FCR Update

February was a good month for Free Cities: Rebirth.

We are working hard to get the first playable version of the game ready for testing, and more of our systems are shaping up.

Our body system has been designed from the ground up to allow a dynamic, and easily expandable character system. The body system supports an incredible range of customization of both the player character, and NPCs. This will allow creation of characters that are unique, and varied. Whether it be an elven cyborg, a centaur with a missing arm, a living brain in a jar, or a completely average human janitor named Bob; the body system is capable of handling creation, augmentation, and mutation of almost anything.

What good is a variable body system however if all characters behave like one cardboard cutout?  For just this reason we have worked to create a dynamic mental system that will drive characters actions and choices, as well as define their abilities. With the new mind system, characters have a wide array of mental traits that define their strengths, weaknesses, and personality. Partnered with our open skill system we aim to create characters that have their own personalities, reactions, abilities, and desires. The goal is for each character to feel as unique as possible, fulfilling different roles within your Arcology, and ultimately drive the success, and the story of your arcology.

Arcologies in Free Cities: Rebirth are perhaps not what you imagine. The massive open source city-structures are hardened to withstand the mightiest storms, with completely enclosed transportation systems to allow people to quickly get around. Each arcology is designed to meet all the needs of those living within them, and it will be up to you to determine exactly how to best keep your people alive and thriving. Your arcology will be made up of many zones, allowing you to allot space to all sorts of needs and projects.

Update from the Coding Team

We worked on setting up the backend foundation for our gameplay and character systems. The largest part of this being our game manager, game instancing and code modules systems. The code module system allows us to add/remove/change content in the future without needing to rewrite large parts of our game.

A large part of the foundational work on the character/body systems has been completed. Every person in the game world is represented as an entity. Functionally there is no difference between a player character’s body and an NPCs which should have when developing new content.

The body system itself supports custom body types and body parts, allowing for the possibility of cyborgs, centaurs or any other weird wacky thing you can think of.

Update from the Writing Team

On the writing front we’ve been developing the broader world of FCR, designing the political and climate environments, and what dangers or opportunities the player might encounter. We have been developing the various NPC factions’ goals and ideologies, to best construct a world that feels responsive.

We have begun creating several storylines centering on these factions, that will become some of the potential storylines a player may find themselves involved in.

We’ve also been busy writing various minor events you might encounter in your day to day business, and we have created several special punishment events and slave acquisition opportunities.

Update from the Art Team

A number of our art assets are coming along in their development. Our main 3D modeler has created a model of the Arcology. Several components of this have already been textured as well. Models have been created for both male and female humans, and are also part way through texturing. Additionally one of our unique characters (Hare Trigger) has been grey boxed and unwrapped for texturing. Our secondary grey boxed rabbit ears, and is working on a system for rapid creation of outfits.

The game UI has been completely redesigned to have a better feel, and to better align to the artistic vision for the game. The new UI is designed around a glass panel theme, and the in-game UI has been completely re-conceptualized to allow for a better game experience.

Corporation Naming Competition

We had six judges going through the list of submissions and scoring them. The winner, BlackMage27 has been notified and received his prize. The 10 highest rated Corporation names were:

Dying Earth Bioconservation

Echo Deep Mining Co.

Pavlov Psychoengineering

Cosmos Cosmetics

Oracle News

Brotherhood Of Mars

Carbonhill Mining Co.

Elven Works

Girl Next Door Adoption Services

Bredwell Inc.