JeuxOnLine interview : Auto Assault

 

 

1. Our readers may not know about Auto Assault, would you please introduce us to the game and tell us what you are doing in this project?

Scott Brown : Hello, my name is Scott Brown, and I am the project lead for Auto Assault.
Auto Assault is the fastest, most destructive MMO ever! You play as one of three surviving races vying for control of the Earth. This all takes place hundreds of years after an alien craft crashes into the planet and we respond by pressing a big nuclear restart button.
Vehicles are the primary weapon of the future and you must match your desires for destruction with one of the 4 character classes within each race. Once you have chosen your class this will determine both the vehicle types you specialize in and the skills available to you on top of the large arsenal of weaponry available.

Auto Assault is a unique mix of action gaming and MMO style RPG character development. One example of what we mean by being an action game is that combat involves movement, both you and your target. Battles are not fought standing still, waiting on skills to fire but rather are intense firefights while you and your targets try to line up the better shot.

 

2. As we understand it, Auto Assault is an auto action game, a quite common theme in single-player games. Except having thousand of players simultaneously, what do you think are the advantages of a persistant state world for this kind of games?

Scott Brown : There is no experience that can match playing with thousands of other players at the same time for me. NetDevil is set on developing MMO titles that involve action and take place in ignored genres. When we created Jumpgate, we were the first online space simulator to hit the market. Now we will be the first game to mix Action and RPG into an MMO.

We also have an incredible loot system allowing for unlimited possibilities of items to drop in the world allowing you to build your own cache of weapons over time.

 

3. Auto Assault seems to be essentially an action game. What importance have you given to the "social aspect" of the game? Do you plan to encourage social relashionships between players, with places dedicated to meetings and trades for instance?

Scott Brown : In Auto Assault towns are the place you go to take a break. Since combat on the open highways can be so intense, we needed a safe place for players to catch their breath.
While in towns players can chat, take missions, visit stores, craft, join and maintain clans, trade between players and form convoys to head back into the fight.

 

4. We can read an history of the game world on the official website. What can we expect from the background of the game? Will it be purely "cosmetical" or do you plan to have events in the game, a dynamical history that will evolve with players, etc. ?

Scott Brown : The storyline for each race will be discovered by the players as they play through our hand crafted missions to learn more about the world they are a part of. The lead designers for each race have built detailed back stories for each of their races and have some really fun things in store for the players.

The storyline of the world does not change based on character actions but players' own instanced maps do. As you complete a mission on an instanced map in Auto Assault when you return you will find you have changed the world and now your storyline has advanced.

Also, with PvP players always define the state of the world and control the actions of the day.

 

5. What is your favorite place in the game world, and why?

Scott Brown : This is tough. Every time new content goes into the game I always find myself thinking, this is the best.

I keep changing my mind about which race to play as well, each time a new car or hazard mode [NB: Hazard Meks - The biomek vehicle hazard mode consists of transforming into hulking mek forms, with massive destructive powers] goes into the game they always get better and better.

 

6. Will there be any difference in the gameplay when you play a human, a mutant or a biomek?

Scott Brown : Yes, there are different leads for each of the races and they each have their own style which they are bringing to the game. Also, even though some abilities may have similar results how the race accomplishes things can be quite different.

For example Mutants tend to use objects that make one area have a certain damaging or healing effect, while humans would have something that followed along with them. It will fun for players to try the different races and see the fiction of the world from that races point of view.

 

7. Will the character/vehicle skills modify the fighting abilities of the player? Or will fights only depend on player skills and the type of weapon they use?

>Scott Brown : The fight comes down to a number of factors. First your level, attributes and skills can affect your chance to hit, your chance for a critical hit and may have additional modifiers that effect how much damage you do. Also the equipment on your vehicle will also change some of these values.

The player able to do the most damage however, will likely be the one who can keep the target in as many weapon arcs as possible. For example, if one player is just attacking with their turreted weapon but the other is maneuvering to hit with both a front and a turret weapon, the second player will do much more damage.

 

8. NCSoft is your publisher for Auto Assault (they also published City of Heroes, another "quick fun" game). Do they get involved or intervene in the development of the game?

Scott Brown : NCsoft shares NetDevil's vision of creating unique fun games. While NCsoft has allowed us to remain autonomous, they give lots of feedback and have helped on anything we have asked. For example, Richard Garriott took some time early on out of his busy schedule to help us get the initial design on track and focused.

We have a great relationship with NCsoft and working with them has only helped to make a better game than we could have done on our own.

 

9. Do you plan to release localised versions of Auto Assault, with localised services? More precisely can we expect french localised servers with french-speaking gamemasters?

Scott Brown : Absolutely! We are planning to release the game simultaneously in several territories including France. Once the beta starts it will be a global beta allowing all players equal opportunity to try the game out right from the start.

NCsoft Europe will be running French servers for Auto Assault. Our last title, Jumpgate, did better in Europe than the US so you can believe we are dedicated to making the European launch every bit as successful as any other region in the world.

 

10. What are your plans for the E3?

Scott Brown : We will be showing off Auto Assault both on the floor and to press upstairs this year. You will not want to miss it. :)

 

11. Can you say a word about the future of Auto Assault? There are certainly features you will not be able to implement before release. How do you think Auto Assault will have evolved in three years from now?

Scott Brown : NCsoft and NetDevil understand that Auto Assault is a service, not a product to be shipped and abandoned. We are planning lots of features and content and will continue to develop the game long past launch. I cannot get into any specifics as I am not sure what will stay and what will go.

We are assuming that with the introduction of Beta that players will help us shape the game going forward with many new ideas that will be sure to make it into the game.

 

12. To conclude, do you have something you'd like to tell to our readers to convince them Auto Assault will be the best thing on Earth since Britney Spears?

Scott Brown : Take everything you like about Britney Spears, or anyone you would like really, and imagine running it down at high speed and seeing the body fly (using correct rag doll physics!) along your hood and smash into a nearby building. :) We are really so excited to get this game into gamers hands and see if they have our same reaction, why has this game not been made before.

 

We would like to thank Stephen Reid (Community Manager - NCsoft Europe) and Scott Brown for spending the time to speak with us about Auto Assault.