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Email Interview with Nick Heitzman (EQOA Art Director)

2025-06-18T00:00:00-05:00

I recently reached out to Nick Heitzman and asked if he would be interested in doing an interview about his time working as the Art Director for EQOA. He was kind enough to say yes! Below is the email interview that Nick was able to complete for this great community. I would personally like to thank Nick on behalf of the EQOA community for taking time out of his busy schedule and answering these questions for us.

Development & Design Process

What was the original vision for EQOA, and how did it evolve over the course of development?

Originally the mandate was simple – get the core content present in the PC EverQuest game playable on the PlayStation 2 using the PlayStation 2 Network Adapter. The primary driving factor in development changes was that we were not able to use the upcoming PlayStation 2 Hard Drive peripheral – which meant the whole open world game with 6 races (male/female), 15 classes, and dozens of interconnected zones had to stream within the 32 megabyte memory limit on default hardware.

What were the biggest technical or artistic challenges your team faced in developing an MMO for the PlayStation 2?

With the 32 mb streaming limit came all the art challenges. Out of the 32 mb we had, over 10 mb had to permanently allocate to just the international font used in the game. AI for the mobs and NPCs was the next largest chunk of PS2 memory, and eventually we had just a fraction of what our PC counterpart had reserved for textures, meshes, world chunks, UI, etc.
This resulted in an almost constant devolution of art quality as more systems and content were added that also required a piece of streaming memory. The mere fact that we actually did get it all working and playable in the short development cycle was pure black magic by the whole team – particularly the programmer John Buckley and network guru Vince Harron. Those folks pulled off coding miracles for that point in time.

How did your team balance the art direction—staying true to EverQuest on PC while creating something fresh for console players?

Our art team was very small throughout development. For the first year it was just me prototyping the world, characters, UI, etc. to find the limits of what we could reasonably do given the extreme memory limitations.
We eventually grew to me, Kevin Burns (who worked heavily on the original EverQuest), and Steph Young, to build the entire world, structures, props. Cay Mandua, Bob Kathman, Bill Yeatts, and Thad Clevenger on all the character art – and finally Sabrina Fox (also from the original EQ) on VFX. There was also a team from the original EQ to help build out our user interface. The thing about all of us was that we were always playing EverQuest – and as soon as the first zone in EQOA was build we were all playing that as well (and Dungeons & Dragons campaigns with the entire EQOA team).
The combination of veteran EQ developers and always playing EQ and EQOA meant we were always striving to recreate that unique EQ experience in the console version. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

Were there any features, zones, or mechanics that were planned but ultimately didn’t make it into the final release?

Yes, of course. Besides the sacrifice of visual quality across the board – we had enough cut content for 3 expansions. We were only able to build out one of them however and that became EQOA Frontiers which introduced new zones and gameplay (but retained the same basic content), along with the Ogre race, Alchemist class which we had to originally cut.

How did you approach creating such a large, seamless world with the PS2’s hardware limitations?

Holy cow, this alone could be a book. All the experimentation with the world chunk system so we could stream parts of the world – and we could have multiple folks working on different areas of the map that could then be all brought together in Perforce and function seamlessly. The collision methodology we finally solved, having a controller to play with was another challenge. We had a long list of challenges the core team (me, John Buckley, Vince Harron, Ben Bell, and Rod Humble) spent that first year solving one after another until we had this huge house of cards streaming in roughly 22 mb of memory over old network technology. It was SO much fun!
There was no installing the game either, it all played right off the CD.

Art Direction & Team Leadership

What was your leadership style when managing a team of 20+ artists and animators?

At full production size, the only way to make it work was to divide environmental art, character art/animation, and UI, VFX, etc. into 3 distinct groups. Cayenne Mandua led the character art team and did an amazing job despite the limits. We were never completely happy with any of the visuals – but with the memory cap we either had to work with the degraded visuals everywhere or cancel the game. We were not going to cancel the game, it was too much fun to play an MMO on your couch with a controller.
The three sections had their own limited autonomy, and we met multiple times a week to go over everyone’s progress, any blocking issues, and what was next on our lists to get in the game.

Which areas or visual elements of EQOA are you most proud of personally?

Some of the environmental vistas came out well, I like those. The characters were just plain ugly – however just the fact that we got all the races, classes, and dozens of monsters, etc. in the game animating with AI streamed in a few megabytes more than makes up for the visual deficiencies. I think just the fact that we got the product completed was a miracle – especially as we were a forgotten relic amidst EQ2, Planetside, and Star Wars Galaxies development – all of which looked and played so much more impressively than our little niche game.

Did your team use specific tools or proprietary software for creating the game's art assets?

Oh wow, what did we use. Photoshop for textures and 2D art, Maya for animations, 3DS Max for environment and props, Perforce for content control, and everything else including the engine was built from scratch for the project.

Were there particular design inspirations that influenced the look of Tunaria?

The goal was to maintain the look and feel of the original EQ if possible. The lighting, bloom, and fog were used extensively to simulate day and night states – and the fog helped the streaming world chunks which had to pop in way too closely that it gave the overall game this ‘foggy everywhere’ look that was not too bad. Fair trade off for not seeing all the game content popping in within view as you moved around the world.

When building the world of EQOA, how much came from existing EverQuest lore versus original content created by your team?

We tried to use EQ lore where possible. The original EQ lore team worked to give us detailed information on Tunaria 500 years before EQ, and we went with it. The game has a surprising amount of history and lore. Even in the readable books and props.

EQOA Frontiers & Unreleased Content

What was the goal behind EQOA: Frontiers, and how did it build on the base game?

We had the Ogre and Alchemist on the original list of races/classes but did not have time to do them. The Ogre class was hard because it was physically so much larger than the other characters. Our doorways and other areas sized to fit Barbarians as a maximum were suddenly blocking Ogres from a lot of gameplay. If I remember correctly, it was John Buckley again who created a system that reduced or removed the Ogre collision in specific instances so they could enter places already on the map.
We had enough content for 3 expansions. After Frontiers was released, I believe we delivered some of the remaining content via free updates. I’m not exactly sure how much made it into the final iteration of EQOA though.

Were there any future expansions or major updates that were in the works before the game was sunset?

Yes, we had two more expansions planned but the game was abruptly content locked, and we all moved onto other Sony Online projects.

Was there ever serious talk of transitioning EQOA to PC or another console?

No, it was a special creature in that it played on a vanilla PS2. Visually it was in the same class as the original EQ which was also being slowly abandoned in favor of EQ2 and all the other SOE games coming out.

Community & Legacy

How aware were you and the team of the community forming around EQOA during its run and after its closure?

Somewhat. We still played the game for months post-release and existed harmoniously with regular players who never knew were the dev team. We didn’t get any special perks or treatment so we could experience the same highs and lows as the players and recommend fixes, upgrades where possible in the time between initial release and Frontier’s completion.

What are your thoughts on the game’s ongoing cult following and preservation efforts by fans?

I think it is super cool. There was nothing quite like being able to play it all together for the first time and I believe it is still a testament to our teams’ engineering and networking skills that it did the impossible and actually worked without a hard drive or better internet connection.

In your opinion, what made EQOA unique and memorable compared to other MMOs?

When EQOA was released, there were only 2 MMOs playable on a console. Us and Final Fantasy XI – which streamed off the hard drive and looked SO much better. At the time, just the possibility of playing a game with people from all over the world while sitting on your couch was so new. The controller was nice too – I think (even today) only a handful of MMOs were able to make the transition to console and they had better tech, more freedom in memory, install size, etc.

Do you support the efforts of the teams working to restore EQOA as a non-commercial, community-driven project?

Yes. That sounds very cool.

Behind the Scenes

Can you share a memorable or funny moment from the EQOA development days?

I can’t animate characters to save my life. So, the first creature in the game was a (too high poly) Beholder that was mostly static. It was the initial stand-in for all mobs when the combat system was first being developed.
Also, our team was so tight knit. We all worked together ceaselessly, played D&D together, explored San Diego and Comic Con before it was so huge together. So much fun in those days.
John Buckely went on to program for Blizzard – and was key to getting Diablo 3 and now 4 onto consoles with full controller support.

How did SOE internally view EQOA compared to other EverQuest titles?

Like a cool novelty at first – then as a failure when compared to EQ2 and the other games that came along after.

Was there ever a discussion about cross-play or crossover content with PC EverQuest or the EverQuest tabletop RPG?

No, not at all.

What was the most personally exciting part of working on EQOA?

The team were all absolute rock stars. To see where they went post-EQOA is mind-blowing. Being part of that group during the months of development was pure magic.

Preservation & Documentation

Do you still have any concept art, design docs, or early builds that might be shareable for preservation?

I have the original EQOA Frontier CD, the huge EQOA and Frontiers strategy guides, and a smattering of printed and digital screenshots. Any original art or assets I had were either left at Sony or were on hard drives/disks that have long since vanished. I might have one left – I should check in my old work box.

Are you familiar with the current revival efforts like EQOAEmu, Sandstorm, or community hubs like Project Return Home and the subreddit?

Not at all.

How does it feel knowing that your work helped shape people’s lives and still provides a sense of community and nostalgia today?

I love it – so many other developers work has affected my life over the years I can only hope my efforts might do the same.

What advice would you give fans trying to preserve the history and spirit of EQOA?

Good luck with it – I think the idea is cool, but it has been so many years. Technologically EQOA is a fossil that is worth preserving.

What does EQOA mean to me? What does it mean to you?

2025-06-04T17:47:39-05:00

Many people are going to see our collective nostalgia as a weird thing to hold for a PS2 MMORPG from the early 2000s. They aren't going to understand our love for a game with outdated graphics, simplistic gameplay, grinding hours and hours killing the same monsters. While our Nostalgia is likely what drives the bulk of us, we also LOVE this style of game and there just aren't as many games with this unique style of art and gameplay anymore.

As many of us were I was a pre-teen when I started playing EQOA, I believe I was 12 years old. My best friend Jeremy got into EQOA and then he got me into it. The game itself got me through a lot of painful times in my life, I could burry my head in the sand and spend hours and hours making new friends while taking part in experience parties. I can remember nights with a 16oz Dr. Pepper, Pizza Rolls, Rock Top 40 on the radio and killing Orcs at Deathfist Citadel. I am sure its the same for a lot of people.

It also opened me and Jeremy up to the world of MMORPGs. I was aware of EverQuest but I didn't have a powerful enough computer back then to run it so EQOA was an cost-effective way to get us into the realm of MMORPGs. From there we played Runescape with our little friend group at school, then we played Final Fantasy 11, which I got the HDD for the PS2 for. Later we moved on to World of Warcraft, New World, etc, etc.

EQOA also gave us new friendships. A good friend of mine Chris, I met on EQOA. We grouped for hours one night and got to know each other. We added each other to our friends list, grouped a number of more times and eventually traded phone numbers, we had to of been around age 13-14. As we moved out of EQOA we stayed friends and as we graduated High School we decided to go to each others states. I went to Florida for his graduation and he came to Texas for mine. Since then we have visited a couple of times and still stay in touch to this day a little over 20 years later.

It also helped us keep friendships. Jeremy one day moved to Oklahoma from Texas and we had a problem. He had lost my number and I had lost his new number from moving. One day I randomly decided to make a Barbarian Shaman and I saw a warrior running around. I invited him to go do the low level quest and we started questing and fighting together. Before Jeremy had moved I told him I wanted to make a guild called, "Guardians of Alexander" because I really liked this Alexander the great inspired anime that was playing on Adult Swim. I tell this random Barbarian warrior about my guild idea and my eyes opened wide when I saw, "Mike?" In the chat. It was Jeremy and we were able to trade phone numbers again and stay in touch.

I really want to hear your experiences with EQOA, the good, the bad and the ugly. Share them in the comments of this blog post.

As an added treat here is my collection of EverQuest and EQOA.

Should we have different server types?

2025-06-01T13:30:06-05:00

In a recent livestream I brought up the thought of having additional server types. I understand we are still working on getting an OG server back up, but I am just thinking long-term. EQOAEmu still has a ways to go, EQOA Sandstorm is far from complete or perfect so this is by no means a criticism of the current amazing work being done.

We could increase or decrease the difficulty of the game based on what your personal playstyle is or if you just want a harder challenge this week or maybe you know the next month you are going to have to work more so want an easier path to get into the game with a smaller time commitment for a bit. You could even just use those as escapes from the base-line game and spend most of your time playing OG EQOA.

QUALITY OF LIFE SERVER
One thing I brought up specifically in the stream is maybe a quality-of-life server that has some upgrades that makes playing a bit easier, for instance having an NPC with a few dialog options to cast SOW and Invis on you next to each coach. I am thinking someone heard this because a few days after I brought this up I saw someone with what appears to be a scripted character casting SOW on people next to the Freeport Coachman. A day or so after that a person to cast invis showed up too!

Some other things I would think would be neat in a quality-of-life server would be an NPC next to Spiritmasters that cast Resurrections for a small fee. This next one, likely controversial, but having all starting cities coachman unlocked on a new character but all the in-between coaches you still need to get. At the risk of ripping off Dungeons and Dragons Online, having a hireling system where you can hire NPCs for a fee, obviously these wouldn't be as strong as normal players so grouping would be preferred but if you are having a rough time finding a party and have a limited play time because of work or family, you can still get in, play and feel like you got some stuff done. Making it so that 100% EXP + 10% CM EXP at all times but you can add to the amount of CM EXP you want to get 100 CM EXP + 10% EXP.

HARDCORE SERVER
Sometimes you might want more of a challenge and that is where the traditional MMORPG Hardcore Server comes in. I would think Perma-death would be a thing of course. Everything cons Green, White or Red to make encounters more dangerous not knowing if they are a little or much more difficult. No auction house, you have to farm/earn/trade everything you get. Fewer drops making money harder to come by which means repairs and food and whatnot are harder to come by. Obviously none of the quality-of-life server enhancements.

PVP SERVER
Just a normal OG server but with duel always enabled to everyone against everyone. The catch with this is that you have faction, so if you are a good aligned character and you kill another good align character you lose reputation with good factions. I think that would be a neat mechanic to kind of split faction lines while at the same time enabling you to attack anyone giving you more player choice. On a technical level this would likely take a lot of code to build to enable healing and whatnot, but I think it would be kind of neat.

FAN GUIDED SERVER

This one I see as a bit of a stretch but just something that I think would be fun. A server that starts as an OG server, but then a page on a website that players can make suggestions for new Quest, new Storylines, new Enemies, etc. Then if a suggestion gets X amount of upvotes then the developers make a commitment to put it in the game within a reasonable timeframe. Meaning the players could help with the world building and create a non-cannon server that would be one of a kind. Then every six months or year, spin up a new one of these servers or do a refresh on the work done, not a wipe of the characters just remove all customizations and bring it back to OG server then start the custom buildup again. If you did it the second way you would have people with knowledge of past events and quest, maybe even items that players can never get again.

What do you think? What kind of servers do you think would be neat additions in the far future for EQOA to keep things fresh?

Recent Website Updates

2025-05-12T19:24:43-05:00

Hey everyone, long time no see!

Life caught up with me and has been crazy so I have been gone for a good long while. I am back though, big as life and twice as ugly. (If you get that reference you're old)

I hope you and yours are all doing well. I hope that the site in its old form still helped you with information in some small way.

I recently updated the website to reflect the new purpose of it which is to cover all EQOA content and projects. I decided to not get locked into the politics of the different projects going on and instead make this site a hub of EQOA information, ways to get involved in the projects and to view them and to spotlight the community.

You will see the structure of the top menu bar has changed quite significantly and likely over the next while expect to see some other additions that I build out as time goes on.

A number of you might remember me helping with the old revival project, years and years ago. I am back to offering help to both current EQOA projects, at this time I have accepted to work with the EQOAEmu Team and the Sandstorm team is currently in a good enough spot they do not require additional people at this time.

I am also interested in spotlighting the community. If you have a website, picture, artwork, screenshot, or if you would like to do an interview on the Return Home Twitch stream we can make it happen. Drop me a line at projectreturnhome@gmail.com and I will get back with you just as quickly as I can!