What do you do when you have a team that features some of the top creative minds behind games like World of Warcraft and Tribes? If you're Red 5 Studios, you create Firefall. The upcoming sci-fi epic is a multiplayer, team-based shooter that looks gorgeous, but won't require a cutting edge gaming rig to play. And it'll be free.

Ars spoke with James Macauley, executive producer on the game, to learn more about why the high-end online shooter won't cost a cent.

One of the biggest concerns with a free-to-play game is how important the premium items are. If spending real-world money on virtual guns and armor gives you a significant advantage, it takes a lot of the fun out the experience. This type of system rewards those who are willing to spend money, instead of those who actually spend time playing the game and improving their skills. Money becomes a substitute for skill. But Macauley says this won't be the case with Firefall.

"We're still in the process of setting up the details of our micro-transaction system, but one of our primary goals with Firefall is to make sure that players can't just buy their way to the best equipment," he told Ars. "We don't want gamers purchasing experience points or levels, though we do think buying perks that improve your efficiency at certain tasks makes sense. Marketplace transactions are situated for creating a more enjoyable play experience. Firefall fans will be able to buy things like paint for their battleframes, bumps to their resource collection, and items of time convenience.

"Above all else, Firefall is skill-based game focused on player progression, and we won't allow a marketplace to change that."

Like most online games, Firefall features a great deal of character customization. But it doesn't have classes in the traditional sense. Instead, you can equip battleframes, which are essentially your character's armor. But each one has its own attributes and gives your character different skills. Each can also be swapped depending on the situation. It's almost like being able to change classes whenever you like.

"Rather than forcing players to pick a specific class at the start of the game, and then play it through the duration of that character, each character has access to different battleframes that can be quickly customized to fit the given needs of any situation," explained Macauley. "If your team is being hit particularly hard by a group of enemies, you can equip your Medic battleframe and become a healer. If you need to dish out more damage, a quick switch to your Assault battleframe will accomplish that. Our goal with battleframes is to give players a unique experience that's flexible to their needs. Of course, you'll need the right equipment for the right job."

Firefall is gorgeous to look at, despite being a free release—just watch the trailer above. The semi cel-shaded art style is reminiscent of Team Fortress 2, while the vast alien world evokes memories of StarCraft and Starship Troopers. There are massive, large-scale battles and bug-like alien creatures. But this isn't a game that will force you to go out and buy a new computer just to play it. Red 5 removed the price tag on Firefall in order to attract as wide an audience as possible, and the studio is hoping to make it as accessible as possible from a technical standpoint, as well.

"Another potential barrier to people playing and enjoying Firefall is with our system requirements," Macauley said. "This is a topic we've worked on since the beginning of development on this project. We're still optimizing the game, and haven't announced our final system requirements yet. However, Firefall is an online game, and when we release the game in late 2011, we want to make sure it's equally as playable for people with a high-end PC as it is for someone with a bargain gaming rig."

Given the names behind the project, it's natural that expectations are high. But that doesn't seem to phase the developers.

"Something that sets us apart from our past work is the unique approach we’re taking to the game," Macauley said. "Not only is our team focused on making a top-notch title with a high production value and an eye for detail, we’re also making it free to play and free to download. That’s a rare combination."

Firefall is coming toward the end of 2011. You can register to play in the game's beta here.