indie game studio
Dercetech
Early 90’s spirit, next-gen players
Our motto?
Invest & Infest, Dercetech does the rest!
Our projects
Blocky’s Quest
A trilogy mixing action, adventure, humor and puzzles in our very own ancient Egypt!
join us on Discord:
Alpha Boreal
Terraform an ice planet in this arcade MMO!
Will humanity learn from its mistakes?
Arborea Meltdown
Survive the eerie Island of Arborea in a hybrid 3rd person shooter & turn-based game!
Join us on Discord
and on reddit.com/r/arborea
Blocky’s Quest
The Curse of Blocky-Thotep is upon us!
Loosely based on the myth of Osiris, Seth & Horus, the first chapter of Blocky’s Quest revisits a mysterious Ancient Egypt through the initiatory route of our pixellated hero.
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Evil lurks in the blind spot of vigilance.
Treason is defeated when light is shed on the abyss of a closed mind.
Courage and wits shall save the soul of Thotep from its curse,
For the righteous Lion prevails!
Blocky’ Quest 1: The Curse of Blocky-Thotep
fig. 1 : Blocky & Thotep reunite. Hi-fives date back to 3200 BC.
Mixing action, adventure and puzzles in our very own ancient Egypt!
Inspired by its point & click humorous role model, Blocky’s Quest borrows a hint of Monkey Island craziness for the better… or the worse! With portals, mutant beanstalks, tomb things, and stone-carved computers added to the mix, ye brave lions are in for a mind bending quest!
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The visuals of the series are designed to remind of Commander Keen and Rick Dangerous‘ pyramid explorations!
This cross-breed of platformer and top-down mechanics is meant to tap into their legacy :
Platformer mechanics are ideal for action, fighting and observation. We take pride in hiding secret contents under the sand (and the pixels!) for ye, archeologists of retro-gaming to uncover!
The top-down view puts the world in perspective, as well as your progress and understanding of the global quest.
Currently in alpha version, the background graphics in top-down view are borrowed from Phaser’s lab!
Blocky’s Quest is a trilogy… the second chapter will focus on our cubs!
Borrowing co-op mechanics from hits like Gobliiins 3 and The Lost Vikings, Blocky’s Quest 2 will focus on puzzles that our dear lions cubs will only overcome by joining their wits and unique abilities.
The third and final chapter will put the spotlight on our lioness to finish on a high note!
Dercetech’s first hero was our badass redhead Irabel in Secret’s of Arborea (2011).
She is dubbed the “Lioness of Arborea”.
We like to picture the strength and devotion of mothers in our own ways.
Faithful to our tradition, the Blocky Mama will put a capital “L” in Lioness!
Santa Claws in Blocky X-Mas for charity!
Dercetech has been donating 5% of its net revenue since 2015
We support orphans through SOS Villages d’Enfants and fund medical research.
100% of the net revenue generated by our 2022 Christmas spin-off will be donated to these!
Alpha Boreal
“Going faster and faster, as fast as possible,
without knowing exactly where.
What matters is getting there first.”
(Terran proverb – Alpha Boreal)
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Alpha Boreal merges MMO and democracy in an explosive arcade setting.
The storyline is detailed on our Reddit r/AlphaBoreal community.
The game mechanics and its evolutionary MMO aspect is discussed in a separate topic.
Want to try a pre-release version?
visit the project’s playable versions history!
“Democracy is nothing more than mob rule,
where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%.”
Based on the same jemReactor engine powering Blocky’s Quest, Alpha Boreal brings visuals reminding of Commander Keen and Rick Dangerous 2 with both platformer and top-down mechanics :
Mankind has this tradition of respecting wildlife and indigenous populations!
No productivity shortcut can beat dumping nuclear sludge in the opens!
Will you hunt down the local species for fame and leaderboard concerns?
Will you help the Corporation to achieve maximum output at the expense of the ecosystem?
Or will you protect the planet and its terraformation at all costs?
Each season comes with new contents based on what the majority of participants accomplished…
possibly changing the landscape of Terra-X forever!
Not afraid of a pre-alpha version? Pun intended.
Then take the platformer perspective for a spin – dercetech.com/play-alpha-boreal/
Rebooting our 2010 title “Secrets of Arborea” :
Arborea Meltdown
Our incendiary Redhead is back and she’s gearing up for a reboot that’s hotter & badder than ever!
We have such sights to show you
Loyal to the spirit of our very first title, this new installment taps deeper into the lovecraftian roots of the studio to further thicken the ominous atmosphere that was so dear to our first players.
The remote island of Arborea witnesses the slow mutation of its population. The Wellerman Mining Corp increases its Erradium extraction activity in spite of the powerful scrutiny of Father Erras and his mission. The mutagenic properties of this newfound mineral opens the way for human augmentation and trans-humanism.
Introducing Dr. Hexane as head scientist, the plot unfolds as the semi-sentient abominations are met, muttering haunting litanies in a succession of mechanical clicks, whirrs and buzzes. This offspring results from uncontrolled human experimentation and introduces Project GAMMA as a means to bring eternal life and a status of semi-gods to the self-proclaimed architects of the new world.
“… and I shall inherit the Earth.”
– a Prime Daughter of Erras
The heritage of Thief 2: the Metal Age is even more present in this return to the sources. Adding the power of Unity, a whole new infiltration & stealth system is developed to mimic the bloodline of Thief & Dishonored.
Our signature Chernobyl vibe is also reinforced as we joined the STALKER fanbase over the years. Radioactivity and its mysticism is deeply engrained in the roots of our studio as childhood memories connect us to the disaster.
Join our Reddit community! The full script, character description, design notes, samples and inspiration sources are detailed in our front page! We strongly welcome ideas & remarks from the community. You can, be part of the journey!
We are fans since the very first X-Com in 1994, the on-demand turn-by-turn action will delight the rest of us!
First meant to be a spiritual successor to Crusader: No Regrets, the new Arborea title quickly evolved into a combination of mechanics that add Firaxis-inspired turn-by-turn combat and stealth system on top of the traditional third-person live action.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. + X-Com + Crusader = Arborea Meltdown
Hint: Aim for the portable RBMK reactor in their backs. It’s a weak spot. Stay away as it cracks open!
Dearly marked by the dormant terrors and oppressive atmosphere of Terror from the Deep, we’re packing the best our roots have to offer in this prototype with hopes to strike a deal with a AAA publisher and turn our dream into a reality!
We’ve kept the Arborea project alive for more that 10 years.
It started in 2010 as a platformer mixing pre-rendered 3D and 2D hand-painted assets.
We attempted a first reboot based on the original X-Com to create a pixel art strategy game.
We’ve now found the perfect recipe.
We just need to find an oven that’s large enough to bake it!
#TheCakeIsNotALie
Fresh from the lab… now built with Unity for maximum power!
“Hello, Commander” meets “Иди ко мне”
Idi ko mne – Come to me!
With the voice of Jon Bailey (Father) booming like the Monolith in STALKER, we’re adding a finishing touch to the soul of our flagship title.
Arborea Meltdown is Dercetech’s shot at a game that will stand the test of time and mark a whole generation of players, brining our best memories from the early 90’s in a package that’ll get you keep asking for more!
Patience now, work in progress…
…played this in 2011?
this was Secrets of Arborea!
In a vibrant setup that reminds Rick Dangerous 2‘s strange Forests of Vegetablia, the first game included a puzzling cross breed of HP Lovecraft mythos and mechanised sentient beings as we’ve once met in Thief 2: The Metal Age.
The mix of pre-rendered 3D and hand-painted 2D brought some Atari ST & Amiga 500 glory back under the spotlight!
About us
Born in the 80’s
now re-creating the magic that Sparked our dreams
Jem – the founder
Classic. Pure breed.
Once upon a time, the vibrant games of the Atari ST and early DOS era hits would lay the foundations of a kid’s imagination. Now he has grown up and it’s time for him to expand and share this universe.
So he founded Dercetech to inherit the soul of these games and take over the spirit of the early 90’s to come up with his own breed of modern classic games.
Retiring from the corporate world in 2022 after 17 years of freelance consulting to dedicate himself to video game development, Jem brings the expertise of web technologies, hybrid mobile app development, real-time databases and enterprise-grade architecture as a former tech lead, senior developer, mentor and trainer.
trivia
Derceto is a water goddess, counterpart to Dagon. HP Lovecraft inspired many titles, including Terror from the Deep and Alone in the Dark, hence the portemanteau Derceto Technologies as a tribute to the spiritual fathers.
#MadeInBelgium
4th gen, baby!
The late 80’s and early 90’s have set in motion the decades to come thanks to the great minds and prolific artists who defined the spirit and transformations brought by that era, better known as the 4th generation of video games.
This company was founded to embody the values and ideals of that golden age.
The nature of the 4th gen goes beyond the pixel. It’s the ingeniosit, the absence of consensus in gameplay, look & feel and user experience. It’s the pivot point between the dark ages and modern gaming.
And it’s our mission further that great tradition!
Invest & Infest
Dercetech
does the rest!