Interview with Daniel "Ishtar" Brockhaus,
the Creator of Astonia(tm).

Question: Daniel, may I call you Ishtar ?
Ishtar:	Ishtar actually only exists within the game, but if you insist...

Question: What made you decide to create online role playing games?
Ishtar:	I've been playing both pen-and-paper and computer role playing games for a long time. Whenever I get involved in something for a longer period of time, I'm tempted to find out if I'm able to come up with something like that myself. I began developing "real-life" role playing games, that were pretty successful with my friends, including a proper game system and adapting them later for computer use.

	      
Question: Ishtar, what do you like about role playing games?
Ishtar: I like the idea of inventing a complex world and seeing how people react to it.
Astonia started off in a very simple way, and it was exciting to see that world change through the addition of all the details, such as jewels, alchemy, and the Pentagram Quest. A role playing game is defined by its players, whose connection and interaction with the game system is very interesting. Astonia's modest origins encouraged a closely linked community of players to form. It has been extremely important to me to work with these players and to incorporate their suggestions into the game.  

Question: Could you characterize the Astonia Community?
Ishtar:	The fact that English is the game's official language helps to get players from all over the world, for instance from the US, Germany, Japan, and Australia. The players may also communicate in their own language, but have to stick to the rule: if there is a player around who doesn't speak that language, all communication has to be in English.

Question: What is special about the game system you use, what is it based on?
Ishtar: It's ultimately based on the pen-and-paper role playing games I used to make, on my experiences and notes. I laid particular emphasis on creating a system of equality between the different classes of characters, Mages and Warriors.         	

Question: When did you start Astonia?
Ishtar:	Astonia is, relatively speaking, an old project of mine. The first online version dates from 1998, Astonia 2 from 1999.

Question: How many players did Astonia 2 have?
Ishtar: V2 had about 20.000 players.

Question: When did you start working on Astonia 3?
Ishtar: We decided to create Astonia 3 in February 2001.

Question: We?
Ishtar:	We are four friends working together. We do everything ourselves. I'd like to mention in particular Markus Roeder - Ankh - and his brother Lothar who did the graphics for
Astonia.

Question: Ishtar, isn't it unusual for such a small team to develop a game of Astonia's
                dimensions?
Ishtar:	Possibly; Germany, in particular, doesn't exactly have a thriving scene for creating online games. But we had a lot of fun, and it is feasible to make something special happen.

Question: Thank you, Ishtar.
Ishtar: My pleasure.


For further information, please contact:

Intent Software
Barnerstrasse 14
22765 Hamburg, Germany

Tel.:	+49.40.39 834 764
Fax:	+49.40.39 834 769
Email:	press@astonia.com