Crowfall developer ArtCraft Entertainment has announced today that the game will employ the Voxel Farm technology platform. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Voxel Farm is licensed to several other high-profile MMORPGs, including Landmark and EverQuest Next.
The best part is how the studio leads describe what they’re doing with the tech. “We want to create hundreds of unique worlds, with unique maps — mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, dungeons, ruins — for players to explore and destroy,” says ArtCraft president Gordon Walton. Sounds peaceful, right? Wrong! Creative Director Todd Coleman says ArtCraft is out to subvert that trope: “Most games are using voxel technology for creation — effectively, giving players a sandbox to build things. We’re using them for a very different reason; we are using Voxels for destruction. We’re creating sandcastles for the players to kick over.”
The studio also posted an FAQ on its official site detailing what voxels are and how the game benefits from voxel design. “Blast holes in walls. Collapse towers on your opponent. Dig a tunnel beneath a castle wall, so that you can dig your way up into the courtyard and siege from within. Voxel technology gives the players the ability to (literally) move mountains.”
Finally and somewhat unrelatedly, Crowfall’s latest class, the Elken Stalker, was revealed in a new dev blog. It ought to satisfy everyone who ever wanted to gank noobs as an elk.
Lest you think the game might be inching away from Shadowbane and into Minecraft territory, today’s press release insists that Crowfall is still a “next-generation Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMORPG) with a focus on political alliances and feudal conquest.” The game is slated to be buy-to-play with a box price and an optional VIP sub. That mysterious 40-day countdown timer runs out next week.
[Source: Crowfall press release, dev post, FAQ, dev blog]
