Carbine's mystery MMO is a 'future fantasy'

Carbine Studios' top-secret MMO will encompass a futuristic fantasy feel inspired by Hellboy, Tank Girl and Full Metal Alchemist; and feature an illustrated visual style influenced by animated films like Princess Mononoke, The Secret of Nimh and Naruto. Not that we've seen it ourselves, mind you - we're just going by the studio's latest blog entry from art director Matt Mocarski, which describes Carbine's ambitious art direction for the untitled MMO, and why it might actually be fun for a change.

%26ldquo;When we started this project, we had a couple goals in mind for the art. We wanted to be sure that we developed something that was iconic and recognizable as a signature of our game. When gamers see our game, we want them to instantly know that it's Carbine's MMO,%26rdquo; wrote Mocarski. %26ldquo;So, we started looking at the things out there that have influenced us as artists. Mainly, American and European comics and American and Japanese animation. Across all of these were some recurring themes, such as expressive characters with high-personality, and lush beautiful backgrounds.%26rdquo;

Mocarski went on to detail the artistic evolution of the studio's unnamed MMO, noting that the team was set on a unique hand-drawn look from the very beginning, but that it took a few tweaks to translate those designs into a living, breathing 3D reality.

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Reflecting on the final product,he added: %26ldquo;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. 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.%26rdquo;

NCSoft will be debuting the first trailer for Carbine'smystery MMO at GamesCom 2011 in Cologne, Germany later this month. Meanwhile, you can attempt to visualize the project yourselfby reading Mocarski'sfull blog post.

Aug 11, 2011

Source:PC Gamer