Kayla "Reiyami" Smith brings you the details from a panel consisting of Curt Schilling, Todd McFarlane, R. A. Salvatore and Ken Rolston. Read how these visionaries are paving the way for their upcoming MMO.

Ken Rolston

With Schilling, McFarlane and Salvatore new to creating video games, Rolston comes in as the glue holding it all together. Rolston is an eccentric character and long-time industry veteran. He joked, "I can't tell you what a bitter irony it is to find myself in the role of lonely beacon of restraint. It's not the sort of thing that I would have ever thought that I would have to be but in this squall of crazies, I'm the guy who essentially has to know the dirt. One of the stupidest things you could possibly want to do in this industry is to make a roleplaying game. The challenges in this industry are inexpressibly vast."

Rolston doesn't shy away from the challenge though. He's well aware that his expertise in the industry are being exercised on a daily basis when it comes to Reckoning."I also know the difference between making a roleplaying game and making a triple-A role playing game. I have all the experience that makes it at least plausible that we can take these irresponsible, irrepressible, childish lusts for quality and somehow make them okay! My spirit has to be broken and I have to say 'Oh yeah, we've never done this before, but I'm not scared of this, not even a little bit,'" he said with a laugh.

The team agrees that as daunting as the task at hand may have seemed, all were inspired to pour their all into creating the game."By the way, I'm a genius. Unquestionably a genius. I've made really, really good roleplaying games," he said.

After seeing Salvatore's story, Rolston knew immediately that it wasn't just the sheer amount of history, but the quality, that would make it fun and challenging to bring this game to life. The amount of dramatic moments and pivotal characters that can be related to are not explicitly said, but come to life in the game to create a fully enveloping environment for the gamers.

Working with McFarlane also helped pushed the envelope to use visuals in a way to help propel the story and it's themes, rather than just looking cool. They worked hard to make even the most mundane aspects of a game as visually interesting as possible. Rolston said, "I think that's what a visionary really needs to do. He needs to have those high, ego-centric things, but he also has this, perhaps, mysterious compulsion to want to teach what he teaches and some kind of gift for communication."

There is an incredibly challenging interview process at 38 Studios in which applicants are run through a gauntlet of questions, pushing to see the individual has a drive, passion and commitment. It is so rigorous because employees will be expected to go toe to toe with Rolston, Salvatore and McFarlane to argue story points or visuals, fostering an open communication between everyone who is working on Reckoning.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

After listening to the panel, it becomes very clear that Reckoning is different from other action RPGs from the ground up. The environment at 38 Studios and Big Huge Games is one of immense pride. The team is constantly pushing the envelope to not only impress, but surpass the visionaries on the team.

"We always believed we couldn't have technology driving the art," said Schilling. In details as simple as humans and Inns, they started from a place to make them as interesting as possible. Once the mundane details were handled, and visually as stunning as they could be, then the team worked outward so that when they got to some of the larger and crazier visuals, they were already working to surpass a high bar, set by themselves.

The team quickly rose to the challenge and found themselves being praised by McFarlane and Salvatore. Schilling emphasized, "Don't underestimate the power there. When you have guys who have egos, rightfully so, and they're genre leading and industry leading, and they're comfortable saying, 'Dude, I couldn't do that. That's far better than anything I could have ever done,' it's not lip-service, that's an insanely powerful thing."

After presenting the demo of Reckoning to the team in Boston (who is currently working on the upcoming MMO) the team received a standing ovation. Schilling said, "From a leadership perspective, I was terrified. Not that they couldn't do it, but that the people wouldn't want that. Now it's gotten to the point where the team understands that they're going to market with the IP first. They're leading this universe out to the players and we're putting something in the market after them that we want them to love and be passionate about."