Carbine's NCsoft MMO is "future fantasy"

Carbine, the NCsoft studio formed by ex-Blizzard veterans, has described its soon to be announced MMO as "future fantasy" with a "hand-crafted" style.

The illustrate this the developer released a single image taken from an upcoming video, which is presumably poised for the Gamescom reveal next week. You can see that image below.

Describing the look and feel of the game, Carbine said "players will see both fantasy and sci-fi elements in our world and our gameplay".

There will be "intense drama", "mind-blowing action" and "humorous tales".

Influences come from animations Atlantis, The Secret of Nimh and Princess Mononoke; and from comics Hellboy, Battle Chasers and Tank Girl.

"We knew that our game was for adults," art director Matt Mocarski wrote, "so we studied shows like Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist to see how they balanced a unique visual style with stories that had both humour and drama."

Carbine eventually decided to "pull of an illustrated look both technically and artistically". After many iterations the studio settled on the promised "hand-crafted" look of the game.

"We paint all of our textures from scratch," Mocarski revealed. "We try not to use any photo reference in our assets. We make sure everything has a strong silhouette with really strong personality. Everything from a mountain to a chair should be an expression of character whether that's a specific mood or the history of the asset.

"We believe our art style has an element that is missing from a lot of games on the market, and that's a sense of fun," Mocarski added.

"I love looking at our art. It tells a story. It screams, Come out and play!' I'm happy when I run around our world. It feels magical - like anything is possible. I often find myself running around the world for hours just to be there."