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Intel Acquires Offset Software

by Rainier on Feb. 20, 2008 @ 11:09 p.m. PST

Offset Software's Sam McGrath revealed today that the developer, currently working on its first person shooter codenamed Project Offset, has been acquired by Intel.

Project Offset is the very pinnacle of epic fantasy warfare: A class-based union of visceral, close-quarters melee and long-ranged shooter combat set against the backdrop of cataclysmic war.

Features in the game include:

  • An engaging single player adventure, experienced through the perspectives of multiple heroes from two warring factions and an extensive online component to continue the war alongside or against other players
  • Two ferocious armies, composed of culturally diverse races and classes, providing unique play experiences with different abilities, weaponry and tactics
  • Ridable war beasts such as Siege Trolls, ferocious Lizards and charging Battle Boars
  • Objective-based multiplayer combat that focuses on capturing, constructing and destroying key points throughout the battlefield as well additional game modes to extend the mayhem
  • Breathtaking visuals powered by the bleeding edge technology of the Offset Engine; Life-like characters and environments, brilliant lighting effects, rock-solid network code and physics.

Project Offset provides a high action combat experience with the control scheme and frenetic pace of a FPS, like Halo, but split 50/50 between projectile and melee combat. To realize this goal, an all new hybrid combat model has been created that integrates intense shooter gameplay with a streamlined but strategic melee fighting system. A combination of attacks, parries, and grab maneuvers, often found in modern fighting games, is simplified to simple button combinations and adapted to a shooter style control scheme. The player is given the ability to block, dodge, and even reflect projectile attacks to balance the melee and ranged combat into a seamless, high intensity battle experience.

The single player game is not based around a single main hero with a single story arch. Instead, you, the player, experience the conflict through the eyes of multiple characters similar to movies such as Sin City, Pulp Fiction and Crash. As you strive to complete each mission, and as each character's goals are met, story lines will begin to intersect, and the plot will become more intriguing and complex. You will even see the actions you performed as one character have consequences for another as the mystery unfolds before your eyes.

As an example, there is a tale of a great Warrior who changed the fate of the world. The player will defend a ravaged human village, and then journey to his home, Abinden, only to see it destroyed by goblins. His story will continue until a specific event.

During this event , narration will take over, a cinematic will play, and the tale of the goblin will be introduced. You will now embark on a journey as this goblin, motivated by his own revenge. Your mission will be to overtake and burn a human village and eventually overthrow and destroy the giant city of Abinden.

These stories, while interlinking, will not be linear. The sorceress' tale, for example, while being one of the last tales the player experiences, actually starts centuries before. Here the player will get more pieces of the puzzle before returning to present time.

When the single player has ended, the player will have seen the world from all angles. Moreover, he will have learned to play each character class and be ready to dive into the multiplayer. This storytelling technique also leaves room for additional tales released as expansions, or delivered episodically. By introducing new characters in this way, the franchise can be expanded indefinitely.

Project Offset's multiplayer component picks up the fiction where the single player story leaves off and players will be able to continue the war online, choosing sides in the conflict and competing in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Objective Based multiplayer matches with 2-24 players. The same epic scope will be maintained in the multiplayer as factions square off against one another to gain control of Aylon, and teams work together to ensure victory. Balanced classes, varied environments, and multiple game types will assure a deep experience that players will be drawn to beyond the engaging experience of the single player game.

All of the characters in our game share the same core combat mechanic but each has been specialized into well known fantasy genre classes such as Warriors, Wizards, and Assassins. These classes not only differentiate a character’s play style, keeping the single player fresh, but they also create key battlefield roles that player’s can assume in multiplayer matches; encouraging teamwork and cooperation.

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