Today we’d like to announce our upcoming game [REDACTED]. Wait, can I not say [REDACTED] in this post??? We’re already late, as we said we’d introduce our game in January, but it took us a while to come up with [REDACTED], and now it is stuck in clearance with the lawyers, so let’s just talk about it a bit using our internal codename, Project Anvil.
Project Anvil is a multiplayer cooperative game where each player assumes the role of a Guardian, schooled in the rescue, training, and control of a wide variety of companions. Together they work to free their world of a mysterious menace secretly tracking most aspects of their lives.
This screenshot is from a very early prototype build and contains mostly temporary art.
The playstyle is a combination of two genres that we love, Simultaneous turn strategy games, also known as We-Go, with a splash of action oriented Dungeon Crawlers.
Over the years in our gaming adventures, we often found ourselves thinking:
We-Go Strategy: This is great! …but I wish I had more effect on the action.
Dungeon Crawlers: This is great! …but I wish I could strategize a bit more.
So we aim to join the pantheon of famous pairings like chocolate and peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, and orange juice and toothpaste. Ok, maybe not that last one.
This example is in no way approved by our art department.
The game plays out in rounds. Between the rounds the game is paused and players can setup a series of precise commands that their companions will carry out once the round begins and the player regains control of the Guardian, which you control in real-time.
My brother Danny drew this. He is a 45 year old man with limitless access to technology.
The visual direction of Project Anvil is a combination of detailed 3D pixel art and the modern rendering technology of Unreal Engine 5. While the textures are low res pixel art, the surface treatments using those textures will use complex lighting, reflections, subsurface scattering, glows and other modern technologies achievable in UE5. The game will also employ dynamic destruction and the real-time lighting technology Lumen to tie it all together. It brings to life the dreams we had as kids, realizing what we imagined our favorite 8 and 16 bit games could look like.
This screenshot is from a very early prototype build and contains mostly temporary art.
The game is primarily a strategy game, with a splash of action, but players can configure their setups to lean toward their preferred style of play. Guardians and their companions combine to fight, solve puzzles, rescue others, and restore deteriorating parts of the world. They’ll gain abilities and actions that will make them more powerful as well as introduce new gameplay options that can be used to free their world.
This screenshot is from a very early prototype build and contains mostly temporary art.
We will continue to update the progress of the game in upcoming posts, focusing on our process as well as our current status, and lots of Work in Progress topics.
We also have additional exciting news coming soon, but I won’t put a date on it, as it has to be approved as well!
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