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Ashen: Passive Multiplayer MS E3

D

Darryl M R

Member
I managed to find the website for the indie game Ashen.

http://www.ashen-game.com/#ashen

It looks amazing but I do not see a release date. Here are some key concepts about the game:

FEATURES

Passive Multiplayer
People you meet out in the world are players with their own agendas. It will be up to you to decide how to deal with them.

Non-linear progression
No two games will ever be the same. This is a world that moves on without you. Simply being in a different place at a certain time will alter the story in dramatic ways.

Open World Exploration
Your settlement is nestled in the mountains, surrounded by hand crafted environments as far as the eye can see.

High Risk Combat
Each encounter, no matter how trivial seeming, has the potential to end in disaster. Knowing the land and being patient are some of the most valuable weapons available to a lone wanderer in Ashen. Sometimes it is best to turn and run.

Creatures
The creatures of Ashen include rare, lonely giants and hungry, twisted inhabitants of the night. Despite the perils of the darkness, life always finds a way. This is a land teaming with a diverse array of flora and fauna.

The Town
The town will be cobbled together from survivors you choose to bring to your settlement. They might provide you with help ranging from blacksmithing to foraging expertise.

Platforms
PC
Click to expand...

They revealed it for Xbox One but from their website it was originally plan for PC only it seems. I plan to pick it up on PC since it just seems so relaxing.
 
S

Sushi Nao

Member
Can anyone get some screen grabs? I'm so intrigued and my work internet doesn't handle videos

Edit: saw a couple pics on the website, great sense of bleakness and scale
 
V

vivin

Member
Im really sorry to only see this thread now T_T

For those of you who dont know of me. Im the artist/co-founder at Aurora44. Today has been crazy hectic and surreal. If you asked me this time last year if I would believe Ashen would be shown in a conference at E3, I would have said no way!

Thanks so much for all the awesome comments. Overall you guys are picking up on the vibe of game perfectly.


rodiard said:
This game looks dope but how do these faceless creatures see?!
Click to expand...

That is a good question :p
I knew the faces would be the biggest talking point hah.
There are a number of reasons why went in the direction we did. The main one thought, is we want the actions of a player to be the first impression they give some one. Faces by nature have a lot of character to them. A certain look to a face immediately gives off certain traits and sterotypes. we want players to start with a blank slate and let there actions make up the type of character they want to play.
Its a stylistic choice we made, taking certain liberties with how the characters see/eat in the world.

If anyone has any questions ill be happy to try and answer :)
 
D

Darryl M R

Member
vivin said:
Im really sorry to only see this thread now T_T

For those of you who dont know of me. Im the artist/co-founder at Aurora44. Today has been crazy hectic and surreal. If you asked me this time last year if I would believe Ashen would be shown in a conference at E3, I would have said no way!

Thanks so much for all the awesome comments. Overall you guys are picking up on the vibe of game perfectly.




That is a good question :p
I knew the faces would be the biggest talking point hah.
There are a number of reasons why went in the direction we did. The main one thought, is we want the actions of a player to be the first impression they give some one. Faces by nature have a lot of character to them. A certain look to a face immediately gives off certain traits and sterotypes. we want players to start with a blank slate and let there actions make up the type of character they want to play.
Its a stylistic choice we made, taking certain liberties with how the characters see/eat in the world.

If anyone has any questions ill be happy to try and answer :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for being willing to respond to the community, I have a few questions and feel free to skip the ones that you cannot respond to at the moment:

  • Is there going to be a storyline with an end or will it just be open and endless?
  • Will there be player customization?
  • 2016?
 
D

dancrane212

Member
Ashen was confirmed for the Windows 10 store a couple months ago. I'm wondering if the game will be crossbuy/crossplay between PC and XB1.
 
A

Azlan

Member
This game looks great. Really enjoying the art style. Not quite sure of what the game play entails besides exploring and fighting some creatures probably. Is it an RPG?
 
O

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
this deserves more attention. it look utterly fantastic IMO.
 
V

vivin

Member
ChosenPredator said:
could of swore the person who made the game is a gaf member too
Click to expand...

/waves that would be I :)

Darryl M R said:
Thanks for being willing to respond to the community, I have a few questions and feel free to skip the ones that you cannot respond to at the moment:

  • Is there going to be a storyline with an end or will it just be open and endless?
  • Will there be player customization?
  • 2016?
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the questions!


1, there will most certainly be a "main" storyline of sorts. But we want it to feel very organic and non rigid in design. Non linear and open to discovery is what we are trying to achieve with Ashen. But we want to make sure there is enough drive forward for the player to feel like he's making progress still. Less open than a fully sand box game, but less rigid than a linear story driven game if that makes sense.

2. There will be player customization yes. To what level is undetermined right now. We want to find a sweet balance between player choice and ownership as well as player investment in their characters, but not extreme customization to the likes of skyrim/dark souls.. We also want to make sure the player fits in with the world of the custom made characters, which is always a tough balance. So to sum up, yes there will be some customization, but to what degree is still a balancing act.

3.
We are honestly still early on in development and with such a small team, it's really hard to predict/lock down long term dates as development is very agile and ever changing. We want to make sure when we announce a date that we can achieve it ;) so for now I'll just say to please be patient sorry :)

Azlan said:
This game looks great. Really enjoying the art style. Not quite sure of what the game play entails besides exploring and fighting some creatures probably. Is it an RPG?
Click to expand...

Thanks! We consider Ashen to be an action RPG but I understand people sometimes think we mean in the style of Diablo/torchlight. For quick comparison sake I would say Ashen is very much in the vein of the likes of dark souls/dragons dogma.

op_ivy said:
this deserves more attention. it look utterly fantastic IMO.
Click to expand...

The Boat said:
I need to see more gameplay, but this looked really promising, looking forward to it.
Click to expand...

BananasWithGuns said:
This looks and sounds really great.

I'm assuming they didn't give any kind of release window?
Click to expand...

Thanks all! No release window given, but I did discuss it a bit in the spoiler tags while answering Darrly M R's questions above.
 
B

BananasWithGuns

Member
Thanks for the responses and answering questions.

I'm looking forward to checking out at whatever point it does end up releasing. Really looking forward to seeing more when you're able to share it.
 
S

Striek

Member
Love the art-style and the concept of the game.

This thread popping up has inspired me to watch the MS conference in full to see what else I am missing other than the headlines talked about on GAF.
 
K

Kickz

Member
Game art looks nice

Ashen.png
Click to expand...
 
D

Dabanton

Member
Really loved the trailer for this. The mood it set is my sort of game,exploration mixed with a eerie atmosphere and the creatures looks dream like but slightly terrifying. Look forward to seeing a bit more.
 
SEGAvangelist

SEGAvangelist

Member
This game has me more intrigued than any other games of the show. It's probably the coolest looking grey colored game I've ever seen.
 
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