GameSNAFU would like to thank Atanas Atanasov the CEO of Masthead Studios for taking the time to answer our questions about Earthrise.
Q: What engine does Earthrise use?
A: Earthrise uses a proprietary in-house developed game engine specifically designed to handle dynamic, persistent online worlds with thousands of players while providing top-notch graphic engine and realistic physics. Earthrise will be the first game to utilize the engine and will serve as a demonstration to its broad range of features we will build upon in our future titles.
Q: We know from Earthrise's website that it has an expansive and intriguing back story. How will the quest lines in the game follow it?
A: Earthrise will provide players with an engaging storyline branching between two warring factions – Continoma and Noir. Players will follow a linear story where they will play a major role in aiding one or the other side of the conflict in its attempt to either liberate the island population from the iron grip of Continoma or wipe out all insurgencies that root in the minds of the loyal citizens. Along the storyline there will be multiple minor quest lines provided by organizations that aid one of the factions or strive to remain loyal, and each of them has its own goals and agendas. Players will be able to change their faction affiliation to gain access to the storyline of the opposite side but will be discouraged from faction-hopping with the risk of being marked as a traitor.
Q: Is the island of Enterra the only inhabitable land mass left on the planet after the 3rd world war?
A: The Enterra population believes the island is all of Earth that remains… is that the truth or a fabrication? Those are the sorts of questions that get answered in content patches and expansions.
Q: Will the character view be from a first or third person perspective?
A: Earthrise will be played from a third person perspective and players will be able to view their character’s presence on the screen as they explore and battle through the tropical landscape of Enterra island. Players will be able to zoom in and out to view the fine details of their character or take a wide view of the surrounding area.
Q: What kind of targeting system will Earthrise use? Will you "lock onto" your target or will it be twitch based?
A: A mix of both. Players will be required to score a single clear shot at a target using their weapon of choice before the weapon could provide advanced locking mechanics that will ease keeping their opponent on target. The locking mechanic won’t remove the need of movement, proper targeting and twitch-based shooting but will aid the attacker in pursuing a fast-moving target.
Q: Earthrise will have PvP elements, how much of the game play will be focused on PvP?
A: Almost every aspect of Earthrise’s gameplay supports or is centered around PvP experience. While following the PvE road, players will be able to develop their character’s combat skills and abilities in order to survive the harsh environments but often will become victims to other players, losing some of their equipment to their attackers. Soon they will not only learn how to protect their belongings from such attacks but also that PvP is a lucrative, risky undertaking promising hefty rewards in form of earned loot from other players. As players gather together into guilds, they will also discover the Territory Conquest gameplay that allows Guilds to war against each other for control over territories that yields rare resources needed to fuel the game economy with powerful items and whoever controls the mining and manufacturing of said items will have advantage against their enemies – an advantage that is worth fighting for!
Q: It looks like the game will have some RvR elements to it. Are we correct in this assumption? And if so what factions will there be in this RvR conflict?
A: We prefer to call them GvG (Guild versus Guild) gameplay. The GvG gameplay will consist of conquering concessional territories as a source of rare resources needed to craft the powerful items in the game. Whoever controls those resources will control the flow of high-powered weapons and armor and will have an advantage over their enemies. But to protect their territory from the ambition of their enemies, the guilds will have to build a customized base with the right balance between defensive structures and mining facilities to extract and process the precious resources. At set period of time guilds will be able to attack their neighbors in elaborate goal-based siege mass combat allowing attackers to seize control over their enemy base and take over its operation. This opens ground for very complex military and political player-run campaigns allowing guild alliances to wield real control over the fate of the game.
Q: How "hardcore" will the PvP be? Will players be able to "loot" another player once they have killed them?
A: We aim to please our hardcore fans but not without taking precautions that would prevent less dedicated and skilled players from being completely "pwned" in Earthrise. Players will be able to loot all items from the victims that aren’t insured but insurance will be widespread and easy to access and would minimize the loss of valuable items as long as the person who owns them is willing to invest in safety.
Q: What kind of death penalty if any will there be in Earthrise? Will a PvP death hurt more than a PvE death penalty wise?
A: Death penalties in Earthrise are worth considering in advance – players may not only lose all items that weren’t insured, but also some types of insurance will expire upon death and items will have to be re-insured again which is a serious, continuous investment in safety. There aren’t major differences between death in PvP and death in PvE although details are currently being fine-tuned in internal testing.
Q: Risk versus reward is always an issue in games that contain a PVP element, what kind incentives are there going to be to entice players into getting involved in PVP?
A; How about the sense of victory when you strip your victim to the underwear and march away with all his equipment and gear?
Q: In Earthrise your character will advance even if you are "offline". Will this be comparable to offline skill training like in EVE Online? If not, how will it be different?
A: Offline Professions are not tied to the skill system in a manner such as Eve Online. Instead they allow the player to experience in a simple manner the daily life of their character while they aren’t adventuring online, such as learning social skills and choosing a career. Offline Professions will provide players with minor periodic income which will make sure that players never run bankrupt and can invest in new gear even after they had been completely looted in combat with another player. Also, Offline Professions will provide periodically small rewards depending on the choice of profession, with more lucrative ones from the highest positions in the Enterran society.
Q: About crafting, will most items used by players in the game be craftable? If so how will they compare with looted items and equipment?
A: When it comes to gearing, nothing will beat player-made items made for specific gameplay styles using the right combination of template Techniques and enhancement Designs out of thousands of possible combinations. Players will rely on their own crafting skills or another dedicated crafter to create the best weapons and armor to meet specific challenges from the world inhabitants or other players. What players will find as loot from powerful non-player opponents would be less-customized items that will excel with higher quality made of better materials. These items will be highly-sought not only for their primary use but because crafters can dismantle and use their parts to create new player-customized items. Absolutely nothing is deemed useless in Earthrise.
Q: Is your studio content with Earthrise's development schedule and could you tell us if you have a release date in mind yet?
A: We are doing fine with the schedule so far, but we are not going to announce a release date yet, some important tests are yet to come and we don’t want to disappoint our fans with false promises.
Q: Finally is Masthead working on any other projects they could tell us about at this time?
A: We haven’t started real work on a new project. Right now we are focused on Earthrise only, although we have some ideas for future titles.
Once again, thank you Masthead Studios. I would also like to thank Emily Carter, Masthead Studios Production Manager for giving us her time when we initially contacted Masthead for this interview.
