Genre: RPG, Open world, non-linear, blood & gore, Dark-Fantasy.
Audience: For everyone interested in a vast, well-polished open world and a rich vast combination of interconnected gameplay choices that polish the way you interact with it. 18+
Platforms: PC, XBOX, PS4
Disclaimer: I'll focus on more conceptual things rather than detailed mechanic explanations and whatnot.
In Swordcerer, you'll start of as a nobody that just discovered his magical affinity, able to shift his soul essence into powerful blades, you will become a Swordcerer.
The world is vast and the first choice the player will be given is, where is he from, able to pick amongst one of the 12 kingdoms that reside on it, this will be the first mayor influencer in his gameplay trayectory, as kingdoms are not all friends, nor share the same coin nor belong to the same faction.
Gameplay:
Swordcerer has many gameplay features, and below i'll start to explain the core ones.
-Factions:
the world is divided into 4 mayor factions, containing 3 kingdoms each, not all factions are allies nor share the same gold, this means that what the player picks as his homeland will affect on how he traverses throughout the land, since enemy factions will attack on sight, will have heavily guarded borders and will not alllow the player to trade with the coins he posesses, meaning he will need to take in jobs inside each faction to gain currency from them, or ask for certain types of payments on his quests, altogether factions also define which type of soul fuze the player can learn, this will be explained further in the class section.
The factions are:
-Paragons of Light-
The paragons of light are rightgeous Swordcerers, or so they believe; their homes are the 3 kingdoms of the east reaches of the continent, each of them having a particular magic prowess, Light, mono-elemental or White magic, their currency is the Suncoin.
-Northwatch-
Fearsome Swordcerers, envoys of destruction; Living in the north, their magical prowess is grotesque and powerful, Blood, Chaos or Nether magic they are and their currency is the velvetstone.
-Void Waters-
Trickery and untrustworthy the Void Waters live in the Southern Ethereal sea's multiple isles, they delve into dark uses of magic such as Necrotic, Void and Illusion magic, they work on all the currencies.
-Second Order-
They seek knowledge above all, the sages of the west delve into the rarest and most complex magical prowess’s such as Multi-Elemental, Enchanting and Ethereal magic, due to their fixation on studies and discovery their currency is based on the value of materials.
As previously stated the player's origin will affect how the rest of his playthrough feels like, I will now explain how and why.
The most important thing to point out is the fact that, even if, there are all sorts of magical users in every faction and kingdom, it will be harder for the player to envelop in them due to the class progression system, which i'll explain further on, the currency is also a major factor, among other things like terrain and cultural values, picking a faction will be one of the mayor choices given to the player, inside that, picking a kingdom will have a bigger toll on early game progression more than anything.
Difficulty:
So I’m aiming for a different approach on difficulty, the way it will be handled is, it will be a variable factor inside the game, meaning it will vary between kingdoms, civilized and wild areas, war scorched land and the overall level of prowess in the area you are inside of, for example, in a war scorched land, the player will likely not find many creatures or people, but the ones that he does will be really powerful foes, since they are able to survive even in the most harsh of environments.
Combat:
The goal with combat is to make it frenetic, thrilling and at the later phases of the game epic and powerful.
All melee, and some spellcasting, but mostly melee magic combat and summoning is the main goal of the combat system, allowing the different classes to have a wide variety of utility perks and a soul infused magical blade of their affinity.
Environment:
Terrains and weather will be a mayor input and gamechanger, creatures, dungeons, monster lairs, Swordcerers and things such as cold, dampness, mobility impairments due to environmental queues such as storms will all be a major factor in difficulty and progression.
Enemies vary a lot, and other mages will sometimes seek the same artifacts you search for, or aim to gain the same goals you do, giving the player the choice of either winning a fair fight, killing them, tricking them or working alongside them.
NPC interaction is complex and will aim for the player to feel part of a living, breathing world, rather than the world being focused solely on their actions.
Class Progression:
There isn't such a thing as a fixed class, think of it more like a tier-based class system, what i mean by this is the player’s choice of either focusing on 1, 2, 3 and so on magical prowess’s will have a mayor toll on how his spells work, because he won't be able to cap on either.
The more you fragment your prowess’s, the less knowledge you'll be able to possess on each of them; A nether-mancer that also knows mono-elemental magic won't be able to unlock the last tier of either of his proficiencies, subsequently, the fragmented your knowledge is, the lower tiers you'll be able to achieve on each.
Now the way the player trains these proficiencies is also very particular, at the beginning of the game, the player will be very weak and will have to either search for a master or just start using his spell roster and afterwards find a compendium type artifact to gain a specialty.
If he finds his adequate master, he is given the choice to join him on his travels or buy lesser lessons to gain a specialty, if he decides to join his master in his journey, it is likely that he will be prompted to finish a task to be accepted as an apprentice, on success he will join, on failure he will be denied free studies and be given the option to buy tomes and artifacts from the Swordcerer, if he succeeds, as he journeys with his new master a passive modifier will be applied to the player, think of it as a milestone system, each time a milestone is reached the player will be granted new spells, the first being the magical affinity of his master, meaning if your master is a necromancer, you will acquire a proficiency on necromancy as your first specialization.
After this the progression will be based on spell usage, artifact discovery, magical tome possession and the possibility of learning from an arch-Swordcerer later, which will allow for the player to learn the last tiers of his magical prowess the same way he gained it in the first place instead of having to search for spell tomes and artifacts to learn it.
Having said that, I think it’s clear why Faction and kingdom picking is so crucial for the player, since it will affect the nature of such tomes, artifacts and mages lurking the lands on which he resides.
The game will feature a big roster of skills that will work the same way classes do, meaning you can’t be a master-blacksmith-hunter-farmer-mercenary-burglar, but you can choose to be a master blacksmith or a renowned hunter-leatherworker if you so choose.
Visual Style:
I aim for a hyper-realistic look in the game, the setting will be a dark medieval fantasy land.
Image credit: unknown artist, pinterest.
Audio:
Orchestral music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iF7lkXKHlA
Song: Goëtia.
Composer: Peter Gundry.
LARTON
Platform: PC, Xbox, Ps, Switch.
Genre: Isometric, Hack & Slash, open world, kill them all.
Audience: 18+
Larton is a crab, and Larton is angry.
Born from desperation, madness and mayhem Larton was first introduced to violence when he was just a child; When some lads from his park started throwing rocks at him and calling him names.
That... that was the beginning of the creation of a monster engineered to destroy, that was 10 years ago; Now Larton has channeled his hatred and anger towards mankind and evolved into something completely twisted. From Pain beams shot from his eyes to mustard gas for well, his gasses Larton is now a machine of complete annihilation.
Lartons Overall goal aside from murdering any living being you stumble upon is to get revenge from the 4 lads that tossed rocks at Larton in the park, The Finance Lad, The Army Lad, The Government Lad and The Corporate Lad.
Core mechanics:
Pain Beams: Lazers that kill anything that they hit (even you) they bounce on 3 surfaces before vanishing.
Chela Blade: Severs, mutilates, close gorey combat.
Pincer Shield: Deflects projectiles (even your Pain Beams)
Mustard Gas: Mustard gas farts. Literally.
The setting of the game is a futuristic cyberpunk London in the year 2050, Larton will be killing people, mostly people with lazer guns and cyborgs, the yakuza clan, occasionally old ladies and any women that's having a park walk with her baby (bonus points), but mainly any institution personel such as the police, privateers, soldiers and any filthy businessman that Larton stumbles upon.
Soundtracks:
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDIEdMZpOCI
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhMEKiIb86I
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKfD8d3XJok
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH6mw2Rc3DQ
Credits: the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Fiona Apple, The White Stripes
Artwork: Andy Silvera