Hi! I’m one of the developers of Crest.
We’ve been working on this game for 9 months now and we’ve released a public prototype of it available for free here.
Up until this point we’ve been eating through our savings to make this game, but we can unfortunately no longer continue. So to be able to finish the game we’ve launched an Indiegogo campaign to seek funding.
Links:
Indiegogo
Greenlight
Prototype
If you like what you see, please consider contributing and voting for us on Greenlight, we would really really appreciate it!
What is Crest?
A god game which gives you the role as a guide for your people. Your only way of communication with your subjects is commandments you write for them. How these commandments are interpreted and remembered are not set in stone. You might find that your people will evolve over time and use your commandments for their own devices.
A god game where emphasis should be put on parenthood rather than omnipotent dictatorship. The player will not be told what is right or wrong, there will just be many paths which to choose from. Paths that lead to another history for your people and more ways of expressing yourself through your people and the world they shape. At the end of the day you might have changed yourself as well, at least in the eyes of your people.
Features
* Creative and easy input with varied consequences - Writing commandments for your followers is easy and will have a huge impact on their lives. You write statements that will trigger actions under specific conditions. If you write commandments that are sensible to the people your commandments may survive unfiltered throughout the ages whereas other commandments may be interpreted in new ways and may provide disastrous implications for future generations.
* Many ways of expression - Crest is about what you want your people to become; there will be situations that you can solve in several ways, but no real inherent right or wrong. It’s about experimenting and expressing yourself; through seeing how you can shape your people, and how they in turn, shape history.
* Partake in the legacy of the world – The world and everything in it will change over time, long periods of fruitful harvest may lead to better chances for forthcoming generations. Artifacts telling the stories of times passed will decorate the scene. Your people will evolve, and you may need to evolve along with them.
* Indirect control – Your followers are autonomous and have their own behaviors, preferences and needs that will dictate how they act in the world. Your commandments are also viewed through their perspective, they may reinterpret what you say and if they dislike your actions as a God they may even turn against you!
* Procedurally generated content - The world will be randomly generated to ensure that each playthrough will begin with different conditions for your followers. Cities built in deserts will behave differently from cities in areas with heavy vegetation and so forth. The initial surroundings and the lay of the land will play a definite part in the forthcoming development.
Setting
Crest takes inspiration from ancient African heritage in order to give the player a feeling of a mythological time from humanity’s ancient cradle. The people you control are an advanced iron age civilization. The setting for the game world, its flora and fauna is based on African biomes, with rainfall determining the tug-of-war between desert and jungle. But it should be seen as a fantastical amalgamation of the sub-sharan african continent and its diverse cultures.
