Aether Story

Overview

Aether Story is a pixel art MMORPG developed and published by Phanx Games for the PC and Mac. The MMORPG takes a traditional approach in offering fantasy themed game play with a focus on 1990s JRPG experiences. It boasts custom made pixel art for all features of the game including the environments, player models, items and menus. There is no official release date while the game is continually developed in an Early Access state. The development of Aether Story continues with deep community interaction via development streams on Twitch.tv, player content polls and funding goals.

Aether Story is currently in Alpha 3 with milestone features of the first profession (Cooking), HP, MP and damage system, experience and level system, bank storage (account wide), world map system, improved chat functionality, and monthly pets. Bank storage is currently being finalized and tested for release, which will bring account wide storage among a single user account's characters. Bank storage further emphasis the weight system in that the bank is limited by weight and not by traditional slots.

Alpha 4 is an upcoming development stage of the game. Alpha 4's defining feature is a working combat prototype with engagements, battle mechanics and a loot system. Further, additional maps within the region available will be introduced. The expected release of Alpha 4 is October 2020 as significant challenges have been encountered with battle and with previous updates causing instability issues.

Features

The game aims to emulate the experience of 1990s JRPG's, like Final Fantasy, but as an MMORPG. Modern improvements to functionality come from inspirations from franchises like the Elder Scrolls and other modern technology. The following is a list of the current features available in the game.

• Character Creation

  • Create a character with a name
  • Customize the look of a character through hair, face, body, gender, and clothing choices
  • Choose the type of game play to experience from the class selection options

• Available Classes (12 Planned)

  • Sage
  • Warden
  • Ranger

• Weight System

To balance player inventory and bank storage a weight system is used in contrast to a more traditional slot limit system. Players can carry up to 100 weight before being slowed down. The more encumbered a player becomes the exponentially more they are slowed down. To resolve this issue players must manage their inventory space, bank items, sell items or destroy items.

As fast travel is limited to scarce Telepads certain locations and gathering strategies are difficult to achieve due to the weight restriction.

• Fast Travel (Telepads)

Fast travel within Aether Story is conducted through 5 currently available Telepads, while two overworld maps have no teleport locations. The Telepads have no lore associated with them but they do have similar designs to currently inaccessible towers and structures found throughout the current world.

• Locations

All locations in Alpha 3 are within the regions of the Domhan Coast, Domhan Ridge and Domhan Forest.

• • Domhan Outpost
    • An outpost town situated by a large water mass and the current starting point of the game within
    • Features
      • Potion shop
      • Blacksmith shop
      • Fish Shop
      • Inn
      • Command Post
      • Cooking profession starting location
      • Various Cooking Stations
      • Various resource nodes (Cow Milk, Potatoes, Water, Stink Shrooms)
    • Quests
      • Welcome to Aethoria (Docks)
      • The Eternal Blossom (Flower House)
      • Construction Obstruction (Construction Area)
      • Tackle and Bait (Fish Shop)
      • Scholarly Research (Command Post)
      • Cooking Introduction (Inn's Chef)
    • Connects to
      • Inn Cellar
      • Potion Cellar
      • Command Post Cellar
      • Domhan Road
      • Meadows Lumber Yard
      • Indirectly to Spiertir City
  • Domhan Road
    • A road that leads to the Southern Forest which lies outside of Domhan Outpost
    • Features
      • Mining settlement and an undisclosed cavern entrance
      • Water area with Frog resource nodes
    • Quests
      • Hungry Adventuring (East Bridge)
    • Connects to
      • Southern Forest
      • Domhan Outpost
      • Undisclosed cavern
  • Domhan Southern Forest
    • A large dark forest where a Domhan expedition attempts to push through
    • Features
      • Witches house
      • Forest Ramparts
      • Forest Ramparts Shop
      • Various resource nodes (Frogs, Milk, Potatoes, Stink Shrooms)
    • Quests
      • Ration Supply Run (Forest Ramparts)
    • Connects to
      • Domhan Northern Forest
      • Domhan Road
      • Undisclosed Eastern route
  • Meadows Lumber Yard
    • A town situated in the country side south of Domhan Outpost which produces lumber to surrounding towns
    • Features
      • Cooking station
      • Various resource nodes (Water, Potatoes)
    • Quests
      • Fixing For Love (Old Lady)
      • Lumberyard Log Collection (Lumberyard Foreman)
    • Connects to
      • Domhan Outpost
      • Lanchet Cave
      • Root Cavern
      • Meadery
      • Windmill
      • Indirectly to the Rookery via The Pass
  • Meadows Meadery
    • The first introduction to the race of Dizwins and the prime honey production location
    • Features
      • The Meadery (Dizwin Shop)
      • Many honey resource nodes
    • Quests
      • Meadery Beedicament
      • Connects to
      • Wolves Den
      • Meadows Lumber Yard
      • Windmill
      • Indirectly to the Rookery via The Pass
  • The Pass
    • The secondary connection between the Meadows and the upcoming Rookery
    • Features
      • 'Moo Moo' the cow
      • Unique bird-like NPCs (uninteractable)
      • Various resource nodes (Milk, Potatoes, Honey)
    • Quests
      • There are no quests in The Pass
    • Connects to
      • Meadows
      • The Rookery (unreleased)
  • Sub Maps (Accessible)
    • Inn Cellar
    • Potion Cellar
    • Command Post Cellar
    • Windmill
    • Lanchet Cave
    • Root Cavern
    • Wolves Den

• Quests

  • Quests lead players to understand the lore, the world and an ease into game play
  • Quests award players with gold, items and experience
  • 11 Quests are present in the Alpha 3 build
    • Welcome to Aethoria (Docks)
    • The Eternal Blossom (Flower House)
    • Construction Obstruction
    • Tackle and Bait
    • Scholarly Research
    • Cooking Introduction
    • Hungry Adventuring
    • Ration Supply Run
    • Fixing For Love
    • Lumberyard Log Collection
    • Meadery Beedicament

• Professions

  • Professions allow players to interact with the world itself, enhance game play with others and permit them to create high level items, equipment and usable items
  • 8+ professions are planned
  • Cooking
    • Cooking permits the creation of food that heals various status elements outside of combat
    • Find recipes throughout the world to unlock ingredients
    • Gather and collect ingredients throughout the world
    • Level up to unlock higher tier recipes and food items
    • Sell crafted food for money to players and shops
    • Recipes
      • Baked Bread
      • Honey Tea
      • Big Mama Stew
      • Honey Mead
      • Tasty Frog Legs
      • Stinky Cheese
      • Baked Potato
      • Dizwin Cheddar
      • Grilled Cheese
      • Honey Bun
      • Green Smoothie
    • Ingredients (can be found via resource node spawns or bought)
      • Flour
      • Yeast
      • Water
      • Potato
      • Milk
      • Frog Legs
      • Stink Shrooms
      • Cave Moss
      • Honey

• Social

  • In-game chat with various chat channels and easy player whispering
  • Player trading for gold and sought after items (like recipes)

• Chests

There are 105 chests located throughout the game for players to find. Finding all chests is a requirement to unlock additional Alpha Tokens. Chests offer fixed and random loot.

• • Chest Types
    • Chests (Wooden, Golden, Green variants)
    • Tree and Bark Holes
    • Wall Holes
    • Pickaxes
    • Log piles
    • Full crates, half crates, barrels
  • Chest Loot
    • Gold (2 to 158)
    • HP, MP, Poison and Rejuvation potions
    • Mushrooms, Domhan Spices, Flour and Yeast
    • Teleport Scrolls
    • Illegible Teleport Scrolls
  • Specific Locations
    • 12 chests are located in 4 secret areas, each accessible by a corresponding Illegible Teleport Scroll
    • Onas, Das, Tris, Kwas
    • Each are has 3 chests to find
    • Some chests are hidden behind buildings or hidden through fake walls in cellars

• Combat

Combat currently permits the functions of taking damage and healing. Players receive damage by traversing dangerous terrain in the overworld (spikes) and consuming Poison. Players can lose MP by consuming Cursed Potions. HP and MP can be restored through various foods and by resting at an Inn. Players can not fall below 1HP and thus there is no death.

Experience is gained by consuming Poison and Cursed Potions and while completing quests.

Alpha 3 Specific Features

• Installation

  • Download Aether Story from the official website
  • Run and follow the installation instructions
  • Aether Story is installed to Program Files(x86) and has files stored in %AppData%/com.phanxgames.AetherStory
  • Launch the game through the .exe or via the shortcut on desktop

• Settings

  • Audio
    • Master Volume: Controls the audio output level for all audio sources
    • Music Volume: Controls the music audio output level (background music, ambience sounds)
    • Sound Effect Volume: Controls the sound effect output level (combat, pickups)
  • Graphics
    • Fullscreen (Windowed or Fullscreen): Controls the rendering target of the game to be windowed or fullscren
      • Fullscreen currently has some visual bugs but windowed mode can be resized to any extent
      • Game runs at 60 FPS locked, no known issues with higher refresh rate monitors
  • Interface
    • Show Status Bar Text (Always or Hover): Display toggle for the text on status bars in all locations (HP bar, MP bar, EXP bar)
    • Status Bar Text Format (Both, Percent, Fraction): Display text information as a percentage, fraction or have both presentations displayed
    • Interact Label (Show or Hide)
    • Chat Background: Controls the chat background transparency (lower is more translucent)
    • Chat Height: Controls the height of the chat box
    • Welcome Screen (Show or Hide): Displays the beginner and news containing welcome screen on login
  • Game Play
    • Auto Track Quests (Yes or No): Displays the quest in the on screen quest tracker (go to Journal to track or untrack)
    • Accept Party Invites (Yes or No): Allows the invitation of parties to be received
    • Accept Shared Quests (Yes or No): Allow the progress of quests to be shared
  • Notices
    • Level Up Notice (Show or Hide): Display a notice in-game when a character is increases by level
    • Location Notice (Show or Hide): Display a pop-up notice when entering new areas
    • Quest Notices (Show or Hide): Display a pop-up notice upon quest progression
    • Telepad Notices (Show or Hide): Display a pop-up notice when using telepads

• Account Creation

  • Create a Phanx Games account (username, password, email authentication)
  • Enter login information into the Aether Story launcher
  • Select the login button
  • Character Selection Screen
    • Create, Delete or Select a character
    • Create: Enter a name, choose hair style, clothing, gender and class and the associating colours
    • Additional character slots are disabled but can be increased upon request
  • Select the 'Play Character' button to enter the world

• Alpha Tokens

During the Alpha stage tokens can be earned for completing in-game achievements. The motivation behind Alpha Tokens is to help wide spread experimentation within the game. Alpha Tokens will be used to redeem "cosmetics and other goodies". Alpha Tokens will persist and accumulate through all Alpha stages.

• Pets

Pets can currently only be obtained by a $10 USD donation per month or via development livestream giveaways. Each monthly pet will be Limited Edition to that development month.

• Pet List
  • Pink Slime (February 2020)
  • Lucky (March 2020)
  • Chick Chick (April 2020)
  • Phat Bee (May 2020)
  • Lantor (June 2020)
  • Summer Flower (July 2020)
  • Cragon (August 2020)
  • Holiday Pets
    • Bunny (Easter Holiday)

Upcoming Features

Battle

• Encounter dangerous foes in dens, caverns and intriguing locations
• Utilize a modern JRPG combat system with new and unique twists
• Think quick on one's feet to use strategy and skill to overcome foes
• Featuring both PvE and PvP systems
• Unlock the best strategies by choosing a class, equipment and items
• Relish in spoils from bosses and other enemies

Completion of Region 1

• An expansive first look at the world of Aether Story in 12+ large areas

PC System Requirements