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Overview

Ravaged by years of famine, war, and pestilence, and then finally the impact, the world is almost an empty shell. Except for a few small pockets of civilization dotting the face of the planet, there is only one primary metropolis left. All systems of power, distribution, and control have been shifted to this sprawling urban center.  The systems and balances of power are ruthlessly dominated by the central government and a cabal of corporations enforcing the will of the government. The MicroCosm web matrix holds the cabal together and is the most functional element left over from the old world order.

The Old World Order

Experience a dynamic and gripping storyline to discover what happened to the world, the balance of power, and why everything shifted in the first place.

General Features

Dynamic and stylish “Fusion-Layered” 2.5D graphics

Adventure Module System

24bit color

The heartfelt, gripping story also teaches a valuable lesson to our generation.

Multiplayer Features (tentative separate standalone release)

Up to 5 simultaneous players

Easy to find a game (through Animit’s Game Initiative network)

Can chat during gameplay

Leaderboards

Monthly Quests for special loot

Members’ avatars from Animit Game Initiative become player characters.

Earn credits for your Animit account by conquering Multiplayer Adventure Modules

Gameplay

An ethereal and heartfelt story pulls 5 hours of gameplay for the core game.

Additional downloadable Adventure Modules are 5 hours each

“Fusion-Layered” 2.5D dungeons

Hack the MicroCosm Web Matrix

Dynamic battles: enemies will adjust their tactics to your play style

Support for hours of continued quests with the Adventure Module System

Retro-styled sprite graphics and pumping chiptunes call back to the glory days of gaming.

Battle hundreds of fully animated enemies

Spells and hacks are beautifully animated

Editor

The level editor is intended for development purposes only. It might be sold at a later date or bundled with the release of the game at retail (if that were to happen).

Conversation trees, scripted events, textures, sprites, monsters, traps, dungeon maps, towns, music, and sound FX can all be edited with the Adventure Module System editor. You can save as a module and load it into the game environment from the title screen. Downloadable Adventure Modules will automatically load into the game from the online menu system from the main screen. The ultimate goal is to create an editor that can be released to the community for them to create not only their own modules for use in our universe, but easily create total conversion packages and their own storylines using the Wirepunks engine.

Once the game design document is completed we will post it in it’s entirety on this blog so that everyone knows where we are headed with this project and can offer input where they feel necessary as well as giving advice to help us construct a better game for everyone!

thanks, looking forward to your feedback!
-Carsten

Common Questions

What is Wirepunks?

Wirepunks is a fresh yet retro styled First Person RPG that takes place in a cyberpunk environment. The game is supported by Adventure Modules that extend the life of the game experience allowing players to take their characters through solo and group adventures. Eventual online capabilities in the future will allow multiple gamers to group together in a single dungeon in a subsequent multiplayer-only release.

Why create this game?

Wirepunks is being created out of a desire to see a stylish First Person RPG that brings something fresh to a stale, dying, and often forgotten category of RPG. It is also born out of a longing to play a game just like this one, which no one else is making. Lastly, RPG’s have long been considered too difficult, too complicated, or too lengthy for newcomers to the gaming industry (and some veterans!). Wirepunks aims to negate each of these arguments through its Adventure Module system and combat those arguments with style, approachability, and playability.

Where does the game take place?

The cyberpunk matrix-esque world is called MicroCosm. The real world is an extension of our world today; only, in the future it has been ravaged by nuclear war and is in the control of corporations and a central global government. Our heroes battle across both of these fronts against a variety of villains and foes.

What do I control?

The player controls all the actions of the main characters during battle sequences, their inventories, status screens, and various spells and hacks screens, controls the movement of the party in dungeons, and navigates civilian areas and story sequences via menus.

How many characters do I control?

You start out as a party of one, but your party grows to at least five eventually.

There aren’t any plans to implement AI for automatic battling, so the player is responsible for all the decisions for each character in the battle. In Wirepunks, automatic battles or AI control would be detrimental to a player’s tactics during battle due to the changing nature of battle tactics of the enemies.

What is the main focus?

The main focus of the game varies from adventure to adventure. Overall however, the player’s primary goal is to help the main character, Ilsa, find out why the world changed into what it is in the game. It is through her eyes we learn about what happened to the natural order of things to throw life out of balance. In each dungeon, the goal is to reach the mission objective, which could range anywhere from recovering a long lost artifact to destroying a power source of great evil or even hacking into MicroCosm to track criminals as bounty hunters.

What’s different about Wirepunks?

Firstly, it is an RPG that is scalable based on the needs of the player. For people who are apprehensive about playing RPG’s because of their immense depth, or time commitment, Wirepunks offers Adventure Modules; shorter, self-contained stories with finite beginnings, middle, and endings. The game is also approachable. It is not so hardcore that it is impossible for newcomers to understand, but not so simple that veterans will keep their distance. The goal is to expand the accessibility of RPG’s, while doing something new with something old and out of date.

..a first-person cyberpunk RPG being created by and for a core community of independent programmers, artists, musicians, and gamers!

The culmination of all the work will be a community designed website and forum to make future games using community collaboration and involvement.

Game Overview

Philosophy

Atmosphere and heart

With more to say about our world than just “kill this or that”, Wirepunks focuses on personal as well as social responsibility and the repercussions of ignoring our responsibilities. The atmosphere is intended to be strong, the designs fresh and not derivative, the experience to be easily accessible without being shallow, and the characters are designed to create strong emotional attachment to the player; to help propel them forward throughout the adventure(s).

Bringing a fresh expression of the FPRPG format

The desire to create Wirepunks stems from a desire to play a retro First Person RPG that feels less static and more exciting than the limited genre and expressions that the First Person RPG has experienced in it’s lifetime as a game style. Seeing great potential for new and fresh expressions for this style of game, Wirepunks was born. Overall, this game is attempting to enter the independent game space as well as independent game contests using the upcoming community game initiative through parent company Animit Web Services.

Easy for newcomers, challenging for veterans

First Person RPG’s are traditionally closed off from mass market due to their boring nature, difficulty, endless grinding, and hardcore Lord of the Rings style designs. Wirepunks sets out to differentiate itself in every area; graphics, playability, battle system, design, music, story, and controls. The game is intentionally setting out to be easily digestible without being shallow and its missions and quests, upgradable. The free core package will satisfy newcomers and include a tutorial map among other ease-of-entry elements, while the downloadable Adventure Modules will grant hardcore RPG veterans true challenge.

We’ll be showing you more of the game design document as we finish it. We invite open discussion for all phases of this process. Wirepunks is as much your game as it is ours. What do you want to see included?

Let us know!