Slashdot Mirror
Dev Discusses Upcoming Spy-MMO, The Agency
Kheldon writes "The MMO Gamer recently sat down with Lorien Gremore, lead producer on SOE's upcoming spy-shooter MMO, The Agency. They discussed various aspects of its development, such as the 'stickiness' of session-based games, striking a balance between FPS and MMO players, and whether or not The Agency even falls under the definition of a traditional MMO at all. 'You might be in Prague, and experiencing play with a lot of different other players; you might have come in at your field office and gone out into the city, encountering many other players doing missions that you are also doing,' Gremore said. She added that the game's areas are large enough to have 'lots of different people in them, collecting intel, engaging in public combat, all of those types of things. These areas are big enough that there’s shops, there’s secret spaces, photos to be taken of suspicious objects, things like that. They’re all out there in the world. We’re really trying to create a balance, where you’re encountering a lot of social situations, chances to get into groups with other people, just by merit of the fact that you guys are doing the same sorts of things in the same sorts of places.'"
For your next mission, I want you to collect 12 pictures of supermarkets, 14 mysterious hats and a lost 'spys briefcase'..
Intel gathering MMO? Really?
We've got this idea for a game see, and it's about spies, but rather than come up with any truly compelling gameplay we're just going have a really big world and put it online.
How we know is more important than what we know.
"John Ubuli, Fictiana's prime minister, was assassinated tonight. Apparently 12502 assassins entered the embassy simultaneously screaming 'LEEEEROY JEEenkins!'"
MMOs, historically, haven't really been able to do anything about the problem that, in game, everyone wants to be the protagonist; but every protagonist needs extras.
Something involving spies seems much more problematic than usual in that regard. Meet another PC? Oh, now what are the odds that he is a spy, no matter how clever his cover?
So basically it's like meeting an American in Europe?
How we know is more important than what we know.
You thought grinding xp by combat was bad, wait until you see stealth grinding.
Follow 20 different sewer rats for 1min each without being seen.
Why should we care about being a spy in a game where everyone is a spy? Part of the fun in the idea of being a spy is that you do neat stuff while masquerading as a normal person... among normal people. If everyone's a spy, it's kind of boring, sort of like playing a Hitman game where everyone is the Hitman...
http://www.tenjou.net/