Ten Ton Hamster

The Staff at Ten Ton Hamster had the very fortunate opportunity to get an exclusive interview with J. Todd Coleman, the Director, and William Haskins, the Producer, of Wizard 101. Thye gave us some awesome insight into the game of Wizard 101 such as dueling and pvp, mini games, leveling, and much more! Please read on and find out all about this magical game!


J Todd ColemanWilliam Haskins

Interviewer: Padma "LadyLotus" Fuller, Editor/Site Lead
Interviewee: J Todd Coleman: Director & William Haskins: Producer

1. What was the inspiration behind Wizard 101?

Todd:The basic idea was to create a fantasy virtual world that was more approachable: something that players of all ages would enjoy, and that parents would feel comfortable allowing their kids to play.

We liked the idea of a Wizard School, because it gives us such a large and diverse canvas to work with – everything goes! Ninja pigs, evil snowmen, samoorai cows, you name it.

From a design standpoint, the vision was to marry the concepts of a virtual world and a collectible card game…. Take the social elements of a virtual world, the immersive nature of that kind of game experience, and wrap it around a fully featured collectible card game where the spells would, quite literally, come to life!

2. Will players receive a bonus from dueling?

Todd: There are two types of duels that occur in Wizard101. The first is dueling with the numerous creatures (NPCs) throughout the expansive worlds on the spiral. Players receive experience, loot and gold in winning duels as well as achievement in accomplishing many quests that pertain to duels.

William: Duels against creatures not only advance you through the game’s storyline via experience points; they also increase your wealth in gold, not to mention your power, through loot such as equipment and Treasure Cards.

And with new equipment, you’ll achieve awesome new looks, while at the same time increasing your Max Health, Max Mana and other key stats. All of this, of course, pales in comparison to the enormous sense of well-being of putting a Cyclops or Gobbler in his place.

Todd: The second type of dueling happens in the Arena … This is where players can pit their skills against other students. This is not a formal part of the overall Wizard101 storyline but offers a fun way to break up the normal adventuring session.

Right now the Arena doesn’t offer rewards, other than the gratification of having fun dueling other players. We are in the process of building a much more complex player vs. player Tournament system with the ability to have tournaments and other fun aspects such as being able to wager in game items like treasure cards.

William: Once the PvP Tournament system comes online, this will be huge…because your bragging rights will be official!

3. How many cards can a player have in his/her deck? Can players trade cards with each other?

Todd: You don’t just have one Deck. Decks are actually physical objects you can find in the game… and different Decks have different attributes of what cards you can select into them; so a Master Pyromancer’s Deck may allow you to have 35 cards total, with a maximum of 5 charges of any Fire spell… where a Novice Necromancer’s Deck may only allow you to have 30 cards, with a max of 4 charges of any particular Death spell.

William: There is actually a lot of strategy involved in Deck building. There can be a strategic benefit in having multiple decks set up for various situations. I like to keep a both an Ice deck and a Fire deck constructed and will equip one or the other based on my location and the type of monsters in a particular world.

4. Can a player belong to more than one school of magic?

Todd: Players must belong to one of the seven schools of magic, each player joins a “Homeroom Class” as part of character creation… (a play of words on the traditional RPG “class” concept.) This class selection drives the spells they learn as they advance, their health and mana, opens up particular quest lines, and of course gives them access to Class-specific gear.

So while all Wizards are moving toward the goal of saving Wizard City, the actual path a Myth Wizard (our Illusionist class, which concentrates on summoning creatures of legend) experiences is different than a Life Wizard (our Healer class, who weave the tapestry of life.)

In addition, to allow players to further customize their advancement, we also give out Training Points as players advance. These allow the player to dabble in other schools; most players tend to think of it almost as a “major” and a “minor” in the Wizard academic world.

William: Don’t forget, players can also find and buy Treasure Cards. These are loot drops that allow you to cast a spell beyond your current knowledge – potentially from any school, or any power level. They’re effectively an ace up your sleeve, allowing you to get out of sticky situations and defeat really tough bosses.

5. Your site mentions six schools of magic and one more that draws upon them all. What is that one more? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Todd: The seventh school is the School of Balance. Balance is not a specific type of Magic in itself but pulls from the other schools. It is also more manipulative and actually changes the rules of combat.

The other six Schools of Magic fall in two basic categories. There are the “external” magics, which deal with controlling the elements: Fire, Ice and Storm. Then there are the internal schools, which roughly map to Body, Mind and Spirit: Death, Myth and Life.

William: Balance is harder to play, as well. In fact, both Balance and Death require a slightly higher degree of strategic thinking.

6. Tell us about the Mini Game Fairgrounds.

William: The Mini-Game Fairgrounds offers a fun alternative to questing and dueling and gives players the instant gratification of an arcade. Pick a favorite game and master it, or challenge yourself to mastering them all. Along with the actual experience of playing some very fun games, you can beef up your Mana, put some gold in your pocket and get new equipment and treasure cards. It’s also quite tempting to make your mark by being ranked among the top players.

Todd: We included the mini-games for two reasons… first, because we wanted to break up the normal adventuring cycle and give players smaller, more easily digestible tasks that they could enjoy quickly and still get tangible in-game rewards… and second, because it gave us a chance to create a bunch of old school arcade games. :)

William: True. It is pretty obvious when you play our mini-games that they were inspired by some of the classic arcade games.

Todd: That’s not an accident. And, actually, mini-games aren’t just located in the Fairgrounds, that is just the easiest place to access them. You can also find them out in the adventuring areas…. Players might stumble across a silver chest that contains really good loot, but you have to play an unlocking game to open it.

7. How will players level up their characters?

Todd: Questing and Dueling. Mostly questing.

William: Very true. Almost all of the gameplay is put into context, very little of the advancement happens outside of a quest. Our game is also more narrative than most virtual worlds, players have an ultimate goal of Saving Wizard City and defeating Mallistaire.

Todd: Exactly, so every area reflects that. In each zone, there is a central problem (like “the ninja pigs are raiding us!”) and you have a series of quests that lead you to solve the local problem… then the local problem ties into the larger story, it is typically driven by or accidentally caused by the same ultimate bad guy that is threatening Wizard City, so you follow the clues on to the next area…. with the ultimate goal of defeating the bad guy and saving the world.

8. Will players be able to group up and do quests together?

Todd: Absolutely! The multiplayer aspect of Wizard101 is a huge component of the game. It is extremely easy to make friends with other Wizards in the game, and players can teleport to any of their friends regardless of where they are in the game, pretty much at will. This makes the aspect of playing with other Wizards extremely easy.

You don’t have to hang out very long in the Commons (the main area in Wizard City) before you see another Wizard asking someone to join them and help on a quest. It also fosters more advanced players coming back and helping newer players through some of the more difficult areas.

William: The Friends List is one of my 9 year-old’s favorite aspects of the game. He can meet up with friends who are at or around his same level to team up on quests and duels, or he can teleport to a friend who’s just starting the game to act as a sort of guide. It really completes the experience for him.

9. What is your favorite thing about Wizard 101?

Todd: I love the sheer variety of worlds and creatures that we’ve created. The idea of Wizard101 is that magic is the central thread that connects all worlds – even ours. With this kind of a backdrop, anything you can imagine can be brought to life.

I look at the creative aspects almost like we’re crafting a menu at a fusion restaurant: take a few cool ideas that are totally different, mix them together and see if it works. One of our worlds, Krokotopia, is an Egyptian-themed area ruled by a family of Krokodile Witch-Kings. Another one, called MooShu, is filled with Ninja Pigs and Samoorai Cows; sort of a feudal-japan-meets-barnyard-animals. The world has a very whimsical, approachable atmosphere that I find really creative and refreshing.

William: Another theme we like to draw on is big power comes in small packages. You can see this in some of our more fanciful spells, like the Heck Hound and the Stormzilla. We constantly walk the line between making things really cool and making them really silly, and the end result is very engaging.

10. Is there anything else you would like to share with the Ten Ton Hamster fans?

Todd: We have been getting an incredible response from our Beta players and we would encourage folks to head to www.Wizard101.com to jump in and experience what we feel (and hope you’ll agree) is an amazing game.

William: I would add that we really value feedback from the gaming community and we’ve been amazed at the number of adults who’ve discovered a fun and compelling online experience. So, don’t be fooled by talk of a kids’ game. If ever there was an example of the “fun for all ages” maxim, Wizard101 is it.

Follow this link to sign up for Wizard 101