Ancient Domains of Mystery IndieGoGo Drive Launched

Development of Thomas Biskup’s popular roguelike Ancient Domains of Mystery might have laid dormant for the past decade, but that’s likely going to change, as he and a small team have kicked off an IndieGoGo campaign in order to raise $48,000 and continue development of the popular title. As of the time of this writing, they’ve already brought in nearly $7000 – and there are still 59 days to go:

ADOM is one of the most successful roguelike games ever created, with downloads in the millions and many more every day. ADOM was the first roguelike to add a true role-playing experience to the roguelike genre, and boasts a brilliant mix of story, exploration, and intensely strategic and flexible combat. ADOM was in development from 1994 until November 2002, when the last build was released. ADOM is still part of the roguelike conversation, even after ten years of frozen development.

ADOM is primarily known for being the first roguelike to include vibrant towns, NPC dialog, and quests, but it offers more than just a rich story line in a complex fantasy world:

‘¢ A huge game world with dozens of locations such as towns, randomized dungeons, and secrets
‘¢ Loads of races and classes allowing for almost infinite play styles
‘¢ Hundreds of monsters and items, many with enhanced random features
‘¢ A corruption system forcing you to balance lust for power with fear of damnation
‘¢ Spells, prayers, mindcraft, alchemy, and more
‘¢ Dozens of quests and branching story lines
‘¢ Numerous wildly different endings that might alter reality itself!

Sadly, although ADOM was highly polished, it was left in an unfinished state. Bugs, loopholes and other problems have been identified over the years, but I never had the resources to fix them. I believe I’ve found just the team of experienced, enthusiastic developers and artists to pick up where I left off and make ADOM something truly epic.

DEATH OR GLORY – I NEED YOUR HELP!

If this Indiegogo campaign is successful in reaching the funding goal, you will see a new release of ADOM, version 1.2.0. Here are some of the things you can expect:

‘¢ New stable releases for all supported platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS, Amiga, NetBSD, FreeBSD; Android and iPad/iOS are going to be stretch goals). Operating systems have evolved since 2002 and compatibility is becoming a serious issue.
‘¢ Bug fixes for every bug we can find
‘¢ Game balance patches
‘¢ More elaborate interaction for many things that are currently only handled superficially
‘¢ UI improvements to bring ADOM up-to-date with the progress the roguelike genre has made, to be decided upon based on recommendations of players in the forums (e.g. colored message, some kind of auto-exploration and others)
‘¢ A series of magical statues distributed across the dungeons
‘¢ A roster of new named random boss monsters with special powers
‘¢ Exciting new graphics for the title screen and some quest-related events
‘¢ Audio for sound effects and music for the game areas and important events
‘¢ A freshly revised manual

Honestly, I have very high hopes for ADOM. I’m keeping this campaign modest, but I have big ideas in case we surpass the goal. I’˜ll be announcing the stretch goals later in the campaign, but let me give you a taste of what I have in mind. I’˜m thinking at least two new races and classes, builds for Android and iOS, a scripting module for user extensions, and finally, the release of the ADOM source code as open source, with community management, building, and training included.

THE TEAM

An amazing team has gathered to support me in continuing the ADOM story. With your support, I’ll be adding Jochen Terstiege as co-developer, Krzysztof Dycha as the lead artist, and Oneiros Dieguez as lead composer and sound magician. All three will be involved and paid to help in reviving the development of ADOM.

Jochen has been following and supporting ADOM since the early days and has built many of the ports. I have known him for more than twenty years, and we have worked together in a professional environment for more than eight. Oneiros blew me away with his ability to create immersive sounds and compose memorable music. He is a professional musician by trade and has years of experience in the field. Krys is a talented computer artist who I met through the ADOM II community design competition, which he won. He has some great ideas for a new graphical user experience for the blog and the game. He’s a professional artist and works with computer companies and studios.

WHY INVEST IN ME?

I have put many thousands of hours, if not tens of thousands, into ADOM development and shown my ability to produce an original and polished product, which has proved immensely popular. All this I did while asking only for postcards from fans, of which I have gratefully received a great many. Unfortunately, life has changed, and my goals exceed my resources. I’m calling on those who love the game and want to see it improved to invest to give ADOM the rebirth it deserves. I place tremendous value on ADOM, and I know its fans do too. Please put your faith in me and I will show you what a seasoned developer can do. ADOM will remain free, but your investment will help give it a new lease of life.