From Gamasutra (via Massively):

As the MMO genre matures, and as certain avenues of competition are closed off by saturation, developers naturally begin to turn their sights towards unexplored territory for the genre. One such is Funcom’s Ragnar Tornquist; perhaps best known for The Longest Journey, he’s more interested in exploring a supernaturally-tinged present-day world than another medieval fantasy empire.

Though the MMO he’s working on, The Secret World is being built on the technological underpinnings that drive the company’s game Age of Conan, it’s a very different title — one that blends horror, fantasy, and real-world urban settings with some traditional MMO gameplay. On the other hand, a character leveling system, the absolute backbone of the genre, is eschewed.

Here, Tornquist describes the creative tone he’s going for as director and producer of the game, alongside Martin Bruusgaard, the game’s lead designer.

The result sounds like an experience both like and unlike online and offline games of the past — and one that could be an important stepping stone in the genre’s evolution if it finds a receptive audience.

I first saw NDA’d material from this game way back in 2005, as I recall. How long have you actually been working on it?

Ragnar Tornquist: This game has been in development for a very long time. We’ve been working on it for a while. Officially, we’ve been working on the game since 2006. That’s when we had sort of the team we have now, but we did work on the game briefly before when it was called Cabal back in 2002.

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Read the full interview on Gamasutra (or the printer-friendly version)…

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Tags: Funcom, Ragnar Tornquist, Secret World