THE GAME

Project Elpis is an expansion to a fast-paced multiplayer space-ship simulation game called Quintet. In Quintet, there are 5 stations you can play: Captain, Helm, Tactical, Science, and Engineering. The Captain coordinates crew actions and sets targets. Helm guides the ship through treacherous obstacles dodging enemy fire. Tactical targets enemy ships and blasts them with an array of weapons systems. Science uses strategic scanning, hacking, and tractor beam techniques to cripple the foe. Engineering repairs the ship and coordinates with all other stations to boost distance and power of ship systems. Communication is key. A well honed crew working together can do anything!

The expansion that is made takes that video game and adds in various elements. A working economy, leveling up your characters, capturing territory, various role playing elements, etc. Every action in the video game is tracked and your actions while playing will effect the universe. 

THE STORY

The curtain rises and five races take the stage. Choose your species and set your fate in motion. The origins of these races is written, their foundation has been lain, but where they go from here is up to you. As you and your crew develop your ship, negotiate with others, and build your society, the story will follow. Your character will be written into the game and the history of the universe. Follow the doings of your fellow explorers in our professionally written novel and see how the changes play out that you started in our integrated online metagame.

THE RACES

Choose your race carefully as it will be your primary alliance in space. Will your race reign triumphant, or be beaten into submission? Will your people control the economy or eek by on next to nothing? Each race has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Will you be a Davul warrior or a swift Zurna? Will you master the sciences as an Udu or organic engineering as a Santoor? Or will you stick with the familiar and be a well-rounded human? Oh, and be on the lookout for the Unknown. More races may still await.

But wait.. there's more..

Not ONLY will you be able to play the video game, but your character skills will be persistent. Meaning that if you get good at Engineering, you will give your ship bonuses to Engineering tasks while in that seat. We strive to put in systems into the game that people want to facilitate role-playing and enjoyment of the game as a whole.

What is the "Hands Off" policy?

In short, the Hands off policy means that we will not interfere with player run plot lines, but instead make sure that their plans can be realized if they are smart enough.

Can you expand on that please?

Sure. The policy is how I make sure that the staff here at 5th Wall Gaming (and myself) don't go ego tripping in the game and make changes to it the players don't want. We do this by only designing systems in the game and not plot lines. Now, that isn't to say we don't have seeds out there for various plot lines we would like to spring up, just that ultimately, it's up to the players themselves to decide if they want to follow that thread or not. By doing so, the power of where this goes is in the players hands. Us staff are simply along for the ride keeping the motor running in the car. :)

Ok. So what are the details about the policy?

1. Create a living, breathing history of the game generated by players themselves.
2. Keep developing new systems that the players want (and that are fair).
3. Do not have any kind of "Pay to Win" in the game.

No pay to win?

Nope. None at all.

So how do you make money at this?

Through the generous donations of our players and Patreons. We will be adding in features to the game (Redesigned ship HUDS, "Donator" tag on forums, etc.) that people who donate will be able to show off (including a leaderboard of the highest supporters), but we will never, EVER give any kind of in-game advantage to someone who gives us money over someone who doesn't. The money that comes in will help fund the cost of the server and new assets being generated for the game (I hope). We also have T-Shirts planned and various other things in the works. So don't worry about us. We make enough to keep this thing going.

Cool. So I have an idea for the game.

Fantastic. Without people telling us what they want to do, how can we make sure we are making a game people want to play? Send your idea to us and we will get back to you ASAP. No.. Seriously. We will. Even if we don't like the idea, we will contact you and explain why and perhaps together, we can figure out a way to make it work in the game. That's the GM "Hands off" policy at work.

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Why do you need the money?

Right now, I only have a bit of time to work on the game (less then 10 hours a week). In order to really take this to the next level, I need to stop working for various companies (I'm a web development contractor) and work on this full time. With your help, I can put way more into this and get it updated faster if I didn't have to worry about where the next paycheck was coming from.