Something I found really interesting about the game, and they talk about this in the video as well, is the monster ecology. In other MMOs, usually what happens is you kill some monsters, and a little bit later they respawn out of thin air. But in this game, they always come from somewhere.
So for example, if you kill a bunch of zombies in an area, they'll all clear out. But to bring more zombies out you can jump on cars to make the alarms go off and the sound will attract more zombies and they'll swarm out of the woods.
The other one they showed was the draugs. They go up to the beach and they see a bunch of pods that eventually the draugs will crawl out of. You can destroy the pods and they won't just respawn. What happens is the female draugs basically create pod carriers out of the zombies, then the zombies go up to the beach and lay the pods down, which will again eventually hatch a draug.
ll interview can be found here, but this is what he says about those 4 pillars:
"We have four focus areas – we call them our pillars – that we feel set The Secret World apart from every other massively multiplayer game.
First off, our setting is very unique and fresh. It’s modern-day, contemporary dark fantasy, a genre that’s been consistently popular in other media – TV, movies, comics – but which is surprisingly underused in games. Our twist on this is that we mix the real world with the magical, the ordinary with the extraordinary, and the modern with the ancient, and it’s allowed us to build a world that’s perfect for an MMO, and yet vastly different from everything else out there.
Secondly, our role-playing and combat systems are radically different from other games in the genre. Our focus is total freedom of play, without classes and levels, and a completely skill-based progression. Players can start out focusing on one weapon, one direction, but as they earn XP and buy more powers, they can expand their arsenal – their decks – and create unique hybrid characters capable of handling different situations and encounters, playing different roles as required by their team or cabal. And there will be more than five hundred powers to purchase at launch, which means that the combinations are endless. No two characters will be alike.
Our third pillar is what we call ‘the secret war’; the conflict between the three iconic secret societies: The Illuminati, the Templars and the Dragon. This conflict plays out in PvP mini-games, in other, still unannounced, PvP modes, and in the story and missions players embark on. The conflict is ingrained into the very fabric of our universe, and this ongoing war for control of the Earth is a huge part of The Secret World.
Finally, our story clearly sets us apart from the other games out there. We’re putting a lot of emphasis and focus on story – or stories – and this informs every aspect of the game, from missions and monster ecologies, to PvP and game mechanics. Everything is touched and affected by story, every decision made is in line with our extensive and deep backstory, and everything has meaning and context. This doesn’t mean players are bound to a single storyline that they have to follow. It means that the story – which we always describe as a vast jigsaw puzzle – is embedded into the world in a really unique way, that it makes the world feel real, and it gives players an incentive to keep exploring, keep digging, to play the content in order to enjoy it, and not just to gain XP and race to the finish-line."
Some other quotes from the article:
So while certain player powers are unique to each faction, for the most part, they share the same selection. When it comes to balancing the gameplay, we’re about to go into our first Beta phase, and this is obviously going to be a focus going forward… Story wise, however, there are big philosophical differences between the factions, and in terms of content, there are unique missions, clothing sets, uniforms, items, characters, locations and so on. Playing as a Dragon will feel very different to playing as a Templar.
We’re looking at ways for players to interact with the game and the world while they’re away from the computer. In fact, with our investigation missions, players will have to go outside the game in order to solve intriguing puzzles based on real history, myth, legends, conspiracy theories, and they’ll also need to cooperate with other players via forums or chat in order to basically solve these really deep and complex ARG style problems. Some missions are designed to take weeks to crack, even with the help of the entire community.
Players will also progress inside their secret societies, climbing from the position of an initiate into a position where secrets will be revealed, and where players will be required to perform important duties and secret tasks for their superiors; basically becoming a part of these ancient and dark conspiracies. It’s important to note that while there are no levels, players continuously grow stronger, more capable of dealing damage, of performing various roles, of protecting themselves – it’s an open game, and not a flat game.
"We have four focus areas – we call them our pillars – that we feel set The Secret World apart from every other massively multiplayer game.
First off, our setting is very unique and fresh. It’s modern-day, contemporary dark fantasy, a genre that’s been consistently popular in other media – TV, movies, comics – but which is surprisingly underused in games. Our twist on this is that we mix the real world with the magical, the ordinary with the extraordinary, and the modern with the ancient, and it’s allowed us to build a world that’s perfect for an MMO, and yet vastly different from everything else out there.
Secondly, our role-playing and combat systems are radically different from other games in the genre. Our focus is total freedom of play, without classes and levels, and a completely skill-based progression. Players can start out focusing on one weapon, one direction, but as they earn XP and buy more powers, they can expand their arsenal – their decks – and create unique hybrid characters capable of handling different situations and encounters, playing different roles as required by their team or cabal. And there will be more than five hundred powers to purchase at launch, which means that the combinations are endless. No two characters will be alike.
Our third pillar is what we call ‘the secret war’; the conflict between the three iconic secret societies: The Illuminati, the Templars and the Dragon. This conflict plays out in PvP mini-games, in other, still unannounced, PvP modes, and in the story and missions players embark on. The conflict is ingrained into the very fabric of our universe, and this ongoing war for control of the Earth is a huge part of The Secret World.
Finally, our story clearly sets us apart from the other games out there. We’re putting a lot of emphasis and focus on story – or stories – and this informs every aspect of the game, from missions and monster ecologies, to PvP and game mechanics. Everything is touched and affected by story, every decision made is in line with our extensive and deep backstory, and everything has meaning and context. This doesn’t mean players are bound to a single storyline that they have to follow. It means that the story – which we always describe as a vast jigsaw puzzle – is embedded into the world in a really unique way, that it makes the world feel real, and it gives players an incentive to keep exploring, keep digging, to play the content in order to enjoy it, and not just to gain XP and race to the finish-line."
Some other quotes from the article:
So while certain player powers are unique to each faction, for the most part, they share the same selection. When it comes to balancing the gameplay, we’re about to go into our first Beta phase, and this is obviously going to be a focus going forward… Story wise, however, there are big philosophical differences between the factions, and in terms of content, there are unique missions, clothing sets, uniforms, items, characters, locations and so on. Playing as a Dragon will feel very different to playing as a Templar.
We’re looking at ways for players to interact with the game and the world while they’re away from the computer. In fact, with our investigation missions, players will have to go outside the game in order to solve intriguing puzzles based on real history, myth, legends, conspiracy theories, and they’ll also need to cooperate with other players via forums or chat in order to basically solve these really deep and complex ARG style problems. Some missions are designed to take weeks to crack, even with the help of the entire community.
Players will also progress inside their secret societies, climbing from the position of an initiate into a position where secrets will be revealed, and where players will be required to perform important duties and secret tasks for their superiors; basically becoming a part of these ancient and dark conspiracies. It’s important to note that while there are no levels, players continuously grow stronger, more capable of dealing damage, of performing various roles, of protecting themselves – it’s an open game, and not a flat game.
Breakdown of mission types.
Action Missions - These are the closest in style to what we see in other MMOs. However, the team is encouraged to come up with mechanics that feel fresh. How about instead of killing 10 monsters, you fire a flare which lights an area so that a sniper can take things down for you? What about a mission that first asks you to collect the ingredients for various bombs, creating them and then has you setting up a tower defense style gauntlet to lure monsters through? Action missions cover the usual suspects, but with a twist that will surprise you.
Sabotage Missions- Sometimes in TSW it is necessary to recover information covertly or complete a mission without revealing yourself to outsiders.
To this end we have created mechanics that encourage an unorthodox approach to problem solving. Security systems that must be bypassed, enemies who will incapacitate rather than kill you, environmental hazards and triggers which ask the player to react. Sabotage missions usually have open ended goals. Instead of "Use the Keypad, Open the Door, Enter the base" we simply say "Enter the Base". One player might go over the fence. One player might use a passcode to get through the blast door. One player might just blast down the blast door. Hell crafty players might just wait until *someone else does the work* and then sneak through the still-open door. The idea of Sabotage missions is to encourage players to find creative gameplay solutions in line with their playing style.
Investigation Missions - These missions are really the connecting line between the real world and The Secret World. Your character needs answers, answers that can often only be found through searching the vast annals of human knowledge. Instead of trying to include all of the knowledge of human experience inside the game world, we simply acknowledge that answers exist on the outside. And then we let players research and uncover these things to solve in-game problems.
Some investigations are informational - you have to search for the right information which clues you into what to do next. Some of them are logical - figure out a sequence of numbers or a series of events. Some require very specialized knowledge - hack this computer using a series of commands only a hardcore hacker would know or translate a riddle from this language which is only spoken by 300 people on earth.
Action Missions - These are the closest in style to what we see in other MMOs. However, the team is encouraged to come up with mechanics that feel fresh. How about instead of killing 10 monsters, you fire a flare which lights an area so that a sniper can take things down for you? What about a mission that first asks you to collect the ingredients for various bombs, creating them and then has you setting up a tower defense style gauntlet to lure monsters through? Action missions cover the usual suspects, but with a twist that will surprise you.
Sabotage Missions- Sometimes in TSW it is necessary to recover information covertly or complete a mission without revealing yourself to outsiders.
To this end we have created mechanics that encourage an unorthodox approach to problem solving. Security systems that must be bypassed, enemies who will incapacitate rather than kill you, environmental hazards and triggers which ask the player to react. Sabotage missions usually have open ended goals. Instead of "Use the Keypad, Open the Door, Enter the base" we simply say "Enter the Base". One player might go over the fence. One player might use a passcode to get through the blast door. One player might just blast down the blast door. Hell crafty players might just wait until *someone else does the work* and then sneak through the still-open door. The idea of Sabotage missions is to encourage players to find creative gameplay solutions in line with their playing style.
Investigation Missions - These missions are really the connecting line between the real world and The Secret World. Your character needs answers, answers that can often only be found through searching the vast annals of human knowledge. Instead of trying to include all of the knowledge of human experience inside the game world, we simply acknowledge that answers exist on the outside. And then we let players research and uncover these things to solve in-game problems.
Some investigations are informational - you have to search for the right information which clues you into what to do next. Some of them are logical - figure out a sequence of numbers or a series of events. Some require very specialized knowledge - hack this computer using a series of commands only a hardcore hacker would know or translate a riddle from this language which is only spoken by 300 people on earth.
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760 weeks ago