An Interview With Locust_Star About Ooblag’s Alien Casino
By Jersquall, HSM Podcast Editor
Games. Games, games, games.
It seems like such an obvious point, right? Home is a virtual reality built into a game console. Home is populated by gamers. Thus, it stands to reason that Home should offer as many different gaming experiences as possible in order to attract those console gamers and get them to stick around.
And the real magic is when you can offer games and social interactivity hand-in-hand. Home’s architecture doesn’t yet allow for pure gaming experiences that can rival top-notch gaming titles – but those same gaming titles can’t really offer the same sort of social connectivity (and the revenue generation potential inherent therein) that Home offers.
Home has already proven itself successful when it can offer a blend of the two. Hudson and Electronic Arts, among others, have successfully done so in Home. Yet neither of them have ever offered anything quite like this:
Ooblag’s Alien Casino.
To get a better understanding of this new space and all it has to offer, I sat down with Home Community Manager Locust_Star to get the inside story on Ooblag, Raaksu, and why gaming is the universal language.
HSM: Locust_Star, What IS Ooblag’s Alien Casino?
Locust_Star: Ooblag’s Alien Casino is a game space developed
exclusively for SCEA PlayStation Home. Set in deep space, OAC is a
highly-immersive extraterrestrial environment that includes a host of
highly-stylized multiplayer games of craps, overseen by Raaksu, Ooblag’s
ruthless pit boss.
How did the Alien Casino come to be? Whose idea was it?
The concept of OAC was collaboration between the SCEA PlayStation Home
Community team and a creative agency, which has worked on a variety of Home
projects that you all have come to know and love. Once we hammered out the
concept, GlassWalls and I began to work with a developer to design the game and
develop the space, assuming the roles of Executive Producers. Throughout the
process we also worked with Hatchback to create marketing materials (videos,
images, etc) that matched the game and took into account any/all changes that
were made throughout the development process. The entire project, end-to-end,
was managed by the Community team with the goal being to provide our users with
a fun experience, which I think we have delivered (and then some).
Was this a pet project of yours?
In a way – yes. While Community Management, historically, has not been
responsible for game development, over the course of the last
year or so my team has gotten even more hands-on in the content creation
process – we produced the virtual E3 booth, for example, and were responsible
for bringing Winter Wonderland to SCEA last year. So, in that sense, we were
just doing our jobs. That said, we spent a lot of time tweaking the game and
the space so it oftentimes felt as if it were a pet project.
This is 100% free to play, correct? Nothing to buy?
The game is 100% free-to-play. Beyond that, the game space includes an
active item reward which is an exact replica of the OAC craps game that all
players can place in the personal space(s) of their choosing. This, too, is completely
free and available for the entire community to enjoy.
Why is this a free to play game? Does the Home team love us that much?
That’s pretty much it: we really do love you all that much!
What kind of game is featured in the Casino?
The game is a highly-stylized multiplayer game of craps, a popular
real-world casino game that has never before been ported to Home (or PSN for
that matter).
Is this a space that will be around a long time?
The plan is to keep the space live for the foreseeable future. That
said, Home is constantly evolving and changing and sometimes content will be
time-limited for a variety of reasons, so I always urge players to take
immediate advantage of our games, events, items, and other content offerings.
The free game that we get for private use. Is it the same as the
public game?
Yes – the active item game is exactly the same as the public game,
save for the alien characters (NPCs), which are only present in the game space
itself.
What is in the public space that we have not seen before?
Here’s something you may not be aware of: situated in the center of
the space — right in front of Raaksu (OAC’s notorious pit boss) — is a “high
rollers table” that is only accessible by players that have unlocked the alien
costume rewards associated with the Ooblag game.
Ooblag looks very mean or grumpy. Is he? 
The pit boss’ name is actually Raaksu. And he’s not a very cuddly
character – especially if you lose a round.
How many NPCs are there?
I can’t recount the exact number off the top of my head (I’m actually
writing these answers while travelling internationally and do not have my PS3
on-hand at the moment to reference the space), but there are over 10 NPCs in
OAC (perhaps even 15). We were careful to include as many NPCs as possible so
as to create a sense of immersion for players.
Is there a leaderboard for the game?
There is no leaderboard for the game, though of course there is a
points system in the game itself. The design decision was made to elevate high
performing players in the eyes of the community first by rewarding them with
the alien costumes and, secondly, by allowing the best of the best to access a
special “high rollers” version of the Ooblag craps table.
Are there rewards for the public or private game or are they all
together?
The rewards are in the public space and include male and female
full-body alien costumes as well as the Ooblag active item game reward.
Who made up Ooblag’s name, and does it have any meaning besides his
name?
The name(s) used in the game were created by a creative agency that we
have worked very closely with on designing some of our past community events
and who generate some of the promotional videos and posters you see in-world,
advertising games, events, and virtual items. There is no particular back story
to the name – we just thought it sounded appropriately “alien” and cool.
I think Home users really will enjoy the Casino. Do you see it as a
social gathering public space or a Casino gaming area?
Locust_Star
It’s designed to serve both functions. While I think the community
will find the Ooblag game itself to be very compelling, the rich and unique
environment will I believe inspire players to utilize the space as a social hub
as well. In fact, I predict at least one club or group will be created based around
the alien costume rewards and that emergent community gameplay will develop in
the form of user-generated events.
Tell us something we wouldn’t ever ask or know about the Casino.
It was originally developed as a community event for Central Plaza, a la
Turkey Chase and Winter Wonderland. However, our Business team brought in so
many partners and developers that wanted to create cool content hosted in
Central Plaza (such as the Ford Showroom, Scribble Shooter, and Dead Island
TGI) that we had to create a separate, discrete game space just for the Alien
Casino – that’s how busy the Central Plaza is these days! Having more content
lined up than you can fit at any one time is a good problem to have, I must
say, and I think the Home community would agree!
There are two key insights from this which I found most interesting: that the Alien Casino is absolutely free, and that GlassWalls and Locust_Star themselves are the executive producers.
Consider that for a moment. Home Community Management could have developed anything they wanted to; yet they specifically chose to develop a gaming space with community elements that was absolutely free to play. As far as I know, that’s about as universally appealing as it gets in Home.
Many thanks to Locust_Star and SCEA for consenting to this interview; all of us here at HomeStation Magazine hope that the community enjoys Ooblag’s Alien Casino for a long time to come.
August 25th, 2011 by Jersquall | 7 comments
Jersquall is a retired Home Community Volunteer, co-founder of Club HOMEinformer, and podcast commentator for HomeStation Magazine. His views expressed in HSM are his own.
It’s a great looking space I just wish there were more games added to it craps is fun but I like blackjack much better,it would be great to play both.
The game and space are interesting, but a casino isn’t a casino with only one game. I love that it is free for anyone, that gives the kids without income somewhere to go and get a new reward, but after the reward is given and the newness wears off, I don’t believe this space will remain too popular unless they add new games to it periodically. I think that will be especially true once the new Hub and other spaces emerge. It is visually stunning, but I have only gone there once, since I can play the game I got in my own space and still get the reward. I may go back after I get those elusive 25,000 credits and play the pit boss, but I doubt this will become a favorite for me.
Thanks for sharing this interview with us Jers! Previously I had thought that the space was going to offer different casino games and thus might be lacking in that regard. But, reading that this space was originally intended to be an event in CP, and then needed to be made into a separate public space gives a new perspective. I did also take for granted that the space is completely free and did not know that it was exclusively produced by Locust_Star and Glasswalls. They did do a good job with the space based on what the original intent was, but if it is named a casino then I agree it should offer different games. I love poker and would have loved to see that there too, but of course we can go to the Godfather space for that cuz there is no more EA poker space :(. Maybe the space could evolve (like Dead Island in CP), and more games can be added such as Black Jack or slot machines.
With the redesign of PS Home coming soon, I am looking forward to the types of games that will emerge on the new platform.
Wasn’t it free as part of the “Welcome Back Program”? I seem to remember reading that as being part of the package.
Yes Gideon it is free and that is the best part of it lol.
Holy Craps! great and informative interview, I’m off to role some bones.
I love gambling and everything, but they should let us gamble with real money. Maybe turn our cash into “credits” or something to avoid the legal red tape. The law always be tryin’ to keep a brother down; feel me?