Continued...

Q) Explain how the “real time settings” will affect the game world

A) When the development team started work on the game, it was evident that the only true resource that a player has is time, so it was important to make this part of the game. It’s used most effectively in our crafting system, where each item you make is crafted in a certain amount of time (as in, it takes a shorter amount of time to make a pistol and a much longer time to make a dune buggy). But the cool things about crafting… you can set up your crafting queue while you’re fighting or exploring a different part of the world and you can even craft offline as long as your queue is set up.

Q) How big of a part will PVP play in Fallen Earth?

A) PvP is important to the game, and your game play experience is definitely more rich if you’re into PvP and PvE. We give players some clearly defined spaces for PvP, including towns that can be fought over and captured through PvP. We recently had a play test in an area called The Dump. There are thousands of stacked up old cars, broken bicycles, old monitors and plenty of junk to hide behind. Killing someone in an open field isn’t much fun, and we’ve tried to build plenty of cool places that give players the option to use all of their skills and to avoid dominance by any one combat style.
 
Q) Will the main story be pushed by PvE content or will PvP affect the story?

A) The developers tried to keep the balance between PvP and PvE pretty even. Many games are primarily one with a bit of the other, but we focused on a great player experience for a variety of people. Some might say this weakens the PvP or the PvE, but we have many unique ways of countering that and keeping either from getting watered down. We have instances in the game that change based on the mission so that in small ways players can leave their mark on the world. We have conquerable towns that the factions can war for.
All of our PvP zones are identified as such so players won’t be caught unawares.  Those who want to avoid PvP can do so, but they’ll be missing out on a lot of fun and content.

Q) Will we see in-game events happen to help add new content to them game?

A) Yes, we already have several planned that involve unlocking new areas, retaking towns from raiders, and similar tasks.  These haven’t been a focus in the development process so far, but are becoming so as we near towards release.  We have a very aggressive schedule for releasing additional content after launch.  

Q) The crafting system is very unique.  We would love a little more background on how this will work

A) Players can make 95 percent of items in the game—including the best goods like armor, consumables, weapons and even vehicles. Players can gather the components primarily through scavenging or harvesting, but some can be bought and players can salvage items to get some of the components used in making them. Scavenging involves digging through the remains of the old world and can turn up a vast variety of items, but that means you may get something that is not immediately useful to you. You might find a piece of metal or some plastic and save it for a rainy day. Harvesting is more targeted—harvest nodes produce a specific type of component the majority of the time, so copper nodes produce copper instead of iron or other metals. Certain areas also help speed up crafting—if you’re in a crafting house, things go a little more quickly. We also make use of an auction house, so if you have stuff you don’t need and you want some rare component, you can work with other players to get it.


Q) How do modifications to character appearance work in the game?

A) We have a character creation set up that players enter at the beginning of the game. You can customize the look of your character with thousands of options—hair, piercings, tattoos, age, male or female, height and so on. The outfits you start with are pretty basic, but that’s because you get a lot more cool gear along the way. As you advance in a particular faction, you have access to cool weapons and armor that only that faction will have.

Q) With having no class based advancement system is this giving players the chance to pretty much play the game out as they see their character evolving?

A) Yes. Players get much more freedom and the lines of what sort of character you are can be blurred. It’s not definitive—you can be really good at a few things and pretty good at a few more. Based on what you prefer, you can stack your AP into the Rifle skill so you’re better at range combat, or you can put points toward skills that support others if you plan on playing in a group.  We give players enough APs, or advancement points, to max out several stats and skills so no player will be stuck being a master of only one skill.  Instead every character will be able to fulfill multiple roles.  

Q) With no loading zones in the game do you plan to leave it as one open fluid world or will there be some sort of “instanced” dungeons along the way.

A) We do have plenty of instanced dungeons. And with no loading zones, the experience is much more fluid and submersive. The cool thing we do with our instances, though, is that we use them for more than one mission. So you might return to a place for two separate missions to the same place and find them totally different the second time based on your actions during your first visit.

Q) Continuing on with the no loading zones system.  How do you feel this will affect lag and frame rate issues in the game world.

A) Given the fast paced, movement oriented style of combat in Fallen Earth frame rate and lag are a vital concern for us.  We spend lots of time working to make sure these factors are minimized, but so far we’ve got a pretty good handle on loading and unloading assets as they are necessary and unnecessary.

Q) Will players be able to switch factions along the way or will that require a new character creation?

A) Players can definitely change factions along the way. The more entrenched you are in a faction, the more difficult this becomes, but we wanted to give players the ability to change their minds. It’s difficult to make a decision at the beginning of the game regarding what faction you want to join if you don’t know anything about their ideals and skill sets—so we avoided making players do that. Our faction system works as a sort of wheel, so you can slowly start accepting missions from your allies and then their allies until you’re where you want to be.

Q) Why should our readers play Fallen Earth instead of the other MMO’s out on the market?

A) We provide a unique experience for players. While plenty of other people have done the post-apocalyptic setting, it has not been the subject of many MMOs and we tackle it differently from other games through the scavenging, harvesting and c rafting. It definitely feels like a game based on survival. Even simple things—like your ability to run out of gas—emphasize the scarcity of resources and your need to conserve and scavenge. We’re pretty proud of the FPS/RPG and its accuracy—players don’t have to wear their fingers our hitting the mouse button because they’re rolling the dice to see if they do damage. And of course, the classless advancement lets you be whoever you want to be. There’s a lot more freedom to go where you want, do what you want and be what you want.

Q) And, lastly, is there anything else you would like our readers to know about Fallen Earth?

A) We definitely have to give a nod to our fans. They’re amazing. Our testers have been crucial to our process and have provided a huge amount of feedback. And they’re crazy supportive. We couldn’t do it without them. We hope that more and more people enjoy the game and we look forward to getting feedback from them, too.