Fury Interview (con't)

FiringSquad: How do you mix the traditional MMORPG combat with the more fast paced action that Fury has?

Paul Whipp: Firstly, you can only take 24 abilities (or weapon changes or potions) into combat and must choose an appropriate set. Furthermore the charge mechanism ensures that not all abilities are available all the time. This avoids you having to choose from a bewildering number of options.

Secondly, there is no mana to worry about. This means you only have to worry about the cool-downs. There is no backing off and sitting down to eat a banana in Fury!

Third, and perhaps most important of all, we still use traditional MMO targeting so that you are not involved in twitch style aiming. You can start out and do fairly well spamming your abilities as they become available but you soon learn that there is time to think because you are not constantly trying to aim and maneuver so you can choose the right ability while still having fun in a fast paced game.

FiringSquad: What other unique gameplay elements will Fury have?

Paul Whipp: The elemental charge system and incarnations are the biggest features that players will notice in terms of the game play.
We are also providing great team oriented game types and a unique match making system that ensures every contest is as evenly matched as possible because we believe that close fights are the most fun.
The character advancement uses trials that players undertake in the contests. The loot also comes from killing players in the contests. This way we provide full featured character advancement entirely within the competitive environment. It means that players will often ‘win’ even if they are on the losing side because they’ll win some really cool loot or achieve their trials and advance their characters.

Our realm architecture is also unique. Players who share the same realm are all on the same side. All the people you encounter in the sanctuary areas such as the schools, the markets or the preparation areas are on your side. The opposing teams are drawn from other realms. With as many as 5,000 concurrent players in a realm you’ll never be short of potential team mates and with as many as 39 opposing realms you will certainly never be short of well matched opponents.


FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the graphical features in the game's engine?

Paul Whipp: We are using Unreal Engine 3.0 to the full. In addition to this we are adding our own rendering technology so that players with lower specification PCs can also enjoy playing the game.


FiringSquad: What can you tell us about plans for a beta test for the game?

Paul Whipp: We hope to start closed beta testing before the end of this year. Check out www.unleashthefury.com regularly for details concerning entry.


FiringSquad: At the moment what can you tell us about the plans for officially launching the game and how much will it cost to play?

Paul Whipp: We expect to complete Fury in 2007. We are in negotiation with several potential partners at the moment and a business model is yet to be finalized.


FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Fury at this time?

Paul Whipp: We set out to build a game that would be incredible fun to play and that would avoid a lot of the parts of traditional MMO games that we find dull. Even at pre-alpha, Fury is already so much fun that one of our biggest problems now is stopping playing long enough to finish building it!