Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox is an indie game with the intent to recreate the amazing turn-based, first person RPGs from the golden age of PC gaming using modern game engine technology. Rich classics such as the Might & Magic series, Eye of the Beholder and the like have inspired this new title which, when finished will put its players into a literally infinite fantasy world filled with procedurally generated content. The Sword of Ahkranox isn't trying to compete with the larger, professionally developed RPG titles out there, but instead our aim is to fill a large gap that we believe has existed in game technology since the mid-nineties. It is definitely a must-have for all enthusiasts of the quintessential RPG. The game's procedural engine can generate an infinite number of weapons, items, spells, monsters, dungeons, cities, countryside and even dialogue, allowing the player to explore the game with no end and no reason to stop.

Post news Report RSS Shield Thyself!

So, you may have noticed that we've only been showing you ARMOUR as a way of defending yourself in the game, but that's not all you get! You'll remember that Rachel did up some amazing shield sketches a while back. Well, those shields are all done now, and will be being added to the game with our giant loot update that is coming soon :)

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Hi all!

So, you may have noticed that we've only been showing you ARMOUR as a way of defending yourself in the game, but that's not all you get! You'll remember that Rachel did up some amazing shield sketches a while back. Well, those shields are all done now, and will be being added to the game with our giant loot update that is coming soon :)


Development has been going REALLY well, and we just released the latest beta to the test team which includes a functional, working quest and dialogue system, which leaves the game feeling the most like... Well... A game that it has yet. Early testing from the team has shown that the quest code works well, so the next update will have many more quest types added as well as heaps more loot to grab. With quests happening and loot being added, the game is finally seeing some light at the end of the very, very, very long tunnel that it's been in, which is super exciting.

To show where it's at, one of our test team, Hyfrydle, has done up a Let's Play video showing the game in action. The video highlights that there are still a number of bugs we're still sorting out, and unfortunately the towns haven't yet been optimized, so their loading time is HUGE. But please remember while you're watching this that eventually the towns will be optimized and they will load as quickly as any other part of the game.


So that's all for now. We'll be back again quite soon with more updates, since we're in a real "jam all the content in" phase of development right now. We'll be keeping the test team busy, I can tell you that much!

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DoctorSpanky
DoctorSpanky

Very nice shields :)

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CumQuaT Author
CumQuaT

Thank you! :D

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Moss
Moss

Love the trap disarm mechanic, simple to grasp and original.

I realize the game is still in alpha development, but it's hard to look past (literally and figuratively) the blinding lighting and brown saturation in outside scenes. I can't help but feel it must be seriously impacting on the games marketability, it's one of the first things people see in videos and screenshots you've published and it's pretty off putting even for someone like me who's already sold on the concept.

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CumQuaT Author
CumQuaT

It's kind of limiting though when the game is still in development. There's only so fast we can work given our day jobs!

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AJ_Quick
AJ_Quick

I think what Moss is getting at is that you're releasing pre-alpha footage of certain areas of the game which really shouldn't be on display just yet. It seems like the focus of malevolence is on dungeons, so maybe cut out the open world / city stuff from the promotional material until it's more presentable.

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CumQuaT Author
CumQuaT

I can appreciate that viewpoint, but we've been keeping a very "open doors" attitude towards our development process since the beginning, and gotten substanial good feedback for doing so, and we're sticking to it :D Many people are interested to see the progression from early concept to polished product :)

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booman
booman

I'm not turned off at all because I have been following Malevolence for quite a while and have seen the development! Alphas are all about eye-candy and I don't expect a lot of eye-candy. So far everything they have publishes is very professional or has professional potential once finished.

Developers shouldn't have to keep reminding us "this doesn't represent the final game" anymore. We should know because its Alpha or beta

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CumQuaT Author
CumQuaT

Always glad to read your comments, booman :)

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booman
booman

I love seeing the GREAT updates!
By the way, is a Linux port in the plan for Malevolence?
If not, I will still be very determined to get it running in Wine.

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CumQuaT Author
CumQuaT

Unfortunately not. When we started work on this game we had no idea it would get this sort of attention, so none of the groundwork was done for porting. We have, however, had one of our testers running it fairly well under Wine on a mac.

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Rayman51
Rayman51

while the idea is here , I think it would be better for now to stick to the "dungeon crawling" part . so it would give us a better surprise when we'kk reach the outside world by ourself :) also , I have a really important question : while everything is proceduraly generated , I have come to ask myself if you were interested in putting a main quest at all ; you know , not maybe a more or less cliched one , nor a parody .... but a story that would involve the very sword itself , the hero , gods, and some other plot character , and eventually , an end after some time , so we could focus on FREEPLAY :D

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