Patrick Traynor’s Adventure to Cheyenne Mountain

There are few science-fiction properties as successful as Stargate, which has spawned a movie along with two television series and even an animated series. Last year, Arizona-based developer Cheyenne Mountain announced that it was working on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on MGM’s hit property. However, given that the game was early in development, Cheyenne Mountain didn’t release many details. Cheyenne and MGM Interactive are now taking off the wraps on their project So lets head in with our friend Patrick.

A few days ago, the game developers behind the upcoming MMORPG ‘Stargate Worlds’ Let me and a select students into their Mountain top layer to check out the development process in work.

If you do not know about Stargate Worlds, it is essentally an MMORPG based around Stargate SG-1. So lets hope that we will have Macgyver in the game.
There are 7 different Archetypes in the game and all of the species from the show.

‘A giant arch from Stargate SG-1. Only half is there, was too big to fit into the office. The other half is in storage somewhere I was told.’

As I entered the building, I was greeted by Dan Elggren, the head of Cheyene Mountain.

He told us not to touch anything that is valuble, don’t take anything etc etc. He let us look around the main office and check out some of the props that were showcased there.

As I entered the main area, the halls were lined with artwork and designs. We first checked out the main Design & Arts staff. I talked to Nick Heitman, the main Designer who was working on the terrain and area of the game. He talked to us about the steps he takes in designing the terrain and buildings. he also talked to me about the Unreal Engine 3 and how you can Aquire it for free buying Gears of War or Unreal Tournament 3. You could also be able to obtain the recient versions by buying any game that uses the Unreal Engine.

Then, I talked to Rollin Hafner, the Effect Desiner. He talked to me about how long it takes him to create a basic effect and advanced effect. Basic Effects ususally take from an hour, to a few hours, major effects can take from a day to a week! He showed me a couple of his effects and creature effects.

Dan then took us into the next room. They had Testers and Game designers in this room.
I am guessing because they had a Pert Chart *A chart that has ideas and suggjestions that takes every sticky one by one and incorperates the idea into the game or removes it until every sticky is gone*

I then talked to Chis Klug, the Creative Director of the game. He talked to me about the basic Storyline and how he is going to encorperate the TV and movie series characters into the game.

I then headed into another one of their offices, no one was there, so I was not sure what it was used for. All I have to say is that they sure have a good taste in design.

I then got a chance to talk to the programmers of the game, Conan and David. They told us about the complexity of programming and which degrees would get you into the industry. Most of them Had a Bachlors or Masters in Computer Science. One programmer had a degree in Electronic Engineering.

Everyone was really nice and gave me a lot of information about the industry and the developement process. I got some great pictures and information for the future and anyone who wants to get into this industry. Everyone in my class and I had a great time and would love to visit them again.

I also got some good photos of the concept art on their walls.

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