There’s a new MMO RPG/strategy on the Kickstarter block and it’s called Crowfall. It’s ”like Game of Thrones meets Eve Online” says developer ArtCraft Entertainment. It’s all about the realms.
The game is split between realms that last for a few months, and the more permanent player-controlled lands that can forge a kingdom. It blends RPG with ”large-scale” strategic elements.
We’ll have to visit Campaign Worlds if we want to plunder riches and resources for our kingdoms, which exist only for so long - ”typically 1 to 3 months” - or if a ‘win’ condition has been achieved. These realms (servers) also have four stages to represent the seasons, and things get deadlier as time goes on.
”At the end of Winter, the Campaign is over. A victor is declared, the map is wiped and that World goes offline forever…
…but the characters are NEVER wiped. Instead, the participants take their winnings back home to the Eternal Kingdoms, to prepare and strategize for the next Campaign.”
The game world is made of voxels, similar to Minecraft, except they have a much higher fidelity, which makes the whole world destructible. ”We are harnessing VoxelFarm technology to generate an endless succession of unique and interesting Campaign Worlds for you to mine, shape, conquer and destroy.”
”The beginning of each Campaign is like the first round of Civilization: players are dropped into a harsh environment, surrounded by Fog-of-War. The Worlds are filled with deadly monsters, haunted ruins, abandoned quarries… and the most dangerous predator of all, other players.”
While the Campaign Worlds are temporary and there to be ‘mined’ for resources, we also have the Eternal Kingdoms. These are everlasting and are managed by the players themselves, but have no resources. That means we must venture into Campaigns, or trade with players.
”Players act as rulers – they can divide up their domains into provinces and grant those lands to other players. Benevolent monarch or iron-fisted tyrant, what kind of kingdom will you rule?”
We’ll be able to create multiple characters so we can participate in multiple Campaigns at once, and they all start with a base archetype, with advantages and disadvantages decided by the player.
”Each hero archetype represents a core role and play-style. For instance, certain heroes will be extremely effective in combat situations while others excel at crafting and resource management.”
ArtCraft is looking for $800k from their Kickstarter campaign, which has just begun. With that they plan to fund the core module of Crowfall.
The studio has developers who’ve been involved in multiple MMO projects over the years, like EverQuest, DC Universe, The Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and many more.
Check out the Crowfall Kickstarter campaign to learn more of this ”throne war simulator” MMO. So far it already has over $100k pledged from less than a thousand backers.
