On
a frigid Saturday morning at
PAX East 2010 in Boston this weekend,
Team Hammer made its way to the Sheraton Hotel for what ended up being
one of the standout presentations from the three day event. Removed
from the noise and controlled chaos of the main exhibition space for
the show, we met up with members of the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/177">Fallen
Earth
team to take a
look at what I believe could have a significant impact on the way we
interact with MMOGs moving forward, not to mention inspire a mountain
of envy among their peers.
Innovative, impressive,
ingenious; whichever "I"
word you use to describe it, all I know is that I want it and soon just
about every MMOG player with access to a smart phone is going to want
it too. I'm talking, of course, about the Fallen
Earth iPhone
App which will no doubt usher in a new era for the industry in terms
of the options it will provide for interacting with and even advancing
our characters in
meaningful ways, all while on the go. The ability to queue up new
crafting recipes, play the in-game market, chat with other players and
even send and receive in-game mail (including attached items or chips)
are all par for the course with this
new app, and that's just scratching the surface of what
players will be able to do once it's made available in Q2 of
this year.
Associate Project Manager Dave
Haydysch spent some time with Ten Ton
Hammer to walk us through the app's extensive list of
features which includes:
-
Craft
Items: View available
recipes, queue up new recipes and check progress of those currently
active. -
Visit
the Auction House:
Buy, sell and browse items with full access to the Auction House. -
Check
Your In-Game Mailbox:
Send and receive in-game mail, items and/or chips to and from other
players. -
View
Online Friends: View
clan mates or friends lists to see who is online and socialize with
other players. -
Chat
with Other Online
Players: Chat with several
different channels, such as Help, Clan and
Region. -
Examine
Characters and
Stats: Switch between characters
and view your currently equipped gear,
stats, pack and weapons. -
Access
the World Map: Open a
full overview map of each of the three Sectors.
The app will also be available
on more than just the iPhone, so whichever flavor of smart phone you
prefer - including the Blackberry, Droid and more - you'll be able to
access each of the things listed above through the new app.
The interaction between elements is also incredibly cool. For example,
if you want to queue up a new crafting recipe the interface will show
you how many of each component you currently have in your inventory and
even allow you to purchase the ones you're missing from the in-game
auction house. Any items you've created can also be collected and added
to your pack, and from there mailed to other players or placed on the
market should you so desire.
As the saying goes, the proof
is in the virtual pudding and Dave was
eager to show us the Fallen
Earth app in action, so be sure
to check out
the video below to see how it all works.
[video]http://video.tentonhammer.com/FallenEarth/PAX2010_FallenEarthApp.flv[/video]
Continue
reading for a close up look
at each of the Fallen Earth
app's features on the next page!
The
Fallen Earth iPhone Application
launching the app, players can log in using the same credentials as
their normal Fallen Earth account. From there you can select which
function you want to access and each current character on the account.
logged in, players can see the current items in their pack, and even
bring up the full details for each item.
stats screens will show you both an overview and details on each of
your character's stats.
Gear screen will show you all of your character's equipped items using
in-game assets, and lets you bring up the details on each individual
item.
to the Gear screen, the Weapons screen will display the same type of
in-game UI and allow you to check out the details for each item.
can view and sort recipe lists and even queue up or collect
crafted items which will show up in their character's pack.
sort, create or collect auctions bringing the ability to play the
market to a whole new level.
can view friends and clan lists, and even chat with them in-game.
other in-game characters is also an option, complete with the ability
to attach or collect items or chips.
can also pull up the same Sector maps you'd see in-game.
but certainly not least, the Fallen Earth app features a help section
which provides a quick means of learning how it all works.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Fallen Earth Game Page.
