TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

HY: Sure, Cody.  To start off, Combat Arms is a fast-paced multiplayer first-person shooter, and like all Nexon games, it’s free to play.  If you’re familiar with FPS games, you’ll be able to dive right in, but we’re also adding more depth and customization than existing similar products, as well as streamlining some features to make the game experience more friendly for all users.  With Combat Arms, you’ll be able to hop online, create a persistent mercenary character, pick your weapons and gear, customize your weapons with modifcations, and jump quickly into a variety of 16-player battles.  As you play, you’ll be able to rank up your character to get access to new weapons and gear, and earn GP (Gear Points) from playing matches to buy that gear.

An AK-47 would have been reeeal handy against this giant spider from Nexon's Mabinogi.

In terms of why online gamers should pay attention, we’ve got something for both veteran FPS players and for players new to this genre.  The immediate and most obvious plus players will see is accessibility of cost since it’s a fully-featured game that’s free. On the technical specification side, it’s a small download and only requires a low-end system to play.  So for any gamer who’s ever thought “Well, FPS games look fun but I don’t want to invest in a high end computer or have to buy a game up front just so I can get try it and probably get my butt kicked before I get good.” Well, we’ve got the game for you!  It’ll cost you nothing to try out Combat Arms, and work on your FPS skills without paying anything upfront.  And beyond that, you can continue playing for free without ever buying anything.

But that’s really just the surface.  For veterans of the genre, Combat Arms offers a high degree of customization, across the board – you can customize your character, your weapons, and your gameplay.  You can equip your soldier with multiple weapons – from an arsenal of over 30 modern military arms, from assault rifles, to sniper rifles, to mines and rockets – in addition to different gear such as helmets, armor vests, camouflage uniforms, and gas masks.  You’re not limited by any sort of class preconception, only by the gear slots you have, which can be increased by wearing backpacks.  Any “class” you want to fulfill is dictated by the weapons and gear you choose to equip, and as we add more functional gear items into the game, you’ll start to see players choosing to fulfill specific roles.

Once you’ve got all that set up, you can jump into a variety of game modes.  We’ve launched with 4 well-known game modes – Elimination, One Man Army, Search & Destroy, and classic Capture the Flag – that can be played on 6 different maps.  In addition, you can modify the match parameters to create games where no explosive weapons are allowed, or games using pistols only, or games that disallow backpacks so that players can only carry one primary weapon.  Plus, because we are a live, online game, we will constantly be adding new weapons, new weapon mods, new equipment, new game modes, and new maps – so the game will be evolving over time.

Over all that, we’re streamlining and adding a lot of community features to make Combat Arms more friendly to play.  We have an in-game Messenger system that allows you to track friends, invite them to your game, or go to where they’re playing.  When you create a character, you’ll also automatically create a player profile on our website, where you can track your performance against that of your friends, and check your rankings to see how you stack up against the rest of the Combat Arms community.  And finally, we have an in-game Clan system where you can recruit and manage members, and find other clans to play official matches.

HY: For localization, we’re doing a lot of work beyond just language translation. In fact, we’ve probably made changes to or added 30-40% more content than what’s in the Korean version.  For Combat Arms, the primary part of localization has been evaluating the tastes and expectation of the US FPS audience, which is substantially different than the Korean audience, and tailoring the game for the North American market. 

As for some examples, weapon balance has been substantially tweaked, and we’ve introduced the concept of ranking up to unlock gear.  New characters and gear items are being made to specifically appeal to our audience here.  American players expect a certain feature set in an FPS, so adjustments have been made for that.  The expectations of the US FPS player – the primary being that game play in an FPS must absolutely remain fair and skill-based – is also a major consideration in molding our approach to creating the business model for this game.

In terms of transitioning to the US, the biggest obstacle we’re trying to overcome is actually the impression that free-to-play means low quality and/or being able to pay for game-breaking advantages, which unfortunately, is a view that’s pretty ingrained with the American game audience.

It’s pretty telling that when most people have checked out and written about our game, and see, for example, that the AK-47 costs 800 GP, they immediately jump to the conclusion that they have to pay real money to buy weapons.  To clarify, GP, or Gear Points, is our in-game currency, and is completely separate from Nexon Cash, which is real money.  In reality, we haven’t opened the game’s cash shop, so there’s no way for you to spend money in our game yet, even if you wanted to! 

To be very clear, we won’t be selling any weapons for cash.  It’s extremely important to us and our development team that the integrity of the skill-based FPS is kept intact, so – all weapons will be obtainable by all players… even if you never buy anything from us.  You will be able to pay for cosmetic, convenience, and community based items – so if you want an AK-47 with a different camouflage or skin (but the same stats and function) or a cool set of shades to set your merc apart from others, you’ll eventually be able to spend real money for these types of things.
 
Hopefully, we’ll be able to change some of these preconceptions about free-to-play games with Combat Arms.

HY: If you look at Nexon’s games internationally, and the stable of games we have in Korea, Combat Arms isn’t that big a step away because we cover such a wide variety of game genres.  That being said, it’s an important step in the North American market, where we found a big blank spot in the availability of a high-quality, free-to-play FPS.  Given how large the FPS market is in the US, it was natural for us to introduce a game like Combat Arms.

Our business model especially lends itself to this genre because typically, FPS games are intimidating to those who haven’t already played a lot of them.  Because these games are twitch-based, and require specific skills which take time to develop, unless you’re already good at an FPS, you’re less likely to spend the $50-$60 up front for something you’re probably going to be terrible at – at least for a little while.  Plus, many new FPSs have extremely high system requirements, which require you to spend more money on a high-end gaming rig.  With our game and business model, new players can try the game, practice their FPS skills, see if they like it, and then go from there.

HY: That depends on your definition of MMO, which seems to be quickly becoming broader.  Combat Arms doesn’t have a graphical “hub” so it’s not an MMOFPS in the traditional sense of an MMO.  But it has a lot of persistence and community features which are consistent with an MMOG.  Our players have a persistent character, with a persistent profile where you can track your performance.  They can form clans (guilds) online, and manage members.

But in answer to your second question, I think it comes down to whether you like action-oriented games or not.   All players who like fast-paced, twitch-based action, as well as those who traditionally have enjoyed online FPSs but have wanted more persistence and customization features, and perhaps a deeper game-based relationship with other players, akin to being in a sports league – these players will be very happy to play Combat Arms.

HY: Our users are consistently surprised at how low the system specs are for how good the game looks… and we’re very happy with their reaction.  On the minimum end, we ask for a Pentium 3 – 1 Ghz with 256Mbs of memory running at least Windows 2000, and our client size is about 440Mbs… so the game is very accessible.  And even on a low-end rig, the game runs very smoothly.