Demon Knights is a revolutionary dark Action Role-Playing Game with deep traditional 2D Fighting-Game mechanics within a beautiful dark gothic world of Ankhoron.
Master ancient powers and loot enchanted items to upgrade your hero, play with friends and defeat demonic monsters who stand in your way.
Buy a full copy of game for ~$30 USD ($240 hkd) a 25% discount from our target retail price at launch!
Darkness is sweeping the land of Ankhoron. The small mining town of Ashridge is at the center of the disturbances. The main bridge to town is destroyed and the villagers are now trapped in the town being overrun by monsters. Leaders calls for any who can help. Adventurers step up as they now must all fight to survive.
Ankhoron is a new original world full of magic and heroes of immense power.
The northern city of Ashridge was once prosperous because of its thriving farms and rich mines. But all things golden eventually tarnish. A curse unleashed by necromantic cultists from the North shook the land with a series of violent earthquakes.The poisonous ash released by the tremors killed off the once abundant crops in the surrounding valley, and crumbled the tunnels within the mines. The once-great crumbled to dust as the townspeople fled the dying city and were replaced by mutant monsters and undead victims of wars foughtlong ago. But hope remains that Ashridge may one day be restored to its former glory by a remedy that scholars say may be found in the ancient shrines buried deep below the city.
“I spent many an hour enjoying the pleasures that Ashridge once had to offer. But the dark magics its insubordinate mages unleashed shattered what was once a jewel of our homeland, leaving behind a treacherous den of despair in its place. I pity those who must set foot into its lifeless corridors and reside within its decrepit hovels, forever existing in a state of fear and unrest.” From the notes of an unknown explorer.
Ashridge is a map built vertically deep into dungeons and up into mines above. But exploration is not always easy as there are many shortcuts, hidden keys, hidden passages, and monsters that block your way.
Ankhoron – an expansive world of many cultures with a geography covering 20+ cities and 2 continents.
The world of Ankhoron is the cradle of humanity. It is home to the cities of the Seven Empires that were formed around the sacred magics of the dragons who once ruled the world. The texture of Ankhoron’s great continents is as varied as the people who live upon its land, from its towering mountain ranges to its vast and violent seas.
“I have walked this land of Ankhoron from coast to coast, and I have experienced many of its highest highs and lowest lows. Yet for all of this ancient continent’s vibrant beauty and diverse life, there is much pernicious evil hidden within its depths. Ensure your eyes stay as open as your heart when you traverse its terrain.” Telvir of the Drakien Monks
– Deep customizable Fighting Game combat in an ARPG – We plan to add the depth of top Fighting-Game Combat to ARPGs by building combat to allow customizeable combos, counters, parries, and magic effects all built on existing Fighting Game fundamentals.
– Original AAA Art and Artists – Our studio and game idea has been able to attract AAA talent both full time and part-time to create AAA quality art for our game. This include concept artists, 3d modelers, 3d animators, and 3d environmental artists.
– Original Gameplay with unique players – Play through the game as a Knight or one of the Demon monsters in the game. Demon monsters have unique access to monster skillset and a scalable AI with personality and aggressiveness that scales up at later difficulties!
– Looting systems inspired by the best ARPG’s- Loot is a big part of ARPGs and yet most good ARPG looting mechanics such as: –Random drops, Crafting/customization, and set items bonuses.
– Building Difficult-but-Fair Game– Enemies, bosses, and challenges will be built to always give players a chance. Those with high skill can attempt the game without completing the loot quests to improve gear and lower skill players can still expect to complete the game with just basic attacks by collecting lots of loot to improve equipment.
– ESports and Replayability – Player vs Player will be balanced by scaling all damage to base levels (normalizing to 100%) which means you will always fighting heroes on a balanced playing field suitable for Esports or Co-op gameplay. Our late game will also give all enemies improved AI (Artificial Intelligence) access to full range of combos, abilities, randomized enhancements, and strategies that will challenge the best players.
– Combat and Skill Trees – Choose your iconic hero, your weapon preference, and school of magics. Together you can access the deep and customizeable skill-trees for different types of combat including: quick melee, slow melee, ranged projectile, ranged AOE, Healing support-skill, charging/dashing, complex setup/mix-ups, and many others to come later. We expect to add additional hero types, weapon types, and magic schools each year and each season after launch. Feedback from the community will help us decide which skills and abilities are most desired and need to most help.
– Lore and living cities – Our cities are designed to evolve as your character grows, with the stories and capabilities of NPCs evolving as you help them and the empty houses filling in as NPCs are saved and rejoin the city. Each NPC is already created with a backstory and relationships that will be exposed as the game and story evolves.
– Expansion Locations – Our world is built with 20+ cities and many vertical hidden dungeons, hideouts, secrets, bosses, enemies, and NPCs in each city. Eventually we plan to allow players to visit each town where the Heroes/NPCs came from to learn their story and develop their skills. We believe planning for the depth of a large evolving world helps bring the world of Ankhoron and its people to life.
– Multiplayer and Networking – Our games is built from the ground up to incorporate 16+ player networking. Initially we are optimizing for 2 person co-op or 2 person PVP but we have planned to expand this into larger 5 person group and 16+ people group PVP in the future. Our Networking is already working now.
Please also visit our poll here to let us know which system you prefer us to launch Demon Knights of Ankhoron first! (Steam/PC, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo)
https://archonforge.com/poll-about-system/
Our Team Story:
Our team is a assembled from a mix of proven AAA industry artists, professionals, and managers around the world. Our passion has allowed us to attract talent to join us that has worked on games such as Dark Souls, Street Fighter, Tekken, and also attact professionals that have worked for companies including Disney, Relic, Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Electronic Arts
Although our core team is located in Vancouver (3 full-time) we have a large number of full-time and part-time international staff located around the world in cities including Hong Kong(2), Tokyo, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, Columbia, and USA. All of our full-time and part-time staff are very professional and able to work online and hand off projects to other staff located in other cities. We have also been lucky to be able to find many experienced consultants and contractors that are willing to take time out of their full-time jobs to help us with various technical and artistic projects.
†Our Lead Character designed Gus was an original artist for Dark Souls and Demon Souls for From Software
†Our Lead Programmer Laurie has >15 years launching AAA complex games and has worked for companies including Relic Entertainment (Warhammer 40k), Rare (Goldeneye, Perfect Dark Zero), and many others
†Our Environmental and Materials artist Smiljan has developed environments and characters for 10+ years for AAA games such as Heavy Gear.
†Our Senior Animator David has recently joined us full time after spending 9+ years working on many companies and different Games being the main gameplay and combat Animator.
†Our 3D Artists include an international mix of full-time and part-time artists that have previously worked for AAA companies and games such as Capcom (Street Fighter), Electronic Arts, and art exhibits.
†The CEO Kevin Chuang each has 15+ years experience in setting up new teams and projects globally. Kevin has an MBA from Boston University and has experience working for audit firms, project management, bank derivatives, and setting up new teams as an entrepreneur.
Together as a team we have launched >120 different games or projects internationally with a success rate of >90% with only 3 projects that failed to make budget. With our committed AAA team we feel that this will be one project we can all be proud of when it succeeds.
Our initial idea started over 4 years ago with the testing of systems in Unreal and discussion with friends and experienced industry veterans (>10 years at Electronic Arts) who have advised us along our development. Our current team and partners committed to building the game late in 2018 and since we have built a AAA team capable of building the game we dreamed of. We feel the 3 years spent planning this game and building the world will give us a head start in developing this into a beautiful fun game that is able to stay within budget .
We are fortunate to have Gus Chan as our Lead Character Artist who is based in Hong Kong and was one of the original artist that worked on Demon Souls and Dark Souls.
With his help we have a large library of characters and monsters to build our world. Players will be able to choose from 5 unique heroes to start or build their own customizeable character with the ability to swap armor, weapons, magic, and customize their own characters.
· Heavy Knights are the last in a long line of honorable guardians known for their enchanted armors and unrelenting ferocity on the battlefield
· Deadly Hunter are known for their quickness and stealth as they rain death from afar with magic projectiles
· Arcane Blademaster learned long ago that magic alone is weak, mastering the blade brings strength to the transient nature of the magic
· Elemental Barbarian are not burdened by the weight of armor but wield the elements to protect themselves and wreck destruction on their enemies
· Dark Druids can expect to have access powerful monstrous abilities to defeat the game in an entirely new approach to ARPG and Fighting Game PVP.
A wide selection of NPCs and Items are also currently being designed to fill out the world and backstory.
Environmental Concepts
Item Concepts
Ancient Sewers of Ashridge
Once known as the Great Sewers of Ashridge, they were once viewed as an engineering marvel by the people that it served. They were originally built to carry life-giving water to every corner of the city and the mountain mines. But the massive tunnels fell into disarray when the city was abandoned, and only a select fewew remaining now know how to navigate their byzantine layout. To most, the sewers only continue to exist as a home for the vicious rat‐men and other murderous creatures who plague Ashridge’s remaining citizenry. Even so, brave adventurers who choose to explore the perilous labyrinth might still find great treasure within its nooks and crannies.
“I recall the joyful cheers of the Ashridge townsfolk when the construction of the aptly named Great Sewers was finally complete. I also recall their pitiful cries as the dark magics shook the very earth itself and crumbled the tunnels to rubble. Now, those foolish enough to seek the water of life within its bowels are likely to only discover lurking creatures of death.” Telvir of the Drekian Monks
Deep Mines of Ashridge
The Deep Mines rivalled the Great Sewers of Ashridge as one of the engineering marvels of its day. Its maze of tunnels burrows deep into the heart of the mountain range that surrounds the Ashridge Valley and contains within it a wealth of precious jewels and ores that would make kings blush. But a series of powerful earthquakes that erupted when the rogue mages cast their dark spells collapsed many of the subterranean tunnels. Adventurers who wish to brave what remains of the Mountain Mines to search for lost treasures would do best to avoid the horrible creatures lurking in its depths.
“Deep within the belly of the Ashridge mountains lies a wealth of unimaginable riches. But whilst the reward may be great, the risk is even greater. Those who have escaped what remains of the Mountain Mines speak of a great evil that awaits the unsuspecting treasure hunters who venture into their collapsing tunnels to satiate their greed.” Lost notes of a miners map
Rat-men
Dark magic mutated the sewer rats that roam the remnants of the Great Sewers into wily and viciously territorial rat-men who will fight to the death to defend their underground home from intruders. The dexterity that allows them to wield any number of weapons, and the durability of their toughened hides that makes them extremely resistant to physical damage, means that brave adventurers must summon all their cunning to defeat their rat-men foes in battle.
“I trembled at the sight of the terrible rat-men who lurk in the dark shadows of the tunnels once known as the “Great Sewers.” These inglorious rodents were red in tooth and claw, and wielded murderous weapons constructed from the sharpened bones of their victims. I caution all who seek wealth and fame to do so as far from these deviously evil monsters as lies within their power.” From the diary of a lost Miner
Anthropophagi (Living Trees)
The forests surrounding the Ashridge Valley were traditionally a lush and welcoming place. But the rogue mages turned the trees that once provided shelter for all manner of woodland creatures into the violent, man-eating sentinels who now guard their stolen kingdom. The Anthropophagi now walk the northern perimeter, using the unholy strength within their possessed branches to tear apart the wayward adventurers who stumble into their path.
“Those who venture forth into the forests of the Ashridge Valley to find their souls stand a fair chance of losing their lives by way of the swinging branches of the Anthropophagi. I once unsuspectingly encountered these coniferous guardians during a simple sojourn through the woods, and only escaped a splintered demise by the grace of the gods.” Feltir of the Drekian Monks
We are looking to Kickstarter to fund this project as the project is currently funded by our partners with >$100,000 USD spent to date to assemble our team and bring the game to this current stage. We understand the scope is large and at a AAA studio this will likely cost well over $1m USD to create a similar game. Although we try to minimize costs by working remotely and bringing in international talent, the cost to develop AAA art and pay for AAA artists is real and committing to do more requires more funds.
We want to get in touch with our community and Kickstarter is a great way to reach out to the gamers who will buy the game. We need to know that gamers appreciate our art and are willing to put down money for our game. By reaching out to the community for funding we hope to be able to publish independently without needing to cut deals with publishers for exclusives or make deals that will compromise our games vision and quality.
With our Kickstarter target of $50,000 USD we expect to have enough to finish this game with a skeleton team. But we hope that this game is able to appeal to both the dark Action-RPG fans and the Fighting Game enthusiasts to achieve our stretch goals of up to $1m USD. With true AAA funding, we can invest into building our team, hire additional designers, that will truly be able to build all the hidden cities, underworld, lost shrines, and innovative monsters/bosses that will bring the world to live.
www.archonforge.com www.ankhoron.com www.demonknightsgame.com
Official Twitter
https://twitter.com/ArchonForge
Official Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Archon-Forge-Games-Co-Ltd-101687497940910
Official Discord
https://discord.gg/DQcjERa
We are a small studio that try to limit our costs where possible and focus on creating the best game possible. However there are always some risks to our business model.
Staffing – We have been lucky in attracting AAA talent but we are competing with AAA studios for staff and some staff may get a offer at a larger studio which we cannot match.
Technical – As a small studio we are limited in our resources and depend on our staff and our network of friends to help us past any technical issues. So far this has not been a large problem but most of our delays come from discovery of bugs that need to be solved.
Marketing and Competition – As a small studio we have limited reach in promoting our game globally and depend highly on our community of fans and influencers to help promote our game. Competition from established studios in ARPGs and Fighting Games will have a far larger budget to do marketing and copy our concept if we do not deliver quickly enough.
Financing – We have spent over $100,000 USD so far and should have enough funds from partners to deliver a minimum skeleton game to our backers. Stretch goals are to confirm upfront whether demand is sufficient to hire more resources and commit to a bigger project where we try to accomplish everything this game was designed to become.
We also plan to apply to get additional funding from the Hong Kong government, Unreal Developers Grants, and Canadian government for additional grants and financing. We are grateful to have had the support of the HK Cyberport Microfinance Programwhich has helped develop our team and has paid a seed funding of $100,000 HKD (~USD $12,500) to help us cover costs of developing our new company and new game world.
“This is definitely one to keep an eye on…” – fextralife.com
New independent video of Demon Knights @5:18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1LcHOgCLYQ&feature=youtu.be
Another new article written on Demon Knights from an independent website who say: “The NPCs and environment look great…” and “there will be plenty to explore in the game.” – theplaystationbrahs.com Check them out!
https://theplaystationbrahs.com/2019/11/08/demon-knights-by-archin-forge-games-on-kickstarter/
Italian News site – https://www.gamesark.it/notizia.php?n=611201910002247653
https://yeeeah.fr/jeux-video/demon-knight-of-ankhoron-%E2%80%A2-action-rpg-kickstarter-trailer?fbclid=IwAR01qSQ0-U8_MgUBs0ZCZFAkUVR1oKqE6LhNmjz6TtYw5tHvcgpt_x73sbw
http://www.rpgjeuxvideo.com/news-demon-knights-of-ankhoron-en-campagne-a175543714?fbclid=IwAR1iI1PtTxvfteis2kBMIZ1XIrcBr_68Rxsf8LfK7trlh2dbhptTv5WVJqc
Russian news site- https://gameinonline.com/news/18933.html?fbclid=IwAR2rkVtJ-S611xatKb1yDTRZYAONbAYfQ6wcC_8AHs97j-8wCeqGVrOmgz4
– Develop of complicated game may take more time than expected with buggy performance
– Althought networking is working already, we expect full international online networked play will not be perfect to start and is not the first priority for us when launching the game. This may take 1+ years to develop the network code to an competitive level (our target is GGPO).
– Lean in-house team may mean difficulty meeting deadlines develop content as planned
– Cost of game may be more than initially expected due to expensive staff, need to hire specialist staff. and hidden/unforeseen costs.