This topic is meant to cover the most likely questions for those curious about the intent and goals behind this game. Over time, this list will grow!
1. Why attempt an MMO?
It's well known that MMOs are the most difficult (or nearly) type of game to develop. For this game to reach that stage, it will have to grow heavily and we will likely have to expand our team. So why shoot for this? At it's heart, the mechanics behind Last Frontier truly shine in a player-dominated world. It's the player's actions that will directly affect the environment and the development of the world as a whole. While a single player experience could be provided, it would never utilize all the aspects of these mechanics. Meanwhile, a small multiplayer server (with, say, 10-40 players) could approach these aspects, but would likely be too small to enable true player economies. So, while early versions of this game may be limited to less than 300 players, the design will always consider scalability as a key factor in the hopes of eventually reaching true MMO status.
2. What type of MMO is this?
Last Frontier will have both sandbox and theme park mechanics. The core functionality and "soul" of the game is sandbox, with the assumption that Players will dominate the economy, directly affect the evolution of the world, and essentially determine the future policies and direction of the world. However, a bare-bones NPC economy will exist primarily as a launching point and external actors will attempt to exert their influence on the untamed frontier. This may lead to events, quests, and future developments that are curated based on Player interactions. However, these WILL depend on Player choices, and are not at all predetermined. Some events may occur naturally as a result of the Players' impact on the environment and Players will be given the ability to create and manage their own quest systems. To this end, we will call Last Frontier a "curated sandbox".
3. How will you generate new content?
While some content may be scripted by our team, the majority of content will evolve with the Player base and the semi-random evolution of the world. Creatures will have a diverse set of genes that enable virtually endless (say, > 10^10) potential combinations. While some traits may be more common than others, those creatures with "successful" traits will propagate and influence future evolutionary paths. In theory, this will result in a highly diverse ecosystem of procedurally generated lifeforms that help with providing a consistently "new" experience. Similarly, these unique creatures will have unique drops which can be used to create unique gear relating directly to the traits of the creature they dropped from. This will enable a Player-based economy to thrive under a constantly evolving environment where no two Player-generated items are likely to be the same.
4. What is the pricing scheme?
While this is still open for debate, the current pricing plan is to be subscription-based. Firstly, as a game where content is ever evolving, we hope that Players will always feel that they can receive their money's worth of content that changes from week to week and month to month. Secondly, we aim to avoid being labelled as "Pay 2 Win" in any significant way. Should we ever adopt a model where real world money can be spent for in-world gain, it will be because: a) Subscription-based, donation-based, and cosmetic-based plans have failed; and b) separate servers will be provided for Players who wish to be able to pay and those who won't.
5. What if the project fails after launch?
In the fortunate event that we successfully launch we promise to guarantee the availability of the game as a service. We will do this through either: a) accepting non-profit style donations purely to maintain a public server, b) creating a successor game to replace the original (Last Frontier 2?), and/or c) release a server version of the game that enables players to host their own private servers. This game is intended to be a labor of love, and as long as Players wish to play it we will ensure that it is available to be played.