Ten Ton Hammer: So
everything is free except the ammunition?



Eddie: Yes. We try to keep things fairly transparent.



Ten Ton Hammer: How much
does ammunition cost? Is it fairly inexpensive?



Eddie: I think it's around $0.50 for 500 shells and $5.00 for 6000
shells.



Ten Ton Hammer: What kind
of weapons are in the game? Is it the pretty typical fair you'd find in
any FPS?

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/13201"
title="From across the room."> src="/image/view/13201/preview"
width="200">

style="font-style: italic;">All of your typical
FPS weapons - pistol, rifle and shotgun - will all be in the game.

Eddie: We have your basic weapons - pistols, rifles, and shotguns - but
we also have a few different ones. We have other weapons on top of that
that are a bit different, but they're mostly the same. However, where
Kwari does
differ is that our weapons have unique functions that will
benefit you in the game. But these powers are within a limited band,
because this is a game that revolves around money. You can't have these
"wide-spread" type weapons, because you're dealing with money.



When you're playing Kwari,
you'll quickly find that the psychology is
very different from any other FPS. You can use the skills you learn
from Counterstirke
and Unreal,
but you can't play the same way. Players
adapt very quickly to the differences in play.



Ten Ton Hammer: Will
players be able to make a persistent avatar to play with?



Eddie: No, but I'll explain the reasons why it's not a mechanic we
include.



Kwari has
male and female game characters, and these are generated from
constituent parts. It's a mechanic that was headed up by Paul Steed,
who I believe worked on Quake
2 and
Quake 3: Arena. Why we do this is
for total in-game anonymity. There's no chat in our game, and we change
players after every single map. We do everything we can to stop players
from identifying each other in the game. We don't mind announcing what
players do outside of each game match, but inside we want to keep the
opponents unaware of who they're playing against. That way they can't
target particular people to take money from. We have to be responsible
with players' money. We already know of one person dying from a
disagreement concerning virtual property, and we don't want that to
happen in our game. You'll be playing against human opposition, but we
hope that players really feel like they're playing against the game.



We've also had people ask us about team play. Team play is quite
popular, but we've found that where money is concerned players don't
like to share it.If you look at a bunch of guys that go into a Vegas
casino, they'd rather lose all their money individually than pool their
money and have to split it at the end. The good players simply don't
want to have to carry a lesser player; it's not a good social
atmosphere. Kwari
isn't just a game, because there ARE real world
consequences.



Ten Ton Hammer: Is there
any sort of social function built into style="font-style: italic;">Kwari?
style="font-weight: bold;">


Eddie: Of course. We've already created our own game forum and we have
no problem what-so-ever with telling players what other players have
won. But we want to keep players anonymous when they're playing.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/13200"
title="Follow that butt!"> src="/image/view/13200/preview"
width="200">

style="font-style: italic;">The plan is to
launch Kwari before
Christmas in the U.K. and the U.S. shortly thereafter.

Aside from our security models, we also have to worry about particular
types of legislation that's going on, like what's going on with money
laundering and that sort of thing. We're constantly checking to make
sure that two players aren't simply shooting each other - or not
shooting each other - for different reasons. We're always monitoring
player behaviors to watch out for this sort of thing.



Ten Ton Hammer: When are
you going to begin publicly testing Kwari? When's the official launch?



Eddie: We're in "family and friends" testing right now. We're working
with relatively small numbers of people. Within one month, we're
starting our closed beta and by November we should be in our public
beta. If all goes according to plan, we'll launch before Christmas.



Ten Ton Hammer: But the
U.S. release won't be at the same time, right?
style="font-weight: bold;">


Eddie: Yes, but it won't be far behind. We're just waiting for our
lawyers. We need a bit more research on the states, which ones are
definites and which are no-gos, but the U.S. government is also trying
to pass a new bill through the legislature called the "skill-gaming
protection act" that would fit our game perfectly. But even without
that bill, most states seem to be okay with style="font-style: italic;">Kwari.



Ten Ton Hammer: Finally,
will there be a U.S. beta?



Eddie: I believe there only going to be a European beta. (Editor's
Note: We checked with
the rest of the Kwari
team and they stated that there is no U.S.
beta currently planned.)



With that, we'd like to
thank Eddie
for taking the time to talk with us and really go over what Kwari's all
about. Please check back with Ten Ton Hammer in the future as we
continue to cover this ground-breaking game!