Mortal Online

As I wandered around Mortal I began to see a bit of what StarVault is up to. This early development version of the game - StarVault is still preparing for a proper beta - has blank areas that are clearly intended to be filled in by player activity. Just as EVE created the blank slate of its galaxy and slowly burned in the details through a mixture of player actions and developer patches, so Mortal is a world waiting to be furnished by the partnership with players. Politz explains a bit more about this idea: "You start as a nobody, one out of many. It's totally up to you if you become a well known crafter or the best duellist on the server. Players in Mortal Online will have the chance to shape the game world - truly shape it.

"Just for example: our 'boss-mobs' don't respawn, if you kill the mighty dragon, it's dead and stays dead. This will alter the course of the world, and thus make history. You and your guild managed to start a rebellion and kill the emperor of Tindrem? Gratz, you just changed the world for ever. Things like this, actually shaping the world, the lore, the future history of the game is what players can achieve - if they want to. It's all about choices and consequences."

Choices made by StarVault are, of course, going to have consequences of their own. Right now Mortal Online is a big barrel of potential, but how that gets meted out into gaming experience will depend on the decisions StarVault makes for its players, especially those design choices made in the coming weeks as the game approaches release. "As we will release with our core systems in place, we really have our work cut out for us," says Politz. "Polishing those systems until they are (nearly) perfect is the vital step for the next weeks. After that the world will become more lively and even more immersive. For example, the day/night cycle and closely following the dynamic weather system are things at the first spot on the list post-release. We are listening closely to our great community, so our fans and followers also make up for an important part in Mortal's development."

It's what happens to that community, as they make their home in the game after release, that will really dictate the lifespan of the game, of course. StarVault is following a route not unlike that taking by CCP with EVE Online. "Future expansions (which will be absolutely free) will first of all give the players more land, meaning more continents. I don't want to go into too much detail at this point but it boils down to: a lot more sand, shovels and toys in the sandbox." Whether players will take the time to figure out how to use those toys and build their castles in the sand remains unclear, but, for once, I'm feeling pretty optimistic.