Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion Interview #1
Interviews

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MMOG Hell: Can the Aliens actually really invade the world, and affect players alot if they do not defend?

J°rgen: The Aliens WILL invade the world, and their presence will for sure affect the players. Rubi-Ka will in many places become a battleground as the aliens rush in. The players will of course be able to resist and fight back. Otherwise there would be no fun :p

MMOG Hell: Will the Alien Invasion be a progress, or will the Aliens be present on Rubi-Ka directly at the launch of the expansion?

J°rgen: The invasion might have started already. Remember that the alien invaders are technologically advanced, having evolved beyond Nano-technology, and delved deep into virus-bot technology. The players should hold a keen eye for any unnatural occurrences in the lead up to launch, who knows what they might be hiding?

MMOG Hell: Can players repel the invasion, and if yes, then what happens if the players actually manage to slaughter the Aliens?

J°rgen: I for sure hope that there will be some alien butt kicking;) This is a game after all, so it has to be fun, hence it must be possible to deal with the aliens. That said, I know the Aliens are very firm in their wish to destroy mankind’s presence on Rubi-Ka, but I guess you will have to log in after the release of Alien Invasion to see how widespread it becomes, and how it plays out.

MMOG Hell: Why did you choose Aliens? Why not some third party that is coming to gain control of the Notum?

J°rgen: Anarchy Online is first and foremost a sci-fi based game, and we saw, and have seen, the addition of aliens as a natural continuation of the evolving storyline in AO.

We could have chosen an existing enemy, of course, but as the players learn more of the reasons for the aliens being there, I am sure everyone will feel this as an interesting and fun new addition to gameplay.

MMOG Hell: Or a third possibility, why didn't you just let our friends from the Shadowlands invade Rubi-Ka? :)

J°rgen: The endless possibilities and options in huge virtual worlds is one of the things I find most interesting. We could have unleashed the Shadowlands horde, but I also think it’s important that we bring forward something really new and interesting in each new expansion.

Re-using the same monsters, architecture etc. is probably the smartest thing to do when it comes to the development cost, which is important for any gaming company, but one of our aims with our expansions is to make something really new each time. In order to stay a leader in our genre we can not go for anything less.

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MMOG Hell: Im probably trying to get too much detail here, but could it be possible that the Aliens become player races at some point? :)

J°rgen: Curious;) That’s good! I know for sure they will not become a player race in this expansion, but I really can’t tell what will happen down the line. We hope to run Anarchy for many years, so it might happen, but most likely not.

MMOG Hell: What about the way the Aliens attack Rubi-Ka? Can they bombard the planet from above? (Such effects are possible and seen in Planetside for example)

J°rgen: I haven’t seen how it’s implemented in Planetside, but it’s important that the players can actually take part in the combat against the aliens. Building a “deathstar” in orbit, with immense long-range weapons, wouldn’t have worked well for our game (besides the fact that it will feel somewhat like a rip-off ;p).

It will become obvious to the players why the aliens comes face to face rather than sitting in orbit, but you can also expect gigantic mother-ships with swarms of aliens inside them.

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