| |
Site Navigation
Main
News
Forums
Games
Games Database
Top 100
Release List
Support Files
Features
Reviews
Previews
Interviews
Editorials
Diaries
Misc
Download
Gallery
Music
Screenshots
Videos
Miscellaneous
Staff Members
Privacy Statement
|
|
HomeLan Fed recently had the opportunity to chat with Gnostic Lab's Travis Cannell about his company's online space strategy/sim/RPG hybrid Eschaton.
Here's an interesting snip:HomeLAN - There have been other games set in space in a persistent world such Jumpgate, Darkspace and the upcoming EVE Online and Earth and Beyond. Do you feel that Eschaton will enter into a rather crowed market for this type of game?
Travis Cannell - Eschaton’s gameplay is significantly different from the space-based persistent worlds currently operating or planned, putting it into a separate market space. In Eschaton, the action components compare to a game of Ace of Angles, the naval components compare to a multiplayer game of Starfleet command, the strategy components compare to a multiplayer game of O.R.B. or Homeworld and the combined experience is something completely new. The combination of strategy and coordinated team combat modeled after military command structures seen on Earth, where orders flow from high-ranking commanders to lower and lower echelons and eventually to soldiers, places Eschaton in a separate category from Eve, Earth and Beyond, Jumpgate, Darkspace or any other persistent world game.
The interface reflects the number of units a player controls. In a smaller ship such as a fighter or on the turret of a larger ship (yes we will have multiplayer units), the view is first person with a focus on aiming weapons to score well-placed hits on enemy ships. For a larger vessel, the view is a third person view centered on the ship with “point and click” naval style combat. Beyond that, there is the command interface, again in third person but never focused on one individual unit. The camera is zoomed out allowing the player to see all of the units in his control, with icons that represent the specific units in his control, whether they are individual ships or groups of ships. The interface also supports a mechanism for assigning players to units, giving them control of ships in a commander’s inventory. Each interface type allows players to focus on different aspects of the same battle, turning a chaotic battle with thousands of units into an integrated space orchestra. |
|
|
Eschaton: Interview @ HomeLan Fed
