The Western Frontier: an Interview With Digital Leisure’s Paul Gold
by Phoenix, HSM team writer
It had been a long time in coming — at times, I forgot about the promise of a new public space from the casino kings of Home.
With the long-awaited launch of Digital Leisure’s new public space into Home, there were a few questions swirling around in my head. I thought maybe someone besides me might have these or similar questions that needed answers, so I reached out to the folks over at Digital Leisure. Paul Gold was more than willing to talk to me.
I wondered why the Western Frontier took so long to develop; sure, it takes a lot of work from a lot of people to develop a space, but in the time it’s take for them to complete this one and get it up and running, other developers have created several large spaces. So what took them so long? Was the perception of a long gestation time simply an offshoot of a healthy pre-release marketing campaign (unusual by Home standards), or was it due to the sheer project scope?
Paul Gold: When we set out on designing the Western Frontier space, we wanted the space to make a major splash. If you look at the total content – spaces, games and rewards – there is about 2.5 times that of what we released when The Casino first launched. Users have constantly been asking us, ‘What are you coming out with next?’, so when we announced the news we knew it would be some time before launch. The design, development and testing of a large public space takes time. We thank everyone for their patience, and hope it was worth the wait.
There were no excuses about the length of time it took: it’s quality they were aiming for, which I appreciate. The sheer size of this space would take a good amount of time to thoroughly code and test, to say nothing of having to get everything through Sony FQA.
And, to be fair, the project scope really is as massive as they promised. If you’ve seen this space, then doubtlessly you’ll agree.
HSM: Why choose the Old West theme? Where did Digital Leisure draw their inspiration from, and just how much research went into it?
PG: Quite a bit of research went into not only the environments, but also the clothing people will get to wear. We certainly wanted some authenticity, but there will still be some fun little quirks to discover that give it a Home feel. It was important for people to feel they are in a town that could easily have popped up during the gold rush days; hence why we provide a full outfit for you to wear just for checking the space out. However, we also know Home is about wearing whatever clothing you like, so in the town’s Saloon, any dress is welcome.”
(What impresses me, personally: each person, upon entering the space for the first time, is able to choose the pieces they want to wear from a choice of hats, shoes, tops and bottoms in different colors. These items are added to your inventory and dressed on your avatar.)
HSM: How much input from the community was utilized?
PG: There was a fair bit of input that comes from the community, whether they were directly asked or not. As many know by now, we are very active in seeking out comments from the community on a variety of things we do. Be it via the Home forums, Facebook, Twitter – we’re always reaching out to see what people like or dislike about Home. I believe with Frontier we’ve pulled the best aspects of Home into one, central space.
HSM: What compelled Digital Leisure to add so many interactive components?
PG: When we started the initial development on this space, we wanted it to be the place to be in Home. There really hasn’t been a full-blown public space with a bunch of games and tons of rewards in a long time. But really it stems from the global audience that makes up Home. Some people like to play individual games – so we have a Shooting Gallery. Perhaps something with strong competition is your choice – so you can have a Showdown or battle to the finish line with a Stagecoach race. Like more of gamble? The town’s Saloon has Liar’s Dice, Blackjack and even Five Finger Fillet. We really tried to make sure there was something for everyone. People want new and fresh things to do in Home, so we gave it to them. All new games, over 400 new items – lots to do!
HSM: Given the launch of the PS4 and the conspicuous absence of Home, is it risky to launch such a large-scope project so potentially late in Home’s lifespan?
PG: I’m really not sure why everyone is so hung up on there now being a new console generation and future of Home. Given how historically the transition from one generation to the next is handled, the PS3 will be around and actively supported for many years to come. Sony only discontinued the production of the PS2 this January – a whole 13 years after its initial release!
Now, do I think fresh new spaces will be released in Home for 2018 – no. But I do know that we are actively creating new content, as are many of the other Home devs out there. We will continue to support the platform for as long as the strong Home userbase demands it.
Getting back to your original question – is it too late for a large scale project to be successful? A project can just as easily fail at the height of a system as it can at the end. The users will let us know pretty quickly if the space is a success.
HSM: One last thing: any chance we’ll see some pleasant surprises (a la the free hotel room) in the Western Frontier?
PG: Of course! Who knows what might show up at your Campsite.
Many thanks to Paul Gold and Digital Leisure for consenting to be interviewed by HSM; Home 2013 has frankly been in desperate need of a massive public deployment along the lines of the Western Frontier, and we believe Digital Leisure has nailed it.
November 27th, 2013 by Phoenix | 4 comments
Phoenix writes poetry and is a photography enthusiast, along with writing for HomeStation Magazine. She is currently studying for a BFA in Creative Writing and BA with concentration in Photography. psn ID phoenixstorm21
youtube.com/user/phoenixstorm21
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Good interview, done before the space was released I presume., I so wanted this to be the place on home as I like the wild west theme. I put together a wild west town on imvu. It’s a shame they took all that time and made it so commercial that it won’t become as legendary as the casino. I’ve given up stagecoach racing because of mix matched races, poor collision rules and poor returns. that’s if it dont kick you while racing. Trade post is great idea but not really in home. So many users won’t trade unless you want a mismatched value. Rest of games are ok if they work. Or you dont get stuck behind the blackjack table as the first one behind swing doors is too close to wall. Mining games are too boring for little return. Bugs are all part of home so I’m used to bugs causing issues, as long as they are sorted. Currently feels like Al Swearagen is running the place leaving me with enough gold to live there but the rest is making others richer. Probably get fed to Mr Wui’s pigs saying that lol
Are you serious? The Casino is very commercial, you need to spend a lot of money if you want to win the rewards. Again I have spent $0 and already won many rewards. I will buy some gold and maybe the pickaxe but it’s same than for other spaces. Also in stagecoach races you won’t be mixed with someone who has upgraded its cart if you haven’t.
I was mixed with an upgraded cart against my default.
About the pickaxe. The 5 fingers filets game at the saloon is much better if gringing for gold is what you’re looking for.
I know someone that was in top ten of keno twice and won season end jacket twice without spending anything in the casino, theres no way you could do that on anything here, digital leisure have now said they are looking at the mismatched races so if you haven’t been mismatched your lucky. Don’t know what they are going to do because whatever they do will effect sales of up-rated parts as there’s no need to buy them if I’m going to be put with other default carts plus there will be less races with up-rated carts because there’s no need then. Perhaps a better return for losing well against up-rated carts would be an idea