Auto Assault team puts the peddle to the metal for a tour of the upcoming MMP title

By Michael Lafferty

“Part of making a fun game includes knowing what is not fun to most people and making sure it has no place in your game”

When creating a game, one of the ‘musts’ on the top of any list is to ensure that the game is fun. No fun means no players and that translates to a colossal waste of time and money.

‘Fun’ was one word that kept jumping up during a booth visit at E3 with the development team for NCsoft’s pending massively multiplayer online game, Auto Assault. The tour guides at the May event made certain that everyone knew that ‘fun’ was paramount on the game designer’s lists when crafting this game.

So, what is Auto Assault?

The game, which is currently slated for release in March of 2005, takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting and puts players in the shoes of a soldier of one of three races striving for dominance. The weapons of choice are automobiles, and players can own more than one. At its core, the game is about automotive mayhem, or vehicular combat, combined with elements of role-playing.

Game features, according to the official homepage of the title (http://www.autoassault.com/)  include:

·    A uniquely destructible world where you can destroy everything that moves (and most things that don’t)

·    Realistic effects! The Havok 2™ physics engine makes jumping ravines, smashing through barriers, and sending buildings crumbling to the ground incredibly realistic

·    Unique mission system—level up while playing, rather than playing to level up

·    Unprecedented world map system minimizes travel time and maximizes actual gameplay

·    Dynamic map generation—plug-in modules, terrain, creatures, and spontaneous world map events allow for virtually limitless replay ability

·    Highly scripted scenarios: solo, group, and common areas

·    Gain fame in the arenas, create wealth by trading, complete missions to advance your standing, or battle for the dominance of your faction in outpost wars
 

The Auto Assault team took a pit stop to talk with GameZone.com about this upcoming title.

Question: When Motor City Online closed its tracks, that really left a void in the market for online, persistent-world MMP auto titles. How will Auto Assault fill the void? Do you consider it an automotive title or an adventure MMP in which the toons just happen to be motorized vehicles?

Answer: Auto Assault is not a driving simulator or a racing game, per se. The game emphasizes improving both your character and your vehicle in a high-action post-apocalyptic setting. Your character is not your car, but you develop your character and those abilities move with you to each of the vehicles you own. The vehicle behaves physically with jumps, skids and crashes relying on user skill to drive; however, when you pull the trigger to fire the game systems take over, and you and your target’s level, attributes and skills determine if you hit and for how much damage.  Auto Assault plays unlike any game users have played before. Online racing games have proven to be fun, though, so we have included races in the game. Some arena competitions are racing based and some missions will require you to win races to complete an objective.

Q: How much customization will there be for the vehicles? Can you tell us a little bit about the vehicle morphing process? Do characters have to reach a certain level to morph? Is it a skill acquired and leveled up?

A: All objects in Auto Assault are created through our loot generator, including vehicle chassis. Each time you find or purchase a chassis it may have different statistical properties. Also, players can equip weapons, armor, wheels and other accessories onto their vehicles. From a purely aesthetic view players can also change paint colors and paint styles and even equip different objects onto the car body, something we call tricks and trims, to really make the vehicle look the way a player wants.

The Biomek race has the ability to transform into hazard mode. This is a short-term mode where they do extensive damage to objects and creatures unfortunate enough to be nearby when they transformed. There will be level requirements, and the chips you collect that allow the different modes will be what determines both the shape of the hazard mode and the weapons you have available to you during your time in hazard mode. The other two races have yet unannounced unique modes available to them as well.

Q: Speaking of leveling ... does this title follow the general leveling format wherein players gain experience and then level up their avatars, or have you come up with something new and different? What can players expect to gain as they level their stable of cars?

A: Players level their avatar in the world based on experience gained from killing creatures/vehicles and completing missions in the Auto Assault world. Leveling gives the player access to new equipment and additional skills in the game. Players can add equipment to their vehicles like weapons, power plants, armor, and wheels. This equipment can be found, purchased or even crafted. Our design goal is simply that you level while playing, not play to level.

Q: As players level, will they be drawn more into the overall story of the game, or is this pretty much a freewheelin' world with a series of challenges for players of all levels?

A: We are especially proud of the amount of handcrafted story that is being added to Auto Assault. As the player completes missions they unlock more of the story line for them to explore. Some missions are level based and will either require or recommend a minimum level be attained before attempting the mission. We are combining the best of cooperative story-based missions found in many non-MMP games with the fun aspects of open-ended worlds found in MMPs today…all while making sure we retain the high-speed action that we have always pushed for in Auto Assault.  Auto Assault will change the definition of fast-paced game play.

Q: The environments are destructible, which should make for an exciting time for players looking to create motorized mayhem. Obviously, the environments respawn (or else your world would likely be completely destroyed within hours of launch). How long until an environment respawns, ready to be knocked down again?

A: Right now respawning happens fairly quickly. However, we are still testing what the ‘right’ timing is for respawning.

Q: If a vehicle is "killed," what kind of death penalties will players incur?

A: Currently you simply return to the nearest repair station and continue on your way. We really want the play experience to focus on what is the most fun for the player. However, having some fear of dying may add to the play experience so we are working on some ideas around that. We will not add death penalties as a tool to slow down player growth. If testing shows the need for a death penalty in order to make the game more interesting, we’ll consider it. But we really just want people to have fun.

Q: Is this game geared for clans, and if so, what can they expect to gain from their association?

A: We have an entire section of the design dedicated strictly to clan play. Players can create their own clans, create rankings in the clans and have clan-specific communication in the game. Our clan-related features list is still not set in stone, so we’ll probably have more on this at a later date.

Q: Tell us a little about the control set-up. Can players use wheels, or is this a keyboard-mouse game?

A: Players can control Auto Assault in a variety of ways. You can play entirely with the mouse; you can use the keyboard-mouse combination or just about any wheel, joy pad or joystick supported by Windows. You will also be able to customize what any of the keys or buttons do from the in-game options screen.

Q: Will the world allow for any PvP action?

A: Absolutely! PvP can happen through clan or solo competition in our arena system. Players can compete through the ladder system or in scheduled events to claim superiority over other clans. Some arena events may have limits, like ‘total weight’, which forces clans to decide if they want to compete with a few tanks or lots of cycles. Players will also be able view any of the arena events in spectator mode to see how the other clans and players fight.

Q: At E3, it was stated that this game was all about making certain that players have fun. What attributes have you designed into the game that you feel will provide the biggest entertainment boost for this title?

A: We have added features from a variety of games, which we thought embodied our favorite game experiences. Some examples include: player development (levels and attributes), skill trees, item collection, exploration, scripted storylines, the adrenaline rush that only PvP can provide, destructible worlds, crafting, tournaments, seeing noticeable changes to the world based on the actions of the players. Part of making a fun game includes knowing what is not fun to most people and making sure it has no place in your game. We think we’ve done that and we hope you’ll agree!

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