Flagship Studios' founder finally speaks

by Kyle Horner Aug 18th 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Interviews, News items, Hellgate: London, Mythos

If you've been wondering just exactly what happened with Flagship Studios over the past year or so, then you should really give a listen to the thoughts of Bill Roper, founder of Flagship. The poor guy pretty much spills his guts to 1up.com's Jeff Green about everything that happened and is happening with the people and projects from Flagship. It's a surprisingly lengthy interview, clocking in at eight pages. It's totally worth the read if you want a gritty insight into just how much went into not only Hellgate: London and Mythos, but the team that put those titles together.

It's not often that we get such a wide and deep look into a developer. We're counting ourselves lucky that Bill seems to be such a open and forthcoming guy, otherwise we might have never known anything beyond rumors and speculation. If everyone previously involved with Flagship lands on their feet, it will be in no small part due to Bill Roper's efforts.

Tags: 1up, bill-roper, flagship, flagship-studios, hellgate-london, mythos

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

danarchy said on 6:32PM 8-18-2008

I enjoyed hellgate. Sure it was a tad repetitive at times but it was really the most fun fpsmmo (or whatever the given acronym is) I have yet played. It was fast and explody just like I like it.

Leshrac said on 7:30PM 8-18-2008

I liked it too, I was in the beta and the beta testers and we all kept submitting the same bug reports and telling them what we felt needed to be addressed. They pretty much ignored us, then the game went live and none of the bugs were fixed, all of the issues in beta were still in retail - yet everyone at FSS, and the die-hard fanboys, swore that FSS had a secret internally tested client that was vastly superior to the beta client.

The game went live and all of the gripes that testers had in beta were now being discovered by retail players so the frustrations mounted. Then FSS was double billing subscribers for zero content and features, and they even screwed that up. Yet again, everyone walked around whistling like everything was fine.

Am I glad the game failed? No, I think HGL had a lot of potential. Am I glad that Roper and his team got bitch slapped? Yes. Roper and crew kept blaming the gamers for their unrealistic expectations and the fanboys screamed that we all needed to be patient. In the meantime the ship was taking on water. I don't like that they tried to deceive us, tell us the truth - it may piss me off but I can manage that. But when you lie I have no tolerance for it.

Lianne said on 6:40AM 8-19-2008

I was in the beta too...I know exactly what you mean. It was so frustrating.

I'm so glad I didn't choose to subscribe.

On the upside, it does have offline single-player mode. Now if only there was a way to download my level 22 character to play offline..... :P

derella said on 4:53AM 8-19-2008

I remember weeks before release, Bill Roper on 1UPYours talking about how the beta build that pre-orderers were testing was really old, and how great everything was in the newer build. That's not "open and forthcoming," IMO.

I canceled my pre-order after playing the beta for a few hours, thankfully.

äsdf said on 11:23AM 8-19-2008

Awesome interview from 1UP. Well worth the read.

Leshrac said on 11:48AM 8-19-2008

I'm still pissed at 1UP - or Games for Windows Magazine, I had to read online that the magazine was discontinued. I never received a credit, I had to call and track them down to find out what was going on. I boycott all Ziff Davis products now.

recursive said on 6:12PM 8-20-2008

Compelling insight in what the hell was going on over there. Hope they find their way back into the industry soon, to create cool things again after these lessons learned. Best of luck to you guys and props for doing the right thing by your employees.