Massively heads to Arizona for a peak at Stargate Worlds.

The worlds of Stargate Worlds seem to be shaping up nicely. Massively visited Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment for an in-depth interview with Dan Elggren (Studio Head) and Chris Klug (Creative Director), Howard Lyon (Art Director), Demetrius Comes (VP of Technology), and Kevin Balentine (Sr. Marketing Manager). The interview is chock full of information about Stargate Worlds including the mini-games, classes, FPS elements and available worlds at launch. The four part interview starts with a class discussion and then moves onto the incredibly unique idea for minigames:

"So Dan’s in my guild/command in another world, and I call out to him and ask for help because I don’t know how to play this minigame. He can answer it and I can watch him play the minigame on my screen ... he can then finish the minigame, which then runs the actions on me for finishing that minigame so now I can move forward on my mission and unlock the door or unlock the area."

SGW isn’t the first MMO to tackle the first person shooter dynamic, and it appears that they will stick closer to the tactical side of the equation than making it a true "shooter" mechanic:

"Targeting is MMO targeting. There’s a firing mechanic that’s happening under the hood. I target you, I hit my fire button, and it’s handling all of the targeting for you and the resolution of the damage and all that like a typical MMO would, so that you’re free to concentrate the tactics -- meaning what ability you’re going to call into play -- and also where you’re going to position yourself on the battlefield, because that’s what we want people to think about. We don’t want people to worry about trying to target someone who’s jumping up and down like crazy."

There are also new screen shots to salivate over.

Cheyenne is making great strides, and while I’m hoping they can hit the 2008 release date, the indications are that they will hold off even if the game is complete:

"There are a number of different factors that can go into release dates, as you know. We’ve talked about Q4 this year, but there are any number of different reasons that we may not release this year. That doesn’t have anything to do with whether the game’s ready or not. There are a number of games that are also launching at the same time. You’ve got to look at the competitive landscape, and you’ve got to look at a lot of different factors before making that final decision on when your game’s gonna launch."

Delaying the delivery may be a shrewd move on their part because trying to garner attention during the WAR - Wrath of the Lich King maelstrom will be difficult (at best!). The game is moving in the right direction and I for one am very excited about this game. Read the whole interview at Massively.