Swedish dev making a 'small' MMO game

He said, "What I wanted to do instead of making a massively multiplayer game for thousands of players was to make a really small game for say 200 players, so you can know or get to know of everyone. You will be able to build the lore of the story through your actions."

Steenberg also wants his online world to blur the lines between reality and fantasy a little more than most do to make for a more immersive experience. "Firstly, MMOs are very technical, which I don't like. Secondly, it's really hard to take that kind of fantasy world seriously when the guy you're fighting is called AssPimp55."

The trouble with MMO games is the first M, believes Steenberg. He says it's hard to develop a sense of community when there are hundreds of thousands of people in the game. He explained, "I think it's interesting to have a smaller community and a more social experience."

He will also be doing away with several of the online role-playing game genre's stalwart features, including player-versus-player battles--there will only be collaborative play in Love--and player progression. Instead, players will get to see how the online world progresses because of their actions.

GameSpot saw a prototype version of Love when Steenberg came to visit the US offices, and he showed off what he described as a technical build. "Genre-wise, it's somewhere between fantasy and sci-fi. I call it lo-fi," he said. "I kind of want the Star Wars feel--there is technology in the world, but it isn't a super-high-tech world; it's more of a grungy world."

When asked when the game was likely to be ready to be open to the public, Steenberg laughed, "The dev time will be shorter than Duke Nukem Forever." Putting on a serious face, he said he was hoping to have something ready to go for this summer.

More information on Love can be found on its official Web site.