Preliminary development for Anarchy Online began in 1995 at Funcom's Oslo, Norway studios.[24][25] Up until that point, the company had only developed offline video games for consoles, including the critically successful Speed Punks for the PlayStation.[26][27] In a 2007 interview, former project leader Gaute Godager said Funcom's management wanted to put substantial resources into developing a new MMORPG; they believed the genre's user base would expand in the coming years. Unlike most other games in the genre, which had traditional role-playing fantasy themes, Anarchy Online featured a science-fiction theme.[28] The game would also feature a relatively large playable area, and graphics that were, at the time, more advanced than existing MMORPGs.[29] Godager said he and many other developers saw the idea as "crazy," describing the project as "very ambitious".[30] The project's team grew steadily between 1995 and 2001 to include at least 70 developers.[31]
In a 2001 interview, gameworld designer Morten Byrom said that the process of creating Rubi-Ka's virtual world had "taken more time and effort than anyone imagined when we first started." The team took inspiration from a number of sources including science-fiction books, movies, architecture in Oslo, and other games in the genre. They stated one of the biggest challenges as finding ways to encourage players to use the entire game world as they play, not to "gather in one corner". Byrom said he wanted to give the world as much detail as possible to make the game "convincing" to the player.[32]
Composers Morten Sørlie, Tor Linløkken, and Bjørn Arve Lagim created the soundtrack and music of Anarchy Online. Using a system they call "Sample-based Interactive Music", the game mixes numerous music samples to create dynamic music. By starting, stopping, fading, and layering samples based on where the player is, and what they are doing, the game creates a continuous stream of background music. Bjørn Arve Lagim stated the music in inspired by the "traditional sound" of a film score, using both orchestral and electronic instruments.[33] Longer full-length versions of some songs were later released on compact disc with a special edition of the game in 2002.[34]
Anarchy Online was officially announced at the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). GameSpot, and other online sites, published articles tracking the game's development over the next year.[35] It made its second appearance at E3 in May 2001, one month before launch. Based on the beta version shown there, GameSpot stated they were "confident in the game's progress, given what we've seen".[36][37] At the European Computer Trade Show in 2001 it was awarded Multiplayer Game of Show.[38] A public beta test began two weeks before launch, during which 100,000 players downloaded and played pre-release versions of the game, helping the company find bugs and other technical problems with the software
In a 2001 interview, gameworld designer Morten Byrom said that the process of creating Rubi-Ka's virtual world had "taken more time and effort than anyone imagined when we first started." The team took inspiration from a number of sources including science-fiction books, movies, architecture in Oslo, and other games in the genre. They stated one of the biggest challenges as finding ways to encourage players to use the entire game world as they play, not to "gather in one corner". Byrom said he wanted to give the world as much detail as possible to make the game "convincing" to the player.[32]
Composers Morten Sørlie, Tor Linløkken, and Bjørn Arve Lagim created the soundtrack and music of Anarchy Online. Using a system they call "Sample-based Interactive Music", the game mixes numerous music samples to create dynamic music. By starting, stopping, fading, and layering samples based on where the player is, and what they are doing, the game creates a continuous stream of background music. Bjørn Arve Lagim stated the music in inspired by the "traditional sound" of a film score, using both orchestral and electronic instruments.[33] Longer full-length versions of some songs were later released on compact disc with a special edition of the game in 2002.[34]
Anarchy Online was officially announced at the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). GameSpot, and other online sites, published articles tracking the game's development over the next year.[35] It made its second appearance at E3 in May 2001, one month before launch. Based on the beta version shown there, GameSpot stated they were "confident in the game's progress, given what we've seen".[36][37] At the European Computer Trade Show in 2001 it was awarded Multiplayer Game of Show.[38] A public beta test began two weeks before launch, during which 100,000 players downloaded and played pre-release versions of the game, helping the company find bugs and other technical problems with the software
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