Press release:
“Driftland: The Magic Revival” from Star Drifters studio is one of those games that can be proud to speak its own language. To be precise – even 4 languages!
The idea that each of the races available in the game speaks to players in their own dialect was not born overnight.
At first, it was just a thought. But finally, the day came when the work started in full swing. It was a time-consuming and complicated process. Requiring not only creativity, but also the ability to analyze existing dialects and cultures.
“We know it is not that popular to have each race in a fantasy game to speak their language, especially when it is an indie game” says Michał Sokolski, co-founder of Star Drifters studio and Driftland designer.
“But we saw that as a challenge for us to face. Now, months later, depending on which race you play, you can hear totally different language.”
The work on languages took almost 2 months. The result was so promising that it was decided to engage a friendly choir and record a song in the language of Dwarves. Later, a music video was created for this song, consisting of fragments of the gameplay and a dialogue line prepared for karaoke fans.
Driftland: The Magic Revival is available in Early Access on the Steam platform. The release is scheduled for Q2 2019. First story campaign is coming out in February for all Early Access players!
More about Driftland: The Magic Revival:
Driftland is a unique fusion of RTS, 4X strategy, and Sim genres in a fantasy world made up of scattered planet. Player takes on the role of a powerful mage-ruler capable of moving and reshaping parts of the planet. Both game mechanics and history are based on an innovative concept of dynamic topography and issuing orders to individuals with free will.
Story:
A long war between the mightiest of ancient mages led to a gigantic cataclysm, shattering the entire planet into scattered pieces. Facing the destruction of their entire civilizations, warring parties decided to call a truce and tried to repair the damage caused.
It was, however, already too late. Using all the remaining magic resources they had, mages cast a powerful spell and managed to keep their world, Driftland, in a relative balance. Many dark ages have passed, but when all seemed lost, a light of hope sparked once again: new sources of magic appeared and the whole planet began to give birth to new spellcasters.
You become the most powerful among them – Mage Overlord with great power and great purpose. What fate will you bring to the planet – new devastating conflict or revival?
Free will of your subjects, tamable wild creatures (or Dwarven aerial machines) and rich lore (with four new languages created for the project) are only the tip of the iceberg – the game allows you to move floating islands created by the cataclysm, terraform, create or destroy them. You can reshape the world around you, gaining a strategic advantage over enemies and securing your inevitable victory!
Features:
Build a city you want to rule – Kingdom building and upgrades of buildings, expanding their capabilities – economic, military or magical power
Dynamic topography – Move and terraform floating islands of the shattered planet
Get to know the rich lore – 4 different races with unique skills, each one speaking their own language. 4 points of view on the Driftland’s story. One player to bring them all and in the darkness bind… oh, you know the drill.
Many paths of progress – Economy, Warfare, and Magic upgrades purchased for progress points
Economy is a key – Resources, population, and magic-based economy
Don’t forget the diplomacy – Reputation system, alliances, wars and everything in between
Face various victory conditions – Extermination, Domination, Expansion
Give your citizens the orders – Setting goals instead of micro-management units
Development of units – Units have names, gain EXP, levels, and unique skills
Flying units – Enhancing units by taming and bonding them with flying beasts incl. dragons or build Dwarven aerial machines
Game Modes – Skirmish, 4 intertwining Campaigns*, and Multiplayer**
Powered by Unreal Engine 4
* 1st campaign Q1 2019, 2nd, 3rd & 4th campaign: Q2 2019
** Multiplayer: Q1 2019
About Star Drifters:
Star Drifters is an independent game development studio based in Warsaw, Poland. The company was founded in 2014 by two industry veterans: Michal Sokolski and Krzysztof Jakubowski. During their careers that span nearly two decades, they’ve worked on numerous titles for all major gaming platforms and gained extensive direct experience in game development and management.
Prior to Star Drifters, in 2000 they founded an indie game studio called Tatanka. Two years later, they started (as co-founders) CI Games, the company behind such games as Lords of the Fallen and Sniper Ghost Warrior.
Star Drifters’ mission is to create engaging, challenging, and highly replayable games, that will remain in players’ memory for a long time.
Jonas “O.J” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround
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Tags: Driftland, Driftland: The Magic Revival, Indie games, Star Drifters studio, Strategy games, The Magic Revival