Howdy, so ETERNITY, the project I keep mentioning from time to time without much context or a lack of information. Truth be told the lack of information comes from the fact there was an actual lack of information to talk about the project, however now It's in a clearer state of progression and I'm more comfortable talking about the project, I am dedicating this post to discuss and promote the game in the hopes to gain interest, so enjoy.

What is ETERNITY?

ETERNITY is a ROBLOX ASYM horror game based on many of its kind; there is no promises it will be unique or bring much to the table; however, the goal in mind is simply to have fun with the project. That being said, we do have ideas on how we want to be different from the "competition", which we do look forward to discussing further down the line.

The original idea was first conceived last year, in October, when I thought of my character Andrew Woods being in a ROBLOX ASYM game; the idea later developed into this random piece of concept art.

The Detective - Andrew Woods was the first planned and concepted, he was and still continues to be the face of the game, without him, this game wouldn't exist. HE went through multiple mechanic changes before ending up on one I enjoy a lot, although we might do a final pass as he has two ranged abililies and it might be a bit much.

The Myth - Herobrine was a friend's suggestion, as he was weirdly never used in projects like these. I feel like, given the right context and reasoning, he has the potential to be a very interesting killer; that's what I wish to achieve with ETERNITY: an interesting killer.

The Solver - Cyn was added because I was pretty petty, I won't lie. Most games were denying her as a killer because she "does not fit" I completely disagree, and I hope to prove myself on this instead of biting my own tounge.

The Undying - Arthur Woods a character that at the time was only a few months old as he was designed for PLAYING WITH POWER, another SMILING ROOTS rep, was meant to be an update (that's why he wasn't concepted yet); however, I feel like he would be an interesting 4th pick for a release tenant. It was between that or "The Teacher" *wink wink* Pic below of The Undying.

After concepting the idea for this game, I sat on it for a while, afterall it was an impossible project for me, and I was done making empty promises, so I moved on for a month. In November, I reconnected with some old friends and jokingly brought up the idea, a joke soon became a concept, and the concept became a commitment. ETERNITY was real, and it's being developed officially.

Now me, I am not very talented, I know one programming language, but one thing I could do was write and fund. So I took the liberty of being the game budget, every line of code, every model, every music track is being paid for right out of my pocket. Is it a waste of money? Maybe, but it's my money, so who cares?

All was well until nothing. We lacked someone to script the game, so the excitement of the team died down and the project lay dormant for months, until recently I started pushing to get the project back into shape. I got a scripter, got scammed, then got another scripter (with caution this time). The project is going very well, could be better, but we are back in buisness and pumping out asset after asset.

I am very proud of the team, and sometimes I wish I could help more. I concept and draw ref sheets here and there, but my job is to direct and pay the team. I've learnt a lot over the years, the dos and don'ts.

What qualifies as a Tenant?

ETERNITY calls its "killers" tenants, as I wish to keep the opposing side an open book. Andrew, Herobrine, Cyn, and Arthur are all evil and murder the survivors, all for different reasons, and each has their all moral compass. However, to be a "Tenant," you don't have to kill or be evil.

A Tenant is the power role, the opposing side, a majority are monsters and psychopaths; however, some more playful aspects may slip through the cracks. For example, Baldi from Baldi's Basics+. He isn't evil, he does not kill, however due to his unique abilities and precence in the game, he may be classed as a tenant if we wish.

Not everything can become a tenant, as that would be unrealistic of us to consider. For this reason, we also don't want to give the tenants clear "rules" for what can or cannot be classified as a tenant. For example, we are not going to add a goomba or a random soldier from a shooter as a tenant, although they fit the role as antaonisitc and lethal, they don't feel capable of being an interesting tenant.

We will explicitly say if a Tenant is confirmed or not; for example, anything regarding my work pre-2024 is deconfirmed and won't come to the game. Until then, you are free to theorise.

My role in the project

Now, I want to put this here since I feel like some people would be hesitent or outright disapprove in trying out the project due to me being associated with it. Aside from paying for and directing the project and owning some of the characters, I am not a major figure in the project. I have made a promise to keep my community interaction as minimal as possible, focusing on announcements, updates and all of the technical stuff, I don't want to be a constant talking figure like I was before, as it leads to a lot of long term problems such as unfulfilled promises, stress, and many, many mistakes. I have learnt my lesson from before, and I intend to continue with my improvements to both my team and the community.

What I want to ask is, give the project a chance, think of the developers working on it rather than me, they are amazing people with amazing talent, and they deserve so much respect for their hard work.

Project Progress

We had a major hiccup the other day in development, but we have gotten back on our feet, and we are progressing at an acceptable pace. We currently have a few models completed and basic programming for mechanics such as hitboxes and movement. Humble beginning that will blossom into something much better.

I cannot share much about the project right now, as I want to keep some things a secret!

What will be released in Chapter 1

4 Tenants

4 Survivors

4 Maps

1 Gamemode

This will be a small start for the project, but enough to have it not feel underwhelming. Due to this, the project is still months away; however, I will let you all know if we will host public BETA tests or not.

How to keep up to date with the project

Gamejolt is not my main platform, and I don't have a main social media anyway aside from discord, which I only use to talk to friends or do business. However, SMILING ROOTS has a Twitter account that I have dedicated to posting about ETERNITY and its development. We plan a public discord, however, we wish to wait until we have at least somewhat complete gameplay before we do that, as once again, unfulfilled promises is a concern. We have a ROBLOX group that the game will be published on if you wish join it ahead of time.

SMILING ROOTS Twitter - https://x.com/SmilingRoots

SMILING ROOTS ROBLOX Group - https://www.roblox.com/share/g/35434792

That is all I have to say for now.

I want to thank my friends for supporting me over these years, my remaining community for believing in me, and my dev team for being amazing co-workers.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to keep you updated with the project.