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| Idea Info |
Name:
Call to Ruin
Index:
Primary
Category:
RPG
Submitted:
9/16/2003 6:44:35 PM
Written By:
Newmoon17 |
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Call to Ruin
9/16/2003 6:44:35 PM
By: Newmoon17
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Category: RPG Games
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Idea Document for:
Call to Ruin
In a future whose secrets lie in the past….
"The dark skies have lifted, but the journey has just begun."
Copyright ©2003 by Jennifer Goss
Idea can be used if proper credit is given
Version # 1.00
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Game Overview
What is the game?
Call to Ruin is a single player role playing game, with puzzle elements, where the player takes on the role of one of four characters and makes his or her way through a future world that has fallen into ruins.
Why create this game?
Many rpgs are based of mythical realms where the player is constantly fighting to ‘level up’. Call to Ruin will break away from that in many areas to provide a fresh edge to roleplaying. There will still be fighting to survive and ‘leveling up’, but more focus will be on strategy, quests, and the solving of puzzles.
Where does the game take place?
The game starts in the ruins of Kragg, once a grand city. This future world of cities fallen from grace is called Netara by the locals..those who are left. It once was a proud planet, a step away from reaching to the stars when a great comet hit Netara in fourteen pieces. Most of the population was wiped out and infrastructure destroyed. Now, one hundred years later, the sun has just started to shine again now that the ash has disappeared from the sky. It is to this desolate world that the player awakes to.
What does the player control?
The player controls one of four characters: Ranna, Yaneko, Himal or Tristan. They also control up to one pet they make or find along the journey, and any transport they have.
What is the main focus?
Each of the fourteen meteorites (well, comet chunks crash landed and formed a crater in the center of a major city. Eventually the player will learn the secret of the game, that the comet could not have been natural, and was really a weapon sent from another star. However, Netara itself has a life of its own, and bound the knowledge and heart of the cities into the comet fragments. It also created 14 ‘mounds’ of Earth some distance from each city. By finding the fragments in the craters, and solving the puzzles to restore each fragment to its place on its mound, the player works towards healing the planet. Once all fourteen fragments are places, the grass turns green and the player suddenly ‘remembers’ lifetimes of history and knowledge. The ‘balance’ has been restored and the world can start making progress one more. The soil opens and a chasm reveals a spaceship protected there from moments before the comets hit. The player gets in and the game ends.
Feature Set
General Features
Large World
14 main cities
2D detailed graphics (recommended three shade palette coloring)
2 classes (Empath or Warrior)
Many pets
Hundreds of puzzles and many quests
Comprehensive gear list
Much to explore & rich storyline
NPC characters who actively contribute to the story
Gameplay
Player Login (or player entrance to game)
Choose Gender
Choose Class
Empath: This class of rare people are deeply connected to Netara. They have survived do to their evasion of enemies, skill with the land, and the lifeforce and protection that Netara feeds them. They often tame the ebasts of nature for helpers and guides.
Warrior: The protectors of the few survivors on Netara, these strong people are tough and resilient, and have trained for high skill with weaponry.
Info Screen:
Female/Warrior (Starts in Gera):
You are Yaneko Kehal, a warrior from what used to be the spice lands. The dark skies have now cleared, and though the two suns dazzle your eyes, you are ready to take up the cause of your people. Your clan is running out of food, and can no longer support you, but you are able bodied and ready to adventure. Your restless spirit cannot be contained. You carry a rare amulet holding a satchel of ginseng that grants you protection on your travels.
Female/Empath (Starts in Lihal)
Ranna, you know you are the hope of your people. Though born an orphan, a waif, you have the truthsense that tells you where your destiny lies, what path you should take, what road holds the answers. Your bond to netara is unbreakable, and though you are young, you are wise. You carry the cloak of time, a treasure kings have gone to war for, woven ages past, yet somehow wrapped around you at your birth.
Male/Warrior: (starts in Kamoto)
You are a son of Netara, Tristan Windblade. Your power is strong, your purpose stronger. Nothing will stand in your way, for you have the determination of a king and the skill of a sharp edged shadow. You wear the seal of Idar, the last House of the Kings of Kamoto. Fight well, stay true, and free the planet of its curse.
Male/Empath (Starts in Janareth)
Himal Sidon, the hermit of Hell’s Bane. What keeps you to the shadows/ What drives you to your quiet quest? Your secrets are your own, but the planet has bonded itself to you. Netara tells you her secrets, the soil gives you life, the birds grant you their wings. You carry the Vial of Ishareth, your protection and guiding light.
Introduction Text on World (what happened, etc)
After character selection, the player starts in their respective city. Most people in these cities are good and helpful, and the player can buy weapons, food, protection, and other goods.
Food: A player’s energy gets low after extended periods without rest or nourishment. Food and drink can restore energy & lifeforce and can be found or bought. (Different foods = more or less life force, some can spoil or be poisoned)
Rest & Sleep: Sleeping restores energy and lifeforce entirely, and resting can slowly restore it over time. A player must first find a ‘protected place’ to sleep however, and many protected places cost money.
Protection: Netara is a harsh world, and the traveler will need defensive equipment. Armor, amulets, rings, jewelry, clothes, and other items work to offer this essential component.
Attack: Weapons, sharp sticks, and miscellaneous items give attack power. The player attacks choosing the something from the combat menu option, and left clicks with the mouse to strike. (Delay is a factor) Right clicking the mouse will use a special ability, if the weapon has one, for that click. Special abilities take energy. There is an auto attack mode that the player can use; this will auto attack anything that attacks the player, and will attack consecutively if the player presses ‘attack’. Special weapon abilities cannot be used in this mode.
Note: Some Attack and Defense items may seem ‘magical’ if bonded to or ‘blessed’ my the planet Natara. It should be noted that the planet itself is somewhat sentient.
Buying and Selling: The price of goods varies from town to town. The resell value of goods bought is 2/3 value is in the same town it was bought in…but it may sell for more in another town, or be completely worthless! Just as some things are not available in all places, supply and demand change from location to location, often drastically.
Talking: Many conversations continue past one line, and have the option to say different things. Sometimes, saying the wrong thing can land a player into trouble. Othertimes, the right answer can be very valuable, in terms of help or items.
Puzzles: Puzzles can be anything from riddles to mazes to stepping on the right pattern of tiles, to placing the right objects in the right order, the list is endless. While the actual puzzle types depend heavily on the game maker and the program used to make the game, strategy and puzzles are an integral part of the game. The last puzzle of the whole game is to simply place the beginning object of protection (Cloak of Time, amulet, seal, bracelet) onto one of five pedestals. The correct one is the one bearing the symbol of Natara, but if the player chooses wrong, they die. Hah :P
Dying: Ok, so a player does not really ‘die’. :P They pass out, due to illness or grievous wounding. They awaken in the nearest ‘hut’ (along with their pet, assuming they had one and that it was still alive, because pets can die) The huts belong to kindly souls, and there are 8 of these close to lower level cities. The hut owners will tell the player how they found him/her and rescued them. Further investigation will notice that they took some of the player’s gold. Each hut takes a different percentage….and the robber’s hut sometimes takes non-quest/equipped items as well! If asked, the owner will say ‘compensation’ or deny he/she took anything.
Pets: ‘Pets’ must be tamed. This generally means beating a wild animal down to a certain level and then using the ‘tame’ option. Empaths do not have to beat the animal down as far, but have a lower starting attack and defense. Once a pet is made, it is very vulnerable and wil need to be given food to regain its health.
Travel: Sometimes there will be ferries or canoes to get across water, or camels to get across deserts. Taming a horse or camel and riding it will reduce the need for sleep and rest.
Experience: Experience is given for solving puzzles, finishing quests, and defeating enemies. The player will LOSE experience for killing innocent creatures. As in most rpgs, exp is used for leveling up. Leveling by experience will not be doubled every time: Rather than doubling experience needed every time, it will need 75% more up to a certain level, when it will drop to 40% more.
Menu options:
Stats:
Lifeforce
Energy (1/10th lifeforce to start)
ATK
DEF
EXP
Pet Stats:
Lifeforce
ATK
DEF
Gear: (Right click for info, left double click to use)
(Different containers can hold different weights of items. Amount held does no depend on player strength, but the item carrying the objects. At start this is an old backpack. Pets each can carry default amounts + some carrying items can be equipped to them.)
Combat:
Attack
Auto Attack Mode: (Set/Unset)
Action:
Talk
Pick Up
Drop Item
Look
Read
Dig
Hunt
Fish
Weave
etc
Special Inventory:
(Items that cannot be dropped and weigh ‘nothing’)
Command Pet:
Follow
Come
Sit
Run Away (You sure? You will have to retame this pet to get it back.)
Feed (Item?)
Equip
Unequip
Drop Item
Carry
Fetch
The Game World
Overview
Netara lives and breaths. Call to Ruin would work well as a 2D game, but would work as a 3D game as well. (The ruins would look cooler ;) However, I do see it as a 2D game, ideally made in rpgmaker, toolkit, verge, sphere, byond’s dreammaker, or any similar rpg making software.
Size
The game map has to be large enough to encompass 14 city ruins and many outpost locations. (like the 8 huts, or refugee tents, or bomb shelters, etc)
Ideally, the cities & world map would be all on the same level, with some underground or second story maps. However, the cities themselves can become submaps represented by icons on the main map if a large map cannot be supported.
The Physical World
Overview
Netara is a land of warm days and frigid nights. (Day lasts 20 minutes, night 15) Most of the landscape is dead looking, but certain plants and animals can be found. (some only bloom or come out at night or day) The buildings are mostly wrecks and ruins, and everything has the tarnished look of having gone through the fire and the floods and then stood up to time.
Key Locations
Gera, Lihal, Janareth, Kamoto, Sidon, Meneti, Riion, Adriel, Shaleth, Solace, Monoco, Netra, Endine*
(Endine is the final city with the last puzzle)
8 huts (including one robber hut)
Various outposts, small ruins, refugee camps, abandoned tents, huts, bomb shelters, tree forts, caves and other random places.
Movement
Characters are moved normally by arrow keys. Special moves like ‘climb’ or ‘descend’ are done via command from the general command list by mouse click.
Object Types
General Gear/items (books, herbs, food, etc)
Offensive
Defensive
Special Inventory Items
Weapons are one or two handed. No more than two non-special rings, two amulets, two bracelets, one head covering, one pair of boots, one shirt, one jacket, one armore, etc can be equipped at a time.
See the "Objects Appendix" for a sampling of objects found in the world. (By no means complete ;)
Money
Silver (The only currency wildly accepted, though gold can be sold for silver…paper money is useless, although is used in one or two quests)
Weather
Mainly fine. Random rainfall. Snow in the colder regions, no rain in desert.
Day and Night
20 minutes of day, 15 minutes of night.
Time
Weather will change after each day/night cycle. Non unique monsters reboot after the 35 minute cycle.
Water
Most of the water in the game is ‘dirty’, but there is some freshwater, salt water, and frozen water as well.
Collision Detection
Most objects can be bumped into without a problem, though some objects do damage when bumped (like jagged scrap heaps) or break (like a glass vase). Characters can get objects one square away in any direction or from on top of them, and pets can fetch objects anywhere accessibly in view. (IE not through a wall or door).
Camera
Player always stays centered. The game is isometric and leans towards a ¾ bird’s eye view.
Lighting Models
Overview
Light from both left and right, as well as a darkening for night and dark places.
Lighting Model Detail #1
Some objects only found in special places like dark caves may be lit different, but over all the light from left & right is used…even when the game world shows a place lit only from one side. This is mostly to keep the lighting simpler. (Well, up to the game maker I suppose)
Enemies and Monsters
Robbers
Wild Animals
Desperate People
Wild men/women
Crime Lords
Gansters
Thugs
Evil Townspeople
Mutants
Poisonous Animals
And more…
See Enemy Appendix for a sampling
User Interface
All commands except movement are inputted via mouse. Right clicking the mouse will do a special move attack for the player’s weapon while during an attack.
Musical Scores and Sound Effects
Effects: Attack, Door, Bump, Break, Effect, Find Item/Pick up, Pass Out
Music: Should be a very haunting and plaintive number, reminiscent of a dying land
Story
(as told by the sage at Gera)
"I miss the old Netara. Well, I miss the stories. No one ever tells the stories anymore. Sometimes I wonder if they hold any truth, how could our land have ever been green? I once saw the color green, on an old scarf…it was beautiful…..belonged to one of the women here, but she got the sickness and died. They say a man was killed fighting with another over her scarf….but I ramble.
I grew up under the dark skies, of course you would have as well. When the suns came out last year, and shone for the first time in a hundred years, well…these old eyes could have cried. Such a sight! Not since the great comet came in its fourteen pieces of destruction have our two suns shone so beautifully. Every great, proud city, fallen…but now all that will change. I can feel it…..the planet is awakening from its slumber. The fourteen poisonous stones shall be cleansed of their evil and turned into fourteen orbs of great power containing all the heart and soul of our people! Netara shall live again!
Oh…oh…did I say something just now?"
Victory Conditions
All 14 meteorite stones must be cleansed by the planet and turned into their respected orb of knowledge. The Endine stone must be done last, and leads to the aforementioned rebirth of the planet and revelation of the spaceship.
Battle System
All enemies are visible, many move to attack players of a certain level. This includes monsters both on the main map and in the sub maps. There are no separate battle arenas. Attacking is done by clicking the mouse, each weapon having a built in delay….or by setting the autoattack mode.
Appendix
By no means complete, these objects and puzzles are merely samples/guidelines of what the main game should have.
WEAPONS
Sharp Stick: One handed Attack 1 Weight: 0.1 Delay: 1 Cost: Is found only sold: 0
Butter Knife: One handed Attack: 1-3 Weight: 0.3 Delay 1 Cost: 1 silver
Steak Knife:
One handed Attack: 1-5 2 Weight: 0.5 Delay: 1 Cost: 1-2 silvers
Brittle Dagger: (A dagger with 3% chance of breaking every attack)
One Handed Attack: 3-6 Weight: 1 Delay: 1 Cost: 2-3 silver
Greater Dagger:
One Handed Attack: 4-8 Weight: 1 Delay: 1 Cost: 8-12 silver
Crow Feather: (‘Annoying Tickle’ Atk: 13 cost 2 energy)
One handed Attack: 3-12 Weight: 0 Delay: 1 Cost: Cannot be Bought (Can be sold for 12-20 silver)
Musket:
Two Handed Attack 20-35 Weight: 6 Delay: 5 cost: 25 silver
Sword of Mainland: (Right click to use Continental Slash, ATK 50 cost 5 energy)
Two Handed Attack: 25-45 Weight: 5 Delay: 4 cost: 30 gold
Crossbow: (Right click to shoot chaos arrow, cost 4 energy, attack 1-100)
Two Handed Attack 25-50 Weight: 4 Delay: 3 cost: 200 silver
Wind Staff: (Right click to use ‘Winds of Netara’, ATK 100 cost 20 energy)
Two Handed Attack: 30-70 Weight: 3 Delay: 3 cost: 400 silver
Goring Axe:
Two Handed Atk: 40-80 Weight: 8 Delay: 6 cost 2000 silver
Throwing Axe
One Handed Atk: 30-75 Weight: 5 Delay: 3 cost 6500 silver
Plasma Rifle: (‘Maximum Power’ 4000 damage at the cost of 300 energy)
Two Handed ATK 800-1400 Weight: 8 Delay: 4 Cost: 3000000 Silver
ARMOR
Rags:
DEF: 1 Weight: 1 Cost: starting equipment
Stylish Threads:
DEF: 2 Weight: 1 Cost: 1 silver
Old Suit:
DEF: 4 Weight: 1 Cost: 3 silver
Durable Threads:
DEF: 5 Weight: 2 Cost: 4 silver
Blighted Feather Coat: (+2 energy while wearing)
DEF: 15 Weight: 3 Cost: (Cannot be bought, is sold for 30-35 silver)
Flight Suit:
Def: 80 Weight: 4 Cost: 5000 silver
Ancient Scalemail:
DEF: 300 Weight: 7 Cost: 120000 silver
Mech Batlesuit:
DEF: 10000 Weight: 24 Cost: (Cannot be bought, sold for 1000000000 silver)
ENEMIES
Desperate Peasant: (Will attack if you do not give food)
Lifeforce:10 ATK: 1-4 DEF: 2 Movement: Approaches characters up to level 5 if character is ‘alone’.
Wild Dog:
Lifeforce:40 ATK: 10-18 DEF: 8 Movement: Approaches up to level 25, hunts often in packs
Mutant Spider:
Lifeforce: 50 ATK: Poison (5 every ten seconds) 3-6 DEF: 5 Movement: Stays in web unless attacked
Tunnel Snake:
Lifeforce: 150 ATK 30-35 DEF: 35 Movement: Attacks if character within one square or if character touches nest.
Lost Spirit:
Lifeforce: 800 ATK: 80-120 DEF: 200 Movement: Attacks always if within 5 tiles
Stranded Alien:
Lifeforce: 4000 ATK: 200-220 DEF: 500 Movement: Wanders, but does not attack unless attacked first
Dark Guardian:
Lifeforce: 10000 ATK: 800-100 DEF: 3000 Movement: Stands still unless attacked
PUZZLES/QUESTS
Quest for the Gera Sage:
Talk to the sage at Gera near the run down fountain. He will tell the story of Netara as well as mention a gree scarf he once saw. Go to the cemetery and explore the larger tombs (watch out for spiders, rats, ghosts, and the like). In the tomb nearest the large stinging nettle patch, you will find two sets of bones. Move the stone slab to find a third set and grab the green scarf, but be quick! A higher level spider inhabits this casket ad if the stone is not replaced within fifteen seconds, it will attack. Anyone under level 6 or without decent armor will likely pass out. Take the green scarf to the sage. The sage will be overjoyed and hand you a ring of evasion. This ring will stop all enemies from moving to attack, unless they are provoked by your attack or your assault on their nest, etc. This is the best way to get past the wild dogs in the start cities, and is useful through the whole game. The Quest also gives experience when solved.
Puzzle of the Diamond tomb:
In Janareth, visit the storyteller at the library ruins. For one silver, she will give you a torn book as well as tell you a story. The story is a brief fairy tale about the three adopted princes of Janareth. Each son laid claim to the crown, and king Maetor offered the crown to the one who found his scepter. Prince Carmine fled south, Prince Gray adventured East, and Prince Periwinkle to the north.
Find the tomb of Maetor, a large pyramid with a hole in the side. Make your way through the maze of passages into the central chamber. There are four tiles in the shape of a diamond that are darker than the rest of the floor. There are five colored disks that can be pushed: red, blue, purple, gray, and yellow. In the middle of the diamond is a compass rose pointing the directions. Move the red disk to the south block, the gray block to the east block, and the blue block to the north block. Move to the center of the compass rose and a scepter will appear on the West block. It seems no son was able to find it. You get experience, and the scepter is a powerful weapon. It also sells for a fair bit of money to the antique collector in Janarath.
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