Development Notes
Eryxian Project:
We're actively developing the Eryxian universe across multiple platforms and game types.
Development Status
Here's where we stand:
Eryxian (TTRPG): The Core Rulebook and Player's Handbook are currently in development. This project is being built in tandem with the ever-expanding lore on the Eryxian Wiki.
Status: Early Development.
Eryxian Card Game (Digital):
Status: Playable Pre-Alpha.
Details: A single-player prototype (dueling against AI) is available for Windows and Android. A native Linux version is in development.
Eryxian Card Game (Print & Play):
Status: In Active Development.
Details: We are finalizing the layout and design for the free, downloadable P&P version. This will include all necessary game components and a comprehensive rulebook.
Eryxian Universe Lore (World Expansions):
Status: Ongoing.
Details: This is the foundational world-building project that defines the history, factions, and scientific principles connecting all Eryxian games. Its development can be followed on the official Eryxian Wiki.
Note: Card layouts may be adjusted to ensure compatibility between game systems and maintain the modularity of the Eryxian world.
Experimental Open-Source Games: We are concurrently developing other experimental games, adhering to open-source principles.
Our Mission
The Eryxian project aims to create a free to use open and modular game system. We aim to design game elements to encourage players to combine different game releases and tokens to craft advanced roleplaying adventures that span both physical and digital mediums. Open-source development is a preferred core principle wherever technically feasible.
We are driven by a passion for innovation and exploration, both in game design and in the ideas we present. We aim to:
Evolve the Craft of Game Design: Our goal is not only to create engaging games but also to build innovative toolkits and design methodologies. By embracing an open-source spirit, we aim to share our process and contribute to the evolution of game crafting itself.
Incorporate Educational Elements: Weave in educational aspects, focusing on scientific speculation in technology, physics, astrobiology, and human development.
Tell a Compelling Story: The Eryxian narrative explores potential human futures, often using satire to examine the process of discovery and the potential pitfalls of a rapid progress—or rapid regressions.
A Brief History
The Eryxian project has roots in a 2003 concept for a complex, sci-fi trading card game (TCG). This early prototype, called later *Exxodus*, aimed for the strategic depth of digital strategy games, but within the constraints of a physical card game with a very limited set of cards and tokens. *Exxodus* featured flexible deck-building (shared or custom decks), in-game resources to force strategic choices, and multi-functional cards to maximize gameplay options. While released as a free print-to-play game, and despite planned expansions and a digital version, *Exxodus unLimited Edition* (2009) eventually entered a long period of dormancy, even if listed in online encyclopedia of card games at the time.
Eryxian is a direct evolution of this original concept. It retains the core design principles of *Exxodus* but with simplified rules, a streamlined development process, and a greatly expanded game world.
Why "Eryxian"?
The name "Eryxia" is inspired by the 1939 short story "The Walls of Eryx" written by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling. The story features a greedy explorer trapped in an invisible, deceptively simple mathematical maze. Unable to find the exit in time, he meets a tragic end, oblivious he is actually near the very entrance to the maze. The "Eryx" from the story itself alludes to the ruins of a real, lost civilization (Eryx is an ancient greek city on Sicily).
Side note: Eryx is also a genus of a venomous snake, and Eryxian is an exotic bug. Taking into account the Eryxians in the narrative are synaptic humanoid lizards and their mysterious progenitors are hinted to be possibly venomous insect hybrids, makes it an interesting concidence.
This theme – the potential for both positive and negative outcomes in civilization's steps into the unknown, and the inherent limitations of knowledge and the potential for self-destruction when we believe we have mastered forces we do not truly comprehend – resonates throughout the Eryxian universe, and guides the narratives of Eryxian Civilizations, Cargo, Gordian, and other related projects.