Fallen Earth's Lee Hammock on integrating story with the post-apocalyptic MMO
A post-apocalyptic setting can open up fantastic opportunities for storytelling. After all, it's the end of society as we know it. All our institutions are gone, our belief systems either torn away or seriously challenged. That resulting vacuum would no doubt be filled by new outlooks on the world and on life triggered by the apocalypse -- in rare cases optimistic, but more often utterly deranged. Then again, some survivors might seek to rectify the mistakes made by too many generations before the burn or plague wiped out humanity, and aim to rebuild a better world. There are so many possibilities, and these are some of the avenues that will be explored in the upcoming post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth. Of course, this presents some real challenges for the game designers as well -- what is the best way to integrate these themes into the gameplay experience?
Storytelling in Fallen Earth is the focus of a recent interview with lead designer Lee Hammock, who spoke with The MMO Gamer's Steven Crews about where story and gameplay will meet in the upcoming title.
Hammock specifically addresses some of the unique challenges of storytelling in a post-apocalyptic setting and how they're working to make the game's quests engaging in ways that some MMOs don't even attempt. Hammock discusses Fallen Earth's non-linear quests, which will have branching content as players progress, and the fact that some player choices will have consequences. How you choose to progress through the quests and storyline may have an impact on your options further down the road, via branching mission trees linked to some of your previous decisions.
If you're wondering about how Fallen Earth will integrate good, post-apocalyptic storytelling with actual gameplay, head on over to The MMO Gamer interview with lead designer Lee Hammock.
