MWSF: Freeverse announces online Arcane Arena

In a surprise mid-expo announcement, Freeverse revealed the first details of an ambitious new Mac game at Macworld Expo San Francisco. Dubbed "Arcane Arena," the new title will offer massive multiplayer team-based combat in a fantasy RPG-style world.

Using a client-server game architecture that Freeverse describes as "awesome," users will be placed on an island as untested novices, but will be challenged to quickly upgrade their skills. In addition to traditional RPG style abilities, weapons, a huge magical system and a sub-island dungeon proving ground, Arcane Arena's main attraction will be team vs. team combat in the island's arena.

Freeverse promises to emphasize teamwork through a novel combat system that is geared more towards the thinker than the clicker. By assigning each player a skill-dependant speed that allows them to move once every one to four seconds depending their character's abilities, Arcane Arena's multi-player combat becomes a constantly changing slow motion dance where something is always happening.

Arcane Arena's pacing allows players ample time to use ranged weapons, summoned creatures, melee maneuverings, and a spellbook containing more than 60 different spells. The game's spell-wheel interface and ability to handle macros further help gamers stay on top of the action.

In an interview with MacCentral, Freeverse president Ian Lynch Smith commented that "we made the combat system as cool as we could" while trying to keep the scale of the game reasonable. Smith also noted that one of Arcane Arena's strengths is that the Arcane Arena server handles all the gameplay, while the client only handles display. This setup, coupled with the client's plug-in architecture, theoretically makes Arcane Arena an extremely flexible and extensible gaming system.

Arcane Arena will be free to download and play, although Freeverse is working on a novel payment model that will allow gamers to take the Arcane Arena experience one step further. Further details and pricing will be revealed as Arcane Arena nears release. Arcane Arena will first be available for beta testing in Q1 2001, and Freeverse asks that interested gamers go to the Web site and join the Freeverse news list, as they will be soliciting beta testers from there.