"Performing a full server-authoritative physics simulation for hundreds of players in a shared world is a daunting technical challenge," says Bill Dalton, ArtCraft's vice president of development (and resident astrophysicist PhD). The resources needed for expansion, however, can only be obtained by going off to the Campaign Worlds: unsafe areas that are being consumed by a mysterious force known as "The Hunger." These procedurally-generated worlds spawn throughout the game's universe, and these worlds are dying – your task is to go in, fight other players for control of the Campaign World, claim victory and get out with the precious resources before that world is destroyed, forever. Each immortal (or "Crow") resides on a permanent Kingdom World, which can be grown and developed, making the player more important and illustrious in the process. In Crowfall, the player is an immortal, and can travel between Campaign Worlds (what most MMOs call realms or shards) to collect resources, relics and the souls of the damned. The result is a unique mix that shares elements of the territorial combat system of Shadowbane, the economy and crafting systems of Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online, as well as the vast, sprawling societal ideas that coalesced to become Eve Online. The result is a "Throne War Simulator", an MMO blended with a strategy game that allows for fast-paced, physics-based combat in a player-mutable world. Crowfall is not your average MMO, not about raids or instances or leveling up through battles against endless monsters rather, Crowfall's design leverages the core strength of an MMO – the other players.
The resulting production is Crowfall, which was recently Kickstarted to the tune of $1,766,204. They pulled together a world-class team on their new project Raph Koster, who was the lead designer of Ultima Online and creative director of Star Wars Galaxies, came on board to help.
In 2013, Coleman partnered with Gordon Walton, best known for his work on Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies and Star Wars: the Old Republic, and the two launched a company called ArtCraft Entertainment in Austin, Texas. Prior to that, he directed Shadowbane, one of the earliest PvP-focused MMOs in the history of the genre. Todd Coleman spent the last several years building the biggest MMOs that you may not be familiar with: Wizard101 and Pirate101.
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