Ten Ton Hamster

Interviewer: Padma “Lady Lotus” Fuller, Editor/Site Lead
Interviewee: Ali Aslanbaigi – Games Master Manager


Here is Ten Ton Hamster's second half of our Interview with Ali Aslanbaigi. Here we talked about Pets, socializing, their favorite parts about Hello Kitty Online, and some cool new things to look forward to!


6. How many pets will players be able to have? If they change their minds after they have chosen a particular pet can they get a new one?

A player can own up to 3 pets, but only one of them can be active. Pets come from using pet cards. Pet cards are found on the respective monsters, so if you want a scorpion pet you would go around clobbering scorpions until the pet card drops. If you already have three pets and you get a new pet card, you will have to release one of your other pets if you want to use the new one. At this time once a pet is released it is gone forever. We are considering ideas to allow players to own more than 3 pets, such as pet nurseries where you can drop off pets for storage, or the possibility of leaving one of your pets to look after your farm while you're out questing.

We are building the pet system so that pets will be pretty useful and accessible to anyone in HKO. A pet will be able to serve as walking luggage who carries your things, but will also have an effect on your stats and skills (depending on the specific pet, obviously). Pets will help their owners in a battle, and confer important bonuses during minigames.

7. There is mention of pets being used for storage. How many items will pets be able to store? Will it depend on what pet you have?

In the Closed Beta pets aren't yet able to carry items, but that feature will be implemented for the Open Beta. We are currently discussing how big a pet’s inventory space should be.

8. Can you talk more about the community integration system that you have in the game. It seems like it really gives players a great chance to socialize.

The Sanriotown web site and HKO are integrated, so you can access a number of features of Sanriotown.com directly from the game interface. From inside the game you can access Sanriotown email, blogs, and video sharing (Dream Studio). From Sanriotown you can monitor your HKO player status and avatar, your pet’s status and avatar, your buddy list, and the number of people currently playing on your HKO server.

9. Tell us one of your favorite parts of the game as a developer or a player.

Right now I am really enjoying the farming aspect of the game, and I think this might be one of the game's biggest attractions. The pet system has a certain charm but many pet features are not yet implemented. In almost all MMOs, there is a sort of pet system in one form or another, we are trying to deviate slightly from other games by making the pets a little more interactive and relevant to the game.

10. Is there anything else you would like to share with the fans about HKO?

If you are currently in the game, hang around until the near end of the Closed Beta, because we are having an in-game event! We have also launched a trailer-making contest, where you download some HKO materials and put them together with whatever other material you wish to use. For details, visit www.Sanriotown.com

We would like to thank all the players and supporters of HKO for making all of this possible. As for those who, unfortunately, weren't able to get into the Closed Beta, stay tuned and keep on checking the Official Game Blog for the upcoming Open Beta.