Adventure Gaming with Zarktor Studios
Who We Are
Zarktor Studios is an Indie development business based in Canberra, Australia. We are inspired by game titles like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Skyrim, the Baldur's Gate series, World of Warcraft, and VR titles like Alyx, Arizona Sunshine and more. We have a passion for RPG, Sci-Fi, medieval fantasy and VR immersion. Combining these in a novel, natural and intuitive way is our goal.
We have game programming experience dating back to Commodore 64 BASIC from the 80's, through to modern development with Apple XCode/Swift for IOS, Unity/C#, SQL and ML. We're able to leverage extensive Agile software engineering and project management experience with over 25 years in professional services, program management and systems integration.
We also have skills in:
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3D modelling with Blender and CAD software,
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2D digital art (Photoshop, Substance Painter, GIMP and Procreate),
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Realistic terrain modelling using heightmap data, Meshroom and Blender,
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Level and dungeon design with procedurally generated algorithms and placement tools,
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Story, character and dialogue development with Articy: Draft, and
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Audio engineering and music production with musicianship in a variety of instruments and studio recording software (Logic Pro X, Guitar Pro and Audacity).
We're now bringing this experience to bear on Zarktor's Realm -- a project we're expecting to be at least a 2 year endeavour to get to production release.
Our game development is funded personally and by personal time and effort, much like any indie shop. We have the tools we need for art, development, production and testing (at least on Xbox, Playstation and Windows / SteamVR / HTC Vive platforms).
Realistically speaking, we are, however, likely to outsource and/or need assistance with:
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Character voice acting / dialogue voiceovers (e.g. through Fiverr)
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2D art / traditional media for character and concept art (commissioned through ArtStation),
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Product marketing, social media, press and launch,
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Testing on platforms we can't realistically test ourselves.
We are likely to run a campaign to get players interested in playing alpha and beta versions to get feedback to gauge what needs tuning and what features make sense.
We haven't yet decided upon pricing but favouring a one-off purchase per-platform with revenues likely to fund additional DLCs at some point (similar to purchasing the Fallout series on Steam).
Of course we're open to change and input from the gaming community and that may steer us along.
Medieval RPG Adventure
Zarktor's Realm
Zarktor's Realm has been on the cards for a long, long time with ideas floating around in the ether, waiting for the right technology to come together and sufficient free time to make it happen.
Now is that time.
We're now bringing tools, assets, art style and story elements together and systematically integrating components to get basic gameplay working.
We have commenced prototyping a vertical slice of a couple of playable levels in Unity using a combination of hand-crafted custom Blender assets and purchased professional assets that look really great and integrate into the Zarktor game world and art style very nicely.
On top of that, we have the following subsystems working in various stages of proof of concept:
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Real world terrain and real city mapping.
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Core mechanics (movement, interaction, follow-cam, animations).
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Several control methods: WASD keyboard & mouse, Gamepad controllers.
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Melee and ranged combat.
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Levelling and progression.
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Inventory system with pickups/drops, equipment and action slots.
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NPC spawning and aggro.
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Branching dialogue.
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Questing system.
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Store trading system.
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Horseriding system.
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Background music and ambient sound FX.
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Menus and UI components.
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Saving and checkpointing.
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Open World streaming and level sectorisation to maintain framerate performance.
We're considering the following high-end platforms as likely deployment targets:
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Windows via Steam
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MacOS via Steam
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Linux via Steam
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SteamDeck
Whilst we have an open mind about cross-platform, we just have to put some scope bounds on what we're able to realistically test, debug and fix during development - at least until we know whether it's going to fly, we have a following of avid players with those platforms or automated regression testing capabilities in place.
At this stage, we're not looking for this to be turn-based, real-time strategy, or become an MMORPG, mining, farming or building simulator or require server/hosted multi-player capabilities. However, that could change depending on how we go with feature backlog, burn down and feedback from the gaming community. At the moment we're focussed on developing gameplay along the lines of what we enjoy playing.
Zarktor's Realm
Goal: Release on Steam 2024
Set in Medieval England using real locations, historical events and legends, we're weaving an intricate and immersive experience spanning several hundred years.
If you enjoyed wandering the wasteland and picking off Raiders with VATS in Fallout 3, exploring and questing in Baldur's Gate or WOW, or immersing yourself in the world of Alyx, that's the blend of experiences we're aiming for.
