The future of MMORPGs is, and always has been, in the hands of the players. Recognizing this, French game developer Ankama Games is developing a sequel to their highly popular Dofus (pronounced doe-fuss) game. The game, Wakfu, is set in the DOFUS world 1000 years in the future. The world has changed visually and much of the landscape is now underwater, though players of the Dofus game will find much familiar inside the world.

Sérgio dos Santos, International Marketing Assistant for Ankama Games, sat down with me recently and I have to admit, I find myself looking forward to Wakfu more now than ever!! Ankama Games has succeeded in a wonderful way with Dofus, providing a mostly pay to play game with a lower subscription cost ($65 a year which include special gifts) drawing millions of players into their world. Their studio is often overlooked, however, when discussing long lasting and well made games, to the great detriment of the MMO industry. With both games, it would be a true tragedy to ignore the story and fun that are available at a cost that is both reasonable and affordable compared to most other subscription MMOs.

Just like Dofus, Wakfu is flash based, bringing both MMOs to a much wider audience than many available MMOs. The required system specs for playing Wakfu will be slightly higher than Dofus but that's not saying much, considering the game will run on just about every PC out there! Another plus is that operating systems the game will accept include Mac, Linux, and Windows.

Let's get one thing straight right away. Neither of Ankama's games are traditional Free to Play (F2P) offerings, with a shop that sells in game items, experience bonuses and customization features. They offer free trials of unlimited length; however, access to in game areas, levels, and pets is either modified or restricted. Subscribers, however, can access and play the entire game without having a micro-transaction experience.

Joining the trend that trading card games such as Pokèmon and Chaotic have made popular, Wakfu is teaming with the second largest French public television network France 3 to bring an animated show to the table. The show is currently not scheduled to appear on stations outside of France. Ankama is in talks to bring the program to the US and Germany.

The studio is also looking at merchandise, trading card games and comic book options to help spread the word of Wakfu as well as convert fans of these other popular arts into MMO players!

A Nintendo DS standalone single player game is also being developed for Wakfu and the team is looking into console type additions as well. While console versions will most likely not connect to the PC game, there has been some talk that the different console shards may interact with each other. An X-Box 360 version has even been talked about!

So what does Wakfu offer?

The Stylized graphics allow a broader sense of color and expression, allowing the designers to better tell their story visually rather than relying on realistic representations. Realism often gets in the way of a good story, drawing the user's attention to small details which aren't exact. A less realistic style certainly gives Wakfu's storyline a more impressive scope, without worrying about the little inconsistencies we often find in realism.

Each of the 12 classes is based on a Dofus class, with a rumored (but not yet confirmed) class being based on a character from the TV show. Wakfu is skill based, so the more you use each individual skill available to you the more powerful it becomes.

The combat in Wakfu is turn based, but even more so than rolling of the die, come your turn to fight. Combat begins with being taken out of the game terrain and placed in a ring available only to the combatants. Players in the nearby area can watch, but can not participate. Positioning yourself next to or behind your opponent will yield a bonus to combat. Turn based combat focuses more on tactics and less on button mashing and twitch responses.

While some players of other MMOs may feel the combat becomes slower, a turn based system is often more responsive and gives players a more complete sense of winning as skill plays a larger part without the issue of lag, skills not going off when pressed, or aim being off or wrong. Of course, PvP is a large part of the game and is also turn based!

NPCs are not a part of the game world, giving players unprecedented control over the story. Players will decide on the fate of the world in a much more tangible and consequential manner. As you move through the world over killing of species can lead to extinction. Over use of resources can lead to scarcity. Player controlled governments in areas can create laws and affect the future!

While this is a claim many games offer, it's not one that's truly been attempted in such a unique scope. This could be because the plan might lead to an incredibly rich world filled with a deep, truly player driven story. Or it could be suicide for the game. Either way, the attempt makes the game worth a look, once it launches later this year.

More so, the environment itself could create what's being called Dynamic Challenges. There are four types of Dynamic Challenges; Kill, Ecosystem, Social and Discovery. Each challenge is timed, and is unique to the area of the world in which the player triggers the event. Everything from killing a number of mobs, to crafting and exploration will remain for players to conquer!

The game will be available and published by Ankama in Spanish, German, English and French. They have found a publisher for South America as well, which isn't surprising given the popularity of MMO games in that region.

I do have to note that while Dofus' click to move controls have been kept, Sérgio mentioned that movement can be bound to the keyboard. I think the importance of this should not be lost on anyone. Traditional MMO players, even younger ones, tend to not appreciate movement systems that are blocky, and difficult. Let's face it, click to move is so 1992.

Aimed at a 'tween' audience many main stream MMOs don't target, the world of Wakfu is colorful, well presented, and rich with community and storyline. While the game is still in closed beta and under NDA the launch is fast approaching, with incredibly low system specifications required for access and a low learning curve for getting into the game. There's no reason not to try the game once it launches!

Becky "Tovin" Simpson
Senior Editor, ZAM Network