As the internet grows to consume every last aspect of our lives so that it can one day crush us all, and as each new generation grows more and more net-savvy, new steps are being taken to provide safe havens for our impressionable youngsters. Online games and destinations for kids are now plentiful and varied, from kid-safe social portals like Club Penguin and Habbo Hotel to fully-featured child-oriented games such as Toontown Online and the upcoming Hello Kitty Online. Now, another company that knows a thing or two about keeping kids entertained is entering the online fray: Cartoon Network is preparing to launch Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall after two and a half years of development by Korean MMO designers Grigon Entertainment, with a beta phase slated for (appropriately) this fall. On the surface, FusionFall looks like a standard kid-safe MMORPG which leverages CN's portfolio of unique characters, but as we learned during an extended conference with the FusionFall team yesterday, it has the potential to be much more than another single-click-combat level grinder -- and, as parents will be pleased to discover, it employs some fascinatingly extensive technology in the name of child safety.

The premise behind FusionFall isn't much of a stretch: Planet Fusion, which resembles a world-sized wad of phlegm, is a horrible planet-consuming entity which happens to be on a collision course for -- wouldn't you know -- Earth. This particular version of Earth, thankfully, is home to the Cartoon Network Universe and its planet-saving denizens, including Dexter (of Dexter's Laboratory), Samurai Jack, and The Powerpuff Girls. All of these characters and the familiar locations and features of their respective franchises will come together (hence, "fusion") to guide players characters in their quest to fight back the Planet Fusion invasion, and prevent the Earth from being overrun by the gooey monsters.

The FusionFall team compares the story to other such large-scale character crossovers as DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths or Marvel's Secret Wars, though it faces some new difficulties by including characters which might not typically engage in world-saving activities, such as those from Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, or Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Still, the team noted that while it's certainly an added challenge to add comedy cartoons to an epic action game, it turned out surprisingly well for some of the characters. Matt Schwartz, content director for FusionFall, noted that "When the characters are strong, when the characters are good, you can put them in any situation." So, while defeating aliens might come naturally to Ben 10, players will also get to battle monsters alongside the likes of Billy and Mandy. Alongside them, mind you -- not as them.

FusionFall is far from the first MMO to utilize established characters as NPCs or story-driving elements. What sets FusionFall apart from, say, Lord of the Rings Online or Pirates of the Caribbean Online, is the method in which the characters appear. Yes, the various characters will appear as standard quest-giving NPCs, and you will be able to visit familiar CN locations like Camp Kidney or the Kids Next Door's treehouse, but the characters have all been re-imagined in a new style to give the game a cohesive feel -- in some cases, the characters have even been aged up slightly (players can expect to run into a slightly older Dexter). Players will also be able to collect thematic gear reminiscent of the various franchises, allowing characters to battle aliens using giant turkey legs or gumball bazookas. What grabbed our attention, however, was the promise of a game feature called Nanos. Upon successfully completing a mission, players will be awarded with "Fusion Matter," a strange substance which can be used to create Nanos, which are floating, super-deformed versions of the various CN characters which will accompany the players on further quests. In this way, players can collect and interact with their favorite characters on a closer level, bringing the various personalities on quests, and benefiting from the various powers the Nanos grant. FusionFall is also using the Nanos as a way to differentiate itself from accepted standards of MMO character advancement and class selections: Players will gain new Nanos rather than "leveling up" in the traditional method, simply gaining access to new abilities and buffs, and will be able to swap Nanos out in order to fill specific needs, i.e. a player might take along a healing Nano and act as the team medic for one mission, and take an attack-boosting Nano for another.

It's also worth mentioning that the FusionFall team has left no corner of the CN library unexplored with regards to bringing the licenses to life for fans. We asked if FusionFall players would be treated to performances from the shows' original voice actors, and the answer was a resounding "yes;" FusionFall will include "all of the original voice actors who were available," which the team estimated at roughly 90%. Fans can expect to hear the original voices of Dexter and Dee Dee, KND's Numbuh Five, and many more. FusionFall has even brought back notable performers for its supporting cast, including Mark Hamill as KND's Stickybeard.

Apart from the aforementioned characters, FusionFall promises to bring in some of CN's classic franchises, as well as newer faces like Chowder and Flapjack, and even forthcoming shows like The Secret Saturdays. "Anything that is Cartoon Network-owned will appear in some form," promised Schwartz. Unfortunately, CN's popular imports won't be included, so don't expect to see Total Drama Island or Naruto showing up. Still, as CN's library grows, so too will FusionFall -- the development team is planning semi-annual updates which will add, among other things, new characters and related content.

Needless to say, FusionFall has plenty to offer cartoon fans of all ages. Still, while the content may be 100% child-safe, will FusionFall be truly child-friendly? The FusionFall team was only too happy to list the ways in which Cartoon Network is preparing to provide a safe and carefree environment for their targeted 8-to-14-year-old audience. Chris Waldron, the game's executive producer, noted that two things are paramount when designing an online experience for children: accessibility, and safety. In service of the former, FusionFall is a browser-based game, streamed directly to users following a minimal download on Windows PC or Mac -- "Any OS where you can use a relatively compatible browser," promised the team. Though the ease of use and browser compliance is similar to CN's existing library of flash games, the team stressed that FusionFall is most definitely not a flash game; the title will use the Unity game engine, a fully 3D toolset which allows for fullscreen play and complete immersion through a simple browser plugin. We were directed to sample a tech demo of what Unity can do through a presentation on its website, showcasing the engine's ability to get any browser into a lush 3D interactive environment in merely a minute.

While the FusionFall folks felt they deserved to "pat themselves on the back as one of the first [teams] with this level of quality through a browser game," they stressed what keeping FusionFall in the browser will make possible for accessibility. The high tendency for today's kids to be completely browser-savvy is one thing, but technical director Rob Knopf also noted that the bulk of their demographic will be playing on older PCs -- "hand-me-down" systems they will have inherited from their parents after several years in use. As such, the team felt it was vital to strike a balance between the power of those aging systems and the high production values one ought to expect from a triple-A title. "FusionFall is not a 'casual' game," Knopf stressed.

Despite that last assertion, however, FusionFall's designers do intend for the game to be played casually. As part of the game's many features to keep the game safe for kids and accepted by parents, FusionFall will be designed for play in controlled, half-hour bursts. The quests will be designed for completion in 30 minutes or so, and the game will also institute a variation on World of Warcraft's "rest" system, in which players will receive increased rewards after having been offline for an as-yet undecided amount of time. Furthermore, the game will actually decrease rewards -- potentially down to zero -- after periods of extended play, thus encouraging kids to take breaks, go outside, and finish their homework. "We want to be the sitcom of the MMO industry," laughed the team.

Still, though time considerations will be surely welcomed by parents, they are far lower on the list of concerns for today's kid-safe games. FusionFall would like to assure parents everywhere that FusionFall is sparing no amount of social responsibility when it comes to protecting its players from harassment, cyberbullying, and predators. The game is, for starters, fully COPPA compliant, requiring full parental permission and consent for any and all FusionFall activities, from the basic ability to sign up and play, to potentially harmful social windows such as forming groups or engaging in any chat beyond a simple menu-based communications list.

Beyond that, Cartoon Network wants to ensure that once parents grant those permissions, their children will remain well-protected. To that end, they have enlisted the aid of Crisp Thinking, a technology firm whose sole business is online protection for young users. Crisp's suite of moderation and monitoring tools will work on three levels to keep kids safe from harm: In the immediate term, an extensive chat filtering system will do the obvious task of keeping profanity and inappropriate language out of view. Looking a little further, the software is also designed to monitor chat messages which may lead to harmful situations; if a child unwittingly provides his address or phone number, for example, a warning will be transmitted to a FusionFall moderator right away so that they may step in to further assess and monitor the situation, and intervene if necessary. Finally, Crisp even promises to provide what it calls the Engine for Relationship Analysis, which will work to analyze conversations and relationships over long periods of time, tracking behavioral patterns beyond single-session chatting. Using algorithms developed from millions of children's IMs and communications from real-life predator cases, the ERA is programmed to detect "grooming" behavior to ensure children aren't the target of a stalker's long con.

Concerns about Big Brother aside, we asked if these features might become intrusive for older users. It's certainly vital to protect our kids, but if CN is truly hoping to make FusionFall attractive to all ages (which they are), how protective can we expect the software to be? I'm not eager to start playing the game with a friend and then have the FBI break down my door because I asked if we ought to catch a movie later. The FusionFall team mentioned that their countermeasures are still very much a work-in-progress, and they were debating how to handle varying levels of infractions and potential harm. However, a great deal of worry should be alleviated by the fact that FusionFall will have a dedicated support team of human moderators to supplement the software. A help center and a group of GMs will be on hand to answer petitions, tech support, and grievances, and one assumes they'll be smart enough not to call out an Amber Alert when they see a friendly conversation between two users with ages over 18.

In the end, the FusionFall team is very aware of the delicate balance they need to strike -- keeping the game safe, yet allowing the freedoms necessary to keep the game fun. The game is expected to go live before the end of 2008, and CN is hoping to provide enough innovation in both gameplay and security to make the game a good entry for parents to play right alongside their kids.

Stay tuned for further in-depth previews of FusionFall's combat, platforming gameplay, and characters.

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