Fallen Earth Developer Diary #3

Massively has published the third of five Fallen Earth developer diaries, with this latest offering giving us a tour through Needle Eye Research Facility.

When the citizens of war-torn Old Kingman fled Casta Gaunt’s raiders, they expected to find refuge in the farming community of Needle Eye. Fearing reprisals from the raiders, the leaders of Needle Eye closed their doors to the refugees. Shut out from the safety of town, the exiles face a host of problems: mutated monsters, fungal blight, kidnappings, and waning food supplies. Can the solutions be found in the old GlobalTech lab near the wheat fields? Are you brave enough to find out?

Originally, the level was a sprawling complex that we referred to as the Throwback Warrens. Players entered a cave-like opening and traveled through dirt-walled tunnels that opened up into part of a research lab and then returned to more tunnels and finally a bit more lab. Because there were no doors that could conceivably lead to the surface, the level itself really made no sense. Given the name, unsurprisingly, it was filled with Throwbacks, mutant humanoids who vaguely resembled cavemen or “throwbacks to an earlier time.”

Over the course of our design, the Throwback models changed quite a bit, and when we had the opportunity to rework the level as part of overhauling Old Kingman County, we jumped at it. My teammate Jared Beaulieu worked closely with artist Justin Johnson, designing the level based on the kinds of missions we were writing. Jared also chose the placement and size of the level to encourage players to enter the lab multiple times as they complete missions in the area.