The wait is over: The mystery of the countdown on the official Crowfall site has been revealed in the form of a Kickstarter campaign. Additionally, Artcraft Entertainment completes the final puzzle piece and specifies the planned features.
The mysterious timer on the official Crowfall site has reached its conclusion and has also kicked off a Kickstarter campaign. Since the game aims to be released without a publisher, Artcraft Entertainment is seeking financial support from fans for the development of the game.
The studio was founded by Shadowbane creator J. Todd Coleman and Gordon Walton, who has been involved in many different MMO projects. To realize the visions of Crowfall, at least $800,000 is needed within the next 29 days. However, the chances are looking very good so far: The community has obviously opened their wallets and has donated over $650,000 within 2 days.
In the past, only bits and pieces of gameplay information about Crowfall were revealed. The developers kept us in the dark regarding detailed gameplay content and their connections. But now, with the launch of the campaign, things have become concrete and the final puzzle piece has found its place. I have completed the puzzle and would like to introduce you to the special features:
Strategy meets MMO
[pullquote]It’s like Game of Thrones meets Eve Online[/pullquote]
“It’s like Game of Thrones meets Eve Online“, as J Todd Coleman and Gordon Walton label their fantasy MMORPG. Crowfall is not intended to be a standard off-the-shelf game. The developers consciously break genre-specific standards and norms. Coleman describes it as a mix of MMO and strategy game. With the challenge of combining the two different genres in mind, the minds behind Crowfall developed a unique concept.
The different worlds in Crowfall feature unique maps, rules, and victory conditions. Each world is different. Players can join guilds, factions, or noble houses to gain control of the world. Characters created should remain permanent. The worlds and campaigns, however, will decay. The developers call this whole process the “Throne War Simulator,” which differs in three fundamental elements: The Time. The Destruction. The Power.
The Time
Good news upfront: You can keep your created character forever, unlike the worlds where you wreak havoc. The various realms are referred to as “Campaign Worlds” and will decay after a certain period. Typically, it takes between 1 to 3 months until decay occurs, or the worlds end when the victory conditions are met. Each of these campaigns has its own cycle in the form of different phases that are traversed. These phases represent the four seasons:
Phase 1: Spring
In spring, the adventure practically begins. Players emerge from the ether onto the map and must first orient themselves. Everything is destroyed, ruins of past kingdoms can be found everywhere, and the map is covered in fog. This phase is primarily used to become familiar with the local conditions.
Phase 2: Summer
In summer, things finally pick up speed, and the first battles ignite. Resources become scarcer, and many players thirst for power and wealth. It’s now about protecting the resources you’ve plundered. Additionally, “The Hunger” comes into play.
Phase 3: Autumn
In autumn, things really heat up: The resource scarcity and the increasingly powerful monsters and opponents intensify the situation. Here, it will show who has developed best from the plundered resources. Also, battles will move from the fields to the built cities and castles. It’s time for siege battles, as well as preparing for the cold winter.
Phase 4: Winter
In winter, it’s a final sprint with little food. Alliances will be broken, kingdoms will become more powerful, and the smaller realms will rise up. Always keeping the goal in sight to achieve victory.
Phase 5: The Fall
Here, it will be decided who emerges as the victor from the battles and can claim the campaign for themselves. In a decisive battle, it’s about victory or defeat and the destruction of the entire world. Afterwards, the heroes will return home and dive into the next adventure.
The Hunger
The Crowfall universe is circular and consists of various inner circles. “The Hunger” is the driving force at the center of the universe. What this entity is and where it comes from remains unclear. What is factual is that “The Hunger” possesses intelligence and spreads like a veil over the campaign worlds, leading to total destruction. As if that were not enough, “The Hunger” also causes a form of “mutation” among the beings in the campaign worlds. Over time, the creatures of the worlds mutate into bestial monsters.
The Destruction
Destruction plays an essential role in Crowfall. After the time has elapsed or the campaign goal has been reached, each campaign world decays. Concurrently, new worlds with new objectives are created. This allows all players to start a new campaign at any time and under equal conditions. This is supported by a special engine.
Voxel Farm technology aims to enhance the gameplay experience
The beginning of each campaign is like the first round of Civilization: Players are thrust into a harsh environment surrounded by the fog of war. The worlds are full of deadly monsters, ghostly ruins, and abandoned quarries. Added to this is the most dangerous predator of all, the other players. Next, resources are gathered to build massive fortresses and craft weapons. The climax of each campaign is the decisive battle over victory and defeat, where the phrase “let the chips fly” can be taken literally. Therefore, the developers consciously chose voxel farm technology.
The basic principle is similar to that of Minecraft, as all materials can be created or extracted in blocks. Crowfall aims to exploit both advantages of the technology to the fullest. For example, you can blow holes in walls or dig tunnels underneath castle walls – even entire landscapes can be destroyed in this way. Thus, Crowfall reaches a new level of intensity.
Additionally, voxel technology plays a special role in world generation. This means that players fight in a procedurally generated world automatically created by an algorithm. Mountains, forests, valleys, rivers, and even entire continents are generated autonomously. As a result, each campaign takes place in a unique and individually designed world by the algorithm.
The Power
In the Crowfall universe, there are exactly two types of worlds: on the one hand, the so-called “Campaign Worlds,” which will perish over time, and on the other hand, the “Eternal Kingdoms.” These serve as a kind of base from where you plan new raids and boast about your conquests. One could also call it the housing area in Crowfall. However, the catch with the eternal kingdoms is a different one: They are completely managed by the player community.
As the monarch of a province, you can distribute your land among other players as you wish. You decide whether to rule your realm as a benevolent ruler or instill fear and terror as a tyrant. However, there are no resources in the eternal kingdoms. For that, you must enter the campaign worlds.
Different worlds, different rules
In Crowfall, unique means truly unique. Each of the worlds not only differs in level design but also in the requirements and conditions of the individual campaigns. Each campaign has its own rules, which might look something like this:
– What races and classes are allowed for the campaign?
– How long does the campaign last?
– What does the match-up look like? Guild vs. guild? Free-for-all?
– What resources can be harvested? In what quantity are they available?
– Are items destroyed upon death? Can I loot other players?
The Character System
In addition to the innovations in gameplay mechanics, they have also come up with something for the characters. During character creation, we first choose a base archetype. Each archetype reflects a central role and playstyle. For example, certain archetypes are very effective in combat situations, while others excel in crafting and resource management.
Once we choose our basic class, such as a warrior, we can then assign various advantages (such as “Eagle Eye”, which improves archery skills) and disadvantages (such as “Heart Weakness”, which weakens stamina). Be careful with assigning handicaps: If we boost our skills in one area, skills in another area will decrease.
Throughout the game, we can equip our heroes differently thanks to the extensive crafting system. Additionally, we can choose between three different disciplines. These are subclasses for our base archetype. We can also create multiple heroes and send them to different fronts.
Monetization Model
The completion of Crowfall’s core module is planned for the end of 2016, of course with the prerequisite that the Kickstarter campaign is successful – which we can be sure of. Until then, several alpha and beta tests will take place. The earliest alpha launch is not expected until the summer of 2016. You can currently purchase access through Kickstarter, and those who pay $60 can already participate in the first beta. Despite being Buy-2-Play, Artcraft Entertainment relies on an in-game shop as well as a “VIP membership.” However, the shop is said to not offer any gameplay advantages, according to the FAQ.
For more information, you can visit the Kickstarter page for Crowfall and check out our previous specials on the MMO that is set to provide a new experience:
The MMORPG Crowfall aims to combine the best of two genres. The MMORPG aspects should provide gaming depth. Strategy elements are responsible for keeping Crowfa...
