in the vast expanse of digital realms, where heroes are forged, and legacies are born, we stand at the dawn of a new era.
in 2020, with a single keystroke, our dream took root. we’ve weathered the highs and heartbreaks as a small team, nurturing every step internally. now, we’re ready to let the world into our process, to witness our triumphs, and to chronicle our transformation in posterity, for generations to come.
this is the beginning of an endless journey, a keystone moment in our shared adventure as the world of samhan chronicles comes to life. with every step you take, every decision you make, you shape not only your destiny but the story within a living, breathing world.
to us and hopefully to you too, samhan chronicles is more than a game—it’s a testament to the power of community, the thrill of discovery, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.
welcome, pioneers, to the first chapter in a saga that will be written by your hands, your courage, and your passion. together, we embark on a journey where possibilities are infinite, and the story is yours to tell.
This post, and Enigma’s right before it, will forever be at the very bottom of an endless sea of milestones, progress updates, exciting news, talent highlights and always a celebration of our community in all its stages.
These first handful of posts are going to be alittle rickety, but this one should be the longest of them all. There is no blog content delivery plan to commemorate our long path of successes, it’s a game that is into its fourth year of development and there is far too much to say about what we’ve done, what is more valuable is to understand why we’ve done it at all.
Enigma and Gnoll founded Samhan Chronicles at the onset of the 2020 pandemic to build a modern MMORPG, fully inspired by original tenants of 1990’s RPG storytelling. They took no shortcuts in its construction and the sweat equity of tens of thousands of hours results in a custom built a sports car capable of converting into a monster truck and a rocket ship as the codebase expands and the gameplay evolution calls for it. Their incredible talent as programmers is only exceeded by their passion to evolve this game into the titan it is destined to be.
I (Jack) joined two years ago on the user experience side (art, story and community engagement), with no prior experience in pixel art you will clearly see my evolution all over this game as I cut my teeth. You don’t have to be gentle about your esthetic related feedback, as soon as we generate revenue it is invested directly into a professional artist. In the meantime I fill the role and learn on the job, my main passion being day operations and player support. Its going to be my full time, 7-day pleasure to personally welcome you to the home that is designed specifically for you to thrive.
This authenticity to our spiritual ancestor comes from more than graphics, its an entire experience, an indescribable “correctness” regarding the decisions we’ve made. The timing, rendering, the story delivery, a million soft details, all are inspired by our ancestors. However the redundant, carpel-tunnel inducing mechanics of 90’s keyboard gameplay is only the beginning of our modernization. The level of challenge, opportunities for customization and boundless potential of 21st century innovation craft an experience that feels oddly familiar, feeding on your reminiscent instincts and evolving beyond the expected.
What makes Samhan Chronicles worth your timeinvestmentinterest ?
custom coded: a game engine without restrictions
our mmorpg runs on a game engine built entirely from scratch, offering an experience uniquely our own. this allows for a world that grows with our community, without excuses.
we’ve custom-coded every aspect, from the intricate graphics rendering that brings our world to life, to the physics that govern realistic interactions. input handling is finely tuned for responsive gameplay, even the networking code was developed in-house to provide a smooth, seamless multiplayer experience while preserving the charm of our 32bit environment.
limitless customization: an armament & cosmetic system that reflects your profound uniqueness
your sprite is more than just a character it’s your digital identity, the face of your adventures, and what others will recognize you by. in our mmorpg, we’ve designed a sprite system with no limitations, allowing for unparalleled customization.
beyond hair, face, and armor, our sprites offer space for everything from crowns and capes to necklaces, beards, and makeup. you can even equip your character with sidebags, hand accessories, and more. every detail is yours to control, making it possible for your fellow players to spot your unique design, whether in-game or even at a cosplay gathering as your defender self.
with time comes innovation. our players know better and should never settle for the status quo
we have learned from our predecessors, their failures and triumphs define how to develop a truly authentic and forward thinking experience for the modern gamer. we are limitless in our aspirations, and a codebase that nimbly adapts to our evolution ensures we will never become obsolete due to codebase limitations.
we will never stop growing, this ensures that the account and home you invest in will always be there for you to return to.
we honor the spirit of live action rp, and take our role as orchestrators as an honor too large to keep to ourselves
the surprise of immersion is the core of our experience. by simply being online, you should be delighted by what surprises happen upon you. like in the real world, there are scheduled events and sudden occasions, and being there ensures that you share in what may be a once-in-a-lifetime interaction.
as creators we can’t wait to give the players a constant occasion, a reason to log in and stay with us. by giving our community user-friendly tools to create their own remarkable live-action events this ensures the element of surprise and danger lurks at any moment of samhan’s living timeline.
this is our individual dreams come true
this doesn’t make us any different from the other games out there, but this is truly what each of us were destined to do. beyond our families and our day jobs this has been, and continues to be, a daily motivator for each of us.
it takes so long to build up something as intricate as an mmorpg, and as time has gone on and we took our licks and learned through the pain of growth, despite the everest always ahead of us we’re more driven and ambitious than we have ever been to exceed the summit and reach the next one.
there are surely more reasons to add, and i’ll think of them the moment i press “publish”, but instead of telling you from now on we’re just going to show you what will make you want to make samhan your forever home.
uhh... TLDRwhat?
I’ll keep the updates breve going forward, so heres a summary of what we stand for and where we are going:
The realm of Samhan is designed for those of us who grew up with a world that we can never go back to, but we can rebuild for us, today, and what we need that home to provide for us now. We strive to be the true spiritual successor to 1990’s live action roleplay. We have a vision and it includes you, and everything that makes you remarkable in the real world will give you a profound advantage when you land on the shores of Qi’an.
Everything you’ve learned, all the skills you’ve refined, your instincts and muscle memory, these fundamental traits laying dormant inside of you will all be rewarded once you return to the realm that your ancestors forged. We believe what makes our story so special is that its not our story at all. We are creating the world, and providing the tools, to allow each of you to make your unique and profound mark on it. Samhan is a reflection of the community that thrives within it.
It is the world we all deserve to live in, somewhere endlessly vast, capable of hosting countless beating hearts, and a place where as soon as you land you’ll feel like you’re home again.
coming up in the next POSTMILESTONEUPDATEHIGHLIGHT :
Playtest 1 & playtest 2 highlights, retrospect of memories over the past 4 years of development
Big updates to the GUI, brand new skinning menu, introducing phase 1 of SPRITE EMOTES
MUSICIAN chronicles: NUAC & Julius
ARTIST chronicles: halcyonarts