The Matrix Online Interview

GameSpy has published an interview with Monolith’s Toby Ragaini, in which the lead designer answers four pages of questions about their upcoming sci-fi MMORPG, The Matrix Online. A snippet:

Q: Can you talk more about how players will be able to tweak their ability loadouts? Can these change from day-to-day as the players see fit?

A: Yes, absolutely. The resources that players are using to configure their characters are called “ability codes,” and these codes are things that you can collect and acquire in the game world. But there’s a limitation as to which ones — and how many — you can have loaded. There’s a dependency-tree structure, almost like a “tech tree” in an RTS game, but you’re actually deciding, at any given point in the game, that you want certain abilities at your disposal. This is possible in what’s called the “loading area,” which is analogous to the time that characters spent preparing in the hovercraft [in the films], and it can also happen within range of one of the “hardlines” — the phone lines that connect back to your hovercraft. At that point, you’re free to change your loadout and redistribute your abilities however you want.