Freakin’ Sweet: Fox Announces Family Guy Online MMO

20th Century Fox announced this morning that it plans to bring “Family Guy” to the internet as a browser-based MMO later this year. The game, produced by Roadhouse Interactive using the Unity engine, will feature 3D graphics and user created characters that can be built right now, if you register with the game’s site.

Fox Consumer Products Senior VP Gary Rosenfeld said, while speaking to Gamasutra, ”If you look at the demographics of the Family Guy fan, it matches really well with the demographics of game players,” referring to the popularity of “Family Guy” with the Male 18-34 bracket. As for what type of game it will be, Mr. Rosenfeld hinted that they’re aiming for what he called an “accessible game,” between the user-friendliness of Facebook games and the stat-driven time drain of bigger MMOs like Starcraft II. ”We want a game that is compelling and will engage a  ’core gamer’ but also has enough in it and is easy enough to get into that someone who is not a ‘core gamer’ will enjoy what they’re doing.” [quotes mine]

Coming along for the development process are “Family Guy” writers Andrew Goldberg and Alex Carter to help recreate “Family Guy”‘s brand of humor in-game. Roadhouse co-found and CCO Ian Verchere said of the two writers, “They caught on super-fast and it’s been an absolute blast working with these guys.” In creating moments for the game, the development team looked back at previous seasons to create “game-able” moments for the players to experience, and using the Utility engine, can continue to add more even as the show airs. Gamasutra implies that an element could air on Sunday and be visible in-game later that night. They also theorize that staying up-t0-speed with the TV show can be experienced through microtransactions, although in-game advertising is also being considered to monetize the project.

Not a lot is known about the game now, but one thing has been made clear: you will not be able to play as the familiar “Family Guy” characters. Instead, you will create characters similar to the inhabitants of Quahog that everyone knows, which will grant you specific class-based perks. For example, you can’t play as Peter Griffin, but you can create a lazy, fat loudmouth like Peter, which will give the player tank-like abilities in game. On the same note, Stewie is not playable, but you can make smart, gadget-driven characters instead of playing as Stewie himself. The game will feature squad-based quests (this is an MMO, after all) and social features such as chat to keep players in touch with each other.

Speaking personally, I’m not a fan of MMOs and “Family Guy” has lost its luster for me, so I was ready to give this game a wide berth. But, in researching this article, G4′s Stephen Johnson asked Mr. Verchere if players could fight a giant chicken-man. His response: “Players will have to check in to find out.” Interest levels rising…

Sources: Gamasutra, The Feed, Family Guy MMO Official Site