Post by Lord Ba'al on May 23, 2015 14:06:34 GMT
The Universim
The Universim is a next generation Planet Management God - Game in development by Crytivo Games and designed by Alex Koshelkov.
11,617 backers pledged $387,345 to help bring this project to life.
Funding period: Apr 23 2014 - May 24 2014 (31 days)
The team’s deepest desire and ultimate inspiration is to create a game that we, and the community, want to play. We want to create a game that is just as unique as it is entertaining; something that will always keep you coming back for more. The Universim aims to unleash you upon the universe with the powers of a god to begin forging your galactic empire in the stars. The ability to play as a god gives you unparalleled power, but unlike other god-games, you cannot interact directly with your population in the game. However, you can influence their decisions and change the way in which your civilization evolves. It is up to you to decide which technology path they follow and what kind of research they undertake-you have the power to shape their future. Instead of taking control of a static game world that awaits your every command, life will go on as you would expect. You are effectively taking control of a living simulation. Like a ball of clay on a potter's wheel, the world will keep spinning, but you will be there to mould it to your liking. Although, the ball of clay may or may not slap your hand away at times.
Your civilization will begin in the Stone Age and steadily progress, advancing beyond the modern era, then moving into the age of intergalactic exploration and colonization. The game will feature a similar evolutionary path to the human race, but players will have the tools to shape their civilization’s progress. You will need to think carefully when making decisions about things such as their research path. Some things may be far more important than others, depending on the situation and era. Even though you may think that fancy new gadget is worth dying for, you will also need to consider how it could be used while your people are slowly turning into fossils.
Buildings and society will evolve as you progress from era to era; certain special buildings will become available once you research a particular technology. Buildings will begin to spring up around what we call The Epicenter, the central heart of every city in the game. You can place an Epicenter in any feasible region on the planet that supports cities, and buildings will begin developing around it as your population grows. The buildings are constructed by the AI and thus are built dynamically around the Epicenter, meaning you cannot select where they are built. However, you can still place special buildings wherever you want to! Buildings will grow dynamically based on the conditions around your Epicenter. In certain environments, your population and buildings will grow faster, but in cold environments, deserts, and other rather inhospitable areas, food may be scarce and therefore will hinder development.
In The Universim, resources play a major role in the game; they govern the integrity and growth of your civilization. Resources can be used in various ways: to create new technologies, to expand your empire, to research exciting or life-saving inventions, and to help your civilization’s advancement through the ages. This is what makes intergalactic exploration so much more important in the space-age!
The space era will be the culmination of all your hard work. All of the choices and decisions you have made will truly begin to bear fruit, and reveal their consequences, if any exist. This is when you will begin to discover all of the beauty and mercilessness of alien planets. Whenever you discover a mysterious new planet, it will be an exciting experience...
Every planet you encounter in the game will be as unique and vibrant as the last. You will come across planets with varying temperatures and environmental conditions as well as a wide range of characteristics that make them incredibly special. Planets will also undergo the changing of seasons which can affect the many environmental biomes on the planet. It can cause rapid changes in temperature and conditions. This can have a major effect on the gathering of food and resources as well as the development of buildings. The game will keep track of the time and date, and will change the seasons according to the in-game timeline. Summer offers the best food yield and growth period due to its favourable weather, while winter can bring many negative effects. Some winters may go by quickly, while others will drag on. Fortunately our in-game News System will inform you about upcoming winters. So you better prepare for long winters by storing food in advance. Failure to do so may starve your civilization to death over the course of the season.
Colonizing a planet requires a little preparation beforehand. The Go button is not the miracle button, unfortunately. There may be a few issues that will need to be resolved first. If adequate research about the planet is not done, it may result in the untimely demise of your colonization team. It can be rather difficult to walk on molten lava while fending off giant space mosquitoes with nothing but a can of sunblock! Particularly while wearing the previous mission's sub-zero equipment.
In order to keep track of all of this information and help you to explore the universe more easily, we came up with a simple way to manage your galactic endeavours; by clicking on any star in the sky, you can utilise our intuitive GUI to quickly navigate the various planets represented by the stars and reveal extensive details about them, like how far away they are and what kind of conditions you can expect to find. This will allow you to discover new planets and colonize them if you have the right technology. There will also be a number of unlockable and upgradeable options available here. For example, you can research an all-terrain Rover that can be sent to recon a new planet. The Rover will be able to provide more details about the planet’s conditions, environment, and the various resources it possesses. This can be incredibly helpful when deciding whether or not you want to colonize a planet or move on to the next.
The Universim is driven by dynamic events. Natural disasters, alien visitors, diseases, war, famine, riots, and so much more can be thrown at your civilization at any time. All of these factors and how you play the game, contribute to population growth and development. When something like the plague strikes, it is up to you to quickly strategize on how you will help your civilization overcome this disaster. The way you are able to fight certain disasters changes from era to era. Cavemen do not exactly have P.H.D's in science and the knowledge to create cures, for instance. However, you can trigger disasters if you are displeased with your civilization’s choices. With every action they perform that goes against your wishes, you generate wrath, which can then be unleashed upon them at any time.
We are planning to have up to 12 different viruses in the game that each have unique qualities and effects. It is probably a good idea to prepare new variants of antibiotics in advance to counter future viral outbreaks. Certain viruses will spread slowly through your population, but will be difficult to cure. Others may be easier to cure, but will spread faster and possibly cause more damage if not caught in time. You may even encounter types that fly completely under the radar and spread throughout your cities and colonies by sneaking aboard planes and interplanetary shuttles. Pay attention to the in-game News System for early signs of a breakout!
Every now and then, something mysterious may fall upon one of your planets. You can then prepare an expedition to investigate these rare occurrences, if you so wish. Expeditions can be organized at any time, assuming you have the resources. The further an Expedition needs to travel, the riskier it becomes and the more resources it will require. Fallen material can be incredibly valuable to your civilization. It may be a new technology that will boost the well-being of your civilization dramatically, or it could be a meteor containing some kind of valuable resource that will open up more research options. Then again, it could also be an unprecedented disaster waiting to happen; such as an explosive compound that upon disturbing, wipes out part of the planet, or a deadly virus lying in wait. It can be seen as a high-risk, high-reward kind of system.
One more feature that we are really excited to implement is the Dynamic News System. It will not only inform you about important game events, but it will also have a few incredibly humorous stories to tell. We hope to eventually give players the ability to write their own stories and events for any particular time period and share them with the community. Of course, this will be moderated. We can’t have the world invaded by inappropriately named extraterrestrials after all! These stories will be displayed in-game for everyone to enjoy. You can even construct an actual mission-based storyline for players to follow. You can also select the exact age and type of event that will trigger your news headline, or the new story campaign. With this system, every time you play the game, there will always be a seemingly infinite supply of entertaining stories in the News System. You can choose whether you want to follow someone’s storyline or simply enjoy the stream of news in Sandbox Mode. This community system is called The Universim Live News System.
The beauty of this kind of game is the huge amount of freedom that we have to experiment and continue to add amazing new content before and after its launch. That is what makes all of the hard work worth it! We have only scraped the surface of what we can accomplish with the information and features listed here. With the community by our side, we can undoubtedly transform this game into the best planet management game ever created. We are always willing to listen to what you have to say. We take your feedback seriously and want to ensure that we are spending the budget responsibly and on the features YOU want to see in the final game.
In-Game Object Editor
We are also proud to officially announce that there will be no DRM and absolutely no micro-transactions for the game whatsoever. All future DLC will also be completely free.Therefore an internet connection is not required for activation or play, although it can add many more features to your experience.
The Universim release roadmap
As you can see on the timeline above, we plan to release the first Alpha Build by the end of this year (2014) if the Kickstarter is successful. Why are we not releasing a working build within a few weeks? The truth is that we want to ensure that we deliver the best possible alpha experience with minimal bugs and glitches (although there will still probably be a few!). Quality and balance is our number one priority right now when working on current and new features. We believe that laying a proper foundation is crucial. We can update and improve it all from there with your feedback.
If you would like to upgrade your pledge and receive access to earlier builds, you can simply add the difference on top of what you have already pledged and select the new tier. For example: if you are at $15 and want to upgrade, you can simply add $5 to your pledge to receive access to the Beta or $15 to receive access to the Alpha. At the end of campaign, we will send everyone Surveys to confirm your reward selection and see which add-ons you selected as well.
The following are stretch goals which will be achieved if the community manages to blast through the primary funding goal and truly blow us away with their support!
Key Stretch Goal
Multiplayer can form the soul of any good game. When a game introduces an excellent multiplayer mode, it develops the potential to live forever in the hearts of the community and offer seemingly limitless hours of fun and replayability. That is why we dedicated an entire section of the Kickstarter page to discuss the concepts and endless possibilities that Multiplayer could possess in The Universim.
In Multiplayer, players will be able to connect with their friends in co-op or in a special 'Versus mode' where each can control their own planets and civilizations. The primary goal in versus mode is to create the ultimate galactic empire and colonise as many planets as possible. This mode allows for up to 8 players to work alongside, or against one another, as they struggle for total universal domination. Research will play a major role in Multiplayer, just as it does in the Single player component. However, it comes with an entirely new level of responsibility as you will need to find friends to ally with you and assist in the fight against your enemies for precious technology and resources. All players will start in the Stone Age, giving them a completely fresh canvas upon which to begin painting their galactic empire. When the time comes and your research and technology has reached the appropriate level, you can begin discovering technology such as satellites which will enable you to communicate with other planets that have already done the same. This can give you a distinct advantage over other players as it enables your civilization to ally with the players you are communicating with.
However, you had best remain cautious. Alliances can be as easily broken as they are formed. And breaking alliances often involves a sharp knife in the back! For example, allies can send you a deadly virus hidden within a Cargo Transport Spaceship when you are actually expecting 24000 units of oil. Imagine the look on people's faces when their entire civilization is suddenly threatened with extinction. Fortunately, you can dedicate a large amount of your time and resources to researching a cure, but this will leave your planet weak and open for attack. You may only have minutes left to say goodbye to your beloved citizens before your former ally's nuclear missiles wipe your civilization off the face of the planet.
Co-op allows up to 4 players to work together, or against one another, to dominate a single planet. Each player will begin on a different corner of the world. You can then assist one another to spread out across the stars. There is also an option for each player to start on their own planet and conquer the universe in a similar manner to 'Versus'.
Unfortunately, with all of these awesome features and so much more to come, the Multiplayer mode will be incredibly expensive to develop and maintain. It can cost thousands of dollars every month just to rent the appropriate servers, or maintain our own. It also requires a lot of work from developers to ensure that the game is balanced and in perfect working order at all times. That is why we need a large bump in funding to ensure we can deliver the best experience possible and create the proper foundation for the future. The Multiplayer stretch goal is marked as a key goal for the community at $920000. This will allow us to create and maintain a high quality and incredibly fun Multiplayer mode for years to come. We truly believe that with the inclusion of Multiplayer, The Universim will be shifted onto an entirely new level of fun where you will be able to spend hours every day researching amazing technologies, developing civilizations and discovering entirely new planets with your friends.
We have high hopes of getting the game out onto as many platforms as possible. At the moment though, we are focusing primarily on PC, Mac, and Linux for the initial release of the game. Like many developers, we are also excited about the possibility of developing for the new generation of consoles. We are also immensely interested in seeing how something like the Oculus Rift and other VR devices can add a whole new dimension to gameplay. If the game is successful, we see no reason why we wouldn't try to shoot for the stars and get the game out on as many platforms as possible for players to enjoy. Do not fear, though! We will ensure that we deliver the best possible experience on every platform we develop for and try our best to make use of the strengths of each one to the fullest.
We want to deliver a challenging and innovative gaming experience in an independent capacity and therefore Kickstarter is the best way to make that dream a reality. Because a game built by gamers with a budget supplied by gamers just seems to be a formula for success!
We want to forge an amazing community and give them the freedom to be creative, interact and meet new friends, and help us to develop the best game we possibly can. We have been receiving a few offers from some amazing publishers that love the concept and design of The Universim, but we are declining all of them as we wish to remain creative and open-minded. We want the community to be the driving force of this game, and the best way to do that is to remain independent. That is why we need your help!
We wish we could share even more details about the game with you, but even Kickstarter has its limits. Character limits that is! Please feel free to ask questions, leave comments, and interact with the dev team and community on our forums. This is our first project and we want to be as transparent as possible (without ruining some surprises of course!).
What's the funding used for?
We will be pouring every last cent we receive directly into the development of The Universim. Most of the money will ensure that the team can create the best experience possible for the player. Every additional bit of funding we receive will be used to improve the game in various ways. From gameplay right down to the smallest of details. With the right amount of funding, it could be possible to add entirely new features to the game, such as the Multiplayer component.
But we mustn't forget about the various taxes and costs that will take quite a large chunk out of our funding. We also need to make provision for the costs of all physical goods and shipping for certain reward tiers. There really are a lot of things we need to burn through before we can safely begin using the budget for the game itself. But fear not backers, everything has been taken into account. Whatever support you can offer will help us enormously in the long run, no matter how small!
Risks and challenges
A game of this scale is not going to be easy to develop. We will need to hire many more talented developers in order to get it to the quality that the community expects. We also need to work very carefully with the budget. Complications always spring up during development, we have made provision for this, but it can still spiral out of control. We will do everything in our power to avoid this. It can also go very smoothly if fortune favours us.
Another problem is the matter of the final game's release date. We would love to have it out by the end of 2015, but that may be delayed with the inclusion of new features such as Multiplayer, or other community-suggested features. That is why we are releasing the game in stages, beginning with the Alpha phase, moving into Early Beta, and eventually hitting final Beta where the last touches will be made before release. From then on, we will begin working on additional free content and any patches if they are needed.
Being independent has its ups and downs. We are effectively on our own as far as things like publishing, marketing, and legal stuff are concerned. We hope to release the game on Steam and other digital distribution services as well as our own, which will be linked to our site (and will be completely DRM free). One more thing that might hinder development is the inability to acquire a trademark for our game. It is unlikely that King.com trademarked the word ‘The,’ but we cannot rule out any possibilities!
There are many other risks and challenges that may crawl out of the woodwork, but we believe that we will be ready for most of them. With the community by our side, we can accomplish anything!
The Universim is a next generation Planet Management God - Game in development by Crytivo Games and designed by Alex Koshelkov.
11,617 backers pledged $387,345 to help bring this project to life.
Funding period: Apr 23 2014 - May 24 2014 (31 days)
The team’s deepest desire and ultimate inspiration is to create a game that we, and the community, want to play. We want to create a game that is just as unique as it is entertaining; something that will always keep you coming back for more. The Universim aims to unleash you upon the universe with the powers of a god to begin forging your galactic empire in the stars. The ability to play as a god gives you unparalleled power, but unlike other god-games, you cannot interact directly with your population in the game. However, you can influence their decisions and change the way in which your civilization evolves. It is up to you to decide which technology path they follow and what kind of research they undertake-you have the power to shape their future. Instead of taking control of a static game world that awaits your every command, life will go on as you would expect. You are effectively taking control of a living simulation. Like a ball of clay on a potter's wheel, the world will keep spinning, but you will be there to mould it to your liking. Although, the ball of clay may or may not slap your hand away at times.
Your civilization will begin in the Stone Age and steadily progress, advancing beyond the modern era, then moving into the age of intergalactic exploration and colonization. The game will feature a similar evolutionary path to the human race, but players will have the tools to shape their civilization’s progress. You will need to think carefully when making decisions about things such as their research path. Some things may be far more important than others, depending on the situation and era. Even though you may think that fancy new gadget is worth dying for, you will also need to consider how it could be used while your people are slowly turning into fossils.
Buildings and society will evolve as you progress from era to era; certain special buildings will become available once you research a particular technology. Buildings will begin to spring up around what we call The Epicenter, the central heart of every city in the game. You can place an Epicenter in any feasible region on the planet that supports cities, and buildings will begin developing around it as your population grows. The buildings are constructed by the AI and thus are built dynamically around the Epicenter, meaning you cannot select where they are built. However, you can still place special buildings wherever you want to! Buildings will grow dynamically based on the conditions around your Epicenter. In certain environments, your population and buildings will grow faster, but in cold environments, deserts, and other rather inhospitable areas, food may be scarce and therefore will hinder development.
In The Universim, resources play a major role in the game; they govern the integrity and growth of your civilization. Resources can be used in various ways: to create new technologies, to expand your empire, to research exciting or life-saving inventions, and to help your civilization’s advancement through the ages. This is what makes intergalactic exploration so much more important in the space-age!
The space era will be the culmination of all your hard work. All of the choices and decisions you have made will truly begin to bear fruit, and reveal their consequences, if any exist. This is when you will begin to discover all of the beauty and mercilessness of alien planets. Whenever you discover a mysterious new planet, it will be an exciting experience...
Every planet you encounter in the game will be as unique and vibrant as the last. You will come across planets with varying temperatures and environmental conditions as well as a wide range of characteristics that make them incredibly special. Planets will also undergo the changing of seasons which can affect the many environmental biomes on the planet. It can cause rapid changes in temperature and conditions. This can have a major effect on the gathering of food and resources as well as the development of buildings. The game will keep track of the time and date, and will change the seasons according to the in-game timeline. Summer offers the best food yield and growth period due to its favourable weather, while winter can bring many negative effects. Some winters may go by quickly, while others will drag on. Fortunately our in-game News System will inform you about upcoming winters. So you better prepare for long winters by storing food in advance. Failure to do so may starve your civilization to death over the course of the season.
Colonizing a planet requires a little preparation beforehand. The Go button is not the miracle button, unfortunately. There may be a few issues that will need to be resolved first. If adequate research about the planet is not done, it may result in the untimely demise of your colonization team. It can be rather difficult to walk on molten lava while fending off giant space mosquitoes with nothing but a can of sunblock! Particularly while wearing the previous mission's sub-zero equipment.
In order to keep track of all of this information and help you to explore the universe more easily, we came up with a simple way to manage your galactic endeavours; by clicking on any star in the sky, you can utilise our intuitive GUI to quickly navigate the various planets represented by the stars and reveal extensive details about them, like how far away they are and what kind of conditions you can expect to find. This will allow you to discover new planets and colonize them if you have the right technology. There will also be a number of unlockable and upgradeable options available here. For example, you can research an all-terrain Rover that can be sent to recon a new planet. The Rover will be able to provide more details about the planet’s conditions, environment, and the various resources it possesses. This can be incredibly helpful when deciding whether or not you want to colonize a planet or move on to the next.
The Universim is driven by dynamic events. Natural disasters, alien visitors, diseases, war, famine, riots, and so much more can be thrown at your civilization at any time. All of these factors and how you play the game, contribute to population growth and development. When something like the plague strikes, it is up to you to quickly strategize on how you will help your civilization overcome this disaster. The way you are able to fight certain disasters changes from era to era. Cavemen do not exactly have P.H.D's in science and the knowledge to create cures, for instance. However, you can trigger disasters if you are displeased with your civilization’s choices. With every action they perform that goes against your wishes, you generate wrath, which can then be unleashed upon them at any time.
We are planning to have up to 12 different viruses in the game that each have unique qualities and effects. It is probably a good idea to prepare new variants of antibiotics in advance to counter future viral outbreaks. Certain viruses will spread slowly through your population, but will be difficult to cure. Others may be easier to cure, but will spread faster and possibly cause more damage if not caught in time. You may even encounter types that fly completely under the radar and spread throughout your cities and colonies by sneaking aboard planes and interplanetary shuttles. Pay attention to the in-game News System for early signs of a breakout!
Every now and then, something mysterious may fall upon one of your planets. You can then prepare an expedition to investigate these rare occurrences, if you so wish. Expeditions can be organized at any time, assuming you have the resources. The further an Expedition needs to travel, the riskier it becomes and the more resources it will require. Fallen material can be incredibly valuable to your civilization. It may be a new technology that will boost the well-being of your civilization dramatically, or it could be a meteor containing some kind of valuable resource that will open up more research options. Then again, it could also be an unprecedented disaster waiting to happen; such as an explosive compound that upon disturbing, wipes out part of the planet, or a deadly virus lying in wait. It can be seen as a high-risk, high-reward kind of system.
One more feature that we are really excited to implement is the Dynamic News System. It will not only inform you about important game events, but it will also have a few incredibly humorous stories to tell. We hope to eventually give players the ability to write their own stories and events for any particular time period and share them with the community. Of course, this will be moderated. We can’t have the world invaded by inappropriately named extraterrestrials after all! These stories will be displayed in-game for everyone to enjoy. You can even construct an actual mission-based storyline for players to follow. You can also select the exact age and type of event that will trigger your news headline, or the new story campaign. With this system, every time you play the game, there will always be a seemingly infinite supply of entertaining stories in the News System. You can choose whether you want to follow someone’s storyline or simply enjoy the stream of news in Sandbox Mode. This community system is called The Universim Live News System.
The beauty of this kind of game is the huge amount of freedom that we have to experiment and continue to add amazing new content before and after its launch. That is what makes all of the hard work worth it! We have only scraped the surface of what we can accomplish with the information and features listed here. With the community by our side, we can undoubtedly transform this game into the best planet management game ever created. We are always willing to listen to what you have to say. We take your feedback seriously and want to ensure that we are spending the budget responsibly and on the features YOU want to see in the final game.
In-Game Object Editor
We are also proud to officially announce that there will be no DRM and absolutely no micro-transactions for the game whatsoever. All future DLC will also be completely free.Therefore an internet connection is not required for activation or play, although it can add many more features to your experience.
The Universim release roadmap
As you can see on the timeline above, we plan to release the first Alpha Build by the end of this year (2014) if the Kickstarter is successful. Why are we not releasing a working build within a few weeks? The truth is that we want to ensure that we deliver the best possible alpha experience with minimal bugs and glitches (although there will still probably be a few!). Quality and balance is our number one priority right now when working on current and new features. We believe that laying a proper foundation is crucial. We can update and improve it all from there with your feedback.
- Alpha Access Information: Everyone who pledged $30 or more will receive guaranteed access to the Alpha Build
- Beta Access Information: Everyone who pledged $20 or more will receive guaranteed access to the Beta Build
- Complimentary Beta Access: Everyone who pledged $15 or more will receive two weeks of Kickstarter Complimentary Beta Access before launch. Please keep in mind that this Beta access is different from regular Beta Access. We decided to include this small benefit for our Early Supporters instead of just giving you the game as we wanted to show how much we appreciate any support.
If you would like to upgrade your pledge and receive access to earlier builds, you can simply add the difference on top of what you have already pledged and select the new tier. For example: if you are at $15 and want to upgrade, you can simply add $5 to your pledge to receive access to the Beta or $15 to receive access to the Alpha. At the end of campaign, we will send everyone Surveys to confirm your reward selection and see which add-ons you selected as well.
The following are stretch goals which will be achieved if the community manages to blast through the primary funding goal and truly blow us away with their support!
- $320000 - Initial Goal [REACHED]
- $350000 - Multi Language Support [REACHED]
- $400000 - Dinosaurs Era
- $450000 - The Universim Live News System confirmed!
- $450000 - Planet editor toolset. Design your own planets using a special in-game editor!
- $500000 - iRobot.
Key Stretch Goal
- $920000 - Multiplayer Mode
- An immersive, evolving universe simulator. Create life in the earliest stages of development and watch as it blossoms into a Galactic Empire under your guidance.
- Experience a dynamic living universe unlike any other. Ready yourself for unknown challenges and overcome brutal disasters.
- Control multiple planets and discover new resources that help advance your technology for the continued development of the Epicenters of civilization.
- Prepare expeditions to investigate strange occurrences on one of your planets. Be ready for anything; chasing mystery does not always end with joyous discoveries.
- The Universim is a sandbox in which every grain of sand is a new planet brimming with unknown treasures…and hidden dangers.
- Pave a path right through the heart of the universe as you explore hundreds of stars scattered along the way by utilising our intuitive GUI.
- Encounter unique, dynamically generated planets with varying temperatures, conditions, environments, atmospheres, and precious resources.
- Observe the changing of seasons and prepare your civilization for the coming of winter. Some winters can last for many months and chill your population to the bone. Be prepared!
- Viruses and disease will ravage your civilization throughout their development. Fight back by preparing antibiotics and medical treatment in anticipation of an outbreak.
- Customize your civilization by constructing special buildings and give your space shuttles a new lick of paint to reflect your personality.
- Witness the raw destructive power of the many natural disasters within the game. Tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, disease, meteors and so much more can wreak havoc at any time.
- Conquer the epic expanse of the universe at your own leisure in a special sandbox mode.
- Experience the organic behaviour of the in-game AI. Cities will rise dynamically around the planet and your population will spread the work effort amongst themselves like an ant colony.
- Enjoy the humorous yet informative news system as it details the latest information about your growing civilization. From random planetary events to the greatest of accomplishments, it always has something to say!
- Research will force you to make important decisions for your civilization. With so many different research paths, there are seemingly endless possibilities for how you can evolve your people. Will you develop your civilization slowly and use clean, green technologies, or will you choose a more aggressive approach and consume resources planet by planet until nothing remains?
Multiplayer can form the soul of any good game. When a game introduces an excellent multiplayer mode, it develops the potential to live forever in the hearts of the community and offer seemingly limitless hours of fun and replayability. That is why we dedicated an entire section of the Kickstarter page to discuss the concepts and endless possibilities that Multiplayer could possess in The Universim.
In Multiplayer, players will be able to connect with their friends in co-op or in a special 'Versus mode' where each can control their own planets and civilizations. The primary goal in versus mode is to create the ultimate galactic empire and colonise as many planets as possible. This mode allows for up to 8 players to work alongside, or against one another, as they struggle for total universal domination. Research will play a major role in Multiplayer, just as it does in the Single player component. However, it comes with an entirely new level of responsibility as you will need to find friends to ally with you and assist in the fight against your enemies for precious technology and resources. All players will start in the Stone Age, giving them a completely fresh canvas upon which to begin painting their galactic empire. When the time comes and your research and technology has reached the appropriate level, you can begin discovering technology such as satellites which will enable you to communicate with other planets that have already done the same. This can give you a distinct advantage over other players as it enables your civilization to ally with the players you are communicating with.
However, you had best remain cautious. Alliances can be as easily broken as they are formed. And breaking alliances often involves a sharp knife in the back! For example, allies can send you a deadly virus hidden within a Cargo Transport Spaceship when you are actually expecting 24000 units of oil. Imagine the look on people's faces when their entire civilization is suddenly threatened with extinction. Fortunately, you can dedicate a large amount of your time and resources to researching a cure, but this will leave your planet weak and open for attack. You may only have minutes left to say goodbye to your beloved citizens before your former ally's nuclear missiles wipe your civilization off the face of the planet.
Co-op allows up to 4 players to work together, or against one another, to dominate a single planet. Each player will begin on a different corner of the world. You can then assist one another to spread out across the stars. There is also an option for each player to start on their own planet and conquer the universe in a similar manner to 'Versus'.
Unfortunately, with all of these awesome features and so much more to come, the Multiplayer mode will be incredibly expensive to develop and maintain. It can cost thousands of dollars every month just to rent the appropriate servers, or maintain our own. It also requires a lot of work from developers to ensure that the game is balanced and in perfect working order at all times. That is why we need a large bump in funding to ensure we can deliver the best experience possible and create the proper foundation for the future. The Multiplayer stretch goal is marked as a key goal for the community at $920000. This will allow us to create and maintain a high quality and incredibly fun Multiplayer mode for years to come. We truly believe that with the inclusion of Multiplayer, The Universim will be shifted onto an entirely new level of fun where you will be able to spend hours every day researching amazing technologies, developing civilizations and discovering entirely new planets with your friends.
We have high hopes of getting the game out onto as many platforms as possible. At the moment though, we are focusing primarily on PC, Mac, and Linux for the initial release of the game. Like many developers, we are also excited about the possibility of developing for the new generation of consoles. We are also immensely interested in seeing how something like the Oculus Rift and other VR devices can add a whole new dimension to gameplay. If the game is successful, we see no reason why we wouldn't try to shoot for the stars and get the game out on as many platforms as possible for players to enjoy. Do not fear, though! We will ensure that we deliver the best possible experience on every platform we develop for and try our best to make use of the strengths of each one to the fullest.
We want to deliver a challenging and innovative gaming experience in an independent capacity and therefore Kickstarter is the best way to make that dream a reality. Because a game built by gamers with a budget supplied by gamers just seems to be a formula for success!
We want to forge an amazing community and give them the freedom to be creative, interact and meet new friends, and help us to develop the best game we possibly can. We have been receiving a few offers from some amazing publishers that love the concept and design of The Universim, but we are declining all of them as we wish to remain creative and open-minded. We want the community to be the driving force of this game, and the best way to do that is to remain independent. That is why we need your help!
We wish we could share even more details about the game with you, but even Kickstarter has its limits. Character limits that is! Please feel free to ask questions, leave comments, and interact with the dev team and community on our forums. This is our first project and we want to be as transparent as possible (without ruining some surprises of course!).
What's the funding used for?
We will be pouring every last cent we receive directly into the development of The Universim. Most of the money will ensure that the team can create the best experience possible for the player. Every additional bit of funding we receive will be used to improve the game in various ways. From gameplay right down to the smallest of details. With the right amount of funding, it could be possible to add entirely new features to the game, such as the Multiplayer component.
But we mustn't forget about the various taxes and costs that will take quite a large chunk out of our funding. We also need to make provision for the costs of all physical goods and shipping for certain reward tiers. There really are a lot of things we need to burn through before we can safely begin using the budget for the game itself. But fear not backers, everything has been taken into account. Whatever support you can offer will help us enormously in the long run, no matter how small!
Risks and challenges
A game of this scale is not going to be easy to develop. We will need to hire many more talented developers in order to get it to the quality that the community expects. We also need to work very carefully with the budget. Complications always spring up during development, we have made provision for this, but it can still spiral out of control. We will do everything in our power to avoid this. It can also go very smoothly if fortune favours us.
Another problem is the matter of the final game's release date. We would love to have it out by the end of 2015, but that may be delayed with the inclusion of new features such as Multiplayer, or other community-suggested features. That is why we are releasing the game in stages, beginning with the Alpha phase, moving into Early Beta, and eventually hitting final Beta where the last touches will be made before release. From then on, we will begin working on additional free content and any patches if they are needed.
Being independent has its ups and downs. We are effectively on our own as far as things like publishing, marketing, and legal stuff are concerned. We hope to release the game on Steam and other digital distribution services as well as our own, which will be linked to our site (and will be completely DRM free). One more thing that might hinder development is the inability to acquire a trademark for our game. It is unlikely that King.com trademarked the word ‘The,’ but we cannot rule out any possibilities!
There are many other risks and challenges that may crawl out of the woodwork, but we believe that we will be ready for most of them. With the community by our side, we can accomplish anything!
