Let's Build a Game (LBAG) is a project to bring collaborators and players together to work on creating a collaborative game. We want to provide a low barrier to entry project for first-time contributors. Please visit letsbuildagame.org for more information.
The first game we are working on is called Hacker Experience 2.
Hacker Experience 2 (HE2) is a massively multiplayer real time hacking simulation. You play the role of a hacker living in a dystopian world controlled by megacorporations.
The game brings location-based strategy to a persistent virtual open world enduring a digital war. Claim and guard your territory against hackers and factions.
You can read more about Hacker Experience 2 at https://hackerexperience.com.
Yes. Hacker Experience 1 (HE1) is the first version of Hacker Experience, released in 2014. It currently has around 500,000 players and is quite addictive, according to some people. And you can play it for free.
Not yet, but it will be. Once HE2 gets released, HE1 code will be made open source. We (Neoart Labs) will keep the servers running. We'll also assign to the project a couple of maintainers, who will accept community patches to fix bugs or release new features. Once HE1 gets open sourced we will remove all ads and premium will no longer exist.
Yes, HE2 is a free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). You have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Please notice that the free in "free software" means freedom, not necessarily gratis.
Yes. You can track the development of the game, and all related software, at the Hacker Experience Development Center.
We are a small team with a very busy schedule. In order to be able to handle massive community participation and contribution, we decided to take a gradual disclosure of the game source code.
Instead of releasing everything right away and being overwhelmed with several questions about different applications and scopes, we will give ourselves time to organize better our current code and documentation, and then release one major software per month. See schedule and timeline at https://letsbuildagame.org.
HE2 is made of several software. The core (server) and all client interfaces are released under the AGPLv3 license. All supporting libraries created by us are either MIT or MPL-licensed.
Yes, you can play HE2 without paying a dime. In order to be able to play for free, you must host the server software yourself. It's not as technically challenging as it seems, and we are still here to help you :)
Yes. For those who do not want to set up a game server, you can create an HEOnline account and play Hacker Experience 2 online without any hassle.
HEOnline is the official game server provided by Neoart Labs, the company sponsoring Hacker Experience. It allows you to play online against thousands of other players without worrying about setup.
You can choose whichever is best for you: pay monthly or only once for your HEOnline account.
For the final release we expect to have a monthly subscription of $5 and a lifetime account for $25. Prices may vary slightly if we have unexpected servers and taxes expenses (or savings). Preorder and crowdfunding prices are much lower given the risk and early access factors.
Yes. We are quite generous to contributors, so a nice way to get an HEOnline account for free is by helping us build HE2. Sounds a great deal, right? Check https://letsbuildagame.org for more information on how you can help. We also plan to add "play-to-pay" in the future. This means you can extend your subscription by paying in-game money.
Hacker Experience 2 is still under active development, but you can preorder (and help fund the game) an HEOnline account at our crowdfunding campaign.