I will explain The GuildTide Narrative Tech Tree System in detail w/ minimal spoilers here.
SC0RPI0_Games [SOA]
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A member registered Feb 14, 2019 · View creator page →
Creator of
Turn Based RPG w/ Open World & Branching Narrative
Role Playing
Turn Based, Choice and Consequence, Sandbox RPG, Rich Lore, Immersive
Role Playing
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Sands Of Arcturus Beta community · Created a new topic Teasers & Alphas For Other SC0RPI0_Games Studio Projects
This topic will essentially be used as a prototype wiki for the lore of SOA (within NSV), It may get dense and messy.
The shared universe of the majority of SC0RPI0_Games' Studio projects will currently be called NSV (NetherSolVeil). It's timeline includes the "Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance inspired Fantasy Eras", the "Horror Era", and the "Cyberpunk Era". Apocalyptic, cataclysmic, or celestial events occur in between Eras, bringing about the next Era. Those genre-based Eras are also accompanied w/ a Galactic-scaled Era after the Cyberpunk Era, and an alternate timeline grounded in "Superhero" inspirations.
I am going to keep this topic primarily focused on the lore of just SOA, leaving publicized lore developments for future projects.
I'll start w/ summarizing the basics of the world, and then dive into some party members, and deeper dynamics that take more time & gameplay to encounter. (Spoiler Territory)
(IN GAME)
NATIONS:
Sirius- Sirius is the farthest west nation. It has Mediterranean and Asian inspirations. It is the nation your character (Ace if not renamed) is from. The Sirian nation has a thriving and diverse, artistic culture. Their economy and systems of governance are simpler than Arcturus, adopting a very similar system during the time of SOA, but they do not have the variety of guilds that Arcturus has, with more power generally given to the Lord and State. The people of the three nations generally look up to Sirius as a nation of honorable and scholarly leaders.
Kronus- Kronus used to be a Tribal Chiefdom, they are currently going through a Lightbringer Revolution and civil war between the tribal Cronosists and the theocratic and innovative Lightbringers. The Cronosists are objectively brutal, having their leadership dictated by whoever forces their way to the top through fear and respect. The Lightbringers have a simple economy in comparison to Sirius and Arcturus, but they have a more advanced and ethical justice system, at least ideally.
Arcturus- Arcturus is the most complex of the three nations. It has gone through repeated stages of chaotic unrest that Sirius and Kronus have never seen. Arcturus is built on temple hubs and the guild market. Guilds are meant to be used as a resource for the people of Arcturus, and eliminate the need for a large state like Kronus and Sirius. Unrest is usually due to scarcity, ideology, and spirituality. Arcturus during SOA is dealing w/ discourse around Anti-Dominionism and Dominionism. Anti-Dominionism is, ideally, the ruling Lord or Guild trying to balance resources between all the guilds, ensuring no guild has dominion over the others. Dominionism is about staying true to your Guilds philosophy, by any means necessary. Most leaders avoid these terms to avoid conflict and adopt varied balances of the two. Lemke and Aryus are Dominionist Phexian and Imperium, while Lord Villanueva attempts to be Anti-Dominionist despite his predominantly Dominionist Phexians. Arcturus is nearly in a constant state of construction due to unrest, whether it is economic, or includes mystic destruction. The specific period that SOA takes place in, Arcturus is somewhat thriving in comparison to a good portion of it's history.
CLASSES (including npcs):
Mystic-
Rogue-
Soldier-
Priest-
Mystic Enchanter-
Mystic Fighter-
Mystic Radical-
Warrior-
FACTIONS (including "minor") :
Watchman-
Luno-
Imperium-
Gateway-
Phexian-
Seperatist-
Dragoonist Internationale-
Rid's Legion-
Cronosist-
Cobra Clan-
Maelstrom Clan-
Scorpion Clan-
Syndicator-
Mystic Radical-
Sylvan Dynasty-
Shadowbane Rebellion-
Obside-
Smugglers-
State Mercenaries-
Guild Council-
Independents-
Rebirthists-
Lightbringers-
Solists-
Veilists-
PARTY MEMBERS & Persons Of Interest:
During your journey you will recruit a variety of party members, all being embedded in the lore. Some being faction leaders or representatives, while others being disillusioned people looking to join your cause, and some even elusively sharing ancestry. IE: The Lightbringer Clan, Dragoon Dynasty, The Indigo name is referenced between a party member and quest giver. These names and factions evolve and extend through all of the timeline Eras.
(This all will be updated over time, this is the first rough draft. :))
This next section is going to have some general notes on the Pantheons Of Terra Sol, this includes some info that may not be in SOA (Terra Sol is the planet SOA takes place on).
-Solism: Ancient Monotheism focused on the physical sun/star Sol. "The One, The Light". Sol Cultists coined the first Solist stories emphasizing people, the main story being an apocalyptic prophecy tale about "Apollo".
-Phexian Pantheon: The Three Foxes; Luck, Chance, Fate. Enki The Gatekeeper, Sol The One, and Phex the embodiment of prosperity, his right hand Sabbac, and left hand Apollo. Divine Right attributed to Phex. The Foxes are more well known than other deities.
-Dragoonist Pantheon: The 12 Grand Dragoons (Dragons), Tale Of Drack, The Collective, Power, Free will, Equality, HyperCollectivism, The Scales, The Eyes, The Wings, The Breath, The Claws, The Mind, The Heart. Drack Dragoon, Nether Elves, Scorpion Clan Secrets. Al-Azif, Cobra, Antares, Imutsak, Syrus, The Fire Within.
-Veilist Pantheon: Belief in energetic veil and Nether Realm. Nether Council. Transdimensional Cities, Temple Hubs, HyperCollectivism, Paranormal Adept, masks and collective spirit and identity. Move with the veil, don't disrupt. Spiritual Escapism, Truth, Secrecy, Balance, Non-Linearity, order & chaos.
-Sylvan Pantheon: Nature and living beings, nether realm, nether council, peace, sanctuary, Tales of a great return to our people, Sylvan Reconnection Prophecy, Do not interfere w/ veil, remain grounded on Terra Sol, Emphasis on stones, inscriptions, sculpting, and portals. Sylvan want to preserve the veil to utilize it and travel home.
-Obsidian Pantheon: The Five Smiths, the moons, gems, the rails. Smith of the Underworld, Smith of the Mountains, Smith of the Tide, Smith of the Skies, Smith of the Soul. Obside believe in Nether Beings, but believe organic evolution created TerraSolians.
-Cobra Clan Pantheon: Queen Cobra, The Asp Trio, Reverance for Snakekin, Flying Snake Worship, Reverance for Dryads, oral teachings, The Leaves, Braids, Fierce protection of nature. Discipline. Cobra believe and respect Sylvan Pantheon.
-Maelstrom Clan Pantheon: The Rings of Terra Sol, The Moons of Terra Sol, The Shadows of Terra Sol, gems, invention, innovation, combustion, Alchemy, Maelstrom Clan believe the world, veil, nether, should be properly molded.
-Scorpion Clan Pantheon: HyperCollectivism, Nether Elves, recordkeeping, move as one, hivemind, ultimate interconnection, Antares, Drack-demigod. Oldest believers and scholars of The Veil. Claim to be apart of Nether Council.
-Cronos Pantheon: The Crow, The Wolf/Hound, The Goat, The Bear. They encourage copycats of their iconic great warrior Cronos.
-Lightbringer Pantheon: The Light, Justice, Magna Carta, Monotheism/Solism.
(After extensive first contact, Obside triggers "evolutionary" enlightenment by sharing their concepts w/ humans.)
Heya Streamers, please check out my game Sands Of Arcturus, I'm going to be starting a kickstarter and steam page soon, any and all interest is really appreciated!
https://sc0rpi0-games.itch.io/sandsofarcturus2021
Thanks a bunch! Oops, totally didn't realize I could turn the mmo tag off, I'm kind of a noob when it comes to jams. Thanks for the suggestion on combat tutorial, I actually replaced TP w/ an AP momentum-ish system but yea, there is no UI for the bar and no explanation. I do intend on adding more guidance and making early game easier somehow, so I appreciate that feedback. There is an npc at your camp that guides you to each party member for the first few party members. The first one doesn't pop up until you fully explore the 'exterior' zone he's in/talk to crazy prophet in the temple in the first 'outskirts' zone closest to your camp, if you have the urge to continue playing and finding party members. :) The combat might definitely need some type of tutorial, I assumed it would be simple enough to jump into, the missing AP bar either needs to be fixed and/or explained in a tutorial though along with all the various state effects like you said, there's trips and bodyslams etc. that stun, and things that can give you states when walking around like animals, npc, plants, statues, buffs, debuffs etc., it wouldn't hurt telling the player about that stuff. Thanks for trying it out and your feedback! :D
The Graphics are great and I love the way this one feels, I just couldn't find a weapon for the life of me... I strongly recommend possibly giving the player a starting weapon or at least putting one in the chest that you can see but not access without going around that building. That chest would be great placement for a starting weapon because it makes the player familiarize themselves with the map a bit before they can start fighting things (if that's the intention). I would love to play this more and if you are trying to emulate Kings Field without updated QOL features this is great so far, I love the style of the assets. I've never played Kings Field before so the controls threw me off a bit, but they actually were intuitive, just very old school. Also when navigating the menus with the keyboard it's really sensitive to up and down, skipping options when navigating. The first level looked well designed as far as assets and enemy placement and getting around, I really wish I could find a weapon. Creeping around enemies that could one shot me with no weapon was harrowing. Vibe accomplished. Also Tab for inventory/menu was the last button I found, it needs mild tutorialization, at least controls told to the player and a starting weapon. Otherwise, I found this super intriguing.
-I like the spontaneous fire effects and how you used them to guide the player.
-Idk if it's a localization issue, but like 10% of the overall text had grammatical errors or typos.
-I like the style of everything (particularly how the music meshes with your visual designs), and there genuinely seems to be a strong foundation for something here.
-As much as I liked how you used the spontaneous fire to guide the player, the options when entering a building were VERY confusing.
-I love that you used that dragon as a main companion.
-I loved how when I interacted with things it said multiple different things every time I interacted with something, it was initially, surprisingly immersive.
-I would replace your UI with something less "stock" and replace all the stock sound effects.
-It was very confusing on who I was playing as, and what world I was in, I was clueless on the premise, but I didn't play extensively.
Final Verdict: Your intro was phenomenal and there is cool, stylish, charming visual and music chemistry here, the way you guide the player in an emergent way is cool! But the actual mechanics and the world you built are really unclear. Pretty Pyro has the potential to be a really charming IP imo, I would work on solidifying the foundations you've already built, clarifying some things to the player, and work on some original art. From what I played, the main character is actually well developed at first glance (narratively, basically), the rest of the "cast" needs work. I didn't play for very long, but I didn't encounter a single npc that reacted to my pyrokinesis. The NPCs I did encounter did feel like actual people and were charming, so kudos for that. Keep up the good work! I would tutorialize the options you have when you approach buildings and proof read everything. If this is a tech demo on using fire to guide a player emergently in RPG maker it would be GREAT! As a demo for a whole game right now, it needs a bit of work. Again, the dragon companion, intro sequence, and music are all really really charming and strong positives! Much love, respect, glad I got to try this out. :)
Sands Of Arcturus 2 Alpha jam comments · Replied to EraEjecta in Sands Of Arcturus 2 Alpha jam comments
Sands Of Arcturus 2 Alpha jam comments · Replied to Kumachan in Sands Of Arcturus 2 Alpha jam comments
Thank you, you didn't come off too harsh at all! I apologize for the lack of communication regarding what can and can't be done.(x,y,z, etc.)
A mild horizontal slice that is lacking story/dialogue might be more accurate than "demo". This is roughly 2 weeks of work after extensive paper prototyping, while working on multiple projects with the intention of the majority of the projects being in the same IP. I really appreciate the good feedback and constructive criticism. Thanks for letting me know it has potential and complimenting the map. :)
Hi! First time submitting or even participating in a game jam here... My submission is basically going to be a glitchy prealpha to a sequel to another project I am simultaneously working on; Sands Of Arcturus 2. It's open world and my general design philosophy is heavily inspired by Obsidian games. The original is made in RMVX so I'm quite excited about developing a sequel in SGB. :)
itch.io Community » General » Release Announcements · Created a new topic Sands Of Arcturus Alpha Version
https://sc0rpi0-games.itch.io/sandsofarcturus2021
Open world with rich lore that is based off of a WIP novel series. Branching, choice and consequence narrative, faction-based quests and items, and immersive exploration elements. It is essentially a JRPG with four classes, but has some outlying Non-Linear mechanics, details and features INSPIRED by western rpgs and sandboxes like; games coming from Bioware, Troika, Black Isle, and Obsidian dev studios.
Some concepts and design objectives for balancing, gameplay and progression during development are;
-A "Narrative Tech Tree" progression system.
-"Flexibility Factor".
-Choice + Combination fuel Replayability.
-"Collectible Incentive".
-Exploration/Intel based "Quest Tracking".
-NonLinear Exploration drives Narrative.
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These "design objectives" combined with and implemented, through the Open(expanding) World, Abundance of Content(+ Rewards), and only limiting player agency w/ difficulty.. This will bring you a dense new world to explore and a large amount of replayability, through multiple endings and milestone(faction-based) branches in the narrative, a variety of faction rewards, dynamic items, and various party member combinations.
https://www.kartridge.com/games/ScorpioGames/sands-of-arcturus-alpha-version