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?
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/
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!