2019-04-01 PC Gamer

multiplayer roleplaying games lacked

in fancy graphics they made up for in

depth and scale. Similar to traditional

pen and paper roleplaying games,

players could socialise and explore

virtual fantasy worlds together – only

everything was described through

text. “They were mostly played by

kids in colleges who could telnet into

the college mainframe or

minicomputer. I don’t know how

they didn’t get kicked out of school

because they were just playing

nonstop,” McQuaid says.

When Smedley said he wanted

this game to be cutting edge,

McQuaid saw an opportunity to do

something completely unheard of – a

MUD with 3D graphics. Two days

after that phone call he and Clover

resigned from their IT jobs and

joined SISA. “It was an opportunity

we could not pass up,” McQuaid says.

created a 20-page design document

to act as their bible. In that

document, McQuaid and Clover

cemented the foundation of its

systems, like class-based combat, an

emphasis on player-versus-

environment exploration, and the

basic layout of a high-fantasy world

that became known as Norrath.

Clover gave it a name: EverQuest.

LOSERS’ CLUB

McQuaid and Clover were a good

start, but they couldn’t build an entire

3D game on their own. As months

ticked by and development on

EverQuest scaled up, it was becoming

increasingly obvious that no one

outside of the development team had

any faith in Smedley and McQuaid.

“We reached out to people in the

industry at that time who were

working on these pay-by-the-hour

type games,” McQuaid says. “We

wanted to bring those people in

“It was an amazing, life-changing day

for sure. I felt absolute excitement.”

What McQuaid lacked in

professional game development

experience, he made up for in project

management knowhow, extensive

programming skills, and raw creative

vision. The two dreamed up an

outline for a graphical MUD and

TOP: EverQuest’s

look was inspired by

fantasy book covers

from the ’90s.

LEFT: New zones are

being added for the

20th anniversary.

November 15,

2011

Veil of Alaris

October 8,

2013

Call of the

Forsaken

November 18,

2015

The Broken

Mirror

December 12,

2017

Ring of Scale

October 12,
2010
House of Thule

November 28,

2012

Rain of Fear

October 28,

2014

Darkened Sea

November 16,

2016

Empires of

Kunark

December 11,

2018

The Burning

Lands