Lore
General
Aeons ago, The Architects were the great protectors and wardens of the Freeland Galaxy upholding the Sacred Code of Life. Alas, one member grew tired of constantly watching, never interfering, merely observing and slowly began to learn to edit the Sacred Code, manipulating the very fabric of reality to suit his own idea of creation. Corrupting lifeforms and devouring beings to grow his own strength the Architects led by Marmello grew increasingly frightened of their brother. Releasing that Ventax was overstepping the bounds of Watcher and becoming a god within the binary and acting as a threat to reality itself combined their efforts and trapped him inside a prison within Deep Space.
The Architects, all-powerful beings as they are can only remain so if the populations of Freeland still believe and worship them. As millennia have passed, hushed legends whispered around the fire telling the might of The Architects began to fall away as the centuries fell away. With tales of power falling to legend and myth so did belief.
Through the darkening of faith across the galaxy the ancient malware began to gain an upper hand against its captors, and Ventax has begun to rise once again. The worm malware began to feast on all life within the Planes of Deep Space, growing its strength and reaching his metaphysical tendrils to corrupt the citizens of the Freeland Galaxy, haunting the citizens in reflections and plagues of corrupted minions.
The ambitions of Ventax are to rise above the other Architects and eradicate them delivering their power to the populations of the Freeland Galaxy, no one deserves to be a god. The corruption glitches seek to create equality throughout the galaxy creating a utopia, where everyone holds the power, rather than ancient gods who have the power but choose to not help the plight of the galaxy. The Architects are battling to protect the Sacred Code and wipe out the extremist views of Ventax that threatens the foundation of their power.
A battle for good and evil ensues, and the question remains… What is good and evil? Only together can we restore light and wonder to the galaxy, and only with your help will the people of Freeland be free again. The forces of light and life must prevail, or oblivion awaits.
Prime Meridian
At the absolute centre of the galaxy sits Prime Meridian, how and why Prime Meridian exists is unclear. The age of Prime Meridian is unclear, but it feels older than time itself and ancient facades and pillars harken to an era aeons ago; to a people that existed long ago; impossibly more advanced than the denizens of the galaxy today. The spiritual wisdom of the citizens of Prime Meridian is interwoven with an ancient wisdom that emanates from the Tree of Life.
Statues adorn the surface of Prime, unknown effigies and faceless gods stand imposing amidst the pink sky. A beautiful contradiction and a testament of the unbreakable spirit that humanity brings wherever it grows. To even fathom building amongst the ruins of entities who are far beyond the physical capabilities of themselves and to tarnish the ancient hallowed streets show a resourcefulness that fosters hope. It sends a message of hope that whosoever exists amongst this vast, cold galaxy, knows that once their reign has fallen to ruin; life will, and always has carried on.
The ancient citizens of Prime were of course, The Architects themselves, the reasons for their disappearance is unknown, but many Freelanders are drawn to the place and come to Prime to pay homage to those faceless beings and to walk the Cloud Spiral pilgrimage. There is an atmosphere on Prime Meridian, a feeling outside of understanding and comprehension, a feeling of hope and expectation, that anything can happen and that here, is where the adventure begins.
Haeyanna
A land blessed by the ancient magic of the Architects. The development of civilisation was too slow for them. It was not entertaining enough for the immortals. A gift was bestowed upon the wandering tribes of Haeyanna, the gift to control the elemental forces that governed this mysterious land. The gift of the Haex Sphere; the focal point of the Haex Force.
Mankind soon began to covet this supernatural power and great cities emerged from the misted forests, and humans gained dominion over the other lifeforms on Haeyanna. For they were given the gift to control nature herself.
A kingdom was born, devoted to growing the knowledge to become more in tune with the elements, but through development they strayed further and further away from purpose of the Haex. Rapid scientific advances created a utopia, but this was not to last.
Kings of a united Haeyanna rose and fell as the ages shifted from one to another, the dust of time fell slowly onto the Haex Force as teachings became more and more impure. The magic of the ancients began to lose its might as humans took more from nature diminishing her powers, the elemental forces waned into twilight.
The Haex council, born as fierce guardians of the elements and the Haex Force, protecting nature and her elemental blessings. The power wielded by the council began to evaporate as all things must; greedy Maeges claiming the arcane powers for themselves and students chosen through politics rather than natural gifts began to further harm the creed of the Maeges. Earls throughout the lands began to envy the power of the council and their access to the ear of the King. Sanctions passed within the United Parliament began to shackle the councils freedoms and the Heax fell to bureaucracy as teachings fell away and fewer prodigies were born with the kiss of the Haex each passing moon. What was once an abundant gift became scarcer.
The impact of development resulted in the Architects turning their faces from Haeyanna and the blessings received centuries ago now became increasingly sparse, for the intentions of man were not for harmony but for dominion.
In the time of King Bartholok the Bear, a great divide formed within the Haex Spire as the health and strength of the Grand Maege deteriorated. The issue of succession dominated the court as none were deemed worthy by the Architects, for humans did not deserve this gift of the Haex Force. A prophecy was delivered unto them, and from that moment onwards, no more infants would bare the Kiss of the Haex.
A war for the control of the Council spread between two opposing Maege houses.
The House of Soenheim – Who seeked the mastery of the elements and sharing the Haex Force with all peoples on Haeyanna through technology, and Haex imbue.
The House of Acren – Who fought for purity and for proving their respect for The Heax Force to undo the prophecy of the Architects.
As war threatened the already dwindling Maeges, King Bartholok rushed to aid the purist elementals, to attempt to gain the favour of the Architects and to bless his succession. The Soenheim forces retreated and seceded from the United Kingdoms of Haeyanna, forging their own kingdom behind the walls of the Steel Crag foothills.
Many Soenheim strongholds emerged and the new country began to flourish as the peoples of the forest flocked to the safe haven created within the welcoming embrace of the Soenheim Lords. Theirs was a country built on democracy and equality, where humans were given the gift of the Haex Force to share with the whole of Haeyanna and her peoples. The Republic of Soenheim flourished through trade with the emergence of many great cities and from defeat arose greatness.
The House of Acren’s leader Azeem gained the ruling seat of the council and led the nation of Acren forward, focussing on learning. But this soon became unsustainable, for without new Maeges to replace the old the Haex Force became increasingly rare. The country mourned the loss of magic from the world and slowly, the power of the king fell away as too did the years. Kings again replaced Kings, and the Maeges began to leave the council; to join Soenheim or to wander the great forests, in seeking truth and harmony and to once again gain the favour of love from the Architects. The new King Dieder soon began to look past the Steel Crag Foothills, to that great metropolis Candor City in Soenheim; for what could inspire the nation more than victories and the spoils of war?
Wars began to break out as the powerful Maeges from the Kingdom of Acren began to attack the Republic of Soenheim, leaving destruction in their wake.
Development progress
First concepts are created
Alex has for a long time had a dream of creating a transcendent and seemingly boundless virtual world. He starts working on the first concepts for Freeland VR, and towards finding the solutions needed to make the vision a reality.
June 20, 2018Development stage
The development is starting, and the core mechanics for VR interaction and networking are created.
June 02, 2019First internal test
The first internal test took place, testing the server and networking functions of an early build of Freeland VR.
July 24, 2019Level design and further conceptualization
The foundation of what is now called Prime Meridian is shaped and core gameplay mechanics are being tested, such as driving vehicles and riding mounts.
Sept 04, 2019University prize won
Alex wins a prize for his work on Freeland from his University: Mid Sweden University. Link here
Nov 28, 2019Preparing for first public showcase
The first trailer and public showcase is being prepared, as well as this website.
Dec 26, 2019First trailer and public showcase
The first trailer is released and the interest grows on our Facebook page, at this stage we also launched our Discord.
Jan 26, 2020First pre-alpha tests begin
We launch pre-alpha testing to our Discord community, where wonderful people from all over the world join the tests over the coming months. The results are succesful and the impressions are good. The servers handle the players fine, and the gameplay is mostly working as expected with improvements to come.
May 29, 2020Grant from MIUN Innovation
Alex wins a grant from Miun Innovation to support the work with Freeland VR. Miun Innovation also supports Alex with business advice over the coming year.
May 29, 2020Further pre-alpha testing
More pre-alpha testing is done over the summer and autumn of 2020, as well as more internal testing in the winter of 2020. A lot of new features are added and many bugs are fixed. Features such as combat, improvement of the building system, more vehicles to drive including boats, jetskis, airplane and helicopter are worked on and implemented and level design is enhanced.
June 15, 2020Work on the large open universe
A lot of work is done on putting together and improving all of the planets into a grand persistent universe, as well as preparing a new official trailer to be released. This is done simultaneously as alpha-testing goes on.
July 20, 2020Release of the full vision
We release the new trailer showing the universe of Freeland VR.
Apr 16, 2021Alpha testing
We released a new version for Alpha testing, moving from Pre-alpha to Alpha. Over 80 testers joined this alpha test, and they got to explore four planets of the Freeland Universe. There is a gameplay trailer on our YouTube showing this called (Alpha One, gameplay footage).
Nov 13, 2021Kickstarter launching
We are launching our Kickstarter to a great start. Kickstarter page
Dec 07, 2021Kickstarter succesful and new alpha tests
We collected 118.000 Euro from our amazing 1183 backers. Kickstarter page Alpha tests are done with the Kickstarter backers working our way towards the closed beta.
Jan 07, 2022Quest 2 Standalone Alpha
We start the new alpha tests for Meta Quest 2 standalone devices. A patch note of all the changes is available here
August 24, 2022Closed beta version for backers
We release a closed beta version only for the Kickstarter backers.
March 18, 2023Closed beta for public
It's time to get some more testers into the game. We sell closed beta keys to gamers who are interested in Freeland VR.
June 27, 2023Open beta release
We release the open beta version of Freeland VR. This date is not set in stone yet.
TBA