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Carbine Studios Teases Soon-To-Be-Announced MMO
We heard a couple of weeks ago that Carbine Studios will be announcing its new MMO at Gamescom, but this developer must be eager to start talking. They've continued dropping some major hints about the nature of this new title.
Firstly and most significantly, I received the image above, which heavily suggests a sci-fi leaning to the game, in my e-mail inbox. As it turns out, that image comes from a blog post by Carbine Studios art director Matt Mocarski that clarifies that the game is a "future fantasy." He also reveals some of the films and comics that inspired the art direction:
"We knew we were a future fantasy game - players will see both fantasy and sci-fi elements in our world and our gameplay. We also knew we'd need to be able to tell a huge variety of stories, everything from intense drama to mind-blowing action to humorous tales. There were a few influences that we really focused on. Animated films such as Atlantis, The Secret of Nimh, and Princess Mononoke really nailed the overall look of the style. We know that our game was for adults so we studied shows like Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist to see how they balanced a unique visual style with stories that had both humor and drama. Lastly we looked at comics such as Hellboy, Battle Chasers, and Tank Girl to influence our balance of technology and fantasy."
Mocarski goes on to explain how the team reset its art style a couple of times throughout the process, discovering that the original vision didn't work well in 3D and was too similar to other games. They eventually landed on a style heavily influenced by traditional animation and going for a "magical" feeling. Mocarski chooses the word "hand-crafted" to describe it, noting that the team paints all of its textures from scratch.
I still don't exactly what to expect from this Carbine MMO, but I'm certainly becoming more intrigued by the day. I'll be checking the new title out in Germany next week, so stay tuned!
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