Intro:

About 2 (if not 3...) years ago, I was introduced to D&D by a friend. He organised a campaign for us, we all made our characters, and had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, the sessions soon had to stopped. Our DM started to burn out, we weren't the only party he was running sessions for, and needed to take a break. We kept note of all our characters and various interesting NPCs. We would chat about how the characters would develop, what builds we would make, and made oh-so-many memes and drawings of our characters messing about together. But we never resumed sessions. 

Last year, however, I chose a module in my second year of Game Design studies for scriptwriting for screen and games. There, with permission, I repurposed our characters into my own original story, loosely based off the events within our campaign, but creating a wholly self-made antagonist and power-system. When I shared my plans, one friend made a comment that lodged itself in my brain: "He sounds like something you'd see in a soulslike". And thus, here we are. Now in my final year of undergraduate Game Design studies, after watching way too many Bloodborne boss design analysis videos by TB Skyen, I've decided I'll start making a soulslike game as a personal project. 

Before I start developing the game in any significant way however, I'll need to wipe the dust off my PS4 and get my hands on Bloodborne, and possibly invest in GamePass so I can try my hand at the titles available on Xbox/PC. It's probably quite ambitious to try and tackle a game genre which I only have a collective 3 hours in (1.5h of which were character creation (thank you Scarlet Nexus)), but the more world building I make for my story idea, the more I feel like a soulslike game medium would liberate me. In a story, all characters already exist in their world, so explaining something that's common in their world would feel bad, it would be blatant exposition. However, within a game, you can have the player be a traveller, new to the area, needing to be taught everything. Tutorials and UI can also be used to explain things that the characters cannot.

For instance, in my adaptation of our D&D story, magic comes through will and knowledge. As in, if you want to perform a spell, you exert your will onto the world and make it into reality. The more you know about the act you want to perform, the easier it is. Example:

Action/Spell: Cast Fireball
Knowledge necessary: How fire is made; it needs heat, fuel and oxygen.
Knowledge that makes the act easier: You can use your body heat and amplify it instead of finding an existing flame + You can use the dead skin on your body to act as a firestarter instead of finding another fuel. These will however need you to exert more will onto the world (since your body isn't hot enough to start fires, and there isn't enough dead skin on you to start a fire)

If I were to write a story, this power system, which is abundantly used and well understood within the world, would be difficult to explain to the reader, because every character in the story already knows about this and doesn't need to hear it. Within a game however, I could have a pop-up message when an ability is unlocked, addressing the player at the screen, not the character, saying something akin to "FIREBALL. Expend WILL to hurl a ball of flame at the target. WILL cost increases if in cold environment and/or out of FIRESTARTERS".

All in all, I still need to actually get experience with a soulslike before starting development, but at least I have the core elements of a world established. I've also decided on making the game in a low-poly style, textured with pixels. I enjoy pixel art, and low-poly modelling is sure to make development time much quicker. Perhaps I'm not pushing myself with learning 3D modelling in that regard, but I'd rather work within my comfort zone when I aim to create a massive project such as this. If I were to make just one model and never touch the idea again, I'd likely try and push myself and go for a highly realistic style, something which would challenge my abilities.

Core Story:

Since I had already designed some characters for my afore-mentioned D&D campaign adaptation, I will likely rework some of them to match a new darker aesthetic befitting for a soulslike. I'll likely need to revisit my antagonist's design somewhat, and possibly giving him a monstrous form to adapt him into a truly imposing final boss... but then given his story, perhaps fighting a mere man would be befitting? I suppose now would be a good time to explain the core of the story. But first, you can check out his design below and/or on ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zPK2vw

The blurb on the drawing above summarises him, but I suppose I could reword it more clearly with some crucial life events. Fericul is a Doctor. He studied the world's magic, which I have dubbed as thaumaturgy (the ability to perform minor miracles / "spells"), trying to understand it scientifically. Through meticulous research, he was successful in the field of medicine but still struggled to understand what makes thaumaturgy work. However, one day he had to venture out to a rural village to aid a patient. There he would meet a people, who much in contrast to him, accept thaumaturgy as a part of everyday life - a "that's simply how the world is, no need to analyse it" mentality. There he would also meet a woman who he would fall in love with, Freesia. Where he tried to make science out of thaums, she didn't question the inner workings. She and her family would worship nature, and nature would reward them - grow branches in the shape of tools, bushes forming into hats and baskets, and farms growing bountifully. Through a close partnership, the two were able to help more ailments than Fericul ever could have alone -  Fericul skilled in surgical precision, and Freesia skilled in making treatments from what nature supplied. In due time, Freesia convinced Fericul that the two should venture the world to spread their knowledge and successful care. They would make companions along the way who'd join them in trying to cure all ailments. Until one day, in an ambush during their travels, all but Fericul fell. It would be then that he'd set his sights on the disease that plagues all of man - death. In self-loathing grief, he would start researching resurrection. Failure after failure after failure... He would turn to darker and darker means. Going from testing on dead animals he'd find in the woods, to his patients on their deathbeds, to the corpses of his own comrades. In his mind, once he finds the key to immortality and resurrection, all would be forgiven. "What's so evil in killing if you can bring them back in their prime afterwards? Where's the evil in harm if it will be undone?" was his logic.

I have not yet designed them, but through these various experiments Fericul will create horrors, abominations and amalgams of flesh. Most would only come back as walking corpses, some would try and echo their life - mumbling phrases or trying to return to a place that held importance to them. But only a handful would grow in size, effectively becoming walking tumours, a foul mockery of what they once were. 

What he doesn't understand, is that thaumaturgy depends more than just knowledge or will: it depends on the soul. In this world, a soul is a powerful thing, able to influence the world itself. So, whenever he tried to resurrect something, he'd only ever bring back its flesh. No soul. No heart. No will. Fericul never understood this, being a man of science: "A soul? How do you prove it exists? How would you see it? Grasp it?". Freesia however, who was more religious, believed that all that lives has a soul, including nature. Since her belief was so strong, it became a reality. Whenever she'd pray to the land in her hometown, it would respond. This leads on to another part of my power-system/worldbuilding. If a person or group of people believe in something enough, or fear it so much, it will come into existence. Through a mass belief of an afterlife, an afterlife became real. Through the mass hysteria and fear of monsters such as witches, goblins and orcs, they too became real. So again, since Freesia's hometown believed that respecting nature can bestow you with blessings, that became a reality in the area where they lived. 

Design/Dev Decisions

As mentioned in the beginning, I will likely stick to a low poly style for the game. This is a decision made from equal parts wanting to have a unique visual style and wanting to stick to something that is within my comfort zone. That is to say, I haven't yet done low-poly modelling aside from some voxel environment work via MagicaVoxel, but I can see myself making low-poly models much faster and better than I would be able to make high-poly models. When I think of low-poly modelling for this game, I imagine something in the likes of ULTRAKILL's style, as reaching the fidelity of something such as Elden Ring would be impossible for me due to my lack of expertise in realistic 3D sculpting and the sheer number of months if not years it would take me to develop a single environment if I were to try and replicate AAA game studio levels of realism.

I will make the game in Unity due to my experience with the engine over the past three years. I'll also most likely use FMOD for audio integration. In terms of possible collaboration, I will likely need to outsource some audio if this project ever grows into success, or at the very least if my passion for it continues. I could also reach out to some friends from my university who have their own areas of expertise - some specialising in UI, others in voice acting, and a few in level design. However, if for any reason, I'd rather take on as many aspects of this project on my own as possible simply due to it being a fun challenge. Teamwork is an essential skill in game development, and hopefully my three years of collaborative work during my undergraduate studies acts as proof enough of my teamworking skills, but for this project I can see myself tackling most if not all aspects alone. I have learned how to make 2D Unity games, and am in the midst of making a 3D walking simulator right now, so why not push myself with third person 3D combat? I have used FMOD for simple audio integration with randomised sound effects in 2D platformers, why not push myself and create reactive systems where music rises with in-game action? In short, I suppose you could summarise my decision as a hunger for self-improvement. Tackling this project alone will push my skills in concept art, character design, 3D modelling,  Unity development, and so many more... It will also give me one project to keep myself motivated and dedicated to, allowing me to fill my portfolio with high quality work. Furthermore, it will force me to show my ability at keeping designs congruent. Instead of crafting characters sporadically, each one in an undefined setting, I will now have a concrete setting to create characters and assets within. 

TL;DR: Delusional caffeine-addicted student believes they can make a soulslike after playing 6 minutes of Elden Ring on a friend's PS5 and watching Bloodborne gameplay. Stay tuned for updates.