Face of Mankind

Face of Mankind
File:Fomlogo.JPG
Developer(s)	Duplex Systems
Publisher(s)	None
Designer(s)	Marko Dieckman
Engine	LithTech Jupiter
Platform(s)	Windows
Release	Canceled
Genre(s)	MMO/FPS
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Face of Mankind was a first and third person massively multiplayer online roleplaying game set in a futuristic persistent world. The game was played from a variety of points of view. It was designed to emphasize roleplay and community, using a faction system and player-driven politics.

Players interact with each other in a freeform universe, consisting in a series of locations spread across various planets. Major roleplaying-based storylines, purely optional, are started and run by Duplex staff. Players in a position of power may also affect gameplay by setting a faction's agenda, creating long-term political, economic, or military goals, which are broken up into missions handed down through a faction's hierarchy in the form of player generated and driven missions.

Released in March 2006 after a lengthy beta starting in 2004; in November 2007, publisher Ojom withdrew support for the game. Duplex Systems shut down the game's servers in order to restructure it and relaunch as Face of Mankind: Rebirth. On June 30, 2008 Duplex Systems announced that Face of Mankind: Rebirth is now cancelled, citing financial problems.

Gameplay

Player versus player

Unlike other MMORPGs, Face of Mankind: Rebirth plans to offer an open player versus player system. The core of the system will be combat between clans, the intended primary player structure, for control over bases. Because of the open nature of the system (that is, a player may attack any other player at any point, though not without consequences), individual combat will still remain a viable form of character advancement, though the focus will be on clan warfare.

Player versus environment

Face of Mankind: Rebirth intends to offer a variety of standard NPC-offered missions, akin to quests in other games.

Economy

The basic economic unit of the in-game universe is Elementium, a form of currency. There also exist various types of minerals and resources, which may be used by players to produce in-game items. Elementium may be gained though mission rewards, sale of materials, and extractor units located at clan-owned bases.

History and changes

• Closed Beta testing started in April 2004, and the first phase of Open Beta started in February 2005. The second phase of Open Beta testing ran from December 2005 to March 23, 2006, ready for the launch on March 27, 2006.

• Face of Mankind was shipped for retail sale on 31 August 2006; both downloadable and retail versions were available.

• The Face of Mankind official portal was hit by a series of DoS attacks during the month of May 2007; The attacks made the official portal unavailable throughout the month. These attacks were cited as playing a part in the eventual closure of Face of Mankind as a financial venture. The perpetrators were eventually arrested after an investigation by the Scotland Yard Computer Crime Unit

• On November 2nd, 2007, Face of Mankind publisher Ojom ceased support for the development and operation of the game. Duplex announced an attempt to continue the game without a publisher; further news and developments were announced on November 13th, 2007, detailing how Duplex is going to be reworking the game mechanics in order to be able to fund it.

Around June 23rd, 2008[2], Marko Diekmann declared on the official website that development of Face of mankind Rebirth has been cancelled. He is now pursuing another game under Duplex called Nanoverse Online. Little is known about the game as of June 29, 2008, other than a small synopsis gleamed from the page source on the main website.

"Nanoverse is an epic science-fiction based massively multiplayer online game in a microcosmos, a persistent world where thousands of players world-wide can build their own nanobots and compete with each other."[3]

External links

• Official Face of Mankind website
• Official Face of Mankind information page (hosted on MMORPG.com with endorsement of the Duplex development team)
• Unofficial Face of Mankind forum
• Face of Mankind on Gamezone
• Face of Mankind IGN interview

Reviews

• PC-Games Welten 71%
• MassiveFPS.com grade: B