Steven Sharif

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Steven Sharif.[1]

Steven Sharif is Creative Director at Intrepid Studios.[1]

I’ve been an avid gamer for over 25 years, and time after time I find myself playing MMORPG’s. There is something about the Massively Multiplayer part of the game that has always intrigued me. Nothing compares with the experience of playing with thousands of people, from across the world. Everything in my design for Ashes of Creation, stems from that role of “community” in our game. I want to see the players dictate the direction of our story. I want to see the world we develop, adapt and react to the player’s actions. Most importantly, I want to see a game built by gamers FOR gamers.[1] – Steven Sharif

The best way you can create a product is by listening to the the feedback that your community gives you; and that's just not on a design front that's also on a product front as well- a business front. Also so you know there's a lot of things that I have the luxury of doing with Intrepid as a company because I am the sole share owner in the company I don't have to answer to a board and I have that luxury. Not a lot of companies have that luxury and that's why it's important for consumers to speak out and give their their feedback because the board does see that and the success of other companies that try new things, that take risks like Intrepid is taking or that Ashes of Creation is taking. It's important for those risk takers to get the love and the support so that it shows other businesses really the direction that the genre should go in.[2] – Steven Sharif

The bottom line is I am committed to this project's success and completion and that means that when it comes to funding for the additional years that perhaps were not planned for, that's coming out of mine and John's pocket and we're okay with that. Because what we see in front of us is not only a team of extremely talented individuals but also a community that is extremely passionate about the project and wanting to see it come to fruition. It's not just about what our personal desires are, John and myself being MMO players, but really it's about the fact that we've created a following, a community of players who want the same thing or similar to the same thing and that's something that's at the forefront of my mind anytime I walk into work is how is what we're doing today going to impact the players tomorrow. That's a very important question. It's a product driven development aspect and you know I believe based on the millions of players we already have pre-registered for the game that Ashes of Creation is going to be one of the most successful and largest launches in MMO history.[3] – Steven Sharif

Q: You started this journey with Ashes as an entrepreneur with no dev experience and over the past eight years you've built a really large studio at this point and you jumped head-first into the world of game development. When you started out is this how you envisioned how things would go?
A: It is much harder than I thought. First of all I will say I did go into this experience eyes open, meaning I knew that I was signing myself up for something very difficult and I don't think that I knew exactly how difficult it would be, but I knew that it was going to be the most difficult thing that I had done in my life; and not because game development is any more difficult than any other profession out there, but because I was walking through The crucible doing the most difficult thing without any experience; and I knew that I was going to have to catch up in a much faster pace and in a very different way than anybody else who's gone through this process likely had to do. I think my story is pretty unique in that sense and, not to toot my own horn, but I'm very impressed with both the progress, the quality the team that we've built, the community that we fostered, and the experience that we have right now in Alpha-2.
This isn't the finish line by any means, but it is a culmination of a lot of years of hard work and I think that what is most satisfying about that journey so far is that from a vision perspective we've stayed relatively true to what we've initially set out to do all those years ago. That in and of itself is a difficult thing to do for anything, let alone development. So, I will say that I wouldn't exchange the choices we've made about our transparent development process, our engaging with the community, the lifelong friends that I built at the studio, within the industry. I am a gamer at heart first and foremost and there is no better dream of mine than to be in a position where I can effectuate the creation of a project like Ashes of Creation, because it is a beautiful thing when it comes together- the hard effort work of of people who share a passion for something that you care very deeply about, which is MMOs in general. MMOs have a very special place in my heart because they are formational. They have been formational in my upbringing as a person and I think you know there are many people within this genre that share that sentiment.[4] – Steven Sharif
Q: What has been your biggest setback so far during development?
A: I will say that the most difficult part of this process, which also coincidentally is the most rewarding part of it, has been the open development process. I think that there are many strengths that come along with having the ability to engage with players early on and throughout the course of development. You can test thoughts, you can test theories, you can test designs, you can test implementation, you can get people who are very excited and very passionate and who want to be helpful help along the way; and it is instrumental. But there are also the other side of the sword, which is the people that doubt, or the people that try to take away from you: know what we're trying to accomplish and when you're managing a team of very passionate individuals whose efforts aren't because game development pays the best, it doesn't, shocker. But what it does pay the best in is the feels; the ability to watch something that you have poured yourself into be handed out to an audience who you care about; and to sometimes have a bit more abrasive interactions than is helpful in that process, and not for lack or for reason of effort in trying to explain the process, but just because as a community we've been shit on so many times in the past and we're a bit jaded as a result, which is okay. I mean it is what it is right? I've always said that anytime you look at Ashes, or any project that's in development at any stage, you're looking through a key keyhole at a moment in time; and the great thing about this transparent process is you can go back and look at that keyhole in 2017, 2019, 2021 and you can see very different places where this project was at those times; and now imagine over the course of the next year or two years how much further we will be from where we are today. This right now, Ashes of Creation, is the worst you will ever see it going forward. It will continue to improve and it's going to improve because of the efforts that the community puts in when it comes to providing feedback and how to course correct, make changes, how to iterate and create the remainder of Ashes.[5] – Steven Sharif

Quoted in

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Intrepid Studios - Team.
  2. ↑ Livestream, July 25, 2020 (39:34).
  3. ↑ Livestream, December 23, 2021 (1:03:25).
  4. ↑ Interview, March 7, 2025 (51:46).
  5. ↑ Interview, March 7, 2025 (55:23).
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