Castle Infinity
Castle Infinity is a freeware MMOG for Microsoft Windows developed by Castle Infinity, LLC, an American non-profit organization.
The official language of the characters in Castle Infinity is a modification of Esperanto.
The new wave a cappella group The Bobs provided several original songs for the soundtrack. Additionally, members of the band also lent their voices for several of the characters in Castle Infinity.
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[edit] History
Castle Infinity was first released in 1996, making it the first fully released MMOG designed for children. It was originally designed by Russell Ginns, Gregg Foster, and Scott Wallin. It was developed by Starwave, but the company was bought three times and eventually acquired by Disney. The game itself changed owners several times, from Digital Evolution to US Interactive. Access to the game became intermittent starting in 1998 and had shut down entirely by 2000. Soon after, the game servers were rescued from a dumpster by Kevin Quitt, a C programmer, who happened to be one of the game's lead players, and improvements on the game started up. From this group, Castle Infinity, Inc. a non-profit organization was born. Player population has dwindled in the years since, leaving only a few die-hard fans. Nonetheless, in 2005 there was fresh media coverage of the game by way of Slashdot and BoingBoing.
[edit] Corruption and Closure
On October 6th, 2008, it was announced that the database had been corrupted following a programming error. Kevin D. Quitt, the current administrator of Castle Infinity at that time, made the following announcement: "I have... with great reluctance and many tears, closed the Castle - almost certainly forever." However following this a Facebook wall was made, and old players continued to discover the community. Talk soon emerged of redevelopment of the castle, but until recently no action was ever taken.
[edit] Revival
On January 9th 2011 a test server was launched by a former player who wished to remain anonymous. A website has launched, and a beta is now available for download.
[edit] Gameplay
Castle Infinity places a heavy emphasis on player interaction. Players can take on challenges which require multiple players to participate together, activating new levels and advancing into deeper tasks within the game. For example, in order to jump to higher levels, at least 3 or 4 members are required to stand on the same spot for the lift to activate. Once all members are present, the jump activates and players will advance to a higher level.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Castle Infinity Revival Project Website
- Castle Infinity website from Starwave era
- Castle Infinity website from user-owned era
- Excerpt from Attack of the Show featuring Castle Infinity at Google Videos (Adobe Flash video)
- Slashdot thread about the return of Castle Infinity
