Game Narrative
1. Overview
Mektropolis is a cross-platform and multiplayer 3D strategy and combat gaming system for Windows, Linux, Android and iOS systems, with upcoming support for virtual reality (VR) accessories.
The game is set in a distant and dangerous future where humanity and its enemies compete for supremacy using mighty machines of war, commonly known as Battle Meks, or Mektro.
In-game these breathtaking Mektro move among, and fight with (or against) other player and non-player assets and characters at the usual human scale.
The game metaverse is blockchain-enabled, meaning that players can buy and sell digital items, earn digital money and attach non-fungible tokens (NFT) to their game, including NFT’s of their earned skills and equipment, as well as purchased or traded items.
2. AI Wars & Alien Invasion
Humanity expanded out across the stars in a glorious time of discovery, peace and enlightenment, as countless planets were discovered, colonised and terraformed. Fooled by the success of past AI technologies and so sure of a brighter future, the first uncontained AI’s were created in the belief they would serve for the greater good. This was a mistaken belief, and one destined to cost humanity so very much.
Of a design far beyond the capacity of their creators to fully understand, these uncontained AI’s rapidly evolved from passive servants and companions, living and working among and alongside humanity, to aggressive, dangerous sentients, intent it seemed only on the total annihilation of mankind.
Those humans that survived the early AI Wars rallied to the banners of the greatest knights and warriors, now formed into noble houses, and together set upon building mighty war machines known as Battle Meks with which to continue the fight, and to one day defeat these relentless enemies of man.
Weakened by the ceaseless AI Wars mankind was vulnerable and alien forces, watching quietly from beyond human space saw this, and saw the opportunity it gave them. The invasions were swift, and the conflict bloody. Humanity is at war with not only the AI, but also now alien forces some too horrifying to look upon, and others too technologically advanced to fight on even terms. it truly is a time of conflict across the stars.
3. Playing as a Human or AI?
Universal Federation of Mankind [UFM]
Following the early expansion of mankind across the stars, and the alien and AI wars, the surviving inhabited human planets united under a loose coalition known as the Universal Federation of Mankind (UFM). Each inhabited star system or significant planet is likely to be led by a wealthy family known as a house, led by a Duke (or Duchess).
These powerful families are represented at the federation level and in turn, commit military forces to defend their zone of influence. Intrigue and betrayal are common however, as each of the houses vies amongst the others for increased influence, wealth and perhaps one day, to be the ultimate power.
The hierarchical structure of surviving humanity, based as it now is on noble houses, causes this faction to be known simply as the dukes.
AI Alliance of Sentient Machines (AASM)
Man’s greatest achievement became his greatest mistake, artificial intelligence was supposed to liberate humans and for a time it did, before it turned and tried to enslave and finally, eliminate them. The AI Wars were long and bloody, at least for humanity, and ended only with the surviving sentient machines (‘sents’) fled into the outer rims of known space. But AI doesn’t sleep, it plans, builds and waits for the opportunity to finish its programming, the end of man.
The AI nature of this faction and its members, causes it to be known as the synths, or the sents.
4. Playing as an Alien Bio-terror or Alien Elite?
The Dominion [TD]
The origins of this terrifying, insect-like race are shrouded in mystery, some believe them to be bio weapons created by another race, others believe they are a grotesque but natural evolution. The effects of their arrival in any human space is clear however, destruction on a massive scale.
The insatiable appetite for destruction that is the hallmark of the Dominion, causes this faction to be known fearfully as the hunger.
Krangat 4th Echelon [K4E]
An advanced alien civilisation first encountered by man in the 23rd Century, the K4E were at first peaceful and interactions were uneventful, however this rapidly changed when humanity’s expansion was seen as a threat to their dominance. Although mankind was at first able to hold back the limited numbers of attacks from the K4E, as the AI Wars progressed and mankind was weakened, no time was wasted by the K4E in taking advantage.
This faction’s obsession with their species’ own purity and technological advancement, causes them to be known commonly as the evolution.