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KJ: Once the player hits level seven and moves to the city from the training post, the first [non-player character] that the player comes in contact with asks which combat style the player would like to choose. By then players will have used the basic weapons, cleared a few quests and, through such experience, developed a good idea about which combat style best suits them.

In order for the player to get armor and weapons, they must first obtain the required licenses. License points, which the player needs to have so that they can obtain various licenses, are acquired when the player completes the levels. Even though an Enforcer may be able to purchase a sniping rifle, which is actually designed for a use by a Phantom, a long-range sniper, there is a restriction to it. For instance, if a Phantom would have to invest one license point to purchase a sniping rifle license, an Avenger, a mid-range attacker, would have to invest ten license points for a sniping rifle because it is not akin to his combat style, whereas the Avenger would have to invest only one license point to purchase a shot gun, which is appropriate for his mid-range combat style.

KJ: Huxley has been designed as an online game that provides both the fragging hyper action of an FPS and the community, persistence and character growth of an MMOG. The city life in Huxley is similar to what is offered in other MMORPGs, complete with housing, public transportation, personal vehicles, auctions for trading with other players, interaction with various NPCs for quests, crafting and tuning up combat items.

Of course, clan activities are one of the most essential parts of Huxley’s activities. You are fighting for your faction, your growth and for you and your clan’s reputation. And clans benefit from group achievements, such as economic benefits that encourage clan activities in Huxley.

Many of the quests, in terms of their scale and the need for squad and multiple squad co-op play, will resemble raids in similar MMORPGs. Such quests will have boss mobs, just like the mobs that are the toughest, meanest and nastiest monsters in other MMORPGs. The massive scale battles will resemble large scale castle sieges in MMORPGs.  It will all feel very familiar to traditional MMO players, but extremely unique at the same time.  And unlike any other FPS, in Huxley the player is *living* in a world of Huxley, where there are different regions to explore and many things to see. The major cities, satellite cities, and battles zones construct a very distinctive world view of Huxley and follow a compelling and immersive storyline of the game.

KJ: The players can use nine different categories of various weapons as their character develops through five phases of growth. Huxley has a system that constantly updates with new content and offers hundreds of different weapons and armor. Each item can be customized for each individual player through tune ups and crafting.

The number of different weapons and items that are currently offered in the current [open beta test] service in Korea exceeds 500 (yes, you read that right). Adding different skill sockets onto armor will further diversify the different kinds of customized items. Of course, players’ game play skills have a significant importance in winning battles and completing quests in Huxley. However, the PvE battles require less player skills than [player-vs.player] battles and will reduce the stress the less skilled player might feel if they are always getting killed in PvP battles. [Player-vs.-Environment] battles will also give the less skilled player the opportunity to practice and improve their control skills.

In addition, the various items provided in Huxley do not have standardized status like the items in regular FPS games. For example, if you have obtained and equipped yourself with a rare item weapon and armor through PvE, your efficiency against better skilled players will increase giving you a better chance to win.

Use of the Unreal Engine means Huxley has outstanding visuals.

However, from the very beginning of development, the designers took into serious consideration about how to balance the player’s control skills and the improved abilities, gained through progressing up levels and growing the character. The team was fully aware that Huxley cannot just simply allow higher level players to be able to defeat low level players no matter what. As a solution, Huxley has been designed in the way that if the player level difference is within 10 levels and the lower level player has better control skills, they can defeat the higher level player.

KJ: Huxley consists of two races per faction and each race has different abilities in terms of HP, recovery, speed and dodging. Regardless of the race, players also choose their combat style from Enforcer, Avenger or Phantom, each having their own different advantages and disadvantages. Players can develop growth trees by investing growth points and customizing their weapons and armor that they obtain from FPS based battles.

Basically, Huxley is not a 1:1 game, but instead it is an exciting and ever changing multi-player online game. No one player will ever have the absolute advantage over the other players in battle due to the unlimited combinations for squads and the various specialized abilities they could develop. In the early stage of character growth, players will clear quests and enter battlefields according to which character growth phase they follow. When in the massive scale battles where the objective is to obtain a stronghold within that level and collect resources for their faction, limited participating rights shall be given according to the users’ growth speed, which is naturally adjusted and maintained throughout the game.

KJ: You mean other than because Huxley is the first ever Unreal Engine 3-based twitch-action MMOFPS?  The most significant experience that Huxley offers to gamers is that it is a persistent FPS where the user’s character growth directly impacts the game. Current online FPS games do not allow the items obtained to be subordinated to the player’s experience, whereas in Huxley, the character growth is subordinated to and maintained in the player’s experience. Thus, Huxley further motivates users to keep on playing the game and find additional ways to have fun.  We are aiming to deliver a game that provides enough satisfaction to make the players feel rewarded from their investment of time and effort.

KJ: First of all, I would like to thank Ten Ton Hammer and each and every one of your readers for keeping interest in and waiting for Huxley. Over the past couple of years, my developers and I have been crazy about bringing Huxley to the players and offering them such a new experience. Huxley is making initial achievements with the OBT in Korea and we aim to deliver Huxley to the North American gamers as soon as possible.  I promise that you will be very surprised by Huxley – and hope we can meet and even exceed your level of expectation for the game!