Into the Unknown

I’ve always loved modding tools. It started with making custom maps in Warcraft II as a kid. Over the years I messed with every tool I could get my hands on, from the RPG Maker series to the Timesplitters II mapmaker to basically all of the Blizzard RTS map editors.

In my mid 20s I finally stumbled my way into a modding project that actually found some fans: a mix of Starcraft II and Hearthstone called Battlefront Card Game. After a year or so of development I realized the way I had coded things was holding back the game, so I rebuilt the entire game from scratch and called it KeyStone.

Nothing in my life has been as creatively rewarding as making KeyStone.

Over the years I’ve thought about what it would take to make a stand-alone game in the same genre, and dismissed the project as too big. Fans of KeyStone occasionally ask about the idea too. But yeah, “too big” I told them.

Over the last year or so my thinking on this began to change.

I’ve been making content for KeyStone for just over 5 years now. Do I want to spend the next 5 years on more modding projects, or do I want to spend it making something I can fully call my own? Making a game from scratch can take a long time, but I’ve proven to myself (without even meaning to) that I can work on a single game for 5+ years. That’s probably long enough to ship a real game.

So here I am, jumping into the unknown with a new project: Flaregate Network.

Flaregate Network is meant to be a spiritual successor to KeyStone, set in a new universe with new factions, characters, and stories, not to mention all new units and cards.

Over the next few months I will share some of my thoughts on the core design of the game. Eventually (hopefully in 2024?) I’ll start to share lore and art as things become more finalized.

If you’re interested in news and updates, be sure to join the official Discord server!