Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion Interview
Ekim, 2004-03-23

Alien Invasion will be the third expansion to Anarchy Online, a game that is arguably the most surprising of the current bunch of MMORPG's. After going through some hard times, it rose from its ashes and came back strong, and this new expansion will hopefully make it even stronger. To talk a little bit about it, we sat down with Marius Enge, Game Director for Anarchy Online.

ME - The fundamental gameplay elements in Anarchy Online will still be intact but we will add yet another layer to this sort of. First and foremost, the Aliens (and the invasion) is something that will be focused around Rubi-Ka. It might expand later on, but we are not sure yet. It depends very much on how the players will handle the situations that will occur. The attacking Aliens will bring a fun factor into the game, as well as an element of surprise and shock. Our focus has always been to have the ability to log in and have fun for a short period of time, then be able to leave the game again. We want fast paced combats and fast paced gameplay.

ME - There will be several things happening. It remains to be seen for the players, but I can promise you that there will be hovering and landing spaceships involved. The aliens will be there for a reason, and as this reason unfolds for the players it will make more and more sense what they are after and why.

ME - There will be an all automated system that defines when an attack will happen. This will be based on certain rules and a touch of randomness so it will be difficult for the players to know exactly when an attack will occur. There will however be methods the players can use to jam radars and other technological equipment used by the Aliens to make it harder on the Aliens to find the players. There will also be different sorts of attacks. Some small, but the Aliens will also be able to run large scale attacks over many playfields at the same time.

ME - To gain access to new perks and specials the players need to fight Aliens to earn this experience. By boarding the Spaceships the players will have a good source for Aliens and Aliens battles. In addition the Aliens will carry new equipment that's usable by the players, that is technologically very advanced and therefore should be much wanted by the players.

ME - No, there will not be any new playable breeds or classes in this expansion.

MMORPGdot - How will the new city-building feature work? What kind of special benefits will they grant?

ME - Players will be able to build a variety of buildings in their city area. The different buildings will give the players as well as the organisation different bonuses, depending on different factors. This will be everything from combat oriented benefits to benefits regarding tradeskills.

ME - No, but they will be available only to organisations (in Anarchy Online, a guild is called Organisation) which means you need to be a member of an organisation to get access to the benefits of having a organisation house. But organisations of all sizes are able to do this.

ME - We will prepare areas on Rubi-Ka for this. There will not be any new land areas for building, we will only use the existing areas on Rubi-Ka for this.

ME - Yes, there will be a new interface where players are able to search for different items that are for sale. They will by using this system be able to get easy access to the stuff they need. Exactly how this will be done, we are not sure yet. We are still trying different methods of doing this. One way we might do it is to allow the players the possibility to buy their own shopping booth, but like I said we are still trying out different things so you will just need to stay tuned to get the latest info.