Fallen Earth Interview

The MMO Gamer had the opportunity to fire over some questions to Fallen Earth writer and designer Wes Platt.

The MMO Gamer: As a game setting, the post-apocalyptic genre was chosen to set you apart from a possibly over saturated fantasy market, but with the recent success of Fallout 3 – quite a few companies have turned to this genre. What will set you apart from the future contenders?

Wes Platt: Our game has the advantage of being set in the American Southwest, around the Grand Canyon, on good old planet Earth. It gives people a real frame of reference for saying (Wow, I’ve seen that place in the real world and man does it look messed up!) Also, we’ve got a great crafting system – players can make 95 percent of useful armor, weapons, and consumables in the game – and fun PvP conflict areas.

The MMO Gamer: Certainly this next question doesn’t apply to a majority of our readership but it’s a question I wanted to ask: The casual gamers that have started their MMO careers with World of Warcraft have gotten used to that type of interface. As Fallen Earth combines FPS with a class-less system; do you think it’s too different for this new breed of casual gamers to get into?

Wes Platt: Too different? I’m not sure there is such a thing. Why try to mimic World of Warcraft when WoW already does WoW just fine? I’d be more worried about being too similar. The FPS element will take some getting used to for players who are used to more automated PvE combat styles, of course, but the learning curve ought to be worthwhile. It’s not really a question of similarity or difference, more of one of effectiveness. If it’s a well designed game that teaches people how to play the difference doesn’t really matter.