Whenever I look through Wired’s GameLife blog, I find myself drifting anywhere between boredom and anger.  How can a gaming blog for what has to be one of the largest (if not the largest) tech publications in the world seem so out of touch so often?  Imagine my surprise when I actually found out about something new (new to me anyway) and interesting today!

I decided to check out the 20 Most Anticipated Games of 2010 (according to Wired of course), not really expecting to see anything terribly interesting, and for the most part, I was not disappointed.  Or rather, my disappointment was expected.  However, included among the titles about which people are inexplicably still excited (another Halo?  Who gives a shit?!) was an indie title simply called Love.  When I say “indie,” what I really mean is it’s all being worked on by one guy by the name of Eskil Steenberg.

So what’s it all about?  It’s sort of a smaller-scale MMO that takes place in a very pretty, procedurally generated world.  But it doesn’t have RPG-style leveling.  And there’s some city/base-building involved.  Honestly, based on the description from the website, it’s another title which doesn’t seem to fit comfortably into any particular genre.

It’s played from a first-person perspective “because you should see the world and not yourself”  (deep, no?) and is really focused on building a society.  Each server will have about 200 registered players, and it’s all cooperative gameplay versus AI  so it’s pretty likely players will get to know each other.  The controls are supposed to be very simple — “not dumbed down, but purified” — using found “tools” and “jump skills” to navigate the terrain and explore new areas.  Gameplay revolves around finding “Tokens” in the world which allow you to do various things.  Initially, it seems, you’ll either want to find a Token that will allow you to build a settlement, or join someone else’s settlement.    Venturing out into the world will yield more Tokens of various types, providing your settlement with new tools and buildings, and is therefore a benefit to everyone.  As Love‘s creator says, “this system forms the basis of the social gaming structure of Love, as players are never competing against each other and are always playing against AI characters.”

The building part is where the description gets a bit hazy, but still sounds intriguing.  I think it’d be best to put this part in the words of Mr. Steenberg:

The building system lets you not only deform the terrain and place out objects like trees, it also lets you create infrastructure.  Various objects can be connected to work together by setting coordinates, radio frequencies and keywords.  For instance you can set up a sensor that sends a keyword over a radio frequency to open a door.  This system is also used by infrastructure built by AI characters.  By studying infrastructure, players can “hack” it by sending commands over the right frequencies.  This system lets players build intricate relationships, but it also sets up plot as the players will need to manipulate enemy installations, like deactivating shields, opening doors and cutting power to enemy weapons.

While I think Eskil and I have different definitions of the word “plot,” this whole concept is interesting to say the least.  The unique look of this labor of Love (get it?) and its procedurally generated engine features are what initially prompted me to find out more about the game, but the mechanics sound different enough that, if implemented correctly, it could be a very rewarding experience.

Be sure to check out the website for some more info, screenshots and video.  The Love beta is going on right now, though it’ll cost you 3 Euros (a little over $4 U.S.) for 30 days of access.