Fallen Earth: "Content Complete" Milestone Reached

Post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth crossed a major milestone this week, announcing the "Content Complete" status after a rigorous nine months of development and an ongoing closed Alpha testing. This announcement brings the ambitious project closer to the open Beta phase and the eventual release sometimes next year. Full press release and key features below:

Fallen Earth is a massively multiplayer online game mixing first-person shooter style action with traditional role-playing game design. Set near the Grand Canyon in 2156 after a deadly plague wiped out most of humanity, the game features six factions, a classless advancement system, and a unique crafting feature in which players can make 95 percent of game items. With approximately 70 towns, real-time settings and interesting character modifications-woven together in a post-Apocalyptic plot-Fallen Earth provides ultimate player versus player and player versus environment experiences.

"When we set our milestones and started the scrum method nine months ago, we knew we had some incredibly high goals for the team to achieve," said Colin Dwan, Fallen Earth project manager. "Since then we have run like a well-oiled machine and actually surpassed those original goals. The team has worked tirelessly to not only deliver an immense volume of material, but new and innovative play experiences. Quality has not been sacrificed on our path to completion. I can't wait to get more people in the world to enjoy this awesome experience."

Achieving a new level of 3D realism through the use of hi-poly normal mapped objects, the Fallen Earth art department has created hundreds of jackets, pants, belts, gloves, and pads for players of all skill levels. Characters have more than a dozen customizable character slots, including head, mouth, eye, and ear slots, giving players unlimited options for character development. New and improved ranged and melee weapons add diverse combat options, including a bladed hockey stick, a parking meter, a Tesla hammer (a Taser on a hammer) and even a baker's rolling pin. A wide range of gear-gas masks, hazmat suits, goggles and specialized body armor-complete the player experience.

The Fallen Earth development team has completed thousands of new character customization options, approximately 70 towns and more than 5,000 missions-many of which are faction-oriented and relate directly to the game's story line. Starter towns acclimate players to post-tutorial game play and provide basic needed supplies. Fifteen towns are designed as player-conquerable, with areas of abandoned towers and rubble specifically designed for the PvP enthusiast.

The Fallen Earth team developed more than 50,000 lines of dialogue including information on missions, item descriptions, conversation options, and NPC interactions. More than 1,300 new and motion-captured animations and emotes allow players to communicate more easily and add visual excitement to the game.

Players are forced to be resourceful, scavenging and trading with other players to create vehicles, weapons and other tools using several thousand crafting recipes. Boasting a database of approximately 6,000 items, players can combine materials and work with others to make 95 percent of game items. Although most vehicles are designed solely for transportation, they give players an added combat advantage, as weapons can be mounted or fired from the vehicle.

Key Features

Combination first person shooter style action with traditional role playing game mechanics

Classless advancement system

Thousands of crafting recipes for 95 percent of game items

Real-time settings

More than a dozen customizable character slots including head, mouth, eye and ear slots

Hundreds of jackets, pants, belts, gloves and pads for players of all skill levels, yielding thousands of new character customization options

New and improved range and melee weapons including bladed hockey stick, a parking meter, a Tesla hammer (a Taser on a hammer) and a baker's rolling pin

Wide range of gear, including gas masks, hazmat suits, goggles and specialized body armor

Approximately 70 towns including starter towns, player-conquerable towns, faction and barter towns

More than 5,000 missions available, many of which are faction-oriented

Three sectors of game play: The Plateau (red desert sands and barren wastelands); Northfields (grassy wheat fields); and Kaibab Forest (trees and scrubby foliage)

More than 50,000 lines of dialogue including information on missions, item descriptions, conversation options and NPC interactions

More than 1,300 new and motion-captured animations and emotes

Database of more than 6,000 items

More than 1,000 square kilometers of explorable territory

Fallen Earth is currently in Alpha testing. The Beta test date has not been released.

For more information, check the official site and forums here.

via Worthplaying.com

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Here's the other version of the announcement, for completion's sake:

FALLEN EARTH HITS CONTENT COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT GOAL

After a nine-month schedule of intensive content development, we are happy to announce that we have reached the development landmark "content complete." The Fallen Earth team has met two critical development milestones on time within the past six months, including "feature complete" in June.

Some of the major accomplishments signaled by content complete include:

-New level of 3D realism through use of hi-poly normal mapped objects
-Hundreds of jackets, pants, belts, gloves and pads for players of all skill levels, yielding thousands of new character customization options
-More than a dozen customizable character slots including head, mouth, eye and ear slots
-New and improved range and melee weapons including bladed hockey stick, a parking meter, a Tesla hammer (a Taser on a hammer) and a baker's rolling pin!
-Wide range of gear, including gas masks, hazmat suits, goggles and specialized body armor
-Approximately 70 towns including starter towns for beginner players, player-conquerable towns for PvP enthusiasts, and faction and barter towns for more advanced missions and character development (although this differs from our original estimate, we've honed in to make the best possible player experience)
-More than 5,000 missions available
-Three sectors of game play to be included in the game release: The Plateau (red desert sands and barren wastelands); Northfields (grassy wheat fields); and Kaibab Forest (trees and scrubby foliage)
-More than 50,000 lines of dialogue including information on missions, item descriptions, conversation options and NPC interactions
-More than 1,300 new and motion-captured animations and emotes
-Several thousand crafting recipes
-Database of more than 6,000 items
-Players combine materials and work with others to craft 95 percent of game items
-Players can mount and fire weapons from within different types of vehicles
-More than 1,000 square kilometers of explorable territory (this territory reflects game play for sectors 1-3 and will be available upon launch, while the remaining approximate 6,000 square kilometers will be made available in later expansions

Remaining months will be spent polishing content and focusing on the Alpha test phase to eliminate any bugs and respond to player feedback. For more information on the game, news updates or community information, visit www.fallenearth.com.

Woot! One more step to completion!