PvE fans should not worry about lack of PvE content. We are developing an MMOPRG and will cover all good aspects of such game.
There will be lots of PvE in Earthrise. Battle skill advancement will not be possible without PvE, monsters and NPC enemies will drop crafting components and other items, quests will also require PvE involvement. There will be numerous PvE opponents, inhabitants of Enterra island such as mutated animals, robots and aggressive human factions.

Q: Why was the name guilds was chosen as a player group name for this game? It just doesnt seem to fit for one and is overused anyway.


A: I asked about this, actually, and here's what I was told:
In game terms, Guild was probably first used to describe a large, organized group of players working together to support each other and achieve grandeur goals beyond the specific challenges set by the game - goals, that could possibly transcend beyond one game and span multiple games and the genre as a whole. We decided to use a term that most MMORPG players are familiar with. It is also interesting how the term "Guild" transcends from real life to game play term. A "guild" is an association of craftspeople in a particular trade. In a game like Earthrise, where crafting is paramount and the whole game economy is player-run, even warmonger guilds will find themselves governed by crafters. Crafter guilds will also have great influence because crafters will be able to support each other. Generally we expect Guilds to have predominantly economic role and the term fits them perfectly. Let us know if the term guild is not appropriate for the game setting, so we can think of an alternative name.

Q: I read that the graphic req would be:
Minimum Requirements: 2 GHz CPU, 1024 MB RAM and 256 MB VRAM video card supporting shader model v3.0
Isnt that pretty low in 1 or 2 years? I mean, that means that the graphics wont be the best.. right?



A: I think it's safe to say that the system requirements are still being decided on.

Q: Are you all working on lore and the game world together or do you have dedicated writers?

A: Back in 2005, Earthrise was born out of a fleeting idea, an image of a futuristic future that we wanted to turn into reality; a living, breathing world populated by the bold heirs of the human society after its demise in the war-bred apocalypse, fighting for reconquering what was lost to the now aggressive, violent nature. With time, the picture grew bigger and bigger, and new characters, new factions, new powers struggling for domination claimed their place in it. As the image unfolded and grew multicolored and complex, it came clear to us that the only genre that could possibly live up to the setting’s potential was MMORPG. Yet, it was a daunting proposition – there is no other game genre that requires such incredible amount of creative work and one of the aspects that often goes unnoticed is how much lore has to be written down and used to give life to an MMO game.

Masthead Studios has dedicated writers who are always busy with fleshing out the game setting, the story and its characters that players will meet and experience during the game. Those of our fans who have some experience with the scope of detail and content usually provided by the MMORPGs, can imagine the amount of work that goes through these people – every month they produce hundreds and hundreds of pages full of referenced descriptions, maps, detailed character write ups and anything that could assist both the creative and the design teams. It is a massive amount of information and it keeps growing as work on the game progresses – needless to say, only part of it will find its place in the game, as the rest serves as a foundation for expanding the world after the game launch.  It is a job that requires true, dependable workaholics with neverending stream of imagination fueled in their work but at Masthead Studios we are happy we have found just the right people for the job. In the same time, all the team is involved in creating the setting. Game designers are always making sure that every detail in the story or annotation note on the map soon to become either a small town or a place of interest, serves the gameplay and will be taken into account when creating a new quest, character or gameplay mechanics. Our team often gathers to discuss important decisions in order to make sure that everyone is happy with the game we work on and equally motivated to keep the great work onward. Still, every decision and every idea born in these meetings goes back to our writers and adds up to the mountain of lore.

While Earthrise is advertised as a sandbox MMORPG, it will feature a rich storyline, gradually revealed to the players through quests. Unlike other traditional MMOs, Earthrise will feature several different quest systems each with its own specific purpose in the game world. The main storyline is only one of them and will use sequential quest arcs instead of many small, unrelated quests. The remaining quest system are still in development and we will reveal them in the future.

You will find brand new sound effects that have never heard and used in other games. It concerns all sound effects in the game. In other words, the sound effects in Earthrise are designed and recorded exclusively for the game. Regarding the 5.1 Surround, it is a question of programming and I believe that we will make a nice surprise in this direction.

We would like to note that Masthead Studios uses its own engine. The screenshots you see are from its pre-alpha version. We plan to make it look even better in the future.

Looting will be realistic. Mutants and animals that don't have technology on them will drop resources for some crafting skills.

The environment in Earthrise will feature both post-apocalyptic settings and "shiny" areas. Sal Vitas for example is a modern megapolis while "The Old Town" has a typical post-appocaliptic setting.

Earthrise will feature full looting as the worst possible scenario for a player who has been killed by another player opponent. There will be available equipment protection, but its viability will vary based on character's affiliation and actions in the game. To put it bluntly, characters who play "against the system" should learn to protect their gear well. Still, losing all your equipment will not have the same devastating effect as dropping all your Epics in [place favourite MMO here].