Anarchy Online - Alien Invasion Wrap Report

Key Strengths I believe that with this expansion pack, we have been able to further cement Anarchy Online's reputation as a fast-paced and action-filled MMO. The alien presence also means that we are separating ourselves even more from the fantasy market, giving everyone who loves science fiction and MMOs a clear and very strong alternative.

The fact that we were also able to implement guild houses and player-made towns gave our community even more options and choices when it comes to building social relations, another one of Anarchy Online's strengths. We are known to have one of the best and friendliest communities around, and with Alien Invasion, we have given them more tools and fun toys.

Areas for Improvement Looking in retrospect, I see that we should have focused a bit more on the solo and non-organization players. When that is said, we are now in the process of making the alien presence more available for solo players, casual players and people who are not organization members. We hope to get this out to the players as soon as possible.

Another aspect is the graphics in the game. I think we are still holding up very well compared to many MMO games, but this is more thanks to our fantastic art direction than to our technology. We see that this element needs to be looked at.

Lessons Learned If you are building something new that is an addition to something older, make sure that everyone can do it. Not necessarily all of it, but at least major parts. Make sure you don't exclude certain groups, and be sure that the content you deliver is usable for as many types as players as possible. This is of course something that is incredibly tricky to pull off since it's very hard to make everyone happy. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try your very best.

Audience Response I don't think we have ever received such a warm welcome to any new content addition in Anarchy Online as when we announced this expansion pack. The community was ablaze with positive feedback. After launch, we have received some fantastic feedback from our players, and from the media too - after the first 30 reviews or so the average is around 77% - especially on the alien city attacks. The negatives have been graphics and the lack of content for solo players / beginners.

There's no need to hide that we had some initial balance issues, especially in regards to a new feature where you gained alien experience points. Thanks to good feedback from the player base and our community manager, we were able to fix these very quickly. Some four weeks after launch, all major issues related to the expansion were working well, and our players seem content and happy at the moment.

It's also a fact that we pre-sold more of this expansion than both the original Anarchy Online and Shadowlands. If we isolate the Alien Invasion expansion, it was good for Anarchy Online overall, good for the customer numbers, and good for Funcom.

Lastly, I am very happy about the fact that we once again proved that we could launch an expansion almost perfectly when it comes to the technical aspects. It hasn't always been like this. ;)

Looking Ahead We are now working on implementing the player-made shops. In addition, we are working actively on an update that will turn Alien Invasion into something that's great fun for everyone, not only the players that are active in an organization. On top of that, we are developing some super high-level content. This will be found in a new playfield, where only the bravest adventurers will succeed. Lastly, we have naturally started to discuss and plan the next expansion for Anarchy Online. Soon, we are also throwing a great Halloween party for our players, so everyone who plays has a lot of great stuff to look forward to.

Personal Thoughts I have to take off my hat for the Anarchy Online development and testing team. I don't know how many hours the people here put in during the last period of the beta, but it was massive. We were able to have a great team spirit during the entire development phase, with all of us having fun. The first leet battle that took place between two of the designers was a moment to remember.

For me personally, it was my first expansion pack as Game Director, and this has enabled me to learn a great deal, allowing me and the team to improve even further our future content updates. As the years have gone by, we are now known as the ultimate science fiction MMO, and I plan to do my very best to keep it that way.

Thank you for reading this and thanks to IGN RPG Vault for posting it. Make sure you check out our official site, where you can find a free trial of Anarchy Online, including access to our latest expansion pack.

Marius Enge Game Director, Anarchy Online Funcom

[Since introducing them in November of 2003 to offer post-release viewpoints from the respective teams, it has been our pleasure to publish Wrap Reports on a number of other titles. Lists of the previous ones on both RPG Vault and Action Vault may be found on the next page. - Ed.]