August 2008
Recently, I had a chance to participate in the first of three teleconferences between Cartoon Network's Fusion Fall team and the press corps. Developers laid out three specific areas for reporters including a general overview, a look at the Unity engine and how Fusion Fall plans to ensure player safety while online.
Attending the conference from the Fusion Fall development team were Chris Waldron, Executive Producer, Sam Lewis, Lead Designer, Matt Schwartz, Content Designer, Rob Knopf, Technical Director, Kendall Frank, Services Director, Richard Weil, Community Director, and Melissa Walker, GM.
From Crisp Thinking (chat software developers), Meryl Shaw and Tommy McClung, General Manager.
OVERVIEW
Chris Waldron wanted to be sure that we were impressed with the fact that Fusion Fall is a kid's world and a place for kids. While Fusion Fall is designed with kids in mind, it is decidedly 'family friendly' and offers parents a unique opportunity to play together with their kids.
Waldron continued by saying that "...Fusion Fall nixes boredom and inappropriateness" and gives kids a safe environment to play (more on that later).
Fusion Fall has been in development for about two and a half years and will feature all of the Cartoon Network characters in one universe. That's right: the Powerpuff Girls, Ben10 and the rest will be hanging around Fusion Fall. Characters will look slightly different, a bit older, than their TV counterparts but the characters will be instantly recognizable. They will sound right too since Fusion Fall, with a very few exceptions, has employed the original voice actors to do the voice work in Fusion Fall. Yep, that means Mark Hamill voicing Stinky Beard from "Kid Next Door".
Fusion Fall is an alien invasion story and represents the Cartoon Network brand. Fusion Fall embodies magic, science fiction, and the "proverbial imagination stuff" according to developers. There are techno-centered areas, suburbs and wilderness areas to explore. The Fusion Fall world is threatened by a giant planet consuming thing that spits out monsters to "goo-ify" the world.
Players will instantly feel at home in Fusion Fall due to the combination of MMORPG style play and that of console games. Character development, world exploration, active combat, jumping, pogo platforms, etc. will appeal to fans of both genres.
Players will have quests to complete, races to run and will have opportunities to interact with the Cartoon Network characters they love. The overall goal is to collect "fusion matter" in order to create pint-sized versions of Cartoon Network characters called nanos which grant different attacks, powers and abilities. Beating level bosses also rewards players with nanos and allows access to higher levels with better gear, tougher monsters, etc.
Waldron specifically mentioned that Fusion Fall will keep its sense of humor. Got a hankering for giant turkey legs? Check. Pie shooters? Check. Gumball bazookas? Check. Rainbow monkey hat? You betcha.
With the focus on fun, Fusion Fall is simple to understand. The UI has a health bar and there are only four statistics to watch. The game doesn't punish players for failing a mission or battle. There is no "death penalty". Characters are knocked out and then respawned. There is nothing lost but time. No money, no health, no experience are lost. In short, there is no punishment for making a mistake. Damn if that isn't refreshing!
Getting away from the grind is another big component of Fusion Fall. The game is designed to be played in half hour chunks. In fact, after a couple hours of gaming, the rewards degenerate. The goal is to encourage shorter play times and longer spaces between sessions. After all, developers said, there is a big real world outside to be explored as well as the in-game world. To paraphrase Waldron, "Fusion Fall is aiming to be the sitcom of the MMO industry."
Developers fully intend to add more content reflecting Cartoon Network, probably on a semi-annual basis. Whether or not the game's content will be reflected in the shows remains a mystery but we were assured that "life is full of surprises".
At this point, no one knows whether or not Fusion Fall will use a subscription or micro-transaction model but developers wanted us to know that there will be an extensive free-to-play area.
