To celebrate Travian’s 15th Anniversary and the launch of Travian: Codex Victoria we sat together and chatted with some of the most influential figures who shaped the history of Travian.
First on the list: Brian Fischer, Product Owner of Travian: Legends.
Brian joined Travian Games in 2007 and covered several positions within the company: from Tech Support to Game Designer, from Product Manager to Product Owner. He is indeed a key figure who shaped the past, present and, of course, will shape the future of Travian: Legends.
Additionally, he is a passionate gamer and without doubt one of the most hardcore Travian players and experts in the company.
1) Do you remember the first time you heard about Travian: Legends?
Yes, of course! It happened in 2006, shortly after I began my path to become a Software Engineer.
I was in the company for roughly 6 weeks and one day my boss approached me out of the blue. He asked me if I played online games and indeed I was. In fact, I started to play games in 1987 with my first PC – a Commodore 128.
He told me about a game called Travian. Apparently, a couple of employees were playing it. Unfortunately, he had to stop, so he told me I could have his account to support the team. This is how everything started.
2) How did your first gameworld go?
The account I got from my former boss was a Roman account, with 3 villages and about 1000 Praetorians. Back then, it was a huge defending force. It was my first and last time playing as a Roman.
I don’t know how many villages I lost, but I kept fighting until the end. Our alliance was 2nd or 3rd place all the time, but the leading alliance dominated everything. Back then, Artifacts had an influence on all villages. The leading alliance owned all of them. I tried hard to defend, but with speed 5 Praetorians against catapults with speed 6 (speed artifact) was – to put it mildly – challenging.
I was hoping that the leading alliance would just stop attacking my villages because there were way easier targets out there. Unfortunately, they did the opposite. I received messages from their top players such as “Finally a worthy opponent!”, “Wow, nice job defending!”. The harder I tried, the more attention I got. While the game was still running, they also sent me a couple of messages asking me to play the next round with them. Even if I got hit hard, my engagement and hard work impressed them.
And yes, eventually I joined their team in the following round.
3) In your opinion, what’s the secret ingredient that makes Travian: Legends still so entertaining after 15 years?
I don’t think there is ONE secret ingredient.
It’s like baking. You need the perfect amount of each ingredient to make something delicious.
Travian: Legends is all about strategy, communication, diplomacy, team play but also your own engagement. You can make a difference in every single fight, but in the end, the best team will win, not the best single-player.
It’s the combination of several ingredients that mixed together makes Travian a great game, even after 15 years. And none of those ingredients are particularly secret, it’s just how they are mixed.
4) Have you ever met in real life people you played with in-game? How was it?
Yes, I did, several times.
It was always a pleasure. They are all cool people, everyone has at least one story to tell. Meeting people with whom you played for several years, sometimes in the same alliance, sometimes as an opponent is an experience hard to describe.
There are always so many stories to tell, it is never boring. The conversation never dies.
5) How would you describe Travian: Legends in 3 words?
That’s easy: strategy, team, dominance.
