Flintlock Studios’ fantasy RTS, Lithic is set to reinvigorate the genre of God Games in 2015.
Lithic begins with an ancient group of intelligent, reptilian humanoids completing an ancient ritual that aims to bring a powerful demi-god known as a “Creator Spirit” to their home-world. But the ritual was too powerful, summoning not only a single Spirit, but many. The concentrated energy caused a devastating an expulsion of pure force, wiping out all but a few of the ritualists and their followers; those who survived the blast now doomed to wander the planet, lost, confused and hostile.
Some Creator Spirits summoned by the ritual found themselves tethered to the indigenous creatures of the world, with others thrust into the rocks and earth, trees and rivers. The more fortunate ones connected with the minds and souls of primitive tribes. These few now strive to help their hosts improve culturally and technologically in the slim hope that they can advance to a point where they can assist the Creator Spirit in re-ascending to the godly plane.
This background is only a brief insight into the world that has been created for Lithic. Since they announced Lithic in August, Flintlock Studios has not only have been working on design and implementation of Game Mechanics but also on the story, lore and history of the world and the races that inhabit it. “The mythology of Lithic helps to inspire the design of the game” says Lead Designer Jon Hughes. “Everything in the game is influenced by the story and the universe we are creating.”
One of the core values of Flintlock Studios is that the company wants to create a storyline and game world that will immerse the player. “Our games are as much about the journey as they are about winning” says Jon, “We enjoy games where you become invested in the storyline and that becomes the drive behind the gameplay.”
In Lithic the player will control one of the trapped Creator Spirits. This Creator Spirit will guide a tribe of one of five races to explore the concept of cultural and technological evolution; from primitives incapable of speech through to advanced stone tool creation. “Although this is an RTS, it won’t have the micro-management that sometimes occurs in these kind of games” said Tom Stevenson, Lead Developer, “The AI in the game will deal with the tribe’s basic needs such as sleep and hunger, allowing the player to focus on the more important game events.”
The player will have to deal with the possibility of encountering other tribes and wild prehistoric creatures, as well as the challenge of the environment which is as much an enemy as anything else in the game. A death in the tribe won’t mean the end of the game but it could have implications for the surviving members. “We’ve always been interested in the idea of Perma-Death” says Jon, “In Lithic the death of a character will lead to the loss of any knowledge that character had. It then becomes a vital part of the game for the player to make sure knowledge is passed on between tribe members in case a death should happen.”
With five playable races, an immersive game world and Perma-Death liable to change gameplay in one strike, Lithic is a game which will be challenging for gamers. One to watch in 2015.
Lithic has been in active development since May 2014 and is currently on Steam Greenlight. An Early Access release is planned for Early 2015. For updates on the game you can find Lithic on Twitter @lithicthegame
Lithic’s Greenlight page can be found at http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=374877899&tscn=1421226496