Danish game developer Runestone has just announced that its new MMO project, entitled Seed, has been set for an April 2006 launch. The developers of Seed hope to capitalize on the success of other MMOs in the gaming marketplace, following the worldwide popularity of games such as World of Warcraft, Everquest II, and Guild Wars.

Seed is a science fiction MMO set in the future on an alien world dubbed Da Vinci, where human settlers isolated from their ship and Earthly contact are forced to work together to ensure the survival of their colony, and themselves. As the story goes: an initial batch of human settlers have been “grown� from human DNA stores maintained on the spaceship fleet. These settlers begun to repopulate their new world, but in a short period of time, things begin to go awry.

Just a few hundred years after leaving Earth, the environment on Da Vinci is already trained and running amok and valuable resources are very limited. The human population count is very above what was planned for, and the planet’s social and economic systems are outdated and ineffective. Da Vinci’s critical flash flood warning systems are rapidly deteriorating, and throughout the world, machinery and critical life-support systems are beginning to wear down. And all the while, new humans keep populating the world. Faced with a do-or-die situation, the human settlers must find a way to coordinate their efforts to survive on their own or face extinction on Da Vinci.

What makes Seed unique is that the MMO is set several hundred years after the founding of the human colony. By the time players join the game, the political and social systems have already been set and run their course. Similarly, machinery and supporting industry has already been developed, though much of this is on the brink of ruin. Where other sci-fi games have players start out a colony from scratch, Seed does this for you. Instead, players must find a way to save and rework a failing colony.

In spite of the futurist alien setting of the game, there is a large element of realism in Seed. While working through ideas on how to save the colony and its failing systems, players must seek the support of fellow players and NPCS or risks their efforts become political issues. Each time players pursue their own course of action and remain devoted to their own ideas and work at the exclusion of others, valuable resources are wasted.

Runestone CEO Lars Kroll has announced that non-player characters (NPCs) will play a large role in the evolution of the game. He notes that Runestone has “taken the simulated society idea a big step further, where players can ascend to great political heights within the Seed world, but only if NPCs and players alike allow it through a robust democratic system.â€� NPCs have all programmed to have unique behaviors, motivations, and goals that allow for extensive player interactivity. Additionally, Kroll says, they are powered by a “sophisticated AI engine with distinct emotion, knowledge, and event response systems. They remember, and they judge.â€� And according to the game’s website, www.seedthegame.com, the storyline changes based to the playing style and the role of each individual player.

Runestone will begin heavily promoting Seed and signing up new players for the MMO in January.

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