Website:
http://quelsolaar.com/Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS3xoik2iEQ
Love is an upcoming online game being developed by entirely by one man, Eskil Steenberg. It is currently in beta and has servers in both the UK and the US.
Love is unique to the point where it is very difficult to explain to those who haven't tried it, but I suppose I will do my best. While a lot of people call Love an MMO, this description is perhaps not very accurate as its design goes against and contradicts much of what most people think of when they think of MMO games.
Love has no leveling or stats to raise by grinding. Love is not that "Massive", with a limit of 400 players per server at most. Love has no character customization whatsoever for reasons that I'll get into. Love has no trading. Love has no "guilds". Love does not have a wide variety of equipment or weapons. Love has no PvP and is completely cooperative rather than competetive. In fact, you might as well leave just about everything you know about MMOs at the door.
So you may be wondering, if Love doesn't do any of those things what exactly does it do?
Love's gameplay is completely cooperative, more so than just about any other online game. Love is intentionally designed so there are no completely self-serving goals. EVERYTHING you do is done to serve not only you, but everyone else in your group, or in this case "settlement".
This emphasis on cooperation is so strong that it is perhaps the biggest barrier to entry for new players, who are often so accustomed to the self serving behaviors encouraged by other online games that they have trouble getting used to Love's style of gameplay.
The setting of Love is a small planet where the terrain changes and alters itself over time. These changes are controlled by procedural algorithms and are almost completely automatic. This means that areas you have explored the previous day will have changed significantly by the time you return. For example, that mountain you climbed may be gone or the tunnel through it may be blocked.
This is ever changing world made possible by Verse, a network protocol that allows graphic applications to share data in real time. Verse allows art assets, such as models and in-game areas, to be edited in real-time by multiple users as well as the game itself while the game is using them. In a way, you could say that Verse is key the piece of technology that allows Love to do what it does.
Players establish settlements in the world within which they can alter the terrain to build walls, buildings, rooms, ect. Each settlement is centered around a "Monolith" which establishes the radius within which every player in the settlement can build things.
Players try to collect "tokens" and bring them back to the settlement so they can be used by everyone in the settlement. These tokens perform a variety of functions once placed in a settlement such as provide tools, provide weapons, manufacture resources, generate power, decoration, allow for the building of transportation, energy distribution, and defense systems, and so on. These tokens are placed throughout the world and are often protected by terrain obstacles and computer controlled enemies, which as mentioned earlier are generated and periodically altered by the game's AI.
Once a token is placed in a settlement, it can be used by everyone in the settlement. Tokens provide tools to edit terrain and build things, provide weapons for combat, manufacture items, and allow for the construction if certain structures.
The settlement infrastructure system in Love involves power distribution, transportation, and defenses. Many tokens allow the construction of buildings that serve as the pieces of this infrastructure. Manufacturers and defenses such as turrets and forcefields require energy, which is gotten from power wells, generators, and windmills. Power wells occur "naturally" in the world and have to be found to be used while generators are rare but can be found and placed in a settlement. Windmills can be built using a certain token, but only provide power during certain times of day. The energy from these sources can be directed by power reflectors, stored in deposits for later use, and so on. These systems, like many others in the game, are controlled by a system of radio signals and coordinates.
On the transportation side, certain tokens allows for the construction of cable relays and teleporters that can be configured to connect to each other and transport players and items from point A to point B. Again, these are configured and connected using the coordinates put into each device and can be controlled through radio signals.
As for defenses, tokens allow for the construction of turrets, explosive traps, and forcefields that can be connected to sensors such as proximity triggers and radar, again configured using coordinates and controlled by radio signals.
There is a lot of depth to these systems that I can't really cover here without making this a lot longer than it already is. For larger settlments they can become complex enough that you can spend hours building and improving them.
The enemy AI in Love uses many of the same tools as the players and have their own settlements. They periodically invade player settlements and destroy infrastructure and tokens. They also guard tokens and attempt to prevent players from getting to them.
Players are provided with a variety of weapons and devices such as blasters, grenades, rocket launchers, chaff pods for disrupting power and communications, cable pods for overcoming obstacles and so on to combat these enemies. These weapons are provided by tokens brought back to the player settlement. Combat is more or less like a first person shooter.
Invading an enemy settlement often involves a trying to disrupt their defense systems and infrastructure, which are similar to the ones in player settlements. While smaller enemy settlements can be attacked and overcome rather easily, larger more complex ones may require players to find a way to sabotage several layers of defenses in order to have any chance of destroying them.
In many ways, you could say that Love is the complete opposite of an MMO.
Most MMOs focus on the self-serving activities in an environment with large numbers of other players. They're pretty much built around feeding the egos of their players.
Love focuses players in smaller and much closer groups who accomplish goals and perform tasks to serve each other. Love is more about the accomplishments of players cooperating as a group rather than the accomplishments of the individual. There isn't much room for big egos in Love.
I've been playing this game since Alpha and I must say I'm very impressed with what Eskil has managed to do despite being on his own. (Eskil has even been on the Teamspeak server every night for a while now to discuss the development of the game with us directly.) Even though it's unfinished I've probably had more fun in this game than I ever did in WoW or Eve Online. Of course, this game wasn't really made for everyone and I don't think everyone would like it as much as I do, though I do recommend at least giving it a try.
A word of warning however, keep in mind that there is currently a $5 fee to get into Beta to cover server costs and there are no guarentees on playability as the game is changed.
This is not because Eskil is a greedy asshole or anything like that. This was set up because there are people (myself included) who wanted to test the game so badly that they have been willing to pay to support the developer and cover the cost of their participation. If you do choose to participate keep in mind that you're literally donating your money to the development of this game and won't be guarenteed a return on your investment.
DO NOT PURCHASE A BETA KEY UNLESS YOU ARE 100% OK WITH THIS!
IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS AT ALL, WAIT FOR THE FINAL GAME! 
