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Ascension Developer Tests
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Survival Ascension Developer Swimming Test #1
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DONATIONS

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Limited Time Special Offer Below

All donations are tracked by E-mail address and earn credit towards the rewards listed for the Kickstarter (see below). Your donation will be put to immediate use to acquire & develop assets related to Survival Ascension, and to support the costs involved in bringing it to market. In addition to the rewards listed for the Kickstarter, an early donation will earn you a special in-game artifact which is otherwise unobtainable. It cannot be gifted, traded, or looted from you. It will provide a mana regeneration percentage bonus equivalent to 10% of the dollar value of your total early donations (so 1% regen bonus per $10 of early donations), and it will stack with any other bonuses from other in-game sources, up to the maximum in-game bonus of 500%. While this can provide a significant early game advantage, most players are expected to eventually reach the max bonus level through normal in-game mechanisms. However, unlike other in-game sources for the bonus, your characters will always start with this item, even on respawn from death. This item is our way of saying Thank You for your generous and early support of Survival Ascension. This offer will expire upon launch of the Kickstarter campaign.

Please note that the payment processing fee (minimum $0.30) is not counted towards your overall donation credit for rewards tracking purposes for donations less than $60 USD.

For a limited time only (see timer above):

  • Donate $60 or more and get 1% bonus mana regen for every $2 donated

  • Donate $200 or more and get 1% bonus mana regen for every $1 donated

POLL

Kickstarter Donations Poll

Please take a moment to review the Kickstarter backing levels below and consider how much you would be willing to contribute to the campaign when it launches. Each higher priced contribution level includes all of the rewards from the lower priced levels. All skin DLCs include one or more cool stylization options, as well as a small stats boost for the item to which they apply. They are only available for crowd funding backers and general donations tracked through this page.

Your careful and considerate feedback on this poll will assist us in properly timing the Kickstarter campaign to ensure successful funding. 

Introduction to Survival Ascension

Survival Ascension is an open world survival game. I plan to release it for Windows and Linux first, then follow up with releases for PlayStation 5 and XBox Series X. I've been designing aspects of the game on paper and in my head for about 20 years now. It ties into a 3-book series I plan to write in the future (which I have been outlining and writing pieces of for several years). It is set in Earth's distant future and will take place after the time period covered by the 3-book series. 

From the outset, I envisioned Survival Ascension as an open world game where players could explore and interact with the environment in a way which resembled real life. I imagined players harvesting resources from the land (trees, minerals, herbs, etc), farming, raising animals, using selective breeding to alter their traits, using resources to craft items and construct buildings, forming groups or entire civilizations, creating their own economies, crafting their own spells, conjuring items, summoning magical creatures, raising armies, exploring caves & dungeons, etc. When I first dreamed up the game, it was the early 2000's and creating a game covering that kind of scope seemed like a tall order. 

 

And, let's be honest, at that point my life, I was fresh out of school and did not have the experience or resources required to successfully complete such a project. I have spent the past 20 years of my professional life working towards learning what I need to successfully build and deliver this game, including not only the technical aspects, but also the marketing, accounting & finance, management, team leadership, and business skills necessary to build and run a successful business around the game. In addition, I have worked tirelessly to get where I am at financially to be able to fund the initial development and marketing efforts needed to get the game started and marketed. 

 

But, while I have a great start to the game at this point, I am only a single individual and only have so many hours in a day. Bringing it across the finish line in a reasonable amount of time will take additional people working on it full time. While I have personally invested more than $20,000 of my own money and thousands of hours in this game so far, that is not even enough funds to hire a single additional developer to work on the game full time for half a year. That is where all of you come in. 

 

With your generous support, I will be able to hire the additional help needed to rapidly bring Survival Ascension to market without cutting back on my vision for the game. Your funding of this project will go directly to the salaries of developers and artists working on bringing this game to market, as well as the associated operating expenses required to support that work. I have put together a detailed budget covering three years of development, which will take Survival Ascension from its current pre-alpha state to at least a Beta release with all the required initial functionality built out. 

 

In the event that this fund raising effort fails to reach its goal, I will continue to work on Survival Ascension and re-double my efforts to generate enough interest in the project to complete a successful fundraising campaign. I am 110% committed to bringing this game to market, so one way or another, I will make it happen even it takes me another 20 years. Your support will simply help bring Survival Ascension to market sooner and will help ensure it includes as much of the planned content as possible.

ABOUT
TIMELINE

Post Kickstarter Timeline

Following completion of a successful funding round, the following timeline of events will occur:

  • 0 to 6 months - Hiring additional help and getting them up to speed and productive on the project

  • 6 months to 18 months - Working on the remaining base game functionality for playable launch of the Alpha culminating in Alpha launch

  • 18 months to 30 months - Several releases of Alpha with progressively more functionality culminating in Beta 1 release; also begin taking pre-orders for access to Beta 2 release

  • 30 months to 38 months - Additional releases of Beta 1 (final features, balance tweaks, bug fixes) culminating in Beta 2 release; also begin taking pre-orders for access to Beta 3 release

  • 36 months in - Initial Kickstarter funding expected to be fully utilized; running from this point based solely on pre-orders or an additional funding round

  • 38 months to 40 months - Additional releases of Beta 2 (feature freeze; balance & bug fix only) culminating in Beta 3 release; begin taking pre-orders for full release

  • 40 months to 42+ months - Feature freeze & balance freeze; bug fix releases for Beta 3 only, culminating in full release of the base game

To put things another way:

  • 6 months to hire developers and get them up to speed

  • 36 more months to full game release

    • 9 - 12 for playable Alpha

    • 12 more months for Beta 1

    • remaining time frame to get to full release

    • Beta 3 is bug fix only and may extend beyond the 42nd month mark if there are serious bugs which need to be corrected before full release

Game Scope, Future Expansions, DLCs

Because of the vast scope of the game, the entire game will come in stages, broken up into several planned DLCs. The different stages of the game will be broken out as follows:

Base Game ($59.99)

  • Core survival components: hunger, thirst, temperature / weather, stamina, wet / dry effects, health, breath (swimming / drowning)

  • Combat system: hand-to-hand combat, basic melee weapons, basic ranged weapons, spells

  • Multiplayer support: local LAN; public vanilla & community servers to join; at least 50 players but shooting for up to 120+ players per server at release

  • Full inventory system: multiple hotbar support; manage inventory of self, containers, and pets; role-based permissions systems in place for multiplayer group play

  • Character progression system: lots of trainable abilities which unlock based on character progression & research; humanoid NPCs have same trainable traits; animals & creatures have trainable traits

  • Tech & magic research trees covering up to medieval level of technology

  • Resource mining / harvesting: trees; herbs & food; minerals; water; mana

  • Farming: ability to fish; ability to plant, water, fertilize, harvest crops of various sorts

  • Base building: custom buildings using components; pre-designed buildings with specific functions & roles based on tech unlock; ingredient-free building layout planning; stretch goal: blueprints

  • Taming: ability to tame many animals / creatures, use as pets, and breed them with genetic-based traits; riding system in place

  • Pet control: whistle commands; intelligent following behaviors

  • AI: numerous land animals, sea creatures, and flying creatures to fight & tame; NPCs to interact with & recruit

  • Group based play: ability to form barbarian hordes; ability to form civilizations

  • Civilizations: NPCs should be able to be assigned to different roles based on unlocked tech and constructed buildings; zoning; NPCs can harvest resources and construct things and tend to their own needs; can raise an army of NPCs; NPCs can train skills; NPCs can be commanded to attack / defend / patrol; NPCs can research; can assign other players to roles in the civilization

  • Magic: basic magic system in place with spells covering a range of capabilities which would commonly be dreamed up by people up to a medieval level of technology

  • Misc: can build some pre-designed utility vehicles like a cart or small boat; swimming; climbing; chat; audio / video controls; at least one cave and one dungeon; basic loot system

  • Quests: basic functioning quest & dialogue system with an assortment of quests to complete

Expansioin DLC: Pirates & the High Seas ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game

  • This expansion is focused on conquering the high seas. It covers all the basics of everything related to navel warfare and piracy. It is a core expansion which is planned into the overall game design and future expansion ordering.

  • Gear: all sorts of pirate themed tech & dress

  • Boats: docks & dock-based boat construction; gun ports; cannons; sails & sail mechanics; better wind system; typhoons; whirlpools; spells useful on the high seas

  • Technology: tech tree update to include all things related to early naval exploration, cannons, and flint locks

  • Skills: skill tree update to include all things related to sailing the high seas and piracy

  • Stretch goal / wish list: custom design your own dock-based build-able boats of varying shapes, sizes, and styles, including styles not conceived of until modern times

Expansion DLC: The Underground ($29.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game

  • This expansion will add many new caves and dungeons to the game, including creatures which only spawn in caves and dungeons, various additional quests related to the caves and dungeons, and additional story line content. This is a side expansion which is not particularly intertwined with other expansions.

  • Gear: additional bows, armor, swords, knives, shields and magical items & loot to find; potentially some modern guns and explosives in higher tier areas

  • Magic & Skills: dungeon crawling related skills, abilities, and spells

  • Quests: a relatively large assortment of quests

Expansion DLC: The Lost World (Free / Stretch Funding Goal #1)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game

  • This expansion is a secondary side expansion building on the content added in The Underground, but without any of that content being a pre-requisite. This expansion is likely to get silently rolled into one or more of the other expansions in the background (as opposed to being a separate stand-alone DLC expansion) without a word from the devs, for free (as a bonus if the stretch funding goal #1 is met), and with no explanation or info to go on about its content or how it ties into the game in any way.

  • Content: Ssshhh! It's a secret... But you will know it when you find it.

Expansion DLC: Steampunk ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas 

  • This expansion will add pre-industrial content covering everything from the great naval expansion up to and including the Steam Engine and related technologies.

  • Gear: adds Steampunk styled gear and content

  • Tech: all important technological advancements up to the start of the industrial revolution, including steam-powered vehicles, rifled barrels, dynamite, hot air balloons, etc

  • Skills: skills and abilities related to the new technological advancements

  • Magic: additional magic spells which could conceivably be dreamed up by a society on the brink of the industrial revolution

  • Quests: various quests related to the Steampunk theme, additional back story content

  • Stretch goal / wish list: custom design vehicles from components

Expansion DLC: Industrial Revolution ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas; Steampunk

  • This expansion will add industrial era capabilities, including factories and all sorts of automation of physical labor.

  • Tech: electricity and related electrical (but not electronic) technologies, various pre-designed automation buildings, industrial farming enhancements, armored vehicles, internal combustion engine, early planes & gliders, parachutes, early submarines

  • Skills: skills and abilities related to the new technological advancements

  • Magic: additional magic spells which could conceivably be dreamed up by a society in the throws of the industrial revolution

  • Quests: start of the Nature of Magic saga

  • Stretch goal / wish list: custom design intricate factory complexes from components and NPC labor

Expansion DLC: Electronic Revolution ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas; Steampunk; Industrial Revolution

  • This expansion adds modern-era electronic technologies to the game. 

  • Tech: electronics / computers; full wireless remote control tech; robotics & further automation improvements; advanced flight systems; pharmaceutical medicines

  • Skills: skills and abilities related to the new technological advancements

  • Magic: additional magic spells which could conceivably be contrived with a solid but basic understanding of modern day theoretical physics

  • Quests: continuation of the Nature of Magic saga

  • Stretch goal / wish list: custom design airplanes & jets from components & build extremely complex robotic automated processing and manufacturing facilities with sensors and logic components

Expansion DLC: The Final Frontier ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas; Steampunk; Industrial Revolution; Electronic Revolution

  • This expansion adds the ability to construct basic under water bases and to enter orbit to construct space stations. It also will prominently feature custom design & building for all vehicles / methods of transport from boats to cars to jets & space ships.

  • Tech: under water base construction components; all necessary components for building boats, wheeled vehicles, and flying vehicles from parts; rocket components; space station modules; satellites; basic directed energy weapons

  • Skills: skills and abilities related to the new technological advancements

  • Magic: additional magic spells which could conceivably be contrived with a solid but basic understanding of modern day theoretical physics; ability to perform limited genetic manipulation of pets and plants

  • Quests: the Monolith saga begins; continuation of the Nature of Magic saga

  • Stretch goal / wish list: pervasive multiplayer environment encompassing thousands of square kilometers of land and ocean, massive space environments, and tens of thousands of simultaneous players in a single "server instance" hosted across a vertically and horizontally scalable, fault tolerant hardware architecture

Expansion DLC: The Quantum Nano Revolution ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas; Steampunk; Industrial Revolution; Electronic Revolution; The Final Frontier

  • This expansion adds advanced under water base building, advanced space building, space colonization, and space warfare.

  • Tech: advanced underwater base components; advanced submersible vehicles; high thrust, high efficiency electric ion propulsion; advanced battery tech; second generation directed energy weapons; advanced space combat options; space resource harvesting; and more

  • Skills: skills and abilities related to the new technological advancements

  • Quests: finalization of the Nature of Magic saga; continuation of the Monolith saga

  • Magic: finalization of the magic tree

Expansion DLC: The Tenth Dimension ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas; Steampunk; Industrial Revolution; Electronic Revolution; The Final Frontier; The Quantum Nano Revolution

  • This expansion further expands space exploration and technological supremacy.

  • Tech: dimensional technologies; advanced space and personal travel technologies; bigger on the inside technologies; advanced inventory tech

  • Skills: skills and abilities related to the new technological advancements

  • Quests: finalization of the Monolith saga; start of the Singularity saga

Expansion DLC: The Incursion (Free / Stretch Funding Goal #2)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas; Steampunk; Industrial Revolution; Electronic Revolution; The Final Frontier; The Quantum Nano Revolution; The Tenth Dimension

  • This expansion builds on the Monolith saga. It adds some additional planned core game play content to accompany The Tenth Dimension expansion. 

Expansion DLC: The Singularity ($39.99)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game; Pirates & the High Seas; Steampunk; Industrial Revolution; Electronic Revolution; The Final Frontier; The Quantum Nano Revolution; The Tenth Dimension

  • This expansion concludes the primary story line of the game.

  • Tech: various technologies related to ascension

  • Skills: skills and abilities related to the new technological advancements

  • Quests: finalization of the Singularity saga

Expansion DLC: Capitalist Economy (Free / Stretch Funding Goal #3)

  • Pre-reqs: Base Game

  • This expansion adds corporate entities to the game. Corporate entities must seek the permission of a civilization to operate within its borders and must abide by the laws of those civilizations within their borders, and possibly even outside those borders. Unlike citizens, they can own land and resources within the confines of any civilization which grants them permission, as well as outside the territory of civilizations. They pay taxes for all business activity within a civilization's borders, and possibly also to their incorporating civilization (based on civilization tax policy). They can conduct trade, buy, build, and rent out properties, run merchant ships, hire workers, hire, operate, and even rent out merchant armies, etc. What happens when a successful corporation buys all the farm land, housing, and shops owned by a civilization? I guess we will find out...

I have several additional concepts for future expansion packs if the game continues to have a wide following and player base upon the conclusion of the above expansions. Somewhere along the line, I plan to add mod support to the game with full documentation and examples of how to make various different mods. The mod support will also include support for campaigns. The campaigns will provide a more story-driven approach to game play, but will be capable of incorporating the full content and capabilities of everything released through the base game and expansions at any given point in time. Ultimately, I would love for this to also include a full in-game campaign builder and in-game map making system, as well as in-game tools for building out new technologies, items, magic skills, and other game content. 

All of these extra plans will, of course, depend on sufficient sales to hire the staff needed to build these capabilities into the game. My final vision for the game is for it to be more akin to a "survival gaming engine" than a simple, single gaming experience. I'd like to provide something for the global community to use to easily build entirely new gaming experiences which can be shared as mods / campaigns / pre-packaged experiences and which could conceivably even be sold by the authors in a marketplace to help support their work. It will obviously require a lot of support from the community in terms of backing this campaign to bring the base game to market, as well as a lot of additional ongoing support over the years to bring all my plans to fruition. 

EXPANSIONS

Pricing of Content and Release Schedule

There are a lot of expansions planned to complete the entire game experience. I chose this approach as it allows for continual supporting income to cover the costs of ongoing additions of content to the game, as well as the ongoing operation of the server infrastructure (which is no small cost, and is ongoing). Additionally, it allows for development of the game over a longer time frame so there is plenty of opportunity to gather community feedback and incorporate that feedback into the game. It also reduces the amount of initial funding and time frame required to develop and release a stable and fun initial gaming experience. Nobody likes to see a game hang out in an Alpha or Beta release status for an entire decade due to scope creep with the developers passing on bug fixes because "it's not released yet." I prefer to release an initial version of the game with a substantial amount of content, which is fun to play and generally free of major issues, and which could stand on its own. From there, we can assess what works and what doesn't, make any necessary corrections and/or bug fixes, and continue working on additional content. It reduces the risk to the project, and it gets a fun game in your hands faster. 

I understand that pricing can be an issue. Not everyone can afford to spend $60 initially and then follow that up with another $30 or $40 every 12 - 18 months. I grew up in an unfinished house with a roof that leaked wearing hand-me-down clothes from the thrift store and sometimes barely had any food to eat. I totally "get it" that cost can be an issue.

To help reduce the buy-in costs, each subsequent release of an expansion will result in a permanent price cut of $10 to any already released content. That means when the sixth expansion is released, the base game will finally be free for all to play. Individual paid expansion packs will drop down to $9.99 each at their lowest price, but are not expected to become completely free. Finally, 18 - 24 months after the final paid expansion pack listed above is released, you will be able to pick up the base game, and all expansion packs listed above for $99.99. From there, the game bundle will continue to reduce in price every 1 - 2 years, or as additional content is released. It is unlikely the game bundle will ever become completely free due to the ongoing costs associated with operating the server infrastructure. However, I will continue to assess any and all opportunities for continuing to reduce the price and try to drive it to Free -- as long as I have an alternative way to keep funds flowing in to support additional development.

My intent is to continue to release expansion packs for as long as players remain interested in the game. And yes, the backer options to receive all future expansion pack content for free really does mean "all future expansion pack / DLC content." You will never have to pay for a single expansion pack released for this game -- ever. I am in this for the long-haul. I would love to see this game still going strong with new content coming out 30 or even 40 years down the road, even if it's played on holographic displays at that point or fed directly into our brain! This game is a labor of love, and I will build it and expand it (and fix bugs in it) for as long as I am able.

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