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#Post#: 2585--------------------------------------------------
Piecing together the details of LEGO Minifigures Online with the
Funcom team
DIR By: MsRowdyRedhead
Date: October 22, 2013, 3:46 am
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Piecing together the details of LEGO Minifigures Online with the
Funcom team
by Karen Bryan on Oct 21st 2013 1:00PM
HTML http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2013/10/lego-minifigures-online.jpg
Brick by virtual brick, the team at Funcom has been busy
building the upcoming LEGO Minifigures Online. It's been a quiet
fall after the big reveal in August at Gamescom, but that
doesn't mean the game isn't making progress. Executive Producer
Lawrence Poe and Lead Designer Oscar López Lacalle have lots of
details to share about the game, and they took the time to
answer some questions here at Massively. Read on for a glimpse
of the world, the LEGO minifigures themselves, and how this game
will appeal to gamers of all ages.
Massively: Funcom had a rough year with downsizing and a team
merge that affected all three of its extant MMOs. What made
Funcom think now was the right time to tackle a new MMO? What
will the impact be on the other MMOs in Funcom's stable?
Lawrence Poe: We announced and began preproduction on LEGO
Minifigures Online prior to the launch of The Secret World. The
team needs were outlined before the downsizing took place and
were factored into those decisions. The other MMOs are being
supported and updated by our talented Live Team in our North
Carolina studio, while LEGO Minifigures Online is being
developed in the Oslo studio. The biggest impact the projects
have on each other is that we all work from the same tech base,
which we've been building upon and fine-tuning over several
years and has powered all of our MMOs, so any improvements one
team does to the tech can be adopted by the other, which is a
win-win for everybody.
It's impossible to avoid comparisons to the now-defunct LEGO
Universe, which initially sported a subscription fee that was
prohibitive to the family audience. How will this new take on a
LEGO MMO differ from the earlier on in terms of business model
and creative design? On what points is it the same?
Poe: We'll be revealing more about the business model in the
months ahead.
Would you say the game leans more toward the themepark or
sandbox style of play? That is, will players primarily be
fighting LEGO enemies or freestyle-building with blocks?
Oscar López Lacalle​: The game is definitely a themepark,
a place where players can collect cool minifigures and take them
on awesome adventures with their friends.
Since LEGO is all about building, are there ways that players
can piece together LEGOs to make in-game creations and
structures of their own? Can other players access these
creations?
Poe: Our game is based on the LEGO minifigures toy line, which
is all about collecting. Staying true to that, LEGO Minifigures
Online is a game about collecting crazy cool minifigures and
using them to adventure in awesome worlds while righting wrongs
and saving the day. Building will play its part both in
succeeding in the world and in PvP. For instance, in PvP you
will be able to build turrets that can help you defeat your
enemy, while out adventuring you might encounter a river where
you have to construct a bridge to get across.
How do players go about collecting the minifigures?
Poe: Players will be able to collect minifigures in a variety of
ways like completing missions, defeating bosses and minibosses,
earning achievements, and even finding them hidden in chests
throughout the world. Players will be able to select three
minifigures to have "equipped" at any given time and can freely
switch between.
Are there ways to customize the minifigure characters' outfits,
hair, and faces?
Poe: The minifigures themselves are quite iconic and packed with
personality! Players are collecting the minifigures from the toy
series and using them in their adventures as opposed to creating
their own unique characters. Because we want to preserve the
iconic nature and personalities of the minifigures from the toy
line, we have decided not to allow players to alter the
appearance of the minifigures they collect. However, players
will be able to customize certain statistics and RPG
characteristics of their minifigures.
Can you talk about some of the special abilities that the
minifigures have? How do they work?
Poe: Each minifigure will have two unique abilities: a basic
attack and a special attack. Don't get too hung up on that word
basic, though. Many of the minifigures will have a basic attack
that synergizes with either their own special attack or another
minifigure's. For example, the Fairy fires a magical star with
her basic attack. Her special attack summons three sprites that
circle around her. The sprites can do two things: They can
absorb incoming hits, but they also serve as charges to power up
the basic attack, turning it from a direct single projectile
into a cone-based attack with three projectiles that can deal
very high damage at close range or provide nice area damage from
longer range. The fact that you have access to several
minifigures at any given time also means you have access to a
wide range of abilities, and part of the strategy is figuring
out which minifigures and abilities to use in different
encounters.
HTML http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2013/10/legominifiguresonline1.jpg
Is there a progression path for the minifigure characters (like
leveling, skill trees, etc.)?
Poe: Each minifigure has several levels to progress through.
Leveling a minifigure will make it more powerful and unlock new
properties for its abilities. The DJ's Bass Drop, for example,
starts out as an area-effect snare; upgrade it once and it does
damage in addition to snaring. Upgrade it a second time and it
will transition from a snare to an outright root.
What are some of the themed areas that are in the LEGO world? Is
it an open-world, or are there instanced areas?
Poe: For the most part we have tried to build out the world with
classic LEGO playthemes that both kids and their parents will be
familiar with. A couple of the early themes that players will
encounter are classics such as Pirate World and Medieval World.
We've also got some brand-new themes that we've worked with LEGO
to develop for the game, themes they haven't covered themselves
in the physical LEGO products . The first example of this is the
Mythology World, which we revealed at Gamescom, where players
travel through areas like the underworld and battle mythical
creatures such as harpies and minotaurs. We've got a few other
themes under development, both classic and entirely new. The
game is a mix of open world areas and instances, loosely divided
into outdoor/indoor. The Hub (which is probably not anything
like what you expect; we look forward to revealing it later!)
and the outdoor playfields will be open world where players will
encounter loads of other players. The indoor experiences are
instances that are private for the player and their group of up
to four players.
Lacalle: Most of the playfields are open, using our soft
grouping tech that allows all players to obtain progress in
their quests and activities as long as they are in the vicinity
of the objectives. Players can smash pieces of the environment
into pieces and defeat monsters together. They can also build
things cooperatively, with all involved players contributing to
the speed of the building. Some players will be looking for a
more focused, small group experience. Those players can get
together in teams of up to 4 and go into epic Dungeon
adventures. Dungeons contain more difficult boss encounters and
events that will put their teamwork to the test.
How do the player-vs.-player battles work? Will they be
kid-friendly?
Poe: We will be revealing more about PvP in the months ahead, so
what I would like to do is talk about the philosophies that are
guiding us as we design a player vs. player system for children.
Child-friendliness is paramount, and the first thing we rejected
is that PvP has to mean two teams where everyone is fighting
each other. There's no fighting in basketball or baseball (most
of the time, at least); there are two teams competing against
each other. The team concept is a powerful driver. Teams compete
and everyone wants to be part of a team. More importantly, they
want to feel that they're able to contribute to the success of
the team. So what we've tried to do is create a PvP design that
provides for those who want to fight other players and those who
don't but still allows both types to contribute to the success
of the team.
How did you tackle the issue of making sure the rest of the game
is kid-safe (like chat, social interaction, etc.)?
Poe: We've been focusing on child safety since we started, and
we'll never stop. Child safety is the first and last thing we
take into account for every theme, feature, and system we put
into the game. At a high level we're designing the systems to be
collaborative as opposed to competitive. The only loot you see
is your own. For instance, if you have a mission to destroy
pirate surf boards and someone else on your screen destroys one,
you get credit too. From a social standpoint, we are working
very closely with LEGO and other partners to ensure that we
provide the safest environment possible.
Since it's a game aimed at both kids and adults, are there
mechanics you chose to implement differently than you did in
other Funcom titles?
Poe: Straight away you will notice the controls are greatly
streamlined, limiting the amount of inputs a player is expected
to do in order to be successful in combat. Movement is on the
left mouse button, and so is the basic attack for each
minifigure. This will enable the youngest players to easily run
around in the world and smash things. Switching between
minifigures, improving their abilities, and using the special
attacks and capitalizing on the synergies between the various
minifigures will provide depth for the more advanced players.
If you look at Age of Conan and The Secret World, things can be
quite grim and brutal. In LEGO Minifigures Online we're keeping
things light and humorous. There will be no fatalities here;
things get smashed, and then they can be rebuilt. I think a lot
of people hear Funcom and they think about Age of Conan and The
Secret World and wonder how we can go from mature themed
hardcore games to a more kid friendly game, but c'mon, we're
game developers -- not grown ups!
Lacalle: We understand the need to keep the adults entertained
and challenged intellectually. To achieve this, we are adding
several different layers of depth and complexity to many
elements of the design. At the surface, the mechanics are easy
to grasp and straightforward to use. And they need to be in
order to make sure that the younger audience enjoys the game.
But if you look under the hood, you will see how there are extra
layers of depth there. For example, there are pretty elaborate
synergies between the abilities of different characters . There
are also little details in the handling of abilities in combat
that reward players with better motor skills and a better
understanding of the capabilities of their team of three
minifigures.
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