⇒ Prologue
First of all, I would like to welcome you here. I really appreciate your interest in my very first own game!
So who am I actually?
I'm in my mid-30's, and live in Berlin, Germany. My work experience includes being an artist in various functions for a 15-year-old MMORPG and other freelancer jobs.
Currently I am in further education for Game Design with Unreal Engine 4. Apart from UE4, I also work with Maxon Cinema 4D, Serif Affinity Photo (Adobe Photoshop if I have to) and kinda with Autodesk 3DS Max as well as some Quixel, Filter Forge and so on.
This game will be my final project for the course and for now I am a one-man army.
I am abitious to continue along this road after graduating, and to get a few more people on board.
⇒ The Idea
So... what is this all about?
This project is designed by gamers, meant for gamers:
We're in a post-apocalyptic world. You are hungry, thirsty, cold, and scared. You scavenge, hunt, search, explore, and craft. You build whatever you want and pretty much whereever you want.
Ransack old buildings, underground structures and strange compounds for food, materials, and perhaps a clue of what happened back in the day.
You might get away with using what you find – but expanding on that, by crafting your own gear will get you further.
There will be many aspects from different genres: RPG, Mystery, Tower Defense, Survival, Horror, ...
Unfortunately, you are not alone in the world. There are others. Most of them are dead, which is fine and makes moral choices easy, others – not so much. Dare you trust other people? Will they be friend or foe?
Are you better off curling up in a hole in the ground and wait for the day or should you approach the camp fire?
Make plans, find a place to stay, build a base – and perhaps a community of like-minded people.
Hunker down before the brutal storm, find out what happened, and stay safe until you need to go out again.
Make your own path between simple survival and thriving.
That's not enough for you?
All right!
⇒ Long Term Goals
⇒ Freedom
• Learn and develope all the skills you need harmoniously or choose to focus on one area and become an expert.
• Join a [company] of like-minded people, found your own – or stay alone.
• Depending on what server you choose, you will be able (or forced) to participate in player versus player conflict.
• Conquer, defend, and work an outpost for your [company]
• Find the most valuable materials for refining, create your own equipment and hunt the biggest bosses and prey.
• Your actions impact the world – develop your own character the way you choose and dive into your story. Whether you do your own thing or join a [company] of others.
⇒ Dynamic living world
Novana is a unique and open world, branded by its past and now challenged by undead enemies. The world is full of mostly harmless herbivores and fearsome predators, with realistic behavioural patterns.
Take a moment and observe the world around you, your own life may well depend on it.
⇒ Survival
You've managed to forage and scavenge for food, You've built a house, and a fence and night falls.
You watch the horizon – the sun is just about to set – and sure enough, here they come:
hordes of zombies, swarming over the hill like armies of ants over fallen candy.
So yeah, sure, there are times to relax between the blood moons, and the foraging, and crafting, and building, and rebuilding, and training, and conquering, and defending – but you really do need to think about the zombies, too.
⇒ Harvesting
Complex harvesting methods for valuable, rare materials will drive …
⇒ Crafting
Where careful and complicated combinations of materials are necessary to achieve the best result. Make unique weapons, armor, tools and many other, more or less useful things.
⇒ Trading
Trade yor hard-earned resources for currency, sell your crafted gear to other players, or just leave it with a travelling trader to sell beyond server borders.
⇒ Quests
are planned!
⇒ Story
Find out how life was before the apocalypse. Find traces of the old world and its inhabitants and try to piece together what happened – and why?
The story is there for you to unravel – but it is not a mandatory game element.
It is likely you will not be able to discover everything – some stuff you have to figure out by yourself.
But what this all will be about, I won't reveal, yet.
This is something you will need to find out on your own - when the time has come ☺
⇒ The Conclusion
So – not re-inventing the wheel, certainly. It's a post-apocalyptic survival game, which attempts to tread some new paths with its story and mystery aspects. Though, of course, not only that.
So! Ambitious goals?
I am, for now, working alone. This will however not be the case for very long – The team are set to dive into work as soon as I graduate.
A game isn't made over night, and it will takes its time. I – or we – will take things step by step, producing content and feature, until we have a game we're proud to publish.
The final Game Design project, the basis for all this, is still being worked on. As soon as there is progress I will present it here on
novana.eu
Thank you very much for reading all this. I hope your curiosity was piqued a little and I'll see you next time!
Stay tuned, have a nice day!