Citadel Studios, a team made of former Elder Scrolls and Warhammer Online developers, has announced its first project, an online, 3D, top-down RPG inspired by Ultima and Minecraft. The project is codenamed Shards

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Shards is pitched as "a truly next-generation online game that will enable players to customize their experience, and change the face of player collaboration forever." It's still in early production, with Citadel having spent just six months on the game. Citadel will be "ignoring the modern online gaming imperative to squeeze every last cent from every player."Citadel CEO Derek Brinkmann said, "Ultimately the community will dictate what Shards becomes, because we’re not just providing a game but also a platform for players to express their creativity.”Citadel's website details this aspect further. "Gone are the restrictive level designs, one-time encounters, and confining rails of gameplay. Instead, we strive to build open worlds where our players are free to explore a vibrant setting teeming with emergent gameplay. Animals and monsters roam and interact, and NPCs live their daily lives with or without you – sometimes in spite of you."For more on Shards in the coming months, stay tuned to IGN.

Mitch Dyer is an associate editor at IGN. He's trying to read 50 books in 2014. These are the 50 . Talk to Mitch about books and other stuff on Twitter at @MitchyD