Ten Ton Hamster

Ten Ton Hamster had the opportunity to get a hold of the very busy Sam Lewis, the Lead Game Designer of Fusion Fall. We wanted to get the scoop on where the game is at in it's development and find out a few interesting things like Nanos, Warping, and player vs. player (pvp). Read below to get all the juicy details!

Interviewer: Padma Fuller – Editor/Site Lead, Ten Ton Hamster
Interviewee: Sam Lewis – Lead Game Designer, Fusion Fall

1. You have talked in the past about the Cartoon Network character interaction. As the game nears launch can you tell us how players will interact with their favorite cartoons?

In the FusionFall universe, players will interact with Cartoon Network characters in three ways: First of all, there are many CN characters in the game as NPC’s that give missions, special tasks and the like. A lot of these are unique to the character’s motivations, such as Eddy (from Ed, Edd N Eddy) giving out missions that are about helping him get money. Secondly, players will collect Nanos throughout the game via special missions. These Nanos are representations of the Cartoon Network characters and grant special powers to the player when used. Thirdly, there’s the Guide system, which I’m not *quite* ready to spill the beans on.

2. For those who don’t know, what is the Nano system and how does it help players?

Nanos are small representations of Cartoon Network characters that players collect in FusionFall through special quests. When used, these Nanos pop up over the character’s shoulder and grant special powers and abilities. Players can have quite a few Nanos, but can only have three equipped at any one time, so planning is important!

3. What type of Player vs. Player content can we expect in the game?

For one thing, there are already races through some of the special areas in the game. They’re really interesting because it’s not necessarily a matter of pure speed, but also planning and skill. It’s also another way that FusionFall’s platforming elements really shine, so I’m excited about that. Direct player-to-player combat is not something that will be in at launch. We really want to be careful with that sort of thing in a kids game, so we’re probably looking at that as a major feature in a future update.

4. Are you still building the game play, or are you simply polishing the game at this point?

Right now it’s purely polish and sharpening the user experience. Things like optimizing the UI, moving NPC’s around to improve how missions flow from one to the other, etc. There is one major technical change to the game that we’ll be talking about soon, as well.

5. What is the character customization going to be like for players? We hear you are having clown hats?

Clown hats are just the tip of the iceberg. We have a ton of cool character customization aspects in the game. Wings, robot-looking gear, lemon helmets.. everything from the fantastic to the futuristic to the just plain silly.

6. Will players have their own houses? If so will they be customizable?

We don’t have plans for player housing at launch, but it’s something we are looking at in a future update.

7. How can players interact with their friends? Will there be a guild system?

We definitely have a friends and grouping system. The nature of the game is such that we wanted to make sure that it would be relatively easy to group up to accomplish objectives and have fun. Currently, we don’t think we’re going to have a complex guild (or “club”) system in the game at launch.

8. What is your transportation system in the game? Will there be mounts, vehicles, or maybe even mini-space ships for players to move around the world in?

You mean besides running? :) Yes, we have several different methods of transportation in the game. There are ways to warp from place to place, as well as “rail” lines that can carry you quite a ways through the world.

9. How much of the game is solo and how much is group play?

Like a lot of MMO’s, you will be able to get through missions a lot faster and easier in a group. That being said, there are very few (if any) roadblocks to playing FusionFall completely solo. We wanted to try to respect both styles of play as much as possible in the game design. Overall, I think we hit the right balance on that.

10. Is there anything you would like to share with the Fans?

I think our fans will find a lot of elements that will tickle their fancies in the game. We have had a lot of fun mixing the characters up, deciding how Dexter would get along with Ben 10, and wondering how Mandy would get along with Numbuh Three. I think the fans will be really pleased.

11. What is your favorite aspect of the game so far?

The world is my favorite part. It’s just so fun discovering new places, getting new Nanos and seeing how Grigon and our art team have re-envisioned the shows. I also like the infected zones, and the platform games that you can do inside those areas.

Interested in hearing what Chris Waldron, the Executive Producer of Fusion Fall had to say about the game? Follow this link to our Exclusive Interview with him

Follow this link to the official Fusion Fall website