Life of Rome is an impressive-looking new third and first-person massively multiplayer online action role playing game set in the world of 320AD Rome, and it looks pretty stunning from these visuals. (The 3D map of Rome caught my eye first).
In development since 2014 and now ramping up for launch this year, the MMORPG is the work of independent British developer Breakout Studio, currently on Early Access through Steam, where early adopters have helped shape the title.
The game is played from the point of view of Roman allegiance and Rebels; designed to emphasise roleplay and community using a faction system and player-driven politics. The in-game world is a 50km2 representation of Rome and its surrounding areas, including small villages, Rebel camps and Roman forts.
Players interact with each other in a series of locations spread across the area. Major roleplaying-based storylines, purely optional, will be started and run by Breakout Studio staff as well as players. Sadly, the web site for this British company seems to have been hacked, but a post on the game’s official site forum reveals that apart from £400 raised on Indiegogo, Life of Rome‘s development has been funded out of the team’s own pockets. With the exception of the freelancers, everyone is working on the project in their own time voluntarily on this intriguing indie project.
“Our focus has and always will be on doing things well rather than doing them quickly,” the poster from the team, Rob, declared back in 2015. “We don’t want to fall into the same traps that other developers have by being over eager to release too early, and even though it is a popular business model these days, we would rather not charge people for an alpha, or make unfulfillable promises on Kickstarter until we feel we have something solid to give. Although a cash injection would certainly speed things up, it often comes with the burden of additional pressure to hit deadlines inevitably compromising the quality of the game.”
The team started play testing Life of Rome earlier this year, and it will be interesting to see the project come to life in the coming month.s
• Web: www.lifeofrome.com | Steam http://store.steampowered.com/app/381620/Life_of_Rome | Facebook
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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