MindFuse Games has announced that its upcoming steampunk casual MMOG Gatheryn is to be developed using Simutronics HeroEngine after a global licensing agreement between the companies. Gatheryn is to be the first game developed with this technology.

The decision to develop in HeroEngine was led by the engine's "collaborative, time-saving features," according to the announcement release, which will allow the development team to " develop the unique feature set" of the MMOG which is to launch in the first half of 2009.

Gatheryn is to be set in a Victorian-era steampunk fantasy world, informed by the works of Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle. Players are to be able to personalize the experience with character creation to decoration of in-game apartments, and will play classic casual games to advance the story and raise gold to purchase accessories, pets, vehicles and more.

"By licensing the HeroEngine, we can focus our technology development and engineering team on the various unique social, personalization and online community features that the Gatheryn player will experience," said Joseph Walters, Lead Designer and Chief Executive Officer of MindFuse Games. "The engine enables our team to spend time creating the experience instead of recreating the already-proven type of server side MMOG technology that Simutronics has built so effectively."