Features

At GDC 08, we met with SOE Seattle Senior Designer Kevin O'Hara to get his thoughts on their upcoming MMOFPS The Agency. The spy themed MMO will be on both the PC and Playstation 3 and we got his perspective on where its headed.

O'Hara is part of a team of roughly 70 people at the SOE Seattle office, a group whose core has a lot of experience, if not a lot of games on the market. In early 2004, this was the same core group that was let go by Microsoft when the axe fell on the Norse mythology-based MMO Mythica. The cancellation was a harsh reality, but after some time in the wilderness of independent development, they reemerged as a team under the SOE banner and got to work on The Agency.

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At the Game Developers Conference, WarCry had the chance to sit down and talk with SOE CEO John Smedley. The conversation revolved around their deal with Vivox and what it could do to the way gamers VOIP, as well as some tidbits on business models, DC Universe and The Agency.

SOE's software will support huge numbers of people in a single channel and frills like telephone call-in support (which likely won't incur long distance thanks to a network of local call-in numbers), and voice fonts. It will not require a fee, nor any bulky hosting software and it will be high quality Vivox sound.

SOE has not worked out all the details that hardcore VOIP gamers will need to know, but if they keep on their current path, this has the potential to be an extremely user friendly, multi-game application that could put a serious dent in Ventrilo's business. The win for SOE is that every user will be a single click away from any of SOE's many games, which reduces the barrier to entry and potentially makes them more money.

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At CES, we had the chance to sit down and see The Agency and find out what SOE Seattle has been at work on all these months. We came back with fresh screenshots and an in-depth preview of some new nuggets of information.

"Spies don't click to craft," Wilson said with a grin, but quite seriously. At a basic level, it is operatives that do that for the player, and the results are in real-time. So for example, if a player wants a new car, they can build it for a monetary and time cost. Say that car takes a week to create. Well, in this form of offline advancement, a player can login on a Saturday and tell his operative to build him that fancy new car. Next Saturday, that same person has a car.

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SOE Seattle once again showed off The Agency during E3. There was not a lot new - the demo was identical - but with some impressive spying skills of our won, we ferreted out a few nuggets of information. Read on for the goods:

"You are what you wear," is their design mantra. That means if you put on a heavy armor, you're going to blow the hell out of something. If you put on a push-up bra and high heels, you're likely at a cocktail party in disguise.

The game relies heavily on instancing, but hopes to make it something that is as unobtrusive as possible. He explained what they're calling "seamless instancing". He gave us this example: A player is in a public space, let's say a bar. There are dozens of players and NPCs dancing up a storm, but in the corner is a quest NPC. He talks to that NPC and is told of a big bad guy hanging out backstage and warned that if anyone sees them talking, trouble could follow. At this point, the quest NPC's indicator turns red and the players know that if they talk to them again, they're going to go into an encounter. That gives them time to load their weapons and get their friends together. Once ready, they bug the guy again and boom, they're in an instance. The real players in the club fade away and the bad guy comes crashing through the back door. Without loading screens, a social situation turned deadly, just like they do in the movies.

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Recently, we got a sneak peek at The Agency and today, with SOE's announcement, we bring you our first look at the upcoming spy MMO/FPS. Developed at the new SOE Seattle studio for both the Playstation 3 and PC, The Agency represents SOE's attempt to bring MMORPGs into the mainstream and move away from an endless stream of swords and sorcery fantasy games. Earlier today, along with their press release, they put out an introductory trailer, some screenshots and some concept art for you to enjoy.

Now onto our preview!

In the mission we saw, the players went into an instance to meet someone who had some information for them. As they entered the instance, their target - briefcase in hand - stood on a street corner outside a trendy Prague nightclub. Seems too easy? It is. In true spy fashion, the operative was eliminated just before the players got there and the briefcase taken.

The players then ran in pursuit, only to met by gunmen who jumped out from behind barrels, popped their head out of windows and materialized seemingly out of nowhere organically. Slowly, the team made its way through the cramped European alleys and towards their ultimate goal.

Intrigued? Read more after the click.