Arawulf

ArtCraft recently revealed some interesting news about the Eternal Kingdoms (or EK) by announcing their Parcel Builder Tool. For those unfamiliar, each player in Crowfall will serve as the monarch of their own personal EK. These zone-sized worlds serve as permanent and persistent home bases that can be customised, built and serve as social/economic hubs.

Dr. Frankenstein is the title character from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel who, after studying the decay of living beings, assembled a humanoid creature comprised of a various collection of human remains. Talk about a gruesome crafting profession! Leave it to the folks at ArtCraft to say, “I think we’ll include that.” Yep, it’s in Crowfall and it’s a crafting profession called Necromancy.

For example, I’ve always enjoyed the Star Wars bonus videos that talk about how George Lucas found the inspiration for the films, how difficult the original movie was to make and the large number of creative and technical changes it went through. It’s hard to imagine Star Wars with Luke Skywalker as a 65 year-old general or Han Solo as an alien with green skin and gills - but it could have happened.

The team at ArtCraft has been amazingly transparent throughout development. No NDA in Pre-Alpha, posting numerous production diaries and engaging in consistent communication on the forums have all gone a long way to build confidence among the player base and grab the attention of the curious. That being said, ArtCraft also loves a good mystery.

The second Crowfall playtest is upon us and the game has seen some significant additions. While the game is still very early in development, in this column, I’ll explain some of the upcoming MMO’s progress from Pre-Alpha 1.0 to Pre-Alpha 1.1.

I love statistics. I was the kid that would have all of his baseball cards flipped stat-side up. Sure, the player’s picture was neat and all, but the real stuff was in the stats. Graphs and charts are my jam. When ArtCraft surprised the community by releasing Part 1 of their recent player survey results, complete with graphs and charts, I was in my happy place.

With nearly 95,000 registered players, 23,000 backers and nearly $6 million in funding, it’s safe to say that Crowfall has come a long way since their Kickstarter ended in March. Attracting players and raising funds are always two of the larger challenges that indie studios, like ArtCraft Entertainment, will face. The more important challenge, however, is the following through and making a good game!

In November, Pre-Alpha 1.1 testers will have the opportunity to play as Crowfall’s gigantic melee fighter called the Champion. And because there is no NDA, everyone else will have a chance to watch! They’re big, strong and pack a whollop. With a quick Reverse Chain Pull, the burly Champion can hurl himself at the enemy and then strike with powers such as Flying Neckbreaker, Massive Cleave or Whirling Pain.

After spending several hours in the recent Crowfall Pre-Alpha Combat Test 1, I can say without a doubt my confidence in this crowdfunded title has never been stronger. For ArtCraft entertainment to take this player-driven MMORPG from a Kickstarter demo in March of 2015 to a playable module in August is nothing short of impressive. Considering that the module was delivered on-time and is actually fun game mode, it’s my opinion that the future couldn’t be brighter for Crowfall.

One of the most common questions I’ve been asked by friends is whether or not Destiny lives up to its hype. While it may take weeks, months or even years to truly know the answer to this question, there is no denying that Destiny has had a big impact in the gaming world. When a title recoups its entire $500 million budget on day one, it’s hard not to notice. Does this mean that we’ll still be talking about Destiny a year from now? Good question.