MMOs are a hot commodity lately. A genre that had been stagnant for what seemed like forever is experiencing a boom. From games that hope to bring back the charm of old school MMORPGs like Pantheon: Rise of the Fallento innovative titles such as ashes of creation hoping to transcend the genre to a whole new level, there’s a lot to be excited about if you’re an MMORPG player. However, can there really be enough MMOs? Well, one thing’s for sure, we’ve had our fair share of bad MMOs over the last decade, but the good ones are always welcome. An upcoming MMORPG hopes to earn its place as one of the good guys, that game is Mad World: Age of Darkness.
Don’t take my word for it though, there is still a chance to take part in alpha testing this month on May 25th. This will be the last phase of alpha testing for Mad World. In addition to the unique graphic style and dark fantasy vibes that I get from the trailerI still don’t know much about this title. In fact, I recently discovered the existence of this MMORPG project.
This is what I have been able to find out about Mad World.
Around
After a catastrophic event, Mad World takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Confronted by hordes of dark souls, players hope to survive long enough to escape their grim reality. Environments, enemies, and character models are inspired by dark fantasy lineage and combined with hand-drawn cel-shaded graphics to create a unique style.
Hand drawn dark souls infesting Mad World
Jandy Engine
Mad World is being developed by Jandisoft Co. using the Jandi Engine; A WebGL-based engine, the Jandi Engine supports HTML5 web browsers. An advantage of using this engine, according to its creators, is that the Jandi Engine allows developers to create content more easily and at a faster pace. Ironically, Mad World: Age of Darkness has been in development for quite some time, the trailer below is from 2017 and considering this article is about the final alpha test in May 2022, I’d say things have been going a bit slow.
Jandi is capable of handling rendering, user interface, particle effects, physics, animations, sound, and tools. The following video demonstrates how easily a developer can use this software to create unique games with relative ease.
Where to play Mad World: Age of Darkness
Mad World is a web browser based game, any HTML5 compatible web browser should be able to handle the MMO. System requirements are manageable even for older systems, but that’s to be expected with a web browser-based game.
System Requirements
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Operating system: Windows 7 or newer.
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Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E8400, 3.0GHz or higher.
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Memory: 4GB RAM.
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Graphics: GeForce GTX 1030 (2GB VRAM)
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DirectX: Version 10.
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Network: Broadband Internet connection.
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Storage: 4 GB of available space.
Characteristic
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Cross/Cross-Platform MMORPG
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Classic MMORPG elements
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Unique hand drawn art style with graceful animation
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PVP Battle Arena Modes
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grotesque creatures
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Classless weapon-based combat system
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Giant boss raid
business model
Mad World will feature a free business model. Now, before you jump for joy at the idea of a ‘free’ game, know that developers take their money from consumers one way or another. For MMORPGs, a free-to-play model generally means that players can download and play the game for free, but to get certain items or access all features, they will need to shell out the cash later through a cash shop; Did you see someone in a cool mount and want to know where to get it? They probably bought it at the store with real money.
Free to play is my least favorite financial model for an MMORPG, but it makes the game accessible to more players, so I understand the appeal. The extent of the cash shop microtransactions is still unknown, but hopefully they will stay away from any kind of “pay to win” features.
Alpha Access
There is still a chance to enter the final alpha testing session in just a couple of weeks. Head over to the official Mad World: Age of Darkness site and register to put you in the queue. If you manage to get a spot in alpha, come back here later and let us know what you think of your time in Mad World.