Archive:Jeffrey Bard

Jeffrey Bard was Lead Game Designer at Intrepid Studios.[1]
I’m the resident bard, a jack-of-all trades who wears a bunch of hats (even that one, sitting on your head, right now). I write lore and fix our internet when it needs fixing, troubleshoot the untroubleshootable, and make sure that our game actually runs when it doesn’t want to. But primarily, I’m working on making Ashes of Creation. I’ve been doing most of the scripting to get our core systems up and running, as well as carefully curating our lore and storylines. Game design is something I’ve been doing in one way or another since I was six, when I ran my first Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I’m all grown up now though, having worked on some amazing projects with some amazing people. That trend continues with Ashes of Creation and this group we have here at Intrepid Studios – the talent is off the charts, and I’m already amazed at everything we’ve built so far. I cannot wait to share this project with the world.
Insights on the development process
I usually work from the ‘big picture’ backwards. I establish what the goals in the design piece are, what the themes are, gameplay-wise and narrative-wise, and what kind of story is trying to be told. I think it’s really important to always make sure every part relates to and supports that overall big picture, so this stage is all about brainstorming hooks and different perspectives that relate back to that big picture.[2]
Quoted in
- 2017-09-04 - Mithical Entertainment - Interview with Ashes of Creation designer Jeffrey Bard
- 2018-04-20 Dragon Blogger - Gameplay and interview with Jeffrey Bard
- Talk:2018-06-04 Livestream
- 2018-08-27 MMORPG-Gamescom 2018 Interview: Responding to Criticism
- AFK leveling
- Accessibility settings
- Achievements
- Active blocking
- Active dodging
- Active skills
- Adaptive content
- Addons
- Airships
- Alpha-0
- Alpha-1
- Alpha-1 castle sieges
- Alpha-1 starting area
- Alpha-1 testing
- Alpha island
- Animation canceling
- Appearance slots
- Architecture
- Archwizard
- Arena ladder
- Arenas
- Armor
- Armor of the Autumn Knight
- Armor types
- Artificial intelligence
- Ashes of Creation
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse adventure paths
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse armor
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse castle sieges
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse horde mode
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse lore
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse progression
- Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapon variants
- Auction house
- Augments
- Biomes
- Boss mechanics
- Bosses
- Brewer
- Buildings
- Buying and selling
- Castle siege mechanics
- Castle sieges
- Character
- Character page
- Character rewards
- Character sheet
- Cities
- Citizenship
- Combat
- Combat pets
- Companion app
- Consumables
- Cosmetic armor
- Crafted items
- Crafting
- Crops
- Default service buildings
- Design pillars
- Directional attacks
- Divine gateways
- Dungeon bosses
- Dungeon difficulty
- Dungeons
- Dynamic world populations
- Economic node superpower
- Economy
- Emberstorm Dragon
- Emporium
- Encampment
- Encounters
- End game
- APOC:Engineer
- Esports
- Estimated travel times
- Exchange
- Expedition
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- Freehold building permits
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- Freehold building tech trees
- Freehold buildings
- Freehold progression
- Freeholds
- Galleria
- Game design
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- Gameplay
- Gear
- Gear appearance
- APOC:Guardian
- Guild benefits
- Guild leaders
- Guild leadership tools
- Guild members
- Guild progression
- Guild size
- Guilds
- APOC:Hawkeye
- Headshot mechanics
- Health Regeneration Rating
- Heavy armor
- APOC:High Priest
- Hired NPCs
- Hitboxes
- Hybrid combat
- Inspiration
- Instancing
- IntrepidNET
- Kickstarter
- Ladder system
- Leader boards
- Level cap
- Level scaling
- Leveling
- Library
- Light armor
- List of biomes
- Lore
- Markets
- Marriage
- Medium armor
- Mentor program
- Merchants
- APOC:Meteor Storm
- Metropolis
- Mobility
- Movement Speed
- Music
- NPCs
- Narrative
- Narrative events
- Node advancement
- Node footprints
- Node layout and style
- Node leadership
- Node progression
- Node siege mechanics
- Node sieges
- Node simulation
- Node stages
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- Open-world PvP
- Open development
- Open world
- Parlor games
- Patron guilds
- Pet progression
- Pets
- Player businesses
- Player driven narrative
- Player housing
- Player movement
- Player to player trading
- Points of interest
- APOC:Potion launchers
- Archive:Prismatic Beam
- Procedural generation
- Progression
- Public transportation
- PvE
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- PvP background
- PvX
- Races
- Racial appearance
- Racial influences
- Racial weapons and armor
- Ramstrider
- Religions
- Roleplaying
- Sanctus
- Seasons
- Server channels
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- Servers
- Service buildings
- Siege weapons
- Sieges
- Social organization augments
- Social organization progression
- Social organizations
- Stats
- Story arcs
- APOC:Swordbrand Cloak
- Tavern
- Tavern NPCs
- Tavern consumables
- Taxes
- The return
- Towns
- Underrealm
- Underrealm environment
- Underrealm nodes
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- Unique node buildings
- User interface
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- Vehicles
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- APOC:Weapon Master
- Weapon attack cone
- Weapon progression
- Weapon types
- Weapons
- Wilderness
- APOC:Woodgarde Cloak
- World
- World bosses
- World manager
- World map
- World size
- Zone of influence
- Zones
- Zones and progression