The sci-fi MMORPG Perpetuum was born in late 2010 and has now died in its seventh year. But the game and the developers hold their heads high.
In Perpetuum, humans stretch their feelers through anomalies to distant galaxies. As they cannot travel through anomalies themselves, they send their robots across space. For there, resources, new energy sources, and power await!
As a player, you controlled one of the robots – and that could be pretty cool!
An army of robots
If Mechwarrior and Eve Online had a child, it would probably look like Perpetuum.
In a persistent sandbox world, you took on the role of a Mechwarrior on a single server to explore alien planets, mine resources, and trade. Such resource-rich planets led to fierce power struggles – Perpetuum was not just a pure strategy game; it also offered fights and battles.
Everything was interconnected, which meant a variety of tasks and challenges: You could rise to become a respected trader, work in marketing, and of course, fight against other mechs to secure dominance. Whether you acted in a team or as a lone wolf was up to you.
The end of an era
All this is of course now in the past: On January 25, Perpetuum closed its official server after seven years for financial reasons. The developers now look back on the past years with a bittersweet smile. In a blog post, they bid farewell to Perpetuum – in a way that ensures the game’s dignified exit.
“At first, we had no idea what we were actually doing,” admits developer Gargaj. “We had a vague idea and then just tried to implement that idea. If we had known what developing an MMO meant, we probably wouldn’t have even attempted it!” Because yes, it means sweat, tears, and a hell of a lot of work.
At the beginning, most of the developer team was only in their early 20s: Their heads full of dreams, their hearts full of ambitions, but experience close to zero. They were indie before the term became trendy.
“The thought that we might not make it or that it might not even be meant to be never crossed our minds. Instead, we took a headlong dive into the MMO business!”
From inspiration came an idea, and from an idea came a game. The development of Perpetuum was characterized by passion, but not by great financial resources or skill. There was no manual they could follow, no teachers who could teach them much. Nevertheless, it worked for the most part.
“We knew it wouldn’t last forever.”
However, the developers had no illusions from the beginning. They simply wanted to make the best of their abilities and the resources available to them – and are satisfied with the results.
The journey from beginning to end was bumpy, full of ups and downs – and an early access that the team experienced drunkenly. Until the end, they poured work and effort into the game, even though they knew long before the actual end that it was coming soon. They didn’t want the game to suffer a slow, miserable death.
The players thank them with final, respectful messages under the blog post. Sometimes, you just have to let go of things when they come to an end. That is a shame, but perfectly okay – and the developers of Perpetuum show how to recognize your own limits and gracefully draw a line.
The end is a new beginning
Not only the developers are now going their own ways, but Perpetuum itself is not entirely dead yet. The official server may be down and the developers no longer maintain the game, but it continues to live on a standalone server.
This is maintained by the community and is now called “The Open Perpetuum Project“. This also explains why the game is still available on Steam. One can be curious to see how it will develop after the official death.
Did you play Perpetuum and can share personal anecdotes? Or have you never heard of the game?
Perpetuum carries on the legacy of some big names that passed away in 2017.
