First off, tell us why you decided to develop an MMO set in Rome. Why not another culture – Greece, Macedon, Persia, or Egypt?

Many reasons; Firstly the culture is one that has continued to fascinate people for more than two thousand years. And rightly so the Romans were a very advanced people with a checks-and-balances system of government similar to our own ( I know the counter to this is that there wasn’t full suffrage, but that’s a very recent phenomenon for “modern” society ). This is a culture that is repeatedly depicted in literature, the visual arts television and film—right down to Gladiator and Rome the series.

Secondly the military aspect of Rome lends itself to squad combat, which is one of the gameplay themes we wanted to explore in the MMO space. The Romans had to fight to survive against many enemies and did so primarily because they were very adaptable; learning quickly from defeats and developing successful strategies.

And lastly, it’s the myths. The huge selection of gods, heroes, spirits and monsters offered by these myths serves as an incredibly rich resource for the game. I know a lot of people will say that this is fundamentally Greek, but the Romans really made this stuff their own, as well as having their own native beliefs which they joined to the foreign borrowings. This material is not just great for the story aspects of the game but also adds the gods and their powers to the gameplay of GnH.
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