So what were your design goals within this setting?

LH: One of the major design differences is its first person-based combat system, which gives it a very different feel from other MMOs. We also have a classless advancement system, so players have more flexibility to choose how they want to play instead of being limited to a class-specific progression. To boot we have a very in-depth crafting system that lets players scavenge for parts and make 95 percent of game items. There’s also a lot of content, allowing players to go through the game several times without experiencing the same content.

What are the social aspects the title is going to offer?

LH: Players can accept missions from factions, and by doing so can gain rank within that faction. We also allow clans in the game, and many of the instances are designed for players to work together to achieve a common goal. Many of the towns are also player-conquerable, which encourages a team mentality. We also have different chat options in game, a mail system and an auction system.

How are these in-game factions going to work?

LH: The faction system allows players a lot of freedom in deciding how they want to play. Rather than being forced to pick a faction at the beginning of the game, players accept missions from different factions, giving them positive standing with one faction (and negative standing with that faction’s enemy). Players can choose to accept a combination of ideals instead of being locked into one group. If players decide they don’t like the faction they’ve joined up with, they can work their way around the wheel to change factions. We have six factions: Enforcers, Techs, Travelers, Children of the Apocalypse, Vistas and Lightbearers.

How has Alpha testing progressed?

LH: Alpha testing allowed players to work through our towns and features, providing us with valuable feedback. We realize that the alpha and beta processes can reveal a lot of issues. While we still have a lot of polish and tweaks, we feel that Fallen Earth is solid.

As we’ve moved forward we’ve switched from a more waterfall approach to a scrum methodology and use short sprints to track our progress as we gain feedback and make changes based on tester suggestions.

We also have play tests in which all departments participate to get a more well-rounded view of the product from a development standpoint. Honing in on the successes of the game forces us to cut out parts that aren’t working, tweak parts that could be better and make the most of things that are working well.

Also, we’ve had to make some cuts since things just proved to be more work than we expected. For example, we have a few towns in the first sector that we “decommissioned” by turning off all the NPCs in them and filling them with raiders since we didn’t have time to devote to polishing them, but after the release, we hope to run some events where those towns are retaken and returned to their original states.

Do you plan on an open beta?

LH: We have planned for an open beta and believe that it will provide the opportunity to do some last stress tests and tweaks, and see how the players react to the game when they are able to play through it as a whole.

When do you expect to launch officially?

LH: We have not announced a launch date officially yet, but expect it to be during Q2 2009. The game has been in development for a while, and we prefer to ship when we feel the product is ready. We want the game to be the best that it can be at release.

Anything else?

LH: How about a top ten things that set Fallen Earth apart from other MMOs?

1. Grave robbing is a perfectly acceptable form of resource harvesting
2. We have Bigfoot
3. And Chupacabra!
4. You can run around with an assault rifle while wearing samurai armor
5. Dual wielding garden trowels is a viable weapon choice
6. Monkeytown
7. You can craft and wear 3D glasses, monocles and top hats
8. You can talk to "Ballsy Frank"
9. OMG WAFFLZ! [? – Ed.]
10. Hide Pants: Something you wear, not something you do.