John Cutter

While I have been an enthusiastic fan of role-playing games for a number of years. I was never a big fan of the popular fantasy literature. The novels I looked at seemed to be little more than romanticised versions of Tolkien's classic Middle Earth tales. Then I picked up a copy of Magician: Apprentice, by Raymond E. Feist. Here was a book filled with marvellous images of incredible worlds and a real emphasis on character development, political intrigues, and military tactics and strategies. It was obvious to me that there was material for a great game here - heck, a hundred great games!

I called Ray's agent the next day.

Ray was fantastic to work with. He consulted with us tirelessly, answering questions, and offering suggestions and advice. Together, we were determined to create a new story, an interactive computer adventure that would feel like a new Riftwar book.

We decided that the game should be an interactive story. Characters would be multi-dimensional and capable of stirring the player's emotions. The story would be carefully plotted with lots of surprises, a good mix of humour and pathos, and abundant amounts of mystery and foreshadowing to keep the player intrigued.

Balancing play against plot is the most confounding job any game designer can face on a fantasy role-playing game. In Betrayal at Krondor, we have integrated our plot so that it provides ample gaming opportunities, while also giving our player a sense of time, place and purpose. This is achieved, by making an on-screen map available to the player at all times; and by creating short term goals - the nine chapters in the game - which give us a unique opportunity to tell a progressive story that still gives the player plenty of freedom to explore and adventure without being confined to a scripted plot. Next, we build a tactical combat game with detailed character interaction and an elaborate magical system to please our most demanding fantasy role-playing gamers.

The end result is that we are proud to have created a new, fulfilling direction for fantasy role-playing entertainment and we look forward to creating future instalments in our Riftwar Legacy. We think you will look forward to playing them.

-John Cutter