The source of most abilities will be gotten from finding ancient, mostly broken artifacts and finding small traces of power left behind from the old gods and other precursors. While the player can dive right in and head to one of the 3 cities, you'll have trouble impacting the people due to the The Farmer's mundaneness. To truly impress npcs you need heightened, even superhuman skills.
This being a Metroidvania, a variety of artifacts and places of power will be available to help The Farmer. Though you can win with just some heightened willpower if you are okay with the game being viciously Nintendo hard.
The game's core difficulty will come from trying to convert npcs and avoid indignation of the Gods. Platforming and puzzle difficulty will matter mostly for obtaining artifacts.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
On the Subject of Low Fantasy
Ah low fantasy, such a vague, superstitious and cowardly term. It refers to fiction with few fantastic elements where the world is more mundane and often shares many significant similarities to our own. While Lord of the Rings may contain little actual magic, the geography and its inhabitants give a high fantasy spin.
In Godhood, while the Gods themselves have a large plethora of powers and magiks, nearly else does not. Even The Farmer will have to gain divine powers slowly and meticulously. The fantastic elements of of the world will consist of
1. One or two decrepit ruins, dedicated to the two old gods.
2. Nearly broken artifacts of power spread throughout the world.
3. Worn away areas, containing the last fragments of powers from a time long forgotten.
4. Faith has a more direct effect in this universe that ours. If an individual believes something long enough and hard enough, a god will give a direct, concrete answer. A Gods powers are directly proportional to the number of people believing in them, though no god ever gets tired or strained.
In Godhood, while the Gods themselves have a large plethora of powers and magiks, nearly else does not. Even The Farmer will have to gain divine powers slowly and meticulously. The fantastic elements of of the world will consist of
1. One or two decrepit ruins, dedicated to the two old gods.
2. Nearly broken artifacts of power spread throughout the world.
3. Worn away areas, containing the last fragments of powers from a time long forgotten.
4. Faith has a more direct effect in this universe that ours. If an individual believes something long enough and hard enough, a god will give a direct, concrete answer. A Gods powers are directly proportional to the number of people believing in them, though no god ever gets tired or strained.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Game Design update #1
The audience of this game will be based on the Bartle Test types. Ideally, the game will appeal to both explorer and achiever type players. I personality hope that the social folks like the writing.
The goal is to rise to godhood and more specifically, join with the world's two gods in a pantheon. To do so the farmer will have a gain immortality, sanctity and command enough divine qualities. Ultimately, the farmer must force the gods to allow him into the pantheon through a combination of power, respect and influence.
Gameplay will consist of a series of interconnected maps, similar to Metroid or Castlevania. The player, a farmer, will begin the game at his farm and be given the option to travel to 3 surrounding towns, 3 mythical places and told of 3 artifacts belonging to the old gods.
The Farmer will serve as an avatar to the player, having little to no independent personality or history, instead serving as a stand-in for the player. His motivation will consist of an old tome telling the fall of the original Gods and bits about divine nature. As he accrues followers he will manifest new powers and abilities. Being a human, he will find physics to be a cruel, unfair enemy. As he grows, this will be less of an issue. Followers can be won through achievements, charisma or work with each method having good, evil and neutral alternatives.
The game world will not draw from any particular time period, though it will be low fantasy. The farmer will be able to visit three towns initially. At first The Farmer will have to obey gravity, currents, heat and so forth. But with god powers comes the ability to gradually use, ignore and downright break the forces of nature.
The world will be a mix of woods, mountains, rivers and two large water bodies. A small highly urbanized area may also exist as the heart(s) of the other two gods' people. The two gods will be caricatures of the Christian and Hindu Gods. There may possibly be a few minor gods thrown in for flavour.
The plot will make room for multiple endings. For the Good/Evil axis, the Player will decide between good and evil at the very beginning, by digging up a pair of ancient tomes, the last written works of the old gods. Interactions, powerups, abilities and so forth will be heavily influence by this choice. What kind of Good or evil god you become will be based on your interactions during the game. Interaction wise, this will boil down to two axes. The dick vs. polite axis and the cruel vs. kind axis. Kind, polite, evil Gods will be manipulative bastards. Whereas the cruel, dickish good gods will be giant jerks with hearts of gold.
The goal is to rise to godhood and more specifically, join with the world's two gods in a pantheon. To do so the farmer will have a gain immortality, sanctity and command enough divine qualities. Ultimately, the farmer must force the gods to allow him into the pantheon through a combination of power, respect and influence.
Gameplay will consist of a series of interconnected maps, similar to Metroid or Castlevania. The player, a farmer, will begin the game at his farm and be given the option to travel to 3 surrounding towns, 3 mythical places and told of 3 artifacts belonging to the old gods.
The Farmer will serve as an avatar to the player, having little to no independent personality or history, instead serving as a stand-in for the player. His motivation will consist of an old tome telling the fall of the original Gods and bits about divine nature. As he accrues followers he will manifest new powers and abilities. Being a human, he will find physics to be a cruel, unfair enemy. As he grows, this will be less of an issue. Followers can be won through achievements, charisma or work with each method having good, evil and neutral alternatives.
The game world will not draw from any particular time period, though it will be low fantasy. The farmer will be able to visit three towns initially. At first The Farmer will have to obey gravity, currents, heat and so forth. But with god powers comes the ability to gradually use, ignore and downright break the forces of nature.
The world will be a mix of woods, mountains, rivers and two large water bodies. A small highly urbanized area may also exist as the heart(s) of the other two gods' people. The two gods will be caricatures of the Christian and Hindu Gods. There may possibly be a few minor gods thrown in for flavour.
The plot will make room for multiple endings. For the Good/Evil axis, the Player will decide between good and evil at the very beginning, by digging up a pair of ancient tomes, the last written works of the old gods. Interactions, powerups, abilities and so forth will be heavily influence by this choice. What kind of Good or evil god you become will be based on your interactions during the game. Interaction wise, this will boil down to two axes. The dick vs. polite axis and the cruel vs. kind axis. Kind, polite, evil Gods will be manipulative bastards. Whereas the cruel, dickish good gods will be giant jerks with hearts of gold.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Introductory Post
Hello Internet!
I am going to try to make a game. The game, Godhood: The Ascension, will be centered around a lowly farmer who one day decides he wants to become a deity. It will be as big a platformer as I can make it, with Metroidvania characteristics and possibly some other game elements.
The game's design beyond the above paragraph is and will be very fluid. More details and rules will be fleshed out in the world of Godhood: The Ascension through its art development and through posts.
This being my first game ever, a number of issues will come up.
1. No experience with art, programming or sound design,
2. Unrealistic Expectations
3.Sturgeons Law
Despite these issues, the central goal of the project is to have fun and in my case, learn something. Whether my work is so cool it's awesome, so okay its average or so bad its awful I hope along the way we will all get some laughs.
I am going to try to make a game. The game, Godhood: The Ascension, will be centered around a lowly farmer who one day decides he wants to become a deity. It will be as big a platformer as I can make it, with Metroidvania characteristics and possibly some other game elements.
The game's design beyond the above paragraph is and will be very fluid. More details and rules will be fleshed out in the world of Godhood: The Ascension through its art development and through posts.
This being my first game ever, a number of issues will come up.
1. No experience with art, programming or sound design,
2. Unrealistic Expectations
3.Sturgeons Law
Despite these issues, the central goal of the project is to have fun and in my case, learn something. Whether my work is so cool it's awesome, so okay its average or so bad its awful I hope along the way we will all get some laughs.
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