Clockwork Symphony Releases Path Info & Concept Art
Clockwork Symphony, the steampunk MMO being developed by a group of ambitious developers calling themselves the Clank Crew, recently released more information on the varied and exciting "paths" that players can take as they play through the game. Additionally, they've released the game's first pieces of concept art. You can see these images, done by graphic artist Kyle Vana, within this article, but to see the full size pieces, be sure to check out the official Clockwork Symphony forums.
In Clockwork Symphony, there will be three distinct paths – or ways to play through the game – that are based on different steampunk genres or locales. Cabal Alz, These paths are Gaslight Romance, Weird West, and Pulp. Not only do these paths offer different styles of gameplay, but they'll also feature a varied assortment of instanced and open world adventures.
Gaslight Romance adventures, considered the "classic" steampunk genre and what most people immediately think of when they think of steampunk, will take place in a fictionalized 1875 San Francisco. The town will be an open zone for the most part but most adventures will be instanced. This makes sense, since in a well-policed city there is little crime out in the streets. San Francisco will see characters of all level ranges moving throughout the city, heading to and from their instanced adventures.
Weird West, a place of gunfights and ancient curses, features a more linear path. Your adventures will occur in a specific area until you've gained enough levels and are ready to move on to another, higher level area. Characters will thus be segregated into level ranges, but mentoring a lower level character and taking them on a higher level adventure will certainly be possible.
Pulp, filled with famous adventures who travel the world, is a path that the developers haven't quite reached an agreement on yet. One direction they may go in, which I would be all for, is to have different areas (San Francisco, the rain forest, the mountains, the desert, another city, etc) sparsely populated with content which goes from level 1 to the level cap. It'll be interesting to watch as they get the plan for Pulp narrowed down.
The idea behind Clockwork Symphony's path system is to not only add variety as a player levels up in the game, but also to create a built-in replay factor. Starting with a new character will be an all-new experience if you choose a path that you haven't seen before. But don't worry about being forced down a path you decide you don't like. You'll be able to switch paths on any character pretty easily.
For more information, head on over to the official website of Clockwork Symphony. You may also want to check out my articles about the game at Examiner.com, and read the interview with Rachel Williamson, lead developer, posted here on MMOSite.
