Adellion was a medieval MMORPG set in a world of the same name, in development by HonourBound, a British company. Development started with a full team in 2000 and ended in 2010. The first engine used for Adellion was a custom engine designed by the team but later they switched to Torque 3d by Garage Games.
The team consisted of a group of approximately 12 writers as well as artists, programmers and a project manager: all of them were working for a share of the profit when the game would release. Lore was important for the game and it was the main framework for the stories created by players. Role-play was central for the online community and in-game mechanics were created to support role play. Players could choose from six factions as well as a neutral multicultural city, Caeril.
These factions were: Aethans, Dalmites, Drulons, Sakoians, Salanians and Tarians. All of these factions were humans and there were no fantasy races appearing in the game. Each group had its own traditions and history, along with specific strengths and weakness. For example, a desert dwelling Sakoian would be more comfortable in hot dry climate than in wet swampy climate of the Drulons. These traits would affect players stamina and other stats. Food and drink also influenced characters’ stamina.
In the world’s lore these different cultures were either allies or enemies. The main story began during a major conflict when people took sides. The actions of players could change the outcome of the war: skirmishes could be fought, supply lines could be attacked, and even realms’ borders could change. Players could only choose one character per server to avoid using a second characters to pass sensitive information between factions of the same server.
In an early interview, Adellion was described by a developer:
“Adellion is a very different world to the current crop of massively multiplayer online games out there. We’ve tried to make the world as realistic as possible; we want players to feel like the world they are in could exist in real life. Our main focus is to get the players involved in the world, to make them feel like they are making a difference. To that end, the whole of Adellion can change through player actions – they can take over towns, wipe out cultures and make peace with one another if that is what they wish to do.”
The game evolved as time went by becoming more and more focused on role play and less on strategy. However, PvP was an important part of the game. Perma-death is another feature which was planned to be implemented in the game, to made players think wisely about their actions.
Gameplay mechanics included a skill-based system with no levels. Players could choose many different skill to shape up their character and a daily skill-capping system limited players from spending all their time grinding. Players housing was planned to be included into the final game, as well as the ability to hire NPCs for specific tasks, including let them work as shopkeepers and as troops in combat. Well feed NPCs would work harder than those who were neglected.
Developers gave away beta keys to about 1000 players early during development, but time frame was underestimated and Adellion never reached its beta stage. At the peak of development, there were about 18.000 forum members in 2010, with at least a third of them being very active. After the game cancellation in 2010, forums remained online for a couple of years before they were taken down. This allowed the community to come to terms with the cancellation and continue their relationships for a bit longer.
Adellion was to be published by Alchemic Dream, a Canadian company. A change of management occurred a few years into development when the original creators left the project and it was picked up by the remaining developers. They worked on the game for a number of years. Unfortunately engine issues, overwhelming ambitions and loss of funds killed the game.
Article by Vipaah, thanks to Laura “Teila” Wampfler for the contribution
