• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Secret World - Information And Update Thread [New dev diary]

D

derFeef

Member
divkE.png


Update - 6th December:
New location reveal video: The Scorched Desert

Update - 28th November:
Funcom Unveil The Secret World: Part Two (Interview with [partly] Ragnar and colleagues)

Update - 25th November:
PC Gamer massive coverage with interviews and much more.

Update - 23rd November:
Funcom Unveil The Secret World: Part One (Interview with Ragnar and colleagues)

Update - 21st November:
Gamespot video preview with interview and footage.
RPS Preview
MMORPG Preview

New Dev Diary:
Developer Diary - The Secret War

Updates during PAX 2011:

Updates during Gamescom 2011:

Update: The Secret War
The Secret War trailer details the PVP battles and secret societies a bit closer.

There is a facebook game (doh) coming also - the top member (I guess "who has the most fruends") of a society is presented with a guaranteed beta spot.
More info here: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/...Secret-War-Guaranteed-Beta-Access.html/page/1


What is The Secret World:

The Secret World is a massively multiplayer online world with a unique modern-day setting and unparalleled freedom of character progression.

Imagine if every myth, conspiracy theory and urban legend was true. Imagine a world where you can become anything you want to be, without restrictions such as classes or levels.
This is the premise for The Secret World, Funcom’s upcoming massively multiplayer online game set in the modern-day real world.
Click to expand...

Developer: Funcom
Creative Director & Producer: Ragnar Tornquist
Publisher: EA

More infos about the features.

Secret Societies:

As a new initiate of The Secret World, you must choose your allegiance with care, for your choice will forever decide the future of humankind.

In a world where every conspiracy theory, every myth, fable and urban legend is true, three ancient societies pull the strings and decide our fate.
Forced into alliance by circumstance, they stand united against the rising darkness, but remain divided in pursuit of power.
Click to expand...




What faction do you belong? Take the intiation test.

oVn5s.jpg
Af9GP.jpg

T7iFe.jpg
VZ6Mt.jpg

More at mmorpg

Latest Videos:

Developer Diary - World and Setting
Developer Diary - Story and Missions
CGI Trailer #4
Gameplay Demo of The Savage Coast

Bonus Gifs:
Gif 1, Gif 2 , Gif 3, Gif 4, Gif 5

I am going to update the thread as often as possible. The game will also be shown at PAX next week so maybe we are getting more infos there as well.

Update regarding bussiness model:
During today's quarterly financial presentation Funcom presented the initial overview on the planned business model for The Secret World.

At the presentation we revealed that The Secret World will feature a traditional paid subscription model combined with micro-transactions through an in-game store. This information was provided as part of Funcom's financial forecast going forward, and no further details were given due to the fact that we are still working on finalizing the model.

We are very excited about introducing an in-game store already from launch. Being able to integrate the store into the actual design of the game pre-launch gives us opportunities you do not normally get when introducing a store after you have launched a game.

We will be revealing more information about the store at a later date, but what we can say for now is that it will focus mostly on convenience item and character customization items such as clothing - of which The Secret World will offer a ton of variety! As developers we are being very careful in making sure that items purchased through the store does not give players any unfair advantage against those who do not use the in-game store.

Character power in The Secret World will be determined by how well you play the game, not how much money you are willing to put into it. Funcom already has considerable experience with in-game stores such as these and we have previously implemented these systems without damaging game balance in our other games, and as such we are confident the same will be true for The Secret World.

We look forward to revealing more about the in-game store as we progress towards launch!
Click to expand...
 
E

ezekial45

Banned
I'm wondering if they decided on a subscription service or not. At the EA Summer Games event, they said they were debating whether to have a pay to play service, go f2p, or the Guild Wars route and just charge for the game itself.
 
D

derFeef

Member
ezekial45 said:
I'm wondering if they decided on a subscription service or not. At the EA Summer Games event, they said they were debating whether to have a pay to play service, go f2p, or the Guild Wars route and just charge for the game itself.
Click to expand...
I am guessing normal subscription model, but I may be totally wrong.
 
J

JoeBoy101

Member
Its a pity the gameplay seems fairly mundane when the concept and designs, especially for the monsters, is fantastic (love the Crow Demon). Rooting for this one, but I worry it won't takeoff with the masses.
 
D

derFeef

Member
JoeBoy101 said:
Its a pity the gameplay seems fairly mundane when the concept and designs, especially for the monsters, is fantastic (love the Crow Demon). Rooting for this one, but I worry it won't takeoff with the masses.
Click to expand...
Funcom MMO's never seem to, they are loved by the devoted few like me. They always nail the atmopshere and setting, which is really important to me. But TSW is looking mighty fine and it COULD be a hit. Character animations and appearance are still lacking, but I read somewhere that they are reworking them, can't seem to find it though.

---

Guess that deserves a bump.

The Secret War trailer details the PVP battles and secret societies a bit closer.

There is a facebook game (doh) coming also - the top member (I guess "who has the most fruends") of a society is presented with a guaranteed beta spot.
More info here: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/...Secret-War-Guaranteed-Beta-Access.html/page/1

Beta applications also open tomorrow.
 
A

aasoncott

Member
The Secret World will feature a traditional paid subscription model combined with micro-transactions through an in-game store.
Click to expand...

;_;

I was really, really hoping this was going to end up being free-to-play. I have a set game budget I allow myself every year, and assuming subscriptions are ~$15/month, we're talking $180 for the year, which is just totally unreasonable to me. I understand why MMORPGs cost so much, but it means I'll never play them.
 
V

vulva

Member
For some reason I suddenly decided I wanted to check this out, but I don't have facebook so signing up for the beta seems to be a no go =\
 
D

derFeef

Member
vulva said:
For some reason I suddenly decided I wanted to check this out, but I don't have facebook so signing up for the beta seems to be a no go =\
Click to expand...
Yeah, very disappointed by this, but what can you do. It also just guarantess the "top society" user in facebook a beta spot. There should be another phase coming soon hopefully.
 
T

The_Monk

Member
I have been keeping my eye on this game for quite a while, but now with the monthly fee...no more.

It is a shame for me, because I been wanting to improve my Xbox 360 library with some upcoming exclusives titles, but aside from Gears 3 and Forza 4 I don't know what's coming for it..

Nice OP by the way, hope to keep us updated ;)
 
D

derFeef

Member
Beta tease by Ragnar himself. Looks like some kind of tutorial.
"Practise Demon" heh...
http://twitter.com/#!/RagnarTornquist/statuses/116252009698557953



edit: I am sorry, I wanted to update the OT but I hit reply out of a reflex while making the post/text.
 
D

derFeef

Member
u8v9Y.jpg


New Video on Secret Society Warfare
Ever felt like there was someone working behind the scenes, constantly pulling the strings to your daily life? Either you’re really paranoid, or you’ve seen through the illusions put up by the world’s most secret societies. We’ve got an exclusive trailer for Funcom’s supernatural, modern-day MMO The Secret World, detailing the factions that fund your war for control. Who will you ally with: the chaos-conducting Dragon, the zealous Templar, or the stealthy-and-wealthy Illuminati? Whoever you choose, get ready to violently settle your differences in 100-player PvP warzones.
Click to expand...

PC Gamer Article.
Video - Developer Diary: The Secret War

edit:
I totally forgot about that, TSW will be at NY Comic Con this Friday and Ragnar will give a live demo, including Q&A.

8xM1Lm.jpg

On Friday October 14th at 4:00pm, MMORPG.com will in partnership with Funcom and EA host an exclusive developer panel for The Secret World in room 1A24. Here we will be showing an all-new live demo of the game, presented by Senior Producer & Creative Director Ragnar Tørnquist and Lead Writer Dag Scheve.
Click to expand...
 
D

derFeef

Member
cartoon_soldier said:
Funcom :(.
Click to expand...
I know it's kinda offtopic, but I have the urge to answer that. The bad reputation that Funcom has is really unjustified today. Their adventure game(s) are well known and well recieved, I think there is no doubt about that.

Anarchy Online, their first MMO had horrible launch troubles and you can't deny that, but what that game did to the genre back in the day is still unmatched I think. A true sandbox MMO with a unique skill and mission system, paired with a scifi setting which got backed up with a cool story. Plus, it was the first ever MMO to go F2P and they practically invented the model (if you like it or not is personal taste of course). This game stole years of my life.

Now Age of Conan. Hugely hyped, also not a very smooth launch, but I personally never had big troubles. The game had no content for powegamers the first few months and PVP was troublesome. But because I play MMO's differently (explore, slow pace, read everything, not interested in PVP), I never felt the problems personally. They got rid of the game director and the new guy took this game and turned it around to this huge game it is today with lot's of content. It still is not for everyone or the typical powergamer, but those who enjoy singleplayer rpgs and love to explore a rich world with friends should feel right at home. The new hybrid F2P model breathed new life into it and I am playing it constantly on the weekends.

So as you can see the bad reputation is coming from troubles and missing (those who need lot's of content) features at launch. The games itself are really underrated in my opinion.

As always, sorry for bad english and so on, plus I am very tired today ;)
 
D

derFeef

Member
TSW is on the PC Gamer holiday issue cover:

UU1pp.jpg

Funcom is proud to announce that the company’s upcoming modern-day massively multiplayer online game, ‘The Secret World’, dominates the cover of PC Gamer’s holiday issue that hits subscribers on November 17th. Following his full-day, extensive hands-on experience with the game, PC Gamer’s Nathan Grayson writes that “Funcom had to drag me away kicking and screaming”, and that “The Secret World is taking bold steps to revolutionize the MMO.”
Click to expand...
http://thesecretworld.com/news/the_secret_world_dominates_the_holiday_cover_of_pc_gamer_us

I don't have a subscription, though :(
 
R

Ricker

Member
Applied for the beta a few months back,when you could without needing Facebook but got no news since...I didn't know I already had a Funcom account with Conan though hehe,maybe that would of helped....anyway,still looking forward to this one,hopefully it's good.
 
R

ROBOKITTYZILLA

Member
Azzurri said:
http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/the_secret_world_previews_hit_today

From the sound of it, looks like it's going to be a sleeper hit.
Click to expand...

This is definitely one to watch and one of my most wanted games of 2012 now. I haven't been following the game until RPS's preview a while back and was very excited about the concept. I started watching all the preview videos, developer diaries, and gameplay vidoes and have been thus far pretty impressed.

Some key points for me:

+Modern setting
+Story, monsters, and lore based on myths and legends
+Puzzle solving through use of real world knowledge (numerolgy, cryptography, etc.)
+Thousands of weapons, powers, and abilties including magic, explosives, guns, chainsaws, and katanas (you can dual wield a katana and a gun!)
+Gear is purely cosmetic with lots of items (hundreds) available in city shops and obtained as rewards (wear what you want!)
+Character growth based on abilities and not levels (there are NO LEVELS!)
+Combat based on skill and ability growth (active combat and no level scaling)
+No level or class restrictions (Play with anyone at anytime. On top of dropping the traditional level system, you can respec your character/build at any time and even make "decks" to quickly swap your character's role at any time.)
+Lovely environments
+Voiced NPC and story dialogue
+The Longest Journey/Dreamfall and Anarchy Online creator behind the project

Some things I disliked or am not sure about yet:

-Player character models
The player models were rather lacking, especially in comparison to the fantastic concept and official art. They reminded me of the source engine player models in Left 4 Dead. They are probably a tier below what I have seen in Guild Wars 2 but did look much better than the Rift or SW:TOR player character models. I have yet to see the Secret World character customization so hopefully they at least offer a lot of options to make your character unique.

-Faction System
This seems tacked on to satisfy PVP players. Unfortunately, none of the factions have any redeeming or appealing qualities, you are forced to choose one, and the decision will be permanent for the rest of the game. PVP seemed to be objective based primarily which could be interesting.

-Ranged Combat and Spell Effects
From the videos, ranged combat with guns just looked boring and unsatisfying. They didn't seem to really carry any weight or have much impact when used on enemies. In one video there was a guy running around with a shotgun and that seemed okay though. Spell effects did not look that impressive.

-Real World interaction
Not sure how I feel about using Facebook or following Twitter accounts of in-game NPCs to learn about their habits, stories, etc. This is optional but just seems kind of ridiculous. They also mentioned you may need to use Google to look up information to help you in quests but thankfully they are providing an in-game method to do this that integrates with the characters and world.

-Content
It seems like at this point they only have about 200-300 hours worth of content if you avoid crafting, exploring, and other external elements. I could see some people blowing through this pretty quickly and they haven't talked about anything relating to end game. That said, they seem pretty confident about producing additional content at a brisk pace once the game has launched and the game is still about 6 or more months away so there could be a lot more by launch.
 
D

derFeef

Member
I'd agree with everything. But regarding combat - as long as we don't get our hands on the combat, I would not judge it from the videos yet :)
 
Azzurri

Azzurri

Member
ROBOKITTYZILLA said:
This is definitely one to watch and one of my most wanted games of 2012 now. I haven't been following the game until RPS's preview a while back and was very excited about the concept. I started watching all the preview videos, developer diaries, and gameplay vidoes and have been thus far pretty impressed.

Some key points for me:

+Modern setting
+Story, monsters, and lore based on myths and legends
+Puzzle solving through use of real world knowledge (numerolgy, cryptography, etc.)
+Thousands of weapons, powers, and abilties including magic, explosives, guns, chainsaws, and katanas (you can dual wield a katana and a gun!)
+Gear is purely cosmetic with lots of items (hundreds) available in city shops and obtained as rewards (wear what you want!)
+Character growth based on abilities and not levels (there are NO LEVELS!)
+Combat based on skill and ability growth (active combat and no level scaling)
+No level or class restrictions (Play with anyone at anytime. On top of dropping the traditional level system, you can respec your character/build at any time and even make "decks" to quickly swap your character's role at any time.)
+Lovely environments
+Voiced NPC and story dialogue
+The Longest Journey/Dreamfall and Anarchy Online creator behind the project

Some things I disliked or am not sure about yet:

-Player character models
The player models were rather lacking, especially in comparison to the fantastic concept and official art. They reminded me of the source engine player models in Left 4 Dead. They are probably a tier below what I have seen in Guild Wars 2 but did look much better than the Rift or SW:TOR player character models. I have yet to see the Secret World character customization so hopefully they at least offer a lot of options to make your character unique.

-Faction System
This seems tacked on to satisfy PVP players. Unfortunately, none of the factions have any redeeming or appealing qualities, you are forced to choose one, and the decision will be permanent for the rest of the game. PVP seemed to be objective based primarily which could be interesting.

-Ranged Combat and Spell Effects
From the videos, ranged combat with guns just looked boring and unsatisfying. They didn't seem to really carry any weight or have much impact when used on enemies. In one video there was a guy running around with a shotgun and that seemed okay though. Spell effects did not look that impressive.

-Real World interaction
Not sure how I feel about using Facebook or following Twitter accounts of in-game NPCs to learn about their habits, stories, etc. This is optional but just seems kind of ridiculous. They also mentioned you may need to use Google to look up information to help you in quests but thankfully they are providing an in-game method to do this that integrates with the characters and world.

-Content
It seems like at this point they only have about 200-300 hours worth of content if you avoid crafting, exploring, and other external elements. I could see some people blowing through this pretty quickly and they haven't talked about anything relating to end game. That said, they seem pretty confident about producing additional content at a brisk pace once the game has launched and the game is still about 6 or more months away so there could be a lot more by launch.
Click to expand...

Not too worried about that, they can always patch in new effects and such, but everything else I agree with you.
 
M

Moobabe

Member
It's a shame this thread isn't a bit busier. I've just started to read up on The Secret World and it's shaping up nicely - one of the game's I'm anticipating most next year.
 
D

derFeef

Member
Moobabe said:
It's a shame this thread isn't a bit busier. I've just started to read up on The Secret World and it's shaping up nicely - one of the game's I'm anticipating most next year.
Click to expand...

It is... but I heard a lot of people recieved some nice E-Mails yesterday ;)
 
M

Moobabe

Member
derFeef said:
It is... but I heard a lot of people recieved some nice E-Mails yesterday ;)
Click to expand...

I can't believe I missed the boat on this one - I've only JUST applied for the beta. I'm so burned out on games and this is one of very few that actually has my interest piqued at the moment. Saying that; those large scale PVP bits looked a bit shit in the videos.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
I don't understand the mindset of a MMO developer, in this climate, with a new IP going with a paid subscription model for an upcoming game, what do they expect is going to happen in 4 months after launch?
Regardless, I do really want to try this out, it's always intrigued me.
 
M

Moobabe

Member
I should be doing hw said:
I don't understand the mindset of a MMO developer, in this climate, with a new IP going with a paid subscription model for an upcoming game, what do they expect is going to happen in 4 months after launch?
Regardless, I do really want to try this out, it's always intrigued me.
Click to expand...

I think if you have the quality to justify a subscription; why not? Granted - I'd always prefer to pay nothing than to pay something though.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
Moobabe said:
I think if you have the quality to justify a subscription; why not? Granted - I'd always prefer to pay nothing than to pay something though.
Click to expand...

I have yet to see this happen in anything but WoW though, numbers always drop drastically after the initial few months. Haven't practically all the recent MMOs to come out of the last year already turned F2P or are going to soon?
I just see it as inevitable somewhere down the line, why fight that. It's proven not to be a viable model and the writing is very clearly on the wall that nobody wants it unless the IP is has a built in audience. Why not design around this beforehand instead of having to clumsily shoehorn it in later when your community is a ghost town.
 
M

Moobabe

Member
I should be doing hw said:
I have yet to see this happen in anything but WoW though, numbers always drop drastically after the initial few months. Haven't practically all the recent MMOs to come out of the last year already turned F2P or are going to soon?
I just see it as inevitable somewhere down the line, why fight that. It's proven not to be a viable model and the writing is very clearly on the wall that nobody wants it unless the IP is has a built in audience.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily - Lord of The Rings and Warhammer I'd say have a built in audience. I think the problem is so many MMOs now are WoW-esque why would anyone pay to play anything BUT WoW when it has so much more content than any other? If an MMO can offer a drastically different experience people might pay for it.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
Moobabe said:
Not necessarily - Lord of The Rings and Warhammer I'd say have a built in audience. I think the problem is so many MMOs now are WoW-esque why would anyone pay to play anything BUT WoW when it has so much more content than any other? If an MMO can offer a drastically different experience people might pay for it.
Click to expand...

I meant that as best case scenario, if those two franchises can't hope to do it why should this game?
And yeah, A.P.B did so well didn't it.

Don't get me wrong, I not hating on this game, it's just this paid subscription model has to die and it's cases like this that are keeping it limping on longer than it needs to.
 
M

Moobabe

Member
I should be doing hw said:
I meant that as best case scenario, if those two franchises can't hope to do it why should this game?
And yeah, A.P.B did so well didn't it.

Don't get me wrong, I not hating on this game, it's just this paid subscription model has to die and it's cases like this that are keeping it limping on longer than it needs to.
Click to expand...

I agree - I don't think the paid subscription model has a future - especially in the face of WoW losing subscribers as well (regardless of how many it continues to have.)
 
D

derFeef

Member
Signups are live for a longer time now. And I ... heard there were several beta phases even.
It's only 4 months now until release so they should open the beta to more people soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Former Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Director, Stig Asmussen, Forms New Studio, Giant Skull, To Create Action-Adventure Game In Unreal Engine 5
News Game Dev
1
341
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
[Insider Gaming] Insurgency Developer New World Interactive Shut Down by Embracer Group
News
43
3K
Dazraell replied
Monopoly Go Devs Spent More On Marketing Than It Cost To Develop The Last Of Us 2
Business 2
55
3K
Osaka_Boss replied
Rare worked with Sony to bring Sea of Thieves to PS5
2
69
5K
ManaByte replied
Ubisoft says Assassin’s Creed Codename Red will be released by March 2025
News
1
488
BaldingAshCrimson replied
Top Bottom