Beards & Axes, The Beginning.

Hello all and welcome to the project blog for our game project, Beards & Axes; an RPG built with the Unity 4 game engine, taking inspiration from games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, with a few splashes of Diablo in it. And we'll probably stick some Arx Fatalis and Dark Souls on top of that too. Thief has even been mentioned.

We'll be posting regularly here to keep you up to date on our project. We'll throw up screenshots, ideas on what direction we're going, maybe even some handy tips and tricks on working with Unity and 3D Studio Max, among others.

At the moment, we're finalising our level design. We're hoping to have a fully playable level working by the end of May with about 15 to 20 minutes worth of gameplay, customisable characters, at least four distinct enemies and an environment that is immersive, haunting and great fun to play. The most recent Project Documents, along with our game design document, can be found at our Project Website Documents Section, but I'll give you a taster of the story here.

Overview

This is a world where hammer blows crush and swords rend. Evil beasts will happily tear you limb from limb and even the ‘friends’ of your homeland are looking out only for their own needs. Our characters will need their wits about them to survive in this place. And don’t forgot to bring an axe.

Beards & Axes is set on a continent that has been invaded by a battle hardened and terrifyingly powerful force fleeing their own homeland. Bringing with them strange new weapons and tactics unheard of by anyone, this force quickly gains a solid foothold in the country, though few know of their intentions for this land, or for its inhabitants.

A Brutal & Visceral Land

But these wider concerns are of only passing interest to our protagonists.  Finding themselves lost deep within a disused mine located near a large, recently conquered city, our heroes must find their way out. Previously a source of powerful, magic gems, the mine was abandoned over a century ago due to cave-ins, disease and dark rumours and omens. Ancient evils lie buried underneath and having been disturbed over a hundred years previous, they are now ready to make their move.

Worn down by war and sick of life, our characters quickly discover that maybe their own problems aren’t quite as isolated from the rest of the world as they think.