Welcome to our FAQ & About section!
Here, you can explore all the essential details about the project and find answers to common questions, such as relevant information behind the project's development, vision and themes associated with its creation. As well as where and how you can join the community, provide feedback and/or support future development of the project.
Please note, this section serves as a more technical view of the universe and its themes, for a more expanded version please visit the relevant pages of the website (faction and universe lore pages)
The project began as a simple way to learn game development, starting with a few tech demos—primarily focusing on systems like targeting mechanics, armor values, and resource gathering. It was initially created more for fun than anything serious. However, this changed after discussions with those who would later become contributors. Conversations about the current state of the gaming and entertainment industry, on issues like weak narratives, over-politicization, and poor treatment of fans—gave birth to an idea. We wanted to create something that would serve as an escape from these frustrations or, at the very least, provide us with valuable experience.
The lore began as lighthearted banter among those involved, exploring ideas we’d personally like to see or fresh takes on common themes. Over time, these random ideas grew into a structured and coherent narrative.
A key premise emerged: addressing themes that felt underrepresented or ideas that were often diluted to appeal to a broader audience. Instead of watering down concepts, we sought to embrace individuality. The factions in the universe reflect this philosophy, each shaped by the unique perspectives of those contributing to them within a set of creative constraints.
This approach gave the factions more depth and personality, creating a rich and realistic universe. Where even the more absurd ideas have found a place, resulting in a richer narrative, with which a wider audience could resonate without diluting the core essence of the universe.
Initially, the plan was to “just make a game,” but this quickly shifted to a “world-building first” approach. The idea was to create a solid foundation of lore, assets, and designs before committing to a specific medium. This allowed us to remain flexible: if a game didn’t succeed, the assets and universe could still be repurposed for other projects, ensuring the work wouldn’t go to waste.
Another important aspect of this approach was maintaining creative freedom. The project was envisioned as being self-funded, avoiding reliance on just donations or crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, with a consensus of providing some sort of products throughout all of development. This decision is seen as a way to ensure the vision stays true to its original intentions without external pressures dictating its direction.
The shift to world-building has allowed the project to evolve into a passion-driven endeavor. While financial success isn’t the primary goal, the joy of creation and the collaboration between contributors have made this project a meaningful journey. With more people joining in and offering ideas, the project has grown significantly. To avoid losing focus or becoming overly ambitious, we’ve decided to cap additional content for the time being to focusing on the core aspects of what we have currently established. Although there are alot more ideas waiting to be added if the project reaches that scale of development.
In short, this project is driven by the idea that “if we don’t try, we’ll never know.” It was born from a frustration with the current state of the gaming and entertainment industry, paired with a desire to see underrepresented ideas given a fresh perspective. What started as a small learning project has evolved into a rich and detailed universe built on passion, creativity, and a genuine love for storytelling.
The tone of the universe is: 'A dark dystopian future driven into relentless war by the undying hope of a new beginning'.
The goal of the project is to create a universe through which rich stories can be crafted which for example: showcasing the struggles and enduring spirit of ordinary people in the face of the endless darkness before them, finding hope in the most hopeless of situations.
The development approach for the project has been split into 3 phases:
1. The World Building Phases - The creation of the universe's backstory and lore.
2. The Asset Phase - Creation of assets (models, art, concepts etc.)
3. The Media Phase - Creation of media (games, books, films?)
Although this project may have once started as a hobby game, the change in its approach to start with the world build has been chosen as on the bases of: If we make a game with no assets the time it takes to create the assets and lore will in turn result in the game structure already being out of date / new technologies and methods might become available making our previous progress obsolete.
While world building and assets such as models and art will not become obsolete in such a time frame. Allowing us to have a higher chance in successfully realizing this project.
The current team is small as it is currently only a passion / hobby project, with a few additional people contributing ideas and concepts that they like to ensure the project has a wide range of themes and ideas that more people will find appealing.
Although if the project gets enough support we will happily expand the team and bring on more people to help in its creation.
The funding of the project will rely mostly on our supporters and fans who want to see this come to fruition, as I do not wish to accept any forms of funding that will require me to change the soul of the project or hand over any rights, as doing so will compromise the very foundation of our initial vision.
Instead we wish to be self funded, but we do not like the idea of people just handing us money and getting nothing in return, therefore we have a plan outlined to provide multiple options to support us, by giving back to our supporters by providing some sort of products, (art, books, figures, etc) before fully reaching our intended goal of creating games. (further outline in the Development map).
For us, our stockholders are our fans! :)
One of the major elements of design is to make sure that all aspects of lore and the world fit together coherently, ensuring that there is as minimal as possible breaking of immersion.
Therefore the universe in which Ashes of Sins is based on has no correlation to the world we live in, for example the entire galaxy is completely different than the one we find ourselves in, with only common terms such as ‘earth’ although the earth that exists is completely different from ours.
Additionally political and moral issues within the universe are completely different then those that plague our times – (Which will not be represented or implemented in any form).
Although aspects of art design and some themes will be included that resemble those of our world, this is unavoidable but these have little to nothing to do with political or moral issues of our day, with any overlap being not intentional and rather an aesthetic or design theme.
Note: Anyone pushing for them will be kindly told to go make their own universe (Perma Banned & Black Listed).
In short:
Current day political & moral issues = No
A cool looking design = Yes
Community feedback is an important part of development and telling a great story. Our stance is that to create a good product that we and as many people will enjoy, we need to listen to our community and build our vision along side what best resonates with them.
Therefore any constructive criticism is welcome, as I have a disdain for “YES” man, this will also extend to community feedback and suggestions for improvements.
Please Note! We will not tolerate any abuse of staff or any members of the community, any one who attacks the community or staff will be permanently banned and blacklisted.
If you can not have a civil and respectful discussion you can GTFO.
If you would like to follow development of the project please join the Discord to get the latest news and updates regarding development, alternatively you can follow any of our social media accounts for general news and updates regarding development.
All our Social Media accounts can be found under the social section of the website.
If you wish to provide feedback or suggestions please join our Discord and find the appropriate sections for feedback. Please don't post them under other social media as there is a chance that we will overlook it.
By following any of our social media account you can find updates and news associated with the project, although the best place to receive the most recent and up to date information is our Discord.
If you wish to support development please visit the support section of the page, alternatively contact the development team.
For any technical related issues with our site please visit our discord for more information and/or contact one of the staff members.
Ashes of Sin tells the story of a universe shaped by relentless conflict, driven by the unyielding visions of those who refuse to abandon hope for a better future—an ideal that has plunged humanity into cycles of war and devastation. The narrative lays bare humanity's darkest flaws: greed, corruption, and the unrelenting ambition that taints the hearts of all. These visions have birthed a world consumed by fundamentalism and religious extremism, where individual lives are reduced to mere cogs in the ceaseless war machines they created.
At its core, Ashes of Sin delves into the consequences of humanity's ambition and desperation. It is a future where humanity has conquered the stars and unlocked the secret of biological immortality, yet remains unable to escape its inherent nature. Despite their advancements, humanity cannot outrun its destined fate, inching ever closer to its ultimate undoing.
As the galaxy teeters on the brink of a final, cataclysmic war, a greater shadow looms over the fractured hearts of humankind—one that threatens to shatter the foundations of their beliefs and reshape the universe itself.
“For the final war is coming.”
There are currently 12 main factions that are the primary focus, with additional sideline factions that may be added later. However, these sideline factions are more likely to be mentioned in lore rather than being fully developed, due to the significant amount of work already involved with the current factions.
Some may consider this to be a large number of factions, but there are several reasons for such an extensive roster:
Firstly, and most importantly, the goal was to create a universe that feels lived in and has enough space to accommodate the ideas we have planned. This also helps avoid the awkward situation of adding a new faction in the future and having to justify their sudden existence and their complete disregard for all previous events.
Secondly, in many sci-fi universes, there is often a lack of factions, typically boiling down to a generic empire vs. rebel group plus maybe some aliens. Our consensus was to avoid this by providing a richer experience.
Thirdly, the idea of trade and economy has been taken into consideration. For example, one faction might trade and sell equipment to another, thereby decreasing the amount of work needed to create a large variety of factions while keeping them unique through aesthetic or minor changes to suit the given faction. This concept is particularly prevalent in factions that are more or less considered mercenary or trade nations, which on a large scale lack the facilities to manufacture large quantities of their own assets.
Lastly, and most importantly, we wanted to offer something that a larger range of people would enjoy. What one person finds cool, another might find lame, so having a variety of factions helps cater to a wider range of tastes and interests.
The overall reason for this is that the universe was designed with the unique concept of 'What if humanity became this...?' with the general consensus to take a concept which is generally considered 'alien' and create a human / hybrid version of it while still retaining the overall aspect of humanity.
The main reason for this was that humanity in general is always depicted as either the 'United Vanilla Human Alliance' who is overly nobly boring or the 'Generic Evil Empire' who just want to kill everyone because 'Generic evil reason number 696969', with the additional rebel group who somehow can't be defeated because everyone fighting them is completely incompetent, destroying any sense of stakes or tension.
The main focus therefore was always telling a story of what would humanity look like if they where to become something else and how far could it be pushed and still be considered human. While then the idea arose to reverse the roles for the alien council intern turning them into what humanity is usually depicted as.
The universe's wide range of factions is shaped by the diverse input of individuals involved in the project. This collaborative approach allows each faction to appeal to a broader audience, reflecting the unique beliefs and ideals of its creators. One person’s vision of how a faction should act, think, or feel may differ significantly from another’s, resulting in a universe rich in depth and variety.
By drawing from multiple perspectives, the factions transcend a singular, repetitive theme. If all ideas had come from one source, the universe might have relied on a narrow set of ideals, creating a more predictable and less dynamic setting. Instead, this collaborative effort ensures that each faction has its own distinct identity, motivations, and personality.
While this approach has occasionally led to outlandish or exaggerated concepts, these elements have added character to these factions in turn giving a more realistic experience
Initially, the idea of sub-factions arose from the need to separate the military structure of some factions into distinct groups. However, this concept soon evolved into a way to enrich each faction by adding another layer of complexity to their structure. Sub-factions introduce internal conflicts, power struggles, and other dynamics, transforming them from 2D to 3D entities with their own personalities.
Sub-factions can be categorized into two groups:
Nations: These are factions that could potentially stand alone as independent entities but are considered sub-factions due to the nature of the main faction. They are typically found in the core factions, such as The Coalition, The Alliance, and The Illuminate.
Orders / Groups / Parties: These include religious or military orders within a given faction, where their existence is intricately tied to the overall culture and existence of their faction.
While most factions have sub-factions, some might lack them due to their nature. For example, The Cyber Ascendancy, due to their structure, is considered to be a single unified entity.
Such a setting allows us to craft a variety of complex and interesting stories set in a vast array of environmental conditions and scenarios, in turn enhancing the story telling experience by not restricting it to a limited amount of environments.
Additionally this allows the Universe to exist longer then a few minutes before everyone tactically annihilates themselves in turn.
Given the setting, the idea of FTL (Faster Than Light) travel and the rules regarding space are major aspects of the universe. Like all other concepts, there is a set of rules in place. Although the universe is rather grounded in reality, these rules are implemented to enhance the overall strategic aspect and allow for better storytelling by introducing limitations and stakes even if they don't entirely make sense.
General Requirements:
- Limiting the range one can travel at a given time
- Creating choke points and points of strategic value
- Somewhat limiting the 3D aspect of space to a more 2D plane for ease of development
The extended version of these rules and concepts can be found in the lore section related to FTL and Space Anomalies.
Summary of Key Concepts:
Zones:
- Yellow Zone: Conventional travel is safe, although FTL calculations are impaired due to environmental conditions.
- Red Zone: Hostile and non-traversable due to dangerous environmental conditions.
- Dark Zone: Unscannable due to space phenomena, potentially dangerous to traverse.
FTL Highways Implemented to allow for tactical and rapid redeployment, adding strategic value to holding certain points in space.
FTL Altering Devices Introduced to allow for more tactics in a 3D space environment. These devices are categorized based on their use.
In Ashes of Sin, there is no definitive good or evil faction. This concept is often overused and can become rather comical when a given side acts evil with no real reason for it. Instead, each faction's actions are justified by its stance and outlook on various matters. What one side might consider evil could be deemed justified by the other.
In short imagine a room and this room is full of war criminals, now point to your favorite and that one is the 'Good Guy'.
The universal design encompasses an amalgamation of a futuristic world mixed with aesthetical designs of olden eras of kingdoms and empires, with a heavy emphasis on remaining grounded in terms of supernatural themes such as those that can be described as space wizardly.
The general setting and tone, although dark, is contrasted by prevailing elements of hope, which cast light across the darkness which envelops the universe.
In terms of the grand scale of the universe, a large amount of influence in its design is heavily inspired by olden slavic, as well as additionally ancient Greek and Roman themes & culture. Although there are many other cultural inspirations they are not as prominent in the grand scale of its design.
The environmental factor in design will vary as the vastness of a space setting allows a magnitude of environmental themes & locals to be explored, therefore there is no one setting that can be defined.
Although keeping with the main theme of the universe, environments which happen to be found closer to that of war zones will be depicted as bleak and ravaged wastelands scarred by the horrors of war, In Contrast to those that happen to find themselves far away from the frontlines offering a glimpses of hope with brighter landscapes. This duality serves to highlight the light and resilience of those who endure the darkness that surrounds them.
Many elements of technological and structural design within the universe focus on a modular system, this allows for a wide range of versatility in terms of both lore and development, allowing for a wide variety of varying elements to be added without an excessive amount of work being required to create each one from foundations.
This also expands to the concept of progression and development of technology. For example repurposing the same base vehicle platform to fulfill a different role, or being upgraded to the next generation, giving a more realistic feel to the universe.
The design of each faction's vehicles will vary widely from faction to faction based on their core culture and doctrines, although keeping to the general theme and aesthetic of the universe as a whole. Although not limited to the inspiration for many of these will focus around the mid-late-20th century, as many of us find it to have had some very unique and interesting designs.
Additionally the design process for vehicles follows a path of creating modular platforms rather than individual designs, with each next generation over the span of the universe's timeline being an improvement on the previous design adapting to the needs and doctrine of a specific fashion. This approach allows us to save a lot of time creating individual models from scratch and also add a great layer of realism for better immersion.
When designing the world the overall consensus on the laws and limitations was always to keep it in line with reality, avoiding what was coined space wizardly. Therefore when it comes to such concepts of the supernatural extremes, it will rather be avoided unless there is some form of justifying it in terms of the universe's structure. Although stating these concepts and ideas of paranormal activity and other phenomena that have some basis which fits, won't be excluded but rather tone down
In short, if it's a cool concept and we can justify it in terms of the lore without altering the universe's basis it might be included.