Seed (upcoming video game)

Last updated
Seed
Developer(s) Klang Games
Engine Unity
SpatialOS
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
OS X
Linux
Genre(s) MMO
Sandbox
Simulation Game
Construction and Management Simulation
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Seed is an upcoming massively multiplayer sandbox simulation video game in development by Klang Games, which began initial production in October 2016. [1] According to Klang Games, the game is not connected to, or a remake of, Seed , developed by Runestone Game Development, which closed in 2006. [2]

Contents

Plot

Players are tasked with colonizing a large-scale, exoplanet through collaboration, conflict, and other player-to-player interaction.

Gameplay

Players must manage multiple colonists and create their routines, allowing them to develop their community and progress on their own organically. Each AI-controlled colonist can be given priorities or various tasks for survival. Players can collaborate with one other to form larger colonies. These large colonies can then form their own governments, rules, or taxes, and eventually, become cities. [3] When a player is logged off, their colonists will still function within the game. However, players will also have the ability to defer the control of their characters to other players. [4]

In-game politics

In May 2016, it was announced that the Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Lawrence Lessig, is working with Klang to create the game's political structure. [5] Professor Lessig is creating a platform where players can choose from different forms of governance to apply to a player colony. The options range from simple forms of government to a monarchy or different forms of complex democracies. Lessig noted that players shouldn't be burdened with political structure until they need it. [5] In addition, Lessig noted that he is not interested in pushing his personal views within the game. [6]

Development

Klang is utilizing the cloud-based operating system created by Improbable, SpatialOS, which allows Seed to be a persistent, continuously running simulation, with all Seed game logic running and living on a single shard server. [7] The game's low polygon art style direction is led by 3D animator Eran Hilleli. [8]

Reception

Seed has been described by Rock, Paper, Shotgun as “'RimWorld but multiplayer or maybe 'The Sims but on another planet where the other Sims families don’t like you'.” [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Sims Online</i> 2002 massively multiplayer online game

The Sims Online was a 2002 massively multiplayer online game (MMO) developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts (EA) for Microsoft Windows. The game was a subscription-based online multiplayer version of the 2000 Maxis game The Sims, in which players could interact with others on virtual user-made lots, buy and customise properties, and make in-game money by taking on jobs. The Sims Online was the project of Maxis founder and Sims creator Will Wright, who sought to create an open-ended online game based on social interaction, with ambitions for the game to be a platform for emergent gameplay and the creation of virtual societies and politics. In line with these ambitions and the prior commercial success of The Sims, The Sims Online received considerable pre-release coverage, with expectations that it would be successful and break new ground for online multiplayer games.

<i>SimAnt</i> 1991 video game

SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a 1991 life simulation video game by Maxis and the company's third product, focusing on the lifecycle of ants. It was designed by Will Wright. In 1992, it was named "Best Simulation Game" at the Software Publishers Association's Codie awards. SimAnt was re-released in 1993 as part of the SimClassics Volume 1 compilation alongside SimCity Classic and SimLife for MS-DOS, Mac and Amiga. In 1996, SimAnt, alongside several of Maxis' simulation games were re-released under the Maxis Collector Series with greater compatibility with Windows 95 and differing box art, including the addition of Classics beneath the title.

<i>Sid Meiers Colonization</i> 1994 video game

Sid Meier's Colonization is a video game by Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier. It was developed by MicroProse's Chapel Hill development studio and was released in 1994. It is a turn-based strategy game themed on the early European colonization of the New World, starting in 1492 and lasting until 1850. It was originally released for DOS, and later ported to Windows 3.1 (1995), the Amiga (1995), and Macintosh (1995). American video game publisher Tommo purchased the rights to this game in 2015 and digitally published it through their Retroism brand.

<i>Transport Tycoon</i> 1994 video game

Transport Tycoon is a city-based video game designed and programmed by Chris Sawyer, and published by MicroProse on 15 November 1994 for DOS. It is a business simulation game, presented in an isometric view in 2D with graphics by Simon Foster, in which the player acts as an entrepreneur in control of a transport company, and can compete against rival companies to make as much profit as possible by transporting passengers and various goods by road, rail, sea and air.

A massively multiplayer online game is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ. These games can be found for most network-capable platforms, including the personal computer, video game console, or smartphones and other mobile devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincity</span> Free and open-source SimCity clone

Lincity is a free and open-source software construction and management simulation game, which puts the player in control of managing a city's socio-economy, similar in concept to SimCity. The player can develop a city by buying appropriate buildings, services and infrastructure. Its name is both a Linux reference and a play on the title of the original city-building game, SimCity, and it was released under the GNU General Public License v2.

<i>FreeCol</i>

FreeCol is a 4X video game, a clone of Sid Meier's Colonization. FreeCol is free and open source software released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later. In 2023, the FreeCol project reached its 1.0 release, after twenty years of development.

<i>SimCity</i> (2013 video game) 2013 video game

SimCity is a city-building and urban planning simulation massively multiplayer online game developed by Maxis Emeryville and published by Electronic Arts. Released for Microsoft Windows in early March 2013, it is a reboot of the SimCity series, and is the first major installment since the release of SimCity 4 a decade before. A macOS version was released on August 29, 2013.

<i>Frozen Synapse</i> 2011 video game

Frozen Synapse is a turn-based tactics video game developed by independent game developer Mode 7 Games, in which players plan their moves at their leisure and turns are resolved simultaneously. Players attempt to win by giving orders to a small squad of armed combatants, most commonly with the goal of eliminating all enemy units.

<i>Miner Wars 2081</i> 2012 video game

Miner Wars 2081 is a six degrees of freedom action-survival space-shooter simulation game produced by Keen Software House. The gameplay offers a choice of single player, co-op, and deathmatch multi-player. The game is set in the year 2081, 11 years after the destruction of all planetary objects in the Solar System. The story introduces the player to many types of missions: rescue, exploration, revenge, base defense, theft, transportation, stealth, search and destroy, pure harvesting or racing. A multiplayer spin-off game, Miner Wars Arena, was also released in 2012.

<i>The Sims 4</i> 2014 video game

The Sims 4 is a social simulation game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released on September 2, 2014 for Windows, and is the fourth main installment in The Sims series, following The Sims 3 (2009). As with previous games in the series, The Sims 4 allows players to create and customize characters called "Sims", build and furnish their homes, and simulate their daily life across various in-game regions. This installment introduced a newly developed custom game engine, with enhanced character creation and house-building tools, along with a more complex in-game simulation.

<i>Command: Modern Air Naval Operations</i> 2013 video game

Command: Modern Air Naval Operations is a warfare simulation video game developed by Greek studio Warfare Sims and published by Matrix Games, and was released on September 24, 2013. Often described as the spiritual successor to the legacy Harpoon series, Command expanded on both the scope and detail of simulation compared to Harpoon and was designed to overcome the earlier series' limitations.

<i>Oxygen Not Included</i> 2017 video game

Oxygen Not Included is a survival simulation video game developed and published by Klei Entertainment. After being released on Steam's early access since February 2017, the game was officially released on July 30, 2019.

<i>Growtopia</i> 2012 video game

Growtopia, commonly abbreviated as GT, is a massively multiplayer online sandbox video game developed by Ubisoft Abu Dhabi and formerly by indie developers Robinson Technologies and Hamumu Software where players can farm, build worlds, converse with others, and engage in player versus player combat. The game was initially released for Android in November 2012, and later for iOS, Microsoft Windows, and OS X in 2013. It was also released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2019, but support for each console would later be discontinued on July 30, 2020.

<i>Dual Universe</i> 2022 video game

Dual Universe is a first person based space simulation sandbox massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by the Paris-based game development studio, Novaquark.

<i>Hackmud</i> 2016 video game

Hackmud is a massively multiplayer online video game and/or MUD that simulates 1990s hacker subculture through text-based adventure. Players use social engineering, scripting, and cracks in a text-based terminal to influence and control other players in the simulation. Reviewers wrote that the game's "campy hacking" mimics that of films like WarGames (1983) and Jurassic Park (1993).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon Games</span> American video game developer

Amazon Games is an American video game company and division of the online retailing company Amazon that primarily focuses on publishing video games developed within the company's development divisions.

Eco is a simulation game created by American studio Strange Loop Games, in which players have to work together to create a civilization on a virtual planet. The game values a gentle use of natural resources and is used both as an entertainment and educational tool.

References

  1. "Development Update 1 September 2017". Seed Development Blog. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  2. "Is Seed a Remake of the 2006 MMO Seed". Seed Development Blog. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  3. 1 2 Caldwell, Brendan (30 August 2017). "The Games Chasing EVE's Vision of a Single Shard MMO". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  4. Wray, Chris (5 November 2017). "Seed with SpatialOS - the MMO to Teach You Life". Wccftech. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
  5. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean (31 May 2017). "Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig will Design the Politics in Online Game Seed". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  6. Pearson, Jordan (8 June 2017). "'Governance in the Real World Is So Fucked:' Lawrence Lessig Is Working on an MMO". Motherboard. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  7. "SpatialOS for Games".
  8. Batchelor, James (June 2017). "Klang Receives Additional Funding, Strikes a Deal with Harvard Law Professor". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 2017-06-01.