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GDC Interview: Fallen Earth
Garrett Fuller had the chance to catch up with the folks from Icarus Studios, the makers of Fallen Earth, for a talk about their upcoming MMORPG.
Here at GDC this week we got to see a lot of games. One of them is a unique MMO that has been on the radar for a while and plans to offer players something new in genre. That game is Fallen Earth. For those who have not seen the game, it is a post apocalyptic world where the earth has fallen prey to disease, nuclear war, and general devastation. The remaining human survivors have formed into groups who live in the area of the Grand Canyon. These factions each have ways of believing that they are the ones to save humanity. From the savage to those who believe in law and order the six factions of Fallen Earth eventually fight it out for control. Think of a world with the look and feel of The Road Warrior and game mechanics that cater to player tastes and you've got Fallen Earth.
;)
The character design I got a chance to look at was very customizable. Humans are the only race in the game so they did a lot of work on giving you plenty of options to build your apocalyptic virtual self. Hair styles, skin tones, even age (yes age) offer a variety of choices to the players in the game. When building your character's skills and abilities Fallen Earth is a skill based system. That is right a skill based system. There are no classes in the game, only skills. As you quest and fight your way through the game you pick up AP points. These points can be spent to build up different abilities. Whether it is using a rifle, melee combat, or first aid you will have enough points to be good at a few things and okay at several. There are also mutations in the game. These abilities are more subtle than something like the super heroes we think of. The abilities gained through mutations are more there to enhance your regular skills. Another very important way to build up experience is through crafting. As a player you gain AP points through crafting. It is possible in the game to reach maximum level simply through crafting. Here is the great part about Fallen Earth, you can set up your crafting queue and then craft offline!
The six factions that make up Fallen Earth represent different sides of humanity. The Children of the Apocalypse or CHOTAs are the savage side of the people left on earth. Wearing armor and wielding weapons they believe that strength is the only way for humans to survive. Think of Lord Humungus's gang in Road Warrior, those are the CHOTAs. You also have the Enforcers who believe law is the only way for people to continue on. The Techs are exactly what they sound like, hoping that technology will bring us through the dark times. While the Vistas are more nature based and want the earth to rebuild itself. The Travelers are the gypsy shady type of characters. Think of them as the mafia of the age. Opposite the darker Travelers you finally have the Lightbearers who are the monks and healers of the era.
;)
The technology in Fallen Earth begins the game at a base level. You have a few left over weapons like guns but also have make-shift hand to hand weapons coming into play. The guys at Icarus studios plan to have the technology of the game grow as characters grow. With more modern technology becoming available as you gain in skills. They did say that they plan to have some extreme science technology in the expansions when they come out.
On the PvE are no fantasy elements to the game. Imagine that, an MMO without elves! The creatures are mutated versions of their former selves. Giant spiders and monster chickens dot the landscape as well as some very nasty humanoid groups of NPCs. There are instances in the game, but Icarus is doing everything they can to limit their usage. There are story line quests that are linked from the starting towns throughout the entire game. Players will certainly have a lot to do in regards to content. The unique world offers some very interesting stories for players to build.
;)
The game is divided into sectors, with Sector One being the starting zone. As players advance they will start to learn about the different factions they can become a part of and soon be able to join up with the faction of their choice. Once players get more skills they will enter sectors that have Conflict Towns. These towns are the PvP zones. Fallen Earth will have open PvP zones that are clearly designated. So players will know if the enter them. They will not have instanced PvP like many other games. The Conflict Towns offer a battleground for the different factions to fight it out for control of the areas.
In regards to voice chat, Fallen Earth is working with Vivox to allow players voice chat. This can worry some players especially girl gamers who may not want the players base knowing who they are. The guys were quick to say that they are working on voice modulation with Vivox so you can disguise your real voice and change the way you sound. This is a great feature for any player who uses voice chat and hopefully will become part of more games in the future.
Overall Fallen Earth is a very polished game. Icarus Studios continues to add the polish and are encouraging players to sign up for Beta now. Though there are no exact dates on when the Beta and Launch will be, the game continues to look better and better each time we see it. We want to thank Lee Hammock and the gang for speaking with us and look forward to seeing more from Fallen Earth in the near future.
caught my eye though. I know they can do it. I mean I have software that can make me sound like a woman if I want.
In a game though.. Wow very nice touch. Albeit I personally like to roleplay myself in a game so vivox really will open
up some grear RP. Looking foward to seeing more on the game
Well i like the Road Warrior theme (or The Postman?), and i like that it's Skill based, and the character gx remind me of Anarchy Online; overall though the gameplay mechanics described in the review seem pretty generic for all mmogs today. Hope they can somehow infuse the world with the same feel as the first 2 RW films - it wasn't just about crazed characters running around doing random "stuff". imo that's the flaw with all mmogs these days, player actions have no significance on the game world As A World.
Wha? AFAIK they're not, there's been no announcement regarding sign ups.
Clarification?
And yeh, FE rocks. Cover it more damn you.
I now demand beta sign up else I seu mmorpg.com for the mental damage it will do to me if we aint getting them ^^....anyway. We can only hope this is not an misunderstanding on MMORPGs site or did the devs forgot they have not started Beta sign-ups yet ;)
As a player you gain AP points through crafting. It is possible in the game to reach maximum level simply through crafting. Here is the great part about Fallen Earth, you can set up your crafting queue and then craft offline!
emmmmmmm
I WAS intrested in this mmo but ....emmmmmm
Crafting is also very involved. It takes place in real-time, so to speak. Harder things to craft can take days. You also have to rely on others to bring you needed items that you can't access your self. So whether you are online or off during that process, it will still take the same amount of time,see? Otherwise, if something takes 24 real hours to craft and you can only play 1 or two hours a day, you'd take forever just to craft 1 thing depending on how intricate it is.
So have no fear, it's not an "easy mode" button.
pfooeiii
Thanks .......worried again
You might say I am excited about this game.
Wow this game looks awesome...a zombie MMO...always wanted one of those
, I have one question though, how much is it gonna cost? 
I really don't see how.
Once upon a time it was explicitly a beta sign-up. Then they deliberately removed any mention of beta.
If, as the author of this article claimed, Icarus were actively encouraging players to sign up for beta, then there'd be some indication of this on the FE website. There isn't.
More than likely, the same as the standard for other games.
1) No elves, not even space elves.
2) Guy in one of the SS is wearing an Exploited t-shirt.
On those two points alone, my interest is piqued.
I have not done a great deal of research into this game, but it sounds to me like the lvling system will be very similar to stawars galaxies back when it was popular. I say this because in SWG you could achieve maximum lvl by simply crafting or you could have your character as focused in one area as you would like or have skills branching out over seceral different areas of the game. To me the key for this games success is going to be how the enhancements (or whatever they were called) tie into the skill system and how much they will be able to make your character unique.
Very excited to see how this game progresses and am very happy to see a game that isn't so heavy on the fantasy.
May i ask which version of Starwars galaxies you have played? i do recall crafters could make top lvl in the crafting department but we could not lvl-up in anyway similair to what i read about Fallen Earth, asfar i can tell you lvl up with crafting and your overall lvl will rise not only the crafting part in FE...am i right?
I've been following this game for awhile now and I have to say it sounds better everytime I hear something new about it. I really think these guys are looking to cater to all the people out there that don't want to play the same old MMO again. The crafting system sounds incredibly deep and complex, something alot of people will enjoy. Hopefully the economy is well thought out and the loot system compliments the crafting instead of making it worthless. Not sure what to think about the PvP yet but with all the diffferent factions and their different views on how to save humanity I see alot of potential for PvP having a place in the story and driving the game forward instead of being thrown in because people might want to PvP once in awhile. If everything goes smoothly and the game is launched without any major bugs I think there will be alot of people out there that will happily hand over money every month to play it.
This game sounds great, which is new, tired of hearing about same old same old games. Skill system game is what I've been waiting for since they ruined all SWG. The fact that crafters can also gain AP is nothing but a bonus and will draw more players to it. Oh and the fact that is it not fantasy and a big big bonus, that genre has been run into the ground so much its not even funny.
The starwars I remember crafters could craft and get points to upgrade their crafting tree and master crafting professions, the game went crappy when they started adding "levels" based on what skills you had and mastered.
I do not care for skill-based games, and this crafting system sounds nightmarish to me.
But you guys have fun if this is what blows your skirts up!
Yes, there are zombies! They plague Newton at the moment! Checkout the screenshots on the main site!
FAQ says cost will be competative with other mainstream MMOs, arranging international distribution is already happening!
AP is independent of levels. Being level 15, does not automatically make you better than a level 10 as that level 10 could have a heap more AP just by doing missions that give players AP!
Progression through the Tradeskills are independent of Attribute/Skill/Mutation progressions. Tradeskills will progress automatically through practice (crafting, salvaging, etc.), while the others attribute/skill/mutations require AP.
You gain EXP via crafting, killing things, quests/missions, etc. EXP will raise your level. You gain AP as you level up (recieve 2 AP at increments of 10% to next level) and through doing quests/missions.
Crafting is easy! Although it has a large time component, but you may craft while doing other things such as enjoying PvE, PvP or even when offline! You gain EXP for crafting, although the efficiency is alot less than doing quests/missions, killing things, etc.
Icarus have not announced any dates for the B-word, and in my opinion will likely start an independent sign-up process when they do as my details have changed alot since I signed up for the newsletters!
Please read the Questions of the Week on the Fallen Earth Forums to verify/learn more! Everything is subject to change as it is still in development.
they can fight and explore too. most importantly, crafted items are better than drops. the more i hear, the more i can't wait to try it!!!
A quote from FE's FAQ section
Maybe this will clear up the beta thing...
"How can I be a Beta tester?
It did for me at least. ^_^
This is right from their FAQ on the site.
Can't wait for this to beta/release...
Finally a non fantsy MMO that (hopefully) does not suck
Wink
Hi everyone,
There seems to be some confusion as to whether there are beta signups or not, so I thought I would pop in and give you the correct information.
We have *not* announced beta sign-ups yet. Signing up for the newsletter only means you will be one of the first to know when the beta sign-up process has started.
We are very solid on our commitment to only giving dates when we are very sure we can meet those dates. That being said, and at the risk of sounding way too vague, you can look forward to beta sign-ups sometime in 2007. *evilgrin* The first stages of beta will be closed and then we will move to a more public beta.
I hope this helps clear the confusion on us taking beta applications right now.
~Acropolis
GO VISTAS!