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Undead Labs art director talks about the heart of horror
So what is art direction and why is it important to video games in general and MMORPGs in particular? That's a good question, and sadly one that can't be answered in a brief news post. What we can do, though, is point you to some worthwhile reading on the subject. Today's lesson comes courtesy of Undead Labs and Doug Williams. Williams serves as the art director on the firm's upcoming zombie apocalype Xbox Live Arcade MMO (currently codenamed Class3), and while you might expect him to spend time talking about gory effects or the best way to render blood and brains in a dark environment, Williams actually spends a good portion of the latest Undead Labs blog post talking about something called "Faded Americana." "Faded Americana really resonates with me because there are many analogies between the style and a zombie apocalypse. In both cases, you see society hanging onto the ghosts of its past," Williams explains. The concept goes a long way towards explaining Undead Labs' decision to set the game primarily in a small town environment, and Williams has quite a few interesting anecdotes relating to influential games as well as the challenges inherent in separating the new game from the stack of zombie-themed entertainment products that have swarmed over the popular consciousness in recent years.
Secret World impressions video shows glimpses of new footage
Game Reactor has just released a new preview video for Funcom's horror-conspiracy opus known as The Secret World. Petter Martensson and Bengt Lemne have a lot to say about the title in an impressions piece that runs just north of 10 minutes in length. Lemne talks about his experiences viewing the game at GDC, and we get to see a few glimpses of new footage from Kingsmouth and other locations throughout the world. The duo also talks about Funcom's much-publicized focus on story, with Lemne ultimately concluding that whether TSW is story-centered or not will be up to the players. "You can go and do all this [the story elements], and I think you can have a lot of fun if you do it in a group... but I think that the day the game is released, you're going to find guys that know how to do all these things, how to find these things, how to do it the fastest," he explains. Lemne also posits that earning skill credits will be the primary motivating factor for players (as opposed to Funcom's stated aim to have the narrative drive gameplay). Endgame is also a concern, as eventually the story content will dry up, and the plan seems to be to funnel players toward TSW's PvP elements. There's more, including discussion of PvP modes and the game's "overwhelming" skill options (as well as the resulting balance issues). Check out the full video at Game Reactor.
The Daily Grind: When has an MMO creeped you out?
Horror, scares, and heebie-jeebies aren't usually applied to MMORPGs -- after all, when you're playing in a world alongside thousands of other people, it's hard for a game to give you the sense of isolation that is necessary for many frights. And yet, it does happen on occasion. A particular zone begins to get under your skin and makes you all twitchy. You get lost in a dark, forboding section of the game and something finally jumps out at you. The artists create a monster model that makes you scoot your chair back in utter revulsion. You get, to put it politely, creeped as all get out. So when has an MMO ever creeped you out? Maybe none of them has ever outright scared you, but I think we're all grown up enough to admit that there are times we felt more like we were in a horror game than in an action, fantasy or sci-fi setting. Has there ever been a setting, a creature, an instance, or a moment that made you long to bolt back to the warm, comforting lights of civilization? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's The Daily Grind!
