Sneak Peak: The Agency - A Shooter and MMO Hybrid

In another update from the recent SOE Fan Faire, staff writer Nic Stransky gives a detailed preview of Sony Online Entertainment’s upcoming game - The Agency.

The MMO Gamer was in Las Vegas during a preview of Sony Online Entertainment’s new shooter MMO – The Agency. Presenters Hal Milton and Matt Wilson of SOE Seattle offered attendees a glimpse into the general philosophy behind the game and the features players can look forward to upon release.

“The Agency was conceived with inspiration from TV shows like 24 and Alias, movies like The Bourne Identity, and games like Counter-Strike, Halo, and Grand Theft Auto,” explained Matt Wilson, Executive Producer.

The designers are focused on providing the fast-paced action fun of a first-person shooter, and the role-playing persistence of a massively multi-player game. They envision action-oriented players jumping in and learning on their feet, and adventure RPG fans taking a more strategic and organized route. The title refers to the two parent agencies, or factions, players can choose when creating their character, but also to the player run agencies, or guilds, that they can build. The long-term vision for the game is to have player run agencies partner with each other to create Joint Agencies and eventually take over and shape the world.

The setting is the contemporary world of espionage. Players will start by customizing their character’s look and name, and will then have to choose which parent agency they wish to join. Those having a calculated personality desiring skills in stealth with a style characterized by tight movements will be attracted to the covert abilities offered by the United Nations Intelligence and Tactical Experts (UNITE). More laid back players who prefer to use a blunt approach by using skills in heavy weaponry and explosives will be better suited to the overt abilities offered by the Paramilitary Global Operations Network (ParaGON). The choice of agency will not define the player as either good or evil, but will certainly set them at odds with the opposing faction. As the player progresses they will have to make decisions that affect the world and their status within it, and could conceivably play both sides.

“Our game is two things,” Matt explains. “Shooting and role-playing.”

Outfits and roles determine the player’s skill set for a given encounter or mission. Players cannot bring additional outfits into a mission. In the beginning each player will have one outfit and will be limited in the roles they can choose before leaving the agency head quarters (HQ) and beginning their adventure. However, the designers want to make sure that characters are never locked in to a certain class so over time the player will acquire new outfits unlocking new roles and avenues for advancement. They want players to be able to switch roles and gain ranks within that particular skill set without losing the option to go back to their primary role later on.

In general, the roles are combat, stealth and support. Combat outfits will prepare the player for direct conflict, heavy offense and gunplay. Stealth outfits permit the player to use stealth for sneaking ahead and getting intelligence or performing silent combat abilities like assassinations. Support outfits enable the player to help the group by playing a field medic, laying traps, planting turrets and setting up defense grids. Each outfit will carry with it certain specialties that are only available to the player while they are wearing it. Players can further enhance their abilities by equipping gadgets like body armor, sniper rifles, or land mines.

Players will be defined by their strengths in certain abilities and will not have to re-roll or reset their talents in order to advance in something new. A player with a high rank in explosives might also have some mid rank skills as a medic, and in this way groups will be very flexible. If a certain encounter demands a back-up healer, then the explosives expert could be asked to run back to HQ and put on their support outfit. The team would then start the encounter again and possibly have a better chance of completing it. The explosives expert would still have a gun, and could use his basic point-and-shoot skill, but would have a greater effect on the battle by using his enhanced support abilities.

“Now it’s not all about just being in a combat outfit,” Hal Milton, Lead Designer, warns. “It’s also about not having a gun. You can’t get into an elite casino with an M-60 strapped to your back.”

Some missions will require players to show up without any weapons and can only be completed by utilizing the final type of outfit – the Alias outfit. Alias outfits can be as basic as a black tuxedo or ball gown that allows players to enter a casino posing as civilian. They can also be complete Identities such as a security guard. When combined with the proper Credentials the security uniform will allow the player access to otherwise restricted areas. Using your assumed Identity you could also garner valuable information from non-player characters (NPCs) that under normal circumstances would not talk to you or may even attack you on site.

Grouping is encouraged, although not required. While a single player can successfully complete most missions, the rating system for each mission offers incentives to players who bring a team. Solo players would be able to get the Bronze rating, a team would be able to get the Silver rating, and a highly skilled team would be able to achieve the Gold rating and receive much better rewards. Missions like this can be completed once at each rating level; repeating it and getting Bronze over and over will not gain the player new rewards.

Outside of instanced missions the game world offers a sandbox type of environment that will provide mini-games and other light intelligence gathering opportunities. In this random living world players can compete against friends in games of chance like those found in a casino, or perform skills challenges like those found at a shooting range. Players might also find smaller jobs that could be completed in less than 15 minutes to earn a little extra cash. The opportunity for growth is all around, and the designers hope to give all types of players the chance to have fun, whether they play for 30 minutes or all night.

“You don’t have to play 24/7. Our game is designed to allow you to get in… if you want to play for a long period of time,” Hal prefaces. “There’s tons of stuff to do. If you just want to get in and play for a little bit, good.”

While traveling in this living world and completing missions players will collect Operatives, or what the designers are calling, “living loot.” These are tradable NPCs that are always helping the agency – whether the player is online or not. Their primary purpose is to do research on new gadgets and equipment and then provide those goods to the player; it’s like having a “Q” branch from the Bond movies. Operatives can also be tasked with performing jobs for the player such as acquiring intelligence and establishing contacts. It was unclear whether or not there will be Operatives skilled in combat that could be sent on assassination missions.

Operatives offer certain bonuses that come with them, like authority and access to certain areas, and can grow and gain skills over time. Their artificial intelligence also allows them to communicate with each other and share knowledge. One night you might log on and be prompted with new missions that your Operatives acquired while you were offline. The designers are also working toward having offline two-way communication between the player and their Operatives. One scenario Hal offered was that the player might be sitting in a meeting and receives a text message on their phone. This message is from the gang holding one of their Operatives hostage, and explains that if the player does not wire $1 million to the their account immediately they will kill the Operative. The player is prompted to reply with “1” to send the money, or “2” to let them die. This sort of immersion is an attempt to give the game world a pulse, and the NPCs a living breathing persistence never before attempted.

Player versus player (PVP) matches are breaks from career mode, and are the best example of SOE Seattle’s efforts to adhere to their mantra – “Fun now, no waiting.” They are calling this “PVP anytime,” and say that it will allow players to jump into the fun without having some sort of steep ramping up process that requires grinding for gear. Both Hal and Matt are adamant that new players will be able to start the game, and start killing immediately.

“We know it’s important for [that] instant gratification group to just be able to go in, push a button, and bang-bang-bang,” Matt strafes to the left. “I’m dodging, I’m dying, but I’m learning how to play the game.”

The Agency won’t restrict PVP to the level based combat that is prevalent in MMOs today, but will instead give players of all experience levels the chance to down a high-level player. While a group of 5 low level players could easily be taken out by 1 high level player, the designers emphasized that a well aimed bullet from a “newbie” could still headshot anyone. Not many more details were given about how PVP scenarios would play out, but this is yet another encouraging example of how this MMO is tailored to fans of shooters.

The Agency is built on the Unreal 3 engine, and will be available on PCs running Windows XP and Windows Vista, and Sony’s Playstation 3 console. The graphics are stylized and are not intended to be realistic. The engineers are more interested in frame rate and low latency than they are in high definition. The game play is the focus, however the game still looks beautiful, and the painted style is very artistic and lends itself well to the Seattle team’s focus of making the game pure fun.

There is no official release date for The Agency. The official web site will be updated with more updates as they become available, and can be found at:

http://theagency.station.sony.com

Special thanks to Hal Milton, Matt Wilson, and Alex Pfaffe for their time.