Welcome to Apeiron!

Woo! The project has a website!

I'm excited to share my vision for Apeiron, a new MMORPG that draws inspiration from games like Old School RuneScape and Darkfall. My goal is to build a game for the people left behind by the modern MMO landscape. A world that isn't just a theme park for ten thousand cookie cutter main characters, or vaporware that promises an unrealistic world. I want to take the best ideas from older games that actually felt like living worlds, while using modern technology to push the boundaries of what improved netcode and AI make possible. So many of the 'hardcore' games in this segment are built with hundreds of thousands or millions in investments. This means they need player bases in at least the tens of thousands just to survive. That, or a cash shop designed to extract maximum value from their addressable market. (Ew)

In Apeiron, I hope to sidestep both of these fates by building a game that relies heavily on algorithimic proc-gen and asset reuse with an extremely small team. Everything here is code and playability first, I'm not worried about looking pretty. We can make the game pretty later, when there's actually someone else on the team. The goal with Apeiron is that a mere 500 subscribers should be enough to support the indefinite development of the game.

What to Expect

So, what is the game?

Apeiron will feature:

• Open World Exploration: Big complex procedurally generated worlds, built on a tech step that I hope will combine the best of 'old school' proc gen like noise/cell based diffusion, with modern AI tools. Worlds are created dynamically, but as much of their content as possible is generated via player interactions and procedural NPC behavior.
• Player-Driven Economy: Everyone says 'No Auction House'. I'm going three steps further. No global banking. Heavy storage limits on local banking. You want to build a vault fit for a hero? I hope you've got a plan to defend it.
• Combat That is Neither Tab nor Twitch: Skill-based combat that encourages you to apply your brain and master your abilities, but doesn't require you to be a 17 year old hopped up on nicotine and adderall to be competitive. The combat will feature soulslike style melee combat, with block/dodge; but dodges will have minimal iframes, and you'll need to seriously invest in stats like agility and endurance to rely on dodging everything thrown at you. Just because you know a monster's attacks by heart doesn't mean it isn't a threat.
• Meaningful Progression: Nobody has 87 million hp, but players who have been around the block for a while should not consider a 10v1 fight immediately impossible. Both skill and progression matter.

Development Philosophy

I'm building the game I want to play. But I want to build a community that wants to play it too in the process. I plan to begin streaming development soon, with an eye to eventually get the community involved in helping inform the design.

What's Next

Expect frequent updates.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Together, we'll build something special. Or I'll build it and you'll watch. Who knows, lol.