Edit: No more questions asking why something was done Z way, or whether X or Y will be included, will be answered. This will cut down our questions by 75% and also allow us to actually work on the design.

Tired of your 50 millionth zombie survival horror? Tired of Final Fantasy doing another steampunk-y high fantasy game with the same character and story model? Want something so completely off the beaten track that we are appealing directly to its fanbase to help it live?



You’re in the right place.



Follow the story of a deity bored with life amongst the gods, who leaves to find a purpose in life and seek out a lost love. Reincarnate your deity onto numerous worlds, live through the lives of others and gain life experience…but watch your God Energy, you need a lot of it to continue your astral journey.



Fight monsters only you can see, sometimes around very particular civilians who refuse to get the heck out of your way. Collect world-specific plants to enhance your healing items, and acquire numerous different kinds of weapons and scrolls from all different cultures.



The game draws inspiration from real mythos, from all sorts of different cultures, and each world reflects the culture it draws from.



What is Arkh?

Arkh is a grassroots project created not by a major company, or even an indie company, but by individual people who would like to see more representation for the underrepresented.

The ultimate goal? To make a game that focuses on queer people and people of color as main characters, and beyond that, allow people who are tired of mainstream gaming to have something completely off the wall and step into a new role.



The secondary goal is to have the game made by queer artists and programmers, and PoC artists and programmers, supporting them in their craft amongst an industry that discourages them from applying. All money donated to the project will go to development; the coordinators and volunteers are not paid and are giving their free time to make this happen.

Arkh right now is in the design phase; that is, the actual run of the game is being created and made into an official game design document for programming purposes, as well as an easy to view wiki for fans to follow. The wiki is not up yet, but it will be linked as we get further into the design. Because Arkh plans to include numerous different, not-well-known cultures, we must spend a lot of time researching and talking to people from these cultures to ensure and authentic design and gaming experience.



Arkh will be a linear, full-action RPG, with current plans to program it on Unity, and, depending on what our programmers say when we release the design document to them, on Xbox Live Arcade, making it playable on your computer or a console. The PC version will definitely run on Windows and Mac. Linux is still unfortunately up for debate.



For more specifics on gameplay, check question number 10 in the FAQ below!



Will Arkh be a good game, though? If it was, there’s no reason to cater to certain groups.

We believe that to be incorrect. We’re trying, in addition to making games for new groups of people, to rejuvenate the industry and bring in new money and new blood into gaming. The industry has long been saturated and there have been no attempts to break from the mold. Major companies have their risks to think of, but it just isn’t good sense to leave most of the world out of gaming. By letting the people we’re aiming at know we’re here for them, we hope to drag in groups that might have never, ever picked up a game prior to this, and we’ve already succeeded.



As for whether it will be a good game, read this post on it.





Why do you need so much money?

Because our goal is quality, and quality is expensive. An industry programmer who has worked for Zynga told us that the average cost of an AAA level game, just on game mechanics and not including press or advertising, runs between 500,000 and 1 million dollars. Unless Oprah decides to lend a hand, we’re not sure that’s possible for us to raise.

But we have seen amounts of 250,000 raised. We’ve seen 100,000 raised.

100,000 is our initial base goal. Some professional quality modelers have agreed to provide us with discounts because they love what we’re trying to do, allowing us to get higher quality for less than market price. This number is based on that.

But along the course of a game, especially as far as programming and the amount of hours artists can give us while they work their own industry jobs, time may be dragged out longer than expected, which will cost more. The 250,000 price point is again, while low, is based on an estimate of services closer to actual industry prices.

Why so much? Because art and programming takes time, and industry professionals/people with degrees in their field charge more than amateurs who work for fun. We do have volunteers, but volunteers may only work in their spare time. You are paying for industry expertise. You are not paying the coordinators or writers.



Who is actually coordinating? Who are the development team?



Right now, we have seven or eight “core” people, more information for which will be released over the next week. We also have four or five volunteers helping us speed up the process of finishing the design. Once we’re able to talk to more people, we will be able to get a finalized list of all the hired professionals, and their credentials, who will work on this project, and that will go on the wiki. Please be patient with us, again, we’re volunteering our time in between other obligations.



Rosegold is not coordinating this project. They are assisting and we are giving them credit for that. Please do not badger them if you have any issues here; they cannot help you.



Finally we can post an official FAQ now that we have frequently asked questions! First, please check the FAQ tag. ONLY ask your question if you cannot find it below or in the tag.



1) Will there be other marginalizations in Arkh besides queer people and PoC?



A: We do have some metaphors and references to other marginalizations, but by large, the focus will be on queer people and PoC for the main characters. However, the supporting characters will vary as each level as designed, and will include just about everything we can think of.



2) What is PoC?



A: People of color.



3) What platforms will Arkh be on?



A: Currently we’re planning for it to be on Mac and Windows, however, we are talking to someone who would like to port it to XNA for us, making it playable on the Xbox 360 live arcade.



4) Where are the white people?



A: :|



5) How can I help support Arkh?



A: Arkh needs a lot of monetary and professional support to succeed. You can help by donating directly, clicking ads every so often to send ad revenue, or doing a fundraiser in your hometown. And of course, just tweeting about it or facebooking it or reblogging it is a huge help. Any professional connections or major youtube connections are also awesome.



6) I want to do some kind of interview/article/promotion thing!



A: Send an ask along!



7) I want to volunteer my time and abilities to the development of this project.



A: If you do have professional-level ability and want to donate your time, please do contact us through ask or fanmail! We’ll have an email up soon, once Rosegold figures out what’s wrong with it.



8) Who is Rosegold?



A: A tiny art group run by queer PoC who work on 2-D games both of their own and for others. They’re lending a huge hand to this project. Check their work out here! They are not coordinating this project. Please do not badger them or ask us about their work.



9) I would like you to include ________in Arkh.



A: We’ll try to include as much as we can, but there are limits, unfortunately, and everything just can’t make it into one game, especially not one with grassroots type funding.



10) What about gameplay?



A: You can get all the information public so far on the gameplay tag. More detailed, finalized information will be available on the wiki-in-progress.



11) I want to know more about the characters!



A: Try checking the characters tag!



12) Do you encourage fanart?



A: We sure do!

13) I reblogged something of yours with a response and you never responded back.

A: We cannot respond to reblogs or asks reliably because of tumblr’s issues with making them magically vanish. If you want to guarantee we see something you write, please send an email to thearkhproject at gmail dot com.



14) I see a problem with the way ________ is done.



A: If there is something disrespectful, PLEASE LET US KNOW WITH AN EMAIL. The team has a variety of different people and each person sort of has to represent their entire marginalization as one person. We use each other’s ideas and experiences, and different people find different things respectful and disrespectful.



15) I think _______ should be a main character.



A: The main characters, or more clearly, the characters who appear regardless of level, are pretty much complete at this point. However, each level will have major supporting characters who will be a major variety of people. We’re not pulling away from our focus, but hopefully there will be something for everyone.

Please continue to check this link for updates!

