I'm making an MMO alone. Here's what Aetherfell is.

Everyone says the same thing when they hear it: you don't make an MMO alone. It's the project that eats a decade and never ships.

I've shipped games before, so I know how big this is. I'm doing it anyway, and not quite alone: I'm building Aetherfell with a dear friend. There's no studio, no team and no budget behind it, just the two of us. This is the first post of the Aetherfell devlog, so here's what the game is, why I think two people can build it, and what already exists.

The world

Long ago the gods went to war. Ilyra's side wanted to find where the gods came from, and Orath's side wanted that origin sealed forever. The war wounded them all, and their Aether, the light inside them, fell to the earth. Life grew from it. That fall gave the world its name: Aetherfell.

The gods are still out there, wounded and slowly healing. Their war is paused, but it isn't over: their peoples fight it for them now.

You play in one of two factions, each named after the god who led it:

• The Ilyrans, led by Ilyra, the Dawnweaver: Humans, Aelvar and Vessari.
• The Orathi, led by Orath, the Stonebound: Orcs, Hornkin and Ashkin.

Why a phone

The MMOs I loved were played at a desk for hours. These days most of my free time comes in small pieces: on the train, in bed, in a queue. I want a real shared world I can drop into for ten minutes.

So Aetherfell is built for iPhone from the start, not ported to it later. Attacks and skills sit under your thumb, and the plan is for the layout to work held upright one-handed or turned sideways when a fight needs more room.

How two people can do this

By being strict about scope. We can't out-build a studio, so we're not trying to.

• A small world, made by hand. One region first, done properly, before anything bigger.
• Boring foundations, early. On day one I spent most of the time on structure nobody will ever see: modules, tests and rules that keep the code from turning into a mess as it grows. It's the only way a project this size stays workable for two people.

What already works

Everything here has been shown working in the devlog shorts:

• Combat, with XP and coins as rewards.
• Enemies: goblin raiders, wild boars, skeleton warriors, bandits and grizzly bears, plus rarer brutes, knights, berserkers and an orc champion.
• Two classes to start: Warrior and Mage.
• Multiplayer: other players in the same world, with parties and chat.

The game started in Godot. I've since moved it to Unity, because large worlds run better there. It's the same game, now with room for a bigger world.

What's next

I post a short for every day of work, and the longer story of each one will land here on the devlog. Early access will come through TestFlight on iOS.

If you want in when the gate opens, join the waitlist below.

— Ozan