Roughly a year-and-a-half ago, I became attached to an independent game development project then known as Code Name Mortus as a writer. Over that time, other writers have come and gone, and I'm now the Head of Story and Character Development and one of the lead designers for Mortus Online, an upcoming MMORTS game set to launch in Summer of 2011. We're in the countdown to the official site launch now (we should have an official site launch date within the week), and I wanted to make sure you guys knew about it, and was hoping a lot of you would come out and support the site in its infancy, and possibly beyond. Also, don't forget to add us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube!

Below is a sneak peek from the upcoming official website, detailing what makes Mortus so special, as well as a selection of conceptual pieces by painter Adam Burn.

About Mortus

Mortus Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy Game. In many ways, the first of its kind. While other games purporting to be MMORTS have been released, so far all have lacked the aspects necessary to be worthy of the name. Mortus is taking the gameplay that people have been crying out for more of ever since Herzog Zwei 21 years ago, and applying the Massively Multiplayer experience in a way that no one has ever seen before. Players will experience for the first time a truly dynamic universe, where the actions of each player affect the future of the entire game!

Races of Mortus

There are five playable races in Mortus, each of them epitomizing a different aspect of technology. The Veru’nas are masters of technology, with the biggest guns, the strongest armor, and the most powerful shields. They lack only the ingenuity to use it properly. The Aszendie are masters of the mind, harnessing their psychic powers to have unrivaled connections to their ships, and lashing out at their enemies with the psychic flame of the void. The Acaeans are masters of biology, one with nature and with each of their planets, flying biomechanical ships across the stars, and terraforming planets faster than any of the other races. The Humans are masters of cunning, treachery, and guile, and their technologies focus on exploiting the weakness of their enemies. The Cauldron-born are masters of cybernetics, an artificial race who fight in the name of the immortal Pheonix, their deity.

Future Past

Mortus takes place in what would be the 24th century of Earth's Gregorian calendar. The five galactic empires were wiped out over 100 years ago by a massive interstellar scourge known as the Naraku. Sensing their impending doom, the respective leaders of the Empire of Man, the Acaean Hegemony, the Aszendie Contract, the League of Veru`nas, and the Cauldron-Born Alliance built sleeper ships containing the necessary components to rebuild their way of life on distant worlds, and sent them out to uncolonized worlds that, with any luck, the Naraku would not venture to for a very long time. Each player in Mortus will take control of a society that has sprung out of one of these sleeper ships, as their people begin to take their first fledgling steps toward retaking the stars. As if the players didn't have enough to worry about, though, with the sudden discovery of other players with different ideas about the ownership of the galaxy, the Naraku will soon make a grand reappearance, and this time they intend to finish what they
started.

The Naraku

The Naraku are one of Mortus' proudest achievements. They represent a new step in the concept of the learning AI opponent on a massively multiplayer scale. The Naraku are controlled by a hive mind, so not only will they be learning to adapt to the tactics you throw at them, but when you try something new, they might have already learned about it from some other player half a galaxy away. However, observant players will still be able to use this to their advantage, as the patterns behind the Naraku's adaptability can still become apparent. Another aspect of the Naraku is their biological structures. Since they are an insectoid race that lives in the vacuum of space, their carapace's are constantly mutating to new and more deadly forms. The player that doesn't keep up his intelligence on these changes is the player soon losing decisive battles.

A Different Viewpoint

Mortus is again set apart by its bold viewpoint - unlike traditional MMO games, as well as traditional RTS games, Mortus takes place entirely in a first-person perspective, through the eyes of a player-created avatar, the commander of your empire’s fleets. While controlling their fleets directly, the player’s point of view will be fixed onto a holographic display which is similar in function to the traditional “God” interface used by most RTS games, with the exception that it allows for 3-dimensional movement of troops with heretofore unheard of grace and precision. Outside of “Holomatrix” view, the player can freely roam his command bridge and select other areas of their ship, as well as his homeworld headquarters, to consult with his crew, as well as interact with the game world through a number of consoles used for mail, the player market, crafting, and other purposes. Players will also be able to hold meetings with other admirals to discuss treaties, trade agreements, or simply to have a drink. Select players will even have the
opportunity to participate in a Galactic Senate, and help to plot the course of the galaxy!

Voices in the Dark

For the first time in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game, players will have the opportunity in select situations to truly voice their own characters in the game, through an innovative voice chat system that automatically syncs your speech to your avatar in real time, without having to resort to third-party software, allowing you to experience a whole new level of online immersion!

A Change of Seasons

it’s a tried and true MMO tradition for each player to have the opportunity to do heroic, world changing things on an individual basis. In most cases, each and every player will at some point in their playtime “save the world” by slaying the great dragon or the lord of the undead. In Mortus, however, all players will have the opportunity to work together in completing global missions that allow for the participation of all players in working towards a common goal, as well as advance the mystery-fraught storyline of the Mortus universe. Once completed, these events will never be repeated in-game, adding to the already dynamic nature of a constantly evolving and expanding universe.