**Project Entropia Announced
Another massively multiplayer game is in the works.
March 10, 2000 - MINDARK is following the recent trend in MMORPG developers and setting the story in humankinds' future and not the age of swords and sorcery. They are taking a different approach from games like Everquest in what seems quite a few ways in this venture. The game is called Project Entropia and is a futuristic 3D rpg where humans are fighting to colonize an alien world.
The story goes something like this: Because of our great intelligence and overwhelming sense that everything in the universe should be populated by us, humans have started to colonize the galaxy 1000 years in the future and have found a suitable planet that they have decided to call Calypso.
A probe containing machines to terraform the world have been sent ahead of the colonists and have begun to build a city and make the world more habitable for humans. Low and behold humans land on the planet and live out their normal human lives of robbing planets of their natural resources. In a Matrix-like turn of events, the machines decide that they don't like having the control taken away from them and start to revolt against the humans. A huge portion of the population is wiped out before more colonists can be sent and the uprising can be quelled.
One city is left after the destruction called New Haven. That is also where all of the new players will start out to get used to things on Calypso before they venture out into the real world. The resilient little humans are forced to start things over again and begin to colonize the wilderness of Calypso once again. This is about the time that the game will be taking place. Some outposts have been set up but things aren't quite as peachy as they could have been.
First off, spawned by the fallout of the war with the machines, are emerging from the ashes of the old cities. It isn't exactly sure whether they are all bent on the destruction of humans but some of them are sure to have grudges. They aren't the only problem though, those pesky robots weren't quite all destroyed. Some escaped and starting rebuilding on a mining colony. Now they are coming back and dropping their friends off to kill the humans. Add all of this up with trying to fend off the native wildlife that doesn't like being encroached upon and you've got a rather dangerous little world.
So there you are, dropped on the planet to help with the colonization efforts. Now is the time that you get to create your character. One of the first questions on most people's minds at this point is if there will be classes and races. Well the answer is no. At least not to start out. All characters will be created with the same skill sets. There will be over 50 different skill sets that can be tweaked as you go up in experience. It looks as though some will be able to be specialized in, which will turn your character towards a "class." You'll be happy to know that you will be able to customize the looks of your character from the normal to the rather bizarre.
The magic system will be quite a bit different than that of other games as well. Magic won't be based on the primary characteristics of your character, but on how much you train your mind. Therefore, everybody has the potential for some kind of psychic abilities. Those abilities will not be necessary for survival on the planet however.
The combat system looks to be trying a hybrid of existing ideas. They are developing a system where skill ability, character attributes and the standard of the weapons have a significant impact on how you prove yourself in combat. The combat system is also made so the player's own abilities, such as reaction time and tactical thinking, play a great importance for successful fighting. It won't be static, were you sit and wait for the fight to be over. Instead you'll have to be very observant in order to stand a chance in a fight.
All in all this game looks like another fairly exciting idea. Lets hope that MINDARK and NetImmerse, an independent 3D rendering engine from Numerical Design hired to handle Project Entropia's game world, can get the job done in style. You can find the complete history of Calypso and some more hinkfo the game from the official website. Otherwise, be sure to keep a lookout for more information on the game as we get our hands on it.
-- IGN Staff **
