SUNDERMARK

A co-op fairy-tale RPG in Unreal Engine 5, made by Anders Jensen with two AI agents.

What it is

Sundermark is a small, dense world made for playing together. You explore, solve world events alone or with others, and bring light back to places that have gone dark. The world is PvE with hostility by area and level, in the spirit of World of Warcraft, but the names, creatures and story are its own. Groups of four take on dungeons; crews of up to twelve hold what they have lit; a server takes up to fifty players.

It is built by Anders, who makes every decision below, with two Claude agents on two machines: one does design and code, the other does the editor work, the builds, the servers and the play-testing. Test builds go to a small group of testers; the live server always runs a frozen, tested version.

Before and after

The project started as a noir city. In two days it became a fairy-tale world.

Before
0.18.11: the city of the first concept. Office blocks, asphalt, mannequins.
0.18.11: the city of the first concept. Office blocks, asphalt, mannequins.
After
World v2: Misthaven, the start village, with The White Swan.
World v2: Misthaven, the start village, with The White Swan.
Before
0.18.12: Cinderyard, the industrial edge, with a healing light from a grate.
0.18.12: Cinderyard, the industrial edge, with a healing light from a grate.
After
Misthaven from the air: about a dozen houses at a crossroads.
Misthaven from the air: about a dozen houses at a crossroads.

World v2

The inn, assembled from the village kit: timber frames, tile roofs, vines.
The inn, assembled from the village kit: timber frames, tile roofs, vines.
The Gloaming: misty, dusky, with a graveyard.
The Gloaming: misty, dusky, with a graveyard.
A magic teleporter between the larger towns.
A magic teleporter between the larger towns.
The new figures: Quaternius Peasant and Ranger, male and female, with their own animation library.
The new figures: Quaternius Peasant and Ranger, male and female, with their own animation library.

Decisions so far

  1. 2026-10-05
    Sundermark starts over from a new concept: a small, dense world where light is earned and held.
  2. 2026-10-07
    PvE with hostility by zone level, WoW as the model for world and dungeon behaviour.
    "the world is PvE so it should include hostility according to the level estimates for each zones (with a little overlap). Dungeons without hostility would be extremely boring."
  3. 2026-10-07
    Classes and roles, teamwork first. Groups of 4, crews of at most 12, at most 50 players per server. Eight classes approved.
    "we should have classes like healers, tanks, etc. as well as the game will heavily focus on teamwork and strategic thinking in different encounters."
  4. 2026-10-07
    No item loss in PvE: a downed player is revived by the group or wakes at the nearest sanctuary.
  5. 2026-10-09
    Look B: colour and a painted feel replace the noir look, because dark on dark hid the characters.
  6. 2026-10-09
    Mom becomes an open-world boss, with her coffee machine.
    "Som world boss i åben verden"
  7. 2026-10-10
    A much smaller, fairy-tale world instead of the city.
    "Jeg vil ha en mye mindre by. Denne er for stor og for kubistisk. Jeg vil ha mere eventyr, som Goldshire fra wow."
  8. 2026-10-11
    Combat feedback first: attack animations, visible hits, corpses that stay, lights that heal.
    "angrepsanimasjon og se at både dingser og creatures/bosser tar skade"
  9. 2026-10-11
    The start village is Misthaven, the inn is The White Swan; Wild magic replaces Wired.
  10. 2026-10-11
    World v2: a 6 x 6 km map with villages of at most 12-15 buildings, a grander capital, forest, desert, savanna, wetlands, misty places, a graveyard, snow on the peaks, an abandoned mountain town and magic teleporters.
    "Forskjellig størrelse men ikke større enn 12-15 bygninger"
  11. 2026-10-11
    Stylized Quaternius figures (free, CC0) replace the mannequins.