Just to make sure you know that we really wont make this a mlm game, At least not until we can come up with a good comp plan and a line of Saga vitamins and lotion.

Get down...

Just a warning here. I didn't want to post this. It was totally Slava's idea just in case anyone asks.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Free ride...


Ok, for all of you out there who have been holding off playing Saga. You have been officially called out. Slava, our Marketing Director, my boss, yes the same boss I beat in Saga, anyways he has a new blog. In this blog he is showing you that yes; you can play Saga for free and still have fun. Now, my wife still encourages you to pay for the full version, she would like to make the mortgage payment, but this is a great way to feel us out. So, for those who have been holding out, come on already get on the Saga express and take a ride. Sorry for that last bit. I've been watching old WKRP reruns. Gotta love Dr. Fever.
I guess you'd be wanting the new blog site huh? http://sagafree.blogspot.com/

John

Friday, March 28, 2008

Give us some love.

Help us move up in the rankings at gamerankings.com or here at download.com. Give us a review and help get the word out about SAGA.

Thanks,

John

Refer a Friend. Have you done it yet??

What's holding you back? You too good for your friends? I want you to think about this. You're playing SAGA and just destroying the other player, I mean an all out annihilation. Kind of like the game I had with my boss. Anyways, wouldn't it feel even better to know you destroyed your buddy? Even better they would have to live with the shame if it every day all day. So get them to play the game. We'll hook you up if they do. 2 free booster packs if they register for the full version, meaning they ponied up the $20. No free rides on this one. Now, assuming they are not in a coma and make it to level 10, we'll give you another booster pack. Just because we're that good. How does that sound?

To use the Refer-a-Friend Program, simply login to your nation and visit the SAGA store or click the purchase troops flag after logging in to SAGA. The Refer-a-Friend Button is located on the bottom half of the SAGA store.

I think you should give it a try.

John

One more thing a big shout out to Daniel in Brazil, spreading the word about SAGA, and giving us a hand with some translation. Thanks brother.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Question?


As I wrote the title for this post I had a Dwight Schrute moment. Any who, I know as you all take a break from play Saga, the worlds first collectible mmo rts game, you take a few minutes to see what's the latest post here. Now I want this to be a blog for the people and by the people, so let me know what you'd like to see. In the near future I'll be posting some pictures of members of the Saga team, and I'd like to add some more video of the team as well. Let me know what you'd like to see here., or what you'd like to know. Post a comment so I know what you want, and so I know that someone is reading this.

Get your Saga on!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Meet the crew-3D artists

Meet John one of our talented 3D artists here at Silverloade Interactive. Silverlode Interactive is the creator of Saga the worlds first collectible mmorts game. Free online game version available, or register for the full version.
John has done a lot of work on SAGA. If you like your buildings you should send him a thank you.



and we are back..

After a short break we are back blogging away. The blogging duties have been entrusted to me, John, so be kind. Sit back relax and grab a drink. what am I talking about. You should be playing Saga not reading this blog. In the words of Big Black, "Do work son".
You heard the man,go do some work, and when I say work I mean play Saga of course.

Before you leave to play Saga, one thing. Let us know what you think about this site and the game. We love us some feed back. So leave it all ready, geez.

Ok, one other thing. I'm sure you're all aware that the free version of Saga is available, so give it a try. Then when you find out how freaking awesome this game is, register for the full version. You wont be disappointed. Really you wont, have I ever lied to you?

Later

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Mail Call

I will never complain about junk mail again.
At least my mail is delivered by a harmless old guy.


Seriously though, I love seeing that little mail icon pop up in game. It means either someone accepted my trade, or maybe it's something good from my guild buddy's. Maybe it's even a declaration of war on a rival guild.

Often times even if I don't have much time to play I will log into Saga just to assign another task to my peasants and read any mail I may have.