Hello all you cool JME people!
We have a small indie game studio Star and serpent and we are working on our first game Rituals of the old. Our team has 6 people: a lead coder, coder, a 3D artist/generalist, two musicians and me - the project leader/game designer.
We are currently working on the game on a part time hobby basis (except for me, I'm doing this around the clock) with a $0 budget. We aim for a commercial release when we get further along with the development.
The coding of the project started on june 2016 so it's very new and we are still pretty much laying out the plans, coding the basic stuff, designing the models and making concept art etc. But the foundation for the game world has actually been in development already for 4 years.
As you probably guessed, since I'm posting here, we are using JME as a base so we don't have to start from a scratch. We spent about one month planning and weighing in all the potential options before we decided to use JME - we've been very happy with our choice so far.
The game and backstory
The Rituals of the old will be an easily customizable sandbox multiplayer voxel building game with stories and adventure and a well designed modding API.
The game will support offline mode but our main interest is the multiplayer. You will be able to make your own dedicated servers. The single player offline mode will be free of charge. We will make our income from selling the multiplayer keys - one time payment, probably around ~20$ for a single account. And you get all the future updates free of charge.
The game takes place in the distant past of mankind at the end of the era of enlightenment on the primitive planet Koto in the far reaches of the galaxy. The planet was colonized and terraformed a long time ago by human settlers.
In the recent history the once powerful great galactic imperium has fallen in a war of attrition against a superior foe. Generations have passed since the ships of the great galactic imperium were last seen - freeing the people of the planet Koto from serfdom and servitude.
The machines and technology the starborn (as the citizens of the Koto called the people of the great galactic imperium) left behind on the planet has mostly broken down in the course of time. With no skill to understand or to repair them the people have returned back to using more primitive tools and ways.
The world is calm on the surface, but beneath the appearances is a society deeply scarred and torn between the past and the present.
Since the fall of the great galactic imperium and their priesthood many have been secretly turning back to worshiping the old gods once forbidden by the priesthood of the immortal sun emperor.
There have even been terrified whispers and rumors of the resurrection of the bloody old ways and the rituals of the old...
Technology and other details
The technology in the game will be a mix of old and futuristic. You might for example see a guard wearing a chain mail armor scouting the perimeter of a town wielding an energy weapon, the last few of it's kind. The guard is wearing a vizor on his head which brings up a HUD which can zoom and identify targets.
This kind of technology will be really rare though and you can't craft it. It's only a remnant from the past.
Mostly the items and technology that you see in the game will items like swords, lot's of sword, old tools, blacksmiths, tailors, bakers, and some wildly inaccurate simple flintlock pistols, windmills, etc.
And of course there will be ritual magic and ancient creatures. Magic and witchcraft is a taboo and witches are burnt on stake.
You will see bandits, brigands, guilds, religions, strange languages, otherworldly spirits, farm animals, wild animals and other creatures.
The mood of the game will be that of a melancholy beauty. Not dark but not too sugary either.
The game will be realistic when possible and the difficulty will be hard but not artificially with too much grinding.
Find out more
Web pages:
https://www.ritualsoftheold.com/
Blog:
http://starandserpent.tumblr.com/
Discord chat:
https://discord.gg/jCQW4uC
Forums:
YouTube:
If you have questions, please go ahead and ask them.
