Saturday, January 31, 2009

Dominance


This isn't actually going to be a real project like the others. Rather, it's just a concept I sketched on the spot when asked for "a game concept proposal in five minutes". Later I drew the above mock-up. So again, this won't actually be made, it's just an idea I had some fun with.

"In a pre-medieval fantasy setting, you play as a Tribal Spirit who has been given physical form by his worshippers. Your task is to wipe out the major tribes of the small, bizarre world and assert your dominance by eliminating their guardian spirits and ascending from simple spirit to true Godhood.

The game revolves around the village as a central hub, and a large altar which, over the course of the game, will display trophies taken Predator-style from your demigod victims. Between missions, you can perform a select few side tasks to provide for your tribe, which result in small side bonuses. For example, you could hunt to provide more food for your followers or help in their construction. The bottom line is still the missions, however, so all upgrades will affect this in one way or another (higher max HP, greater speed, new attacks and powers, etc).

The missions, each one designed to take out a specific spirit, are unlocked in tiers, and each target within a tier can be fought in any order. Most levels involve you rampaging through a mostly-helpless village and tearing the shit out of things until you finally invoke the full wrath and manifestation of the tribal guardian, and then it's a big boss fight.
Aesthetic is somewhere between Knytt and Shadow of the Colossus, involving bizarre and stylized locales and wildly-varying tribal guardians."

I'd propose it as something like a melee-combat sidescroller. You fight tiers of bosses, unlock new powers and abilities as well as basic stat increases. Each level is a "FUCK SHIT UP" exercise in pure mayhem that ends with a bizarre and atmospheric boss fight. Side missions would basically just be levels with a slightly different goal and no endboss. Gameplay is simple but fast-paced and full of things getting torn up and broken to bits. Boss fights key.

In the end, I envision sort of a... a close-combat Megaman with the setting variety of Knytt and the boss variety of Shadow of the Colossus.

Doing this mockup gave me some insight to the game's actual interface: First of all, the tribal spirits should be smaller in relation to the game screen, or there's not much room for the player to maneuver. They're drawn large here for detail, but in reality the game should zoom out more to allow better versatility, or the player's commands will be limited to "walk, stomp". Obviously this will leave little detail to the people, but since you're a ravaging spirit, they won't matter much to you anyway, especially once you've got some serious powers to deal with them.

Every village could have tribal elders, too, and shaman, who will eventually summon, empower, and otherwise aid the rival spirit.
Lastly, perhaps if you build up a militia you could bring some warriors with you, but they'd be almost useless against the enemy guardian.
It would be little more than a bunch of guys charging left to right and attacking everything they see. Two little pixelly warriors slashing at each other as a massive tribal god rampages violently through their city.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

I am write and poast

Bitquest is a blog to track the progress and development of three different but associated games, all set in the same universe of Quorum. Quorum is a pre-medieval fantasy world, sort of a tribal bronze-age setting. All three games are set in this world in slightly different time periods, and all featuring a different genre. This blog will track the following three projects:

HERODOM is a sidescrolling platformer/action-RPG with heavy emphasis on exploration -- part of the so-called "Metroidvania" genre. It features all the staples which make the genre enjoyable, such as a plethora of items, massive world, and throngs of enemies each with their own attack patterns and amusing death animations. Further, Herodom includes an open-world design, towns with NPCs, shops and quests, and various optional side features including a bestiary, crafting system, gardening and toy collecting. Herodom is the largest and most ambitious project of the three, but it is also the one I dedicate most of my time to developing.

SPLINTERED COAST is an island survival game with emphasis on construction. The goal is something between Stranded 2 and Wurm Online. You play as a small, goblinlike sub-race whose only goal is to carve out a living for himself on an otherwise-deserted island. Build tools, construct shelter, forage for food, hunt wild game, plant crops, and build an altar for worship and sacrifice to keep the gods happy. Because this is a world where medical technology is limited to bandages and herbalism, looking after your health and treating your injuries are very important considerations as well.

RODELL'S GLASS is a point-and-click adventure game with a focus somewhere between Sierra and LucasArts. Puzzles are specifically designed to be logical rather than abstract, so gameplay does not devolve into randomly clicking every pixel or trying to combine every item with each other. The story follows Rodell, a nomadic alchemist who's trying to develop an invisibility potion so he can live out his voyeuristic fantasies.