Development Diary: Opening the Gates of Cervinae
TL;DR - Early Access is planned for January 2023 and we are posting much more!
Hello and welcome to our Development Diary! I’m Kailoulou, lead Creative Director on Ethereal Metropolis, and we are opening the Gates of Cervinae! In this development diary, we acknowledge our lack of communication and announce big plans for the development of Ethereal Metropolis!
We have been creating Ethereal Metropolis for three years and the city of Cervinae where you fight against shadowy eldritch unicorn deer abominations called Converted. But we haven't shown you enough of this world that we are passionately crafting. We haven't communicated well about our vision and the project that is Ethereal Metropolis. We're fixing that today. Let us embark upon our journey of development and help us craft a game filled with Converted!
Let us lay the roadmap before us for our journey!
You can see here that we will be releasing Act I of our game for early access. You get to play a somewhat finished Act I (out of five) of our game, where you can dip your toes into the world of Cervinae and explore it for yourself. Its a sample of gameplay and story while teasing the rest of the game itself. But what about the features in this early access?
Here are all of the planned features in Early Access!
The four other acts of the game will be unplayable since they will not be ready for publishing. Here are the in-depth details of what is planned for the Act I release:
All campaign missions of Act I including: Welcome to Cervinae, Penumbras, Disturbances, and the Conclusion Mission
Procedurally generated levels where you get to play with your loadouts
Basic animated characters and assets
Opening cutscene and closing cutscene to act one
Upgradeable armors and weapons to tier II for your team
Four out of the six playable characters in the game: Orishidat, Farcos, Dillesaro, and Fjorjinn
All playable characters can level up to level seven (there are twenty-five levels in the game planned so far)
Cinematic soundtrack
It may be a lot of features in such a short time, but the backbone of the game is created, and we are beginning to move upon the development of the game itself quickly! While we may face some issues right now with 3D talent, we already have plans to address the issue.
Embarking upon the journey:
We have a vision, and we want to share it with you. Therefore, in the coming weeks, we will be posting weekly development diaries with various topics ranging from art creation, writing, gameplay, and everything in between. We are opening the gates of Cervinae, and much shall be revealed.
We will also create video development diaries. Those that take development diaries in text and make them into a video format complete with gameplay, images, and narration! The first one is planned to launch in July with “What is Ethereal Metropolis?”
A Trailer?!
Not only are we releasing development diaries, some of which are planned to be video-based, but we will also be releasing a more traditional trailer featuring much more gameplay and giving a general overview of the game itself.
Casting Calls?
You see that, most certainly! Some Casting Calls will be released for the game itself! There will be more details and information coming about this in the near future.
A Small Heads-up
Please also note that the timeline and roadmap may be subject to change. We are still a volunteer-based team, and this isn’t our job yet. So we may face delays, but we are doing our damnedest not to make it so!
In Summary...
Lots of information. Early Access, trailers, dev diaries, and casting calls! What a summer of incredible work ahead of us! But this is only the beginning. In the coming weeks, we will tell you about Ethereal Metropolis and Cervinae in many development diaries.
In our next development diary, we will show you some of our game design goals for Ethereal Metropolis and explore just a few ways you can conquer the Converted.
Until then!
Kailoulou, Founder and Lead Creative Director
and local deer enthusiast