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Just recently I had the chance to do a Q and A interview with Virtual2 Leagues Drew Jones about their upcoming fantasy genre league “Realm Adventure League” (RAL is live on Kickstarter right now). And this is what Jones had to tell us.

Robin TGG
Could you perhaps tell us a little more about how v2leagues came about? And for how long have you been working on v2leagues?

Drew V2Leagues
We have been officially working on our V2Leagues platform and our first game “Realm Adventure League (RAL)” since the middle of last year. However the concept for the games were born years prior. Members of the team are huge gamers, WE play anything from board games to MMOs and just about anything in between. The concept was born from a board game I was working on. One night we got to talking about the game concept and decided that we should instead take it online. Then within a few weeks we had an architecture and were working on the patent. Everything is kind of a blur from there.

“Realm Adventure League is like World of Warcraft and Fantasy Football had a baby! … and it was born in the back of a Tavern!”

Robin TGG
Realm Adventure League is one of the very first leagues which v2leagues have presented to the Gaming community. And it´s been described as “Realm Adventure League” is like World of Warcraft and Fantasy Football had a baby! … and it was born in the back of a Tavern!” (according to the Kickstarter page). Was that something which you aimed for since the very start? Or did “Realm Adventure League” evolve into that state along the way?

Drew V2Leagues
In the general sense yes. We had all played Fantasy Football for years and just love the concept of building a team and competing against friends in leagues (our smacktalk alone is worthy entertainment). However some of our gaming friends didn’t like sports so they never played Fantasy Football with us. When we decided to develop the way RAL was going to work we needed to establish roles for the teams like you see in Fantasy Football so we decided that the roles like Tank, Healer, DPS, Boss, Mini-Boss and Minions would be recognizable to a large chunk of the gaming community based on MMOs like World of Warcraft, and others.

Robin TGG
Do you think that Virtual Squared Leagues has the potential to become just as big (or even bigger) than fantasy football?

Drew V2Leagues
That’s a pretty high bar given where that industry is at, however we do believe that the popularity of Fantasy sports and the emergence of esports will defiantly help us grow. The key to making V2Leagues work is in making the NPCs and the worlds feel alive and we think that is some of our secret sauce!

“Realm Adventure League” is said to be very easy to join, play and enjoy. However, only the best of the best will top the league.

Robin TGG
The Kickstarter campaign for “Realm Adventure League” is now live and kicking, and the goal has been set to $20,000 (with 50 days to go). And when I wrote this interview, “Realm Adventure League” was very close to $8,000. So what do you think about your odds on reaching your Kickstarter goal on time? And what has the media and the Gaming community said about RAL so far?

Drew V2Leagues
We are very happy with where we are with the campaign. We still have a lot of time left and the current questions and comments are flying in and it is all extremely positive. We know that Kickstarter campaigns usually accelerate the closer they get to the dead line so we feel we will hit our goal and probably take down a good amount of stretch goals in the process. We have multiple media outlets talking with us and working on some reviews of our game and our platform so that has been very positive as well. We have also been on the hotlist of projects on kicktraq.com since the launch so that also gives us a good indication that we have a lot of people checking out the Kickstarter.

Robin TGG
There are plenty of extended stretch goals (six in total) for “Realm Adventure League”, but I noticed that at the very end of the list (after the $40K goal), it said, “more to be revealed.” Is that something which you can talk about now? Or will it remain a secret until you reach the $40K goal mark?

Drew V2Leagues
We opted to show just a subset of the stretch goals, but we can ensure you that we have a full list of goals that we hope to take down. The first thing with all goals is that beyond game features the backers will always be getting exclusive in-game rewards. Whether that is custom team shields or more gold and influence items. Some of the bigger things you don’t see on the list is a Live Draft mode, Mobile app for team management, and the Whelper (which is a NPC in-game twitter feature).

Yes, you can draft people to your team in RAL.

Robin TGG
Was there any particular reason behind why you have launched a Kickstarter campaign for “Realm Adventure League” now? Or was it just that the time and timing were right for it now?

Drew V2Leagues
We had gotten to a point where we were happy with the way the game was evolving and confident that we could deliver the game. In addition the internal testing gave us the proper feeling of the game experience, so we just felt it was time to pull the trigger.

Robin TGG
What background does the V2 Leagues team have? For example, are there and video game or board game veterans on the team? Because I got the feeling that there are a lot of D&D, LOTR,WOW and Warhammer vibes over “Realm Adventure League”.

Drew V2Leagues
Our team is composed of total gamers in every sense of the word. Some of us have been playing games since the late 70’s (so now you should be able to calculate how old some of us are J) Anyway we have experience with a lot of different games from RPGs, boardgames to playing online games like World of Warcraft. As I look behind me in my office there is a wall of more than 200 games and painted minis from Warhammer to SpaceHulk) so yes I am sure you can feel the vibe from the team. We are using all our experiences to truly bring the Realm to life!

Robin TGG
“If” Realm Adventure League gets fully funded on Kickstarter, are there any plans for big online tournaments? And perhaps even live events? (Dreamhack etc).

Drew V2Leagues
Once we get the RAL launched and deliver on what we have promised in the Kickstarter we will have some new types of leagues that will have some flavor of “big online tournaments”. Our goal is to make sure that the base game is fun, balanced and provides a great experience for all the players out there. This will also allow the more competitive players to practice for when we bring the more advanced higher stakes leagues.

You can create you very own NPC characters in RAL.

Robin TGG
Besides Realm Adventure League (which is fantasy based), it´s also said that you plan to base other leagues on genres such as horror, fantasy and Sci-Fi. That´s awesome of course, but what else do you have in store for us?

Drew V2Leagues
The V2L platform is being developed to allow us to add other games into the mix. Gamers have a variety of tastes so someone who likes fantasy might not like zombies or sci-fi. Our goal however is to not just reskin the same game but to truly bring new worlds to life and really pay homage to the genre when developing the new leagues. You will just have to follow us on social media to watch for what’s coming.

Robin TGG
Gold is the currency Realm Adventure League, but is it true that there will be no “pay to win” kind of concept for RAL?

Drew V2Leagues
Yes that is correct. We are very focused on that gold will first off not be required to play the game and second will be used to add flavor to what you can do in the game. You will be able to influence the NPCs but this is very controlled so only such much influence can be done each week

Robin TGG
What can you tell us about the NPC creation feature?

Drew Jones V2Leagues
Glad you asked us about the NPC Creation. The first thing I want to stress is the NPCs you can help design as part of the Kickstarter are very limited (and no this isn’t a kickstarter marketing ploy). Once we create the world and populate the NPCs there will be very limited to no ability to create NPCs in the game. You see for the game world to work we have to have all the characters in the game and the AI executing. Only when we have to replace characters due to death or retirement will we bring new ones in. So we are encouraging anyone who wants to design an NPC to get in on the Kickstarter. That also goes for the higher pledges like Guild/Clan Founders, etc. This is a onetime opportunity…once our Kickstarter is over we will be in full mode to create and populate the world to get ready for Alpha/Beta testing! We will also be putting out more information on the Kickstarter updates about how the design process will work.

It has taken Virtual2 Leagues quite sometime to develop “Realm adventure league”.

Robin TGG
Another question, the kickstarter outlines the four phases (Join, Draft, Compete and Win) of the game can you elaborate on how the game is played?

Drew Jones V2Leagues
RAL is pretty simple to play however the game is really in how you manage your team and the decision you make from week to week. We have put out 4 updates that outline each of the phases and gives you a sense of how the game is played. You can find the four articles linked below.

– JOIN
– DRAFT
– COMPETE
– WIN

Robin TGG
Last question, how well-balanced will RAL be? Is it “just” pure mathematics, or will there be a lot of “luck” involved as well? (in terms of your chances to win an online match).

Drew Jones V2Leagues
RAL will have very balanced mechanics just like you see in Fantasy Football. These mechanics are designed to be fair for all players. You will be able to do the research on the statistics and be able to plan out your team, however you will still go through the drafting process and have to deal with ongoing events that effect the characters. Understanding the game and how to make the right moves as your leagues progress will give you the advantage.

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround