Realm of the Mad God
Realm of the Mad God title screen New.jpeg
Title screen in December 2012
Developer(s) Wild Shadow Studios
Spry Fox
Publisher(s)
Deca Games [1]
[2]
Platform(s) Adobe Flash
Microsoft Windows
OS X
Release Adobe Flash
WW: June 20, 2011
Windows & Mac
WW: February 20, 2012
Genre(s) Massively multiplayer online roleplaying game
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Realm of the Mad God is a massively multiplayer online shooter video game co-created by Wild Shadow Studios (later acquired by Kabam) and Spry Fox in 2011, and later sold to Deca Games by Kabam in July 2016. It was in public beta from January 2010 and the browser version launched on June 20, 2011.[3] On February 20, 2012 the game was made available on the digital distribution platform Steam for Microsoft Windows and OS X.[4]
The game has been described as a “massively-multiplayer cooperative bullet hell shooter” with an 8-bit pixelated art style.[3] Players control characters who have been transported to the realm of Oryx (the titular Mad God) to become food for his many minions and abominations, which the players must dispatch. Central to the design of the game is the fact that character death is permanent. Upon death, the player’s character is lost along with all carried equipment, although the player may store a number of items for safekeeping in a limited capacity vault away from danger. Different character choices in class also help make the game more diverse and help to support teamwork.
The game is free-to-play with optional in-game micro-transactions. Items which can be bought with optional transactions vary from high-level equipment, pets that provide aid to the player (by attacking enemies, paralyzing enemies, healing the character, restoring the character’s magic points, and acting as a decoy), increased storage space, and aesthetic features such as skins, cloths and dyes.[5]
This game client is written in Flash and can be played in-browser on the official site, on Kongregate, or it can be downloaded from Steam.
Gameplay
The HUD on the right-hand side displays a mini-map of the player’s current server as well as the current character’s statistics and inventory. The mini-map of the realm is initially blank, but areas can be revealed as a player traverses through the map. Player and NPC chat appears the lower left corner of the screen.
The game consists of players shooting projectiles from their weapons and destroying enemies to earn experience, fame, and equipment. A character moves around using the WASD keys (though other controls can be chosen) and uses the mouse to aim and clicks to shoot.[6] Contrary to usual practice in MMOs, the experience for killing monsters is awarded in full to each player present, rather than split. Because of this, it is generally advantageous to group up when fighting enemies. Players also have the ability to instantly teleport to any player on the map under a cooldown of 10 seconds.
After a certain amount of experience has been earned, the player levels up and their attributes are raised, allowing them to become stronger, fight more powerful enemies, and unlock more classes. The maximum level a player can achieve is level 20. The player can then gain “fame” on their character, which eventually grants permanent stars that indicate accomplishment. If enough fame is earned for a character, it may be placed on the game’s leaderboard upon death. Character death is permanent, meaning that the character’s items and statistics are lost. When a character dies, the amount of fame earned is tallied and added to the player’s overall balance and can be used to purchase certain items in-game.7
