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Flintlock Studios

Kickstarter

Chewbacca? Is that you?

Press release:

Flintlock Studios’ Stone Age fantasy RTS Lithic will ‘rock’ the way the genre is played.

In the beginning there was the Ix-Aan, a hive mind of reptilian humanoids. They expanded their territory, developing culture and religious practices. They worshipped The Creators, an ethereal race with the power to command the elements and manifest as mighty animal spirits. The Ix-Aan grew strong, arrogant that they had raised themselves so far above the other races; whilst others played in the dirt, the Ix-Aan had the ability to call on the Gods themselves.

The elders of the Ix civilization came together to work a great ritual, one that would bring The Creators to the planet to rule as god-kings. The ritual was a success, but it caused the end of life as it was then known. The sheer energy released from the descent of The Creators destroyed the Ix-Aan, leaving none but a few mindless thralls wandering with no direction. Now is the time for the other races to shine, now is the age of Lithic.

In Lithic players will control a tribe of fantasy creatures, guiding them through a stone age to the point of civilisation. Players will face the challenge of tough environments, prehistoric creatures and the influence of magic within the game world. As well as an unconventional setting for a fantasy game, Lithic will also be set apart from other games of its kind through two unique systems that Flintlock Studios are implementing.

The first system focuses on the AI of the game. “We are big players of RTS games,” said Lead Developer Tom Stevenson. “We know that often it can turn into a micro-management sim with the player constantly having to worry about every small thing that is happening. The AI of Lithic is taking away a lot of that. The AI will make sure tribe members are eating and sleeping when they need to, meaning that the player can concentrate on the bigger tasks like combat or skill building.”

The second system focuses on the skills and tech-tree of Lithic “Unlike other RTS games, the skill and tech trees are not for the tribe as a whole” said Lead Designer Jon Hughes. “Each individual tribe member will have their own individual tech tree, and will have the ability to pass on their knowledge to other members of the tribe.”

These tech-trees play into the idea of Perma-Death, another concept that Flintlock Studios is very keen to explore in Lithic. “When a tribe member dies in Lithic, all the knowledge that the tribe member has dies with them.” Explained Jon. “So if they haven’t passed the skills on to others, that skill can end up being lost entirely, until someone discovers it again.” A death doesn’t mean the end of the game but it could set a tribe back a while. Depending on how long a tribe has existed for some lower end skills may be forgotten entirely as they evolve. “Think of this like how we are nowadays,” said Jon, “we know how to cook and shop but how many of us know how to hunt, gather and start a fire?”

These two systems will certainly have an impact on decision that players will make when playing Lithic. Not only that, Flintlock Studios have created a graphically beautiful game world for this to be set in. Made in Unity 5, Lithic is set to be one of the first games fully built in the engine. Add on top of this an immense amount of lore covering the development of the tribes and society before the game has even began and Lithic is a game that will certainly stand out from others of its kind.

Flintlock Studios and Lithic are currently on Kickstarter where they are looking to raise £10,000 to finish this current development phase of the game. The current phase of development will end with an Early Access release.

To keep up to date with the game you can follow Lithic on Twitter at @LithicTheGame.