Atlantica Online launches later today but not before Producer Kim Tae Gon get's in one more Developer Journal entry at Allakhazam. In his final journal he talks about the 'mercenary system' that just so happens to be a major part of your adventuring within Atlantica. You can start to hire mercenaries shortly after you create your character so pay attention!

You’ve Got Friends in Atlantica

In Atlantica Online, you'll always have friends. No matter what the rest of life is like, at least in Atlantica you can travel with your buddies around the world to places like Egypt, and very soon to California. If you like to kick some butt while seeing the sights, then the friends found in Atlantica that we call mercenaries will make for perfect travel companions. They've got some great travel gear swords, guns and some wicked spells.

When we created Atlantica, we wanted the mercenary system to really heighten the excitement and fun of the turn-based combat that we had envisioned and worked hard to realize. These two features together would make the game different from the normal single-character, real-time action found in most MMORPGs today. But it’s not different just to be different. We believe the combination of the two systems offers an exciting and fast-paced form of gameplay that will hopefully have players coming back for more. With multiple characters to control, each with numerous moves and magic to take advantage of, there are countless possibilities in how a player can fight a battle. We hope players will experiment and tinker with the many different options available to them.

Guilds have always been a fundimental pre-requisite in an MMORPG. Atlantica Online Producer, Kim Tae Gon, decided to share with us the basics of Guilds in Atlantica in this weeks Developer Journal. Kim writes about how Guilds will decide how cities like London are governed and consiquently, how they are inhabited. The system sounds as innovative as it does amazing; check it out for yourself...

As we developed Atlantica Online, we believed we had created something unique and exciting with our turn-based combat, since it is a feature that isn’t normally found in an MMORPG. However, the action of the turn-based battles is fast-paced and the rewards players glean from it, such as loot as well as a visceral excitement are to a great extent immediate. But what was also very important to us while we were producing the game was to allow players to get deeply involved in the community side, or the multiplayer part, of an MMORPG, which would provide more steady and measured rewards.

To do that, there needed to be a deep and rich environment for players to immerse themselves in, and our method to enable that is through the guilds of Atlantica. Combine guilds with the real-world elements of the Atlantica backdrop, and there is much to uncover.

One of my favorite elements of Atlantica Online is that it utilizes the familiar lands of Earth to tell its story. "From Tokyo to Bangkok, Paris to Detroit, players will traverse the land of our planet in the search for the mysterious lost land of Atlantis ". This week the producer of Atlantica Online, Kim Tae Gon, gave Allakhazam an exclusive look at the 'Wide World of Atlantica'.

The Wide World of Atlantica  

In most fantasy-based games, the game world is usually filled with unfamiliar continents, islands,  countries, etc. These fantasy lands take players to somewhere they have never been before, countries developed from the minds of man. Players would visit different societies, various cultures and creative landscapes that can only be accessed through these unique games. But Atlantica’s approach to being a unique game takes players to a familiar land. That’s right; Atlantica Online takes place on our very own Earth.

As part of our 'Atlantica Online in October ' promotion, NDOORS has agreed to write four developers journals  for exclusive publication at Allakhazam. This week, Kim Tae Gon, Producer of Atlantica Online chimed in on the goal to make Atlantica Online a 'unique experience'. The Journal entree -- which is primarily about the turn based combat system (that can be loosely defined as a 'console RPG-MMO hybrid') is well written and by an individual that knows the industry, and has a clear focus as to what he wants his game to be.

Getting Turned On

Atlantica's Turn-based Combat System

When we first started working on Atlantica, one of our foremost goals was to create an online gaming experience that was unique.  In a genre dominated by games that seek to emulate their most successful competitor -- I think you know the game I'm referring to here -- we took it on as our duty to present the gaming world something new and fresh.  At the heart of Atlantica, you find the turn-based combat system. This adds a level of strategy that we believe is seldom found in today’s MMORPGs.

Unlike most online games, where you control a single character, a large part of a player's "character" development in Atlantica actually revolves around finding and hiring various mercenaries to fight alongside you.  When entering a fight with a monster or another player, you find yourself in charge of  moving not only yourself, but up to eight additional other characters that you have picked up during your travels.  If you think of these mercenaries as your friends, then your strength and effectiveness becomes largely about who you know.