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Kickstarter Successful! Thanks everyone!
"While most recent MMO's have chased the EQ/WOW models, it's great to see games like Project Gorgon, pursuing the more open world and sandbox style that I think is underserved to gamers." -Richard (Lord British) Garriott.
Project Gorgon is a new Massively Multiplayer Online Game brought to you by Eric Heimburg and his wife Sandra Powers. Eric Heimburg, Project Gorgon creator and lead developer, has over a decade of experience working as a Senior and Lead Engineer, Developer, Designer and Producer on successful games such as Asheron’s Call 1 and 2, Star Trek Online and other successful Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Sandra also has extensive experience working as a Producer on Asheron’s Call 1, Asheron’s Call: Throne of Destiny, EverQuest II, and EverQuest II: Echoes of Faydwer.
Project Gorgon is a 3D fantasy MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) that features an immersive experience that allows the player to forge their own path through exploration and discovery. We won't be guiding you through a world on rails, and as a result there are many hidden secrets awaiting discovery. Project Gorgon also features an ambitious skill based leveling system that bucks the current trend of pre-determined classes, thus allowing the player to combine skills in order to create a truly unique playing experience.
When you play Project Gorgon, we want you to feel as if you’re immersed in a whole new virtual world. Rather than trying to manage this with just graphics and excessive backstory, we’ve designed the game with dozens of gameplay features that make you feel like you’re really there, interacting with the world, such as:
- If you are on fire, you can jump into a lake to put it out. This type of mechanic can have subtle effect on your strategies, especially when you are fighting a fire mage!
- You can drop items on the ground, and other players can pick them up. What’s so great about that? Imagine laying down a trail of literal (virtual) breadcrumbs to guide your friends (or lure your enemies) into the woods.
- Shopkeepers keep inventory, so you can buy items that other players have sold to them. Want to help out new players? Sell your cast-off items to the shopkeeper in the new player zone and watch the new players go to town.
- Each non-player (NPC) you meet has their own goals and interest, and reward players that choose to be their friend.
- You can inscribe messages onto items, write books, and even leave notes for other players. Make your name as an in-game poet, or pronounce your greatness to the world!
In Project Gorgon you will kill monsters, a lot of them, and you will be taking their loot. In order to keep the experience fun and interesting we’ve developed unique combat experiences to keep the fights feeling fresh. The loot is randomly generated, monsters have unique abilities, and dungeons have puzzles, traps and terrifying bosses! The combat skills are entirely free-form. You can learn as many combat skills as you want, and use any two of them at the same time to create your own personal “class.” Project Gorgon will feature dozens to choose from, but some examples include:
- Battle Chemistry: Create huge explosions, inject yourself with mysterious mutagens or program a pet golem, it’s your decision!
- Unarmed Combat: Grapple and control enemies using a situational-aware combo system that varies based on where you are and what day it is.
- Animal Handling: Tame animals and train them to become ferocious fighters. Then breed your best and sell their offspring to other players.
- Necromancy: Seek out corpses and graveyards to raise an undead army. No graveyard around? Well, there are always the corpses of your friends.
- That’s just a few, there’s also Sword Fighting, Combat Psychology, Staff Fighting, Sigil Scripting, Mentalism, and more.
Player Choices are important in Project Gorgon. You can learn as many skills as you want, but sometimes power comes with downsides. You can become infected with lycanthropy and gain access to very powerful skill sets. You’ll be able to roam the world in a pack or as a lone wolf. However, when there is a full moon (which is tied to the real world lunar calendar) you’ll be stuck in your beast form. New opportunists come open, but others will be closed. There’s no cure for lycanthropy.
You can become a Druid, which will give you great power but you have to vow to drop everything when there’s an emergency involving nature. It could be a forest fire, a monster invasion or even a pesky insect. Nature never lets you ignore your duties, ever.
Can you bear heavy burdens in exchange for greater power?
Community is a critical aspect of Project Gorgon and we will strive to establish a strong, engaged community and we plan on supporting our players through:
- Live events with a focus on story.
- Mechanisms for player-create quest content.
- Player housing (limited instanced).
- Player-managed shops and stalls.
- In-game communication tools like bulletin boards.
- Bookshelves where you can write and submit your own books and stories (and players can vote on their favorites).
The main goal of this campaign is to help fund current and future development of Project Gorgon. We are in a somewhat unique situation as we have been able to put in significant development time prior to coming to Kickstarter so our goals and expectations may seem more conservative than other Kickstarter campaigns that you've seen. If the campaign is successful we will be able to significantly improve Project Gorgon by contracting outside help to improve art and other vital game functions. We have a lot of great things planned such as Guild Functionality, Player/Guild Housing (instanced) and Mounts! If we are able to meet our initial goal, we would absolutely be thrilled to offer stretch goals that expand upon those systems.
Thank you! We hit our initial Kickstarter Campaign goal in only 6 days and we look forward to almost 24 more! We have so many great ideas for Project Gorgon and the more that we are able to raise the greater chance that those ideas will become reality. We ask that you please keep up the enthusiasm and continue to post about Project Gorgon and our Kickstarter Campaign as those social media posts really are making a difference. In order to help keep the campaign rolling, we will be adding new stretch goals and we have some really awesome ideas that we would love to see happen!
$25,000 Stretch Goal - Unique Backer Mount
- An exclusive backer mount skin will be created and available to players once they obtain the horseback riding skill in-game. All backers at the Horseback Explorer level or higher will receive the mount as soon as available.
The personality of Dwarves varies greatly as some are introverts, some can be a bore, and some are precision craftsmen, while others solely decide to rely on their exceptional strength. There is one thing they all have in common, they love the underground and it’s the only place they truly feel at home.
Dwarven players will be able to unlock the secrets of the ancient race, they include:
- The ability to track your position underground,
- Spells that let you hide in stone momentarily,
- A combat stance that makes you unmovable,
- Long-forgotten weapon-crafting techniques.
These secrets come with a dark side, however, for their patron god Ormorek is also the god of bitterness, self-doubt, and lost innocence. In ages past, Dwarves were their own worst enemies, and players who unearth these ancient techniques will have to battle with ancient foes -- both within and without.
$35,000 Player Instrument Expansion
We have 6 instruments planned, each with six short music loops that can be combined in any order. But if we hit this stretch goal, we'll add a second "song" that's completely different from the first, consisting of six new music loops for every instrument. We'll also add a seventh unique instrument, and we will work on allowing animal forms to participate in the fun!
$40,000 New Player Skill: the Bard!
The Bard is part psychologist, part performer, and all charisma. Bards can inspire allies to momentary bursts of outrageous heroism, use their improvisational skills to change the tide of the battle, and use song to soothe wounded souls. It works great with other skills: combine the Bard skill with the already-existing Mentalism skill to create a classic EQ1-style "buffing bard", or combine with Psychology to create an exceptional crowd-controller.
$45,000 Project Gorgon Soundtrack
Project Gorgon features a unique soundtrack composed by the immensely talented Conor Brace who has worked with clients such as Rooster Teeth, Nickelodeon, D7 Games, Game Salad, and many others. Conor understands the thematic elements that are required to fully immerse players into the world of Project Gorgon and he will be working to complete a full soundtrack for the game!
Everyone who pledges at the Adventurer level,or higher, will receive a digital copy of the Project Gorgon soundtrack! There are already 13 unique tracks, and that number will only continue to grow as development continues.
$50,000 Advanced Guild Features
We have plans to implement a basic guild system, but if we achieve this stretch goal we will be able to add all the unusual systems that we have been hoping for!
The advanced guild features include, but are not limited to:
• The ability to have unique behavior requirements such as: humans only, no vegetarians, no plate mail, or even an all cow guild!
• An optional system to create a unique “hardcore” guild that allows unique features and benefits. For example, you could have a special death penalty where a guild member couldn’t respawn until a member of the guild resurrects him or her.
•Guild Vendor. Guilds can set up an NPC vendor, in town, that allows members to sell items to the public.
• Guilds will be able to discover the secrets of ritual magic. There are a lot of secrets awaiting discovery, but some of that magic includes: the ability to teleport and bring members together quickly, rituals of the mind that let you communicate through time and space, the ability to access the guild vault from remote locations, and the ability to summon your guilds unique “mascot” pet.
• Guild Levels. Guilds will be able to complete special tasks to enhance the prestige of their guild. As a guild levels, they will be able to unlock rituals, increase guild storage space, and discover special challenges and rewards.
Backers at the Patron level, or higher, will receive a special voucher to create their guild for free, bypassing the requirements for signatures and fees. Those at the Lord Commander level, or higher, will be among the first to register their guild name!
$55,000 a Completely New and Unique Animal Form
If we achieve this stretch goal, we will add a completely new and unique animal form! This will be a full featured animal form with unique abilities specific to its characteristics. The exact form will be a surprise, and we don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet! There are many possibilities, perhaps a psychic mantis or maybe not even an “animal” at all? Only time will tell.
$60,000 Unlocking the ancient curse of the Vampire
There are many curses in the world of Project Gorgon, but perhaps not many as intriguing as the ancient curse of the Vampire. A curse much like Lycanthropy, the player will have access to greater power but will also carry a heavy burden. The night can be a powerful ally, but the day can be your worst enemy.
$65,000 Unofficial, Official Stretch Goal: Party Pack!
The incentive is two-fold: an in-game party pack that you can use to help us celebrate in-game as the Kickstarter campaign closes on Sunday and some headroom in order to ensure that the Vampire Curse stretch goal doesn’t fall below the $60,000 threshold due to failed transactions.
Risks and challenges
Developing an indie MMORPG is a difficult endeavor and it takes a lot of technology and experience to make it happen. Luckily we have both, and instead of just backing an idea you will be backing a game that has had a significant amount of development behind it. Traditionally, when it comes to previous video game campaigns, you are backing an idea and not a playable version of the game. That’s not the case here, as an early alpha version of Project Gorgon is playable now. As such, we invite all interested players to visit our website and play Project Gorgon during our Kickstarter campaign free of charge, after the campaign our backers will have continued access throughout development.
We have estimated a final release date of December 2016, but Project Gorgon will remain playable by our backers from the current early alpha stage through beta and onto launch. The development process includes technical and creative aspects and that means schedules cannot always be guaranteed. We could release sooner, or later than our estimate depending on the developmental process. We are committed to keeping our players updated on the development of Project Gorgon and will relay any changes as soon as practical.
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