New QotW -- May 14, 2008

New bits from the Devs, more on the general feel of the combat system.  Enjoy.

This week we're finishing up our item revamp (finally!), working on Kingman Prison, and doing some polish passes on later towns. We've got deadlines to hit and lots of Saturdays worked under our belts, so things are moving quickly.



I would like to ask a favor of folks on our forums: I can't remember what questions I've answered and what I haven't at this point, so if you have a question that's not on the Not Answering list (such as “When's beta?”) and that I haven't answered, please post them again so I can find them. I figure it's a better use of time than me digging through all the past QotW posts looking for what I've answered when I could be fixing treasure drop rates or making teaching books.



On the good news/bad news front we aren't going to be going to PAX and Leipzig this year after all. We're bummed about this as anyone, but those conventions fell back to back on weekends right before a GINORMOUS deadline, so we needed all of our people home working rather than at conventions.



1. Will there be NPC faction civil wars?



There are a lot of disputes within the factions, which is largely what the sub-factions are about. Each faction encompasses a number of different interpretations of their core philosophy, and sometimes these interpretations can only be solved violently. Players can often get involved in these disputes, helping out one side or another.



2. Will there be loading between areas?



Nope, none.



3. Will you do anything artificially to try and make sure all factions are decently represented?



Our hope is the setup for our faction allegiances, where each faction has two allied factions, will help the need for balance since players will be able to visit allied faction towns or conflict towns. A faction may not itself control a lot of territory, but between its allies, members of that faction should have equal access to content as members of other factions. If this plan doesn't work out we'll have to look at other options.



4. Now so far I'm able to play every game with not to much problem like, FPS (bf2, 2142, cod4...) and MMO (EVE, AO, WOW...) and all I would like to know is, how the movement is in Fallen Earth? If it's a lot like FPS or like normal MMo's? And if keys are highly customizable as well as movement?



Basic combat plays just like an FPS. The only problem may be in activating some special abilities in combat, which is similar to switching weapons in Half-Life. If you use one of the gaming trackballs/mice with the 1-10 keys built into the trackball this won't be a problem. Also the keys can be almost completely remapped to whatever configuration desired.



5. Will there be automatic weapons (click & hold and watch bullets fly everywhere lol)?



Yes, and a good number of them, but spraying ammo around is a good way to waste money.