I made a TMORPG
Void Rondo is a darkly whimsical browser MMORPG about a hero who wakes up in the wilderness with no memory of who they are. There are dangerous monsters, worldwide PvP, 42 NPCs, and 12 quests. Gather treasure, and uncover the truth about your past. Along the way, your choices shape your Trias Moralis: Bonum, Malum, or Neutrum. Your alignment determines which of three crowns you may claim. But be careful. The world is changing, the Void is stirring, and your forgotten past may be tied to its return.
Inspiration
Deep roots— Elvish Fury Clan
Void Rondo’s inspiration has deep roots, starting when I was a teenager. I started a game called Elvish Fury Clan. How you played was you choose an Elvish name (we used Elvish name dictionary) and then you join the clan. I built a Geocities website with high aspirations of making a point and click game. The game never got implemented but the idea was always there.
There would be a map of some grassy field area, and you would click on the map features of the place you would like to visit, such as a cave in a hillside. I wanted it to work like Habbo Hotel where you could explore and chat, but I never had the technical skills or the drive to learn how to make that happen. Until now.
Story of Grimnok
Growing up playing D&D with my brothers, I had this old man wizard-type character Grimnok.
My brother came up with this quote that I thought was the funniest thing. I took it and repeated it as Grimnok.
“I’ve travelled for many days and many nights, can you please spare a rune?”
The mystical old man Grimnok was a recurring character. He lost a few of his marbles, but he makes me laugh.
Reconquer Online
There’s a dead MMO called Reconquer Online, in which I was one of the top 20 players worldwide. If you’re interested in knowing more, I made a full video about that game, but the reason Reconquer Online was inspiring was because it was made by a solo dev who I related to. The game had simple graphics, simple story, and simple mechanics, but the game itself was greater than the sum of it’s parts. There were conflicts between the playerbase that made the game very dynamic and exciting. You’d log in not knowing if today’s the day when you get ambushed by a PKer or a gang of thieves. You’d always have something to do, a level goal or a quest, and the game was great second monitor content to keep your mind busy while you worked on some other task that didn’t take your full attention but really needing doing. It was my comfort game, and when it closed down, I craved something similar.
The failed Kybertrike
There’s something about multiplayer games that is undeniably appealing. You never know what other players are going to do, which makes every game unique. I wanted that in my game Kybertrike, but the complexity of implementing multiplayer was too great of an emotional barrier. Now I have AI helpers that I can use for overcoming emotional hurdles, and helping me write code.
Silkroad Online
The name of my game, “Void Rondo” is taken directly from an old Korean MMORPG, Silkroad Online, which I used to play with my roommates when I lived in Oregon about twenty years ago. In SRO, you could use a Void Rondo to convert junk loot into something valuable. Something about that name always stuck with me, partially because the graphic for that mechanic wasn’t a song like you might expect, it was an empty vial. Something might have been lost in translation there, but regardless, the name “Void Rondo” stuck with me as being something scarce and special.
The invading Beetles
In Void Rondo, a giant Beetle and giant Worm army join forces to rival the humans. The humans are in the face of an extinction level event because of the damage the Beetles and Worms are capable of inflicting on the Evertree forests, a natural resource the humans depend on.
These forces are based on a real story. Here in the pacific northwest, we’re living through a forest catastrophe due to a mass infestation of tree eating beetles, and a tree killing fungus they carry with them. It’s widespread, largely unchecked by property owners, and entire forests are literally dropping dead. It’s all over the area, the most obvious sign being these dead branches. As the beetles and fungus do their damage, at first it’s just a few. Then it’s several. If the tree isn’t given the resources it needs to fight the infestation, all the branches die, indicating the tree is no more.
A tiny MMO
I set out to create a tiny MMO. A TMO, if you will. I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew, and burn out before I’m ever able to releasing a product. Not today! This game is actually playable right now, at voidrondo.grimtech.net.
How did I do it? A todo list, with strict constraints. I used my imagination to come up with individual in-game features I wanted to see, and at a certain point, I stopped and said that’s Version 1. I still have big aspirations for this game, but anything new will have to be version 2. I put a feature freeze in place, and stuck with it. I swore to myself that I would release a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) before I started working on version 2.
I’ve created hundreds of projects that have never seen the light of day. I’ve failed enough times and I know myself well, there’s a certain point where I reach difficulties and I want to tell everyone what I’ve been working on, receive praise, and move onto the next thing. Not this time, because I forbade myself from talking about this project until it was deployed and playable. As an explicit feature of the MVP! (show the TODO notes)
It was that constraint that kept my lips sealed and head down, continuing the work until version 1 was done.
AI disclosure
Some gamers really care about AI disclosure, so here’s mine.
AI was a big part of the making of Void Rondo. AI wrote most of the code, because code is where I quickly get overwhelmed and burnt out. AI scaffolded some of the quest text, which I then edited. AI helped me workshop names of people and places.
AI generated neither art nor tilesets. This was an important project requirement for me. I used human-made art from opengameart.org and itch.io. A few of the spritesheets were hand crafted by me using GIMP.
Special thanks
I gotta shoutout Denzi. I used a lot of Denzi spritesheets, an artist with a style I feel in love with.
Special thanks to the excellent Build a JRPG in Godot 4 by Jorge-D-Robles. This was an instrumental tutorial which served as the basis for my game.
Alpha quality software
This game has lots of bugs. I could keep working on it before I release, but I’m honestly running out of steam. I’m ultra broke and I need to get back to doing things that bring in money. I have two choices. Wait until it’s perfect (and risk never releasing), or I could release on time in a “good enough” state. October 1 was my target release date, so I’m sending it! I think it’s mildly playable and I want to see some PvP!
I’ll keep working on Void Rondo as I have time. There are still more quests that I have to implement. The whole story of the Void Rondo has yet to be revealed!
Mechanics
Three kingdoms
Void Rondo has three kingdoms, based on morality.
Bonum, Malum, and Neutrum.
The factions compete with each other, and demonstrate their power by donating food to the weekly banquet. The faction who donate the most food are the top dog for the week. Faction kings are decided by the player who wears their faction’s crown for the longest time
Three crowns
There is one crown per faction, which can be claimed by aligned faction members.
Whoever wears the crown the longest becomes the king! The three kings as well as the
Heavy use of Latin
I chose to use a lot of Latin names, because it’s cool!
Community policy
This is the wild west and we are not your nanny.
You are probably going to get rekt in PvP, unless you keep up with your phase potions. You are probably going to get insulted in chat, unless you disable chat. You may forget your username and password and lose your account, unless you save your password.
That’s on you! It’s not my job to protect you— you have to protect yourself. If you can’t do that, join a kingdom and work with your allies. This game is not for everyone.
Rules
Humans only. This game is made for human players, not autonomous agents. Players may not use bots, AI agents, or other software to control characters, make gameplay decisions, or perform tasks on their behalf.
Any tool that generates, repeats, or automates gameplay inputs is prohibited, including scripts, macros, turbo functions, programmable hardware, click automation, and similar devices.
Hostile behavior is allowed inside the game and within roleplay. Real-world threats, doxxing, account attacks, and attempts to harm or expose players are not allowed.