How do you make an MMO on an indie studio's budget? Well, you don't. It'll never work. So instead Might and Delight, the studio behind Shelter and its sequel, are making what they call a TMO instead: A tiny multiplayer online game.
Book of Travels, with its low-res graphics and indie sensibility, won't have many players on its servers, but that's one of its selling points. As the Steam description says, "Other players are few, but your paths will cross - it’s up to you to choose to travel together or go it alone. Find vehicles to reach far flung places or just amble through woods together. The absence of guilds and social structures makes your temporary fellowships unique and memorable."
Another unusual selling point is that players won't be able to talk to each other in the regular way, but will instead have to learn symbols to communicate. And the only way to learn them is by experiencing the concepts they represent—the example they give is that to learn the symbol that means "city" you have to travel to a city.
Travel is central to the game, but there's no overarching plotline to guide you along its paths and you'll have to find your own way, click-to-walking your way across the countryside. And while Book of Travels does have experience points, it's not doing those in the traditional way either. You'll gain them "by exploring, being courteous, gathering and trading. Battles can be rewarding, but you will learn more in defeat than in victory."
Book of Travels is launching a Kickstarter on October 17, and aims to be released on Steam next year.
