RetroQuest: Chronicles of the Guildlands

Welcome to my game project page! This page will serve as a central hub for all information related to my game, starting with my design document, and eventually code snippets or images. This page serves as both a way for me to organize my thoughts and ideas as well as a way to force myself to actually work towards a goal. I will be attempting to update this page once I begin, and posting my progress as updates, however infrequent!

Table of Contents

Overview

Welcome to RetroQuest: Chronicles of the Guildlands (Title pending), my dream goal. This game is a real time strategy / turn based tactical combat simulator, where you take control of a guildhall and manage your people and supplies as you send your adventurers out into the world to complete quests, gather resources, and fight monsters. The game is heavily inspired by one of my favorite games of all time, X-COM: UFO Defense, and I hope to capture the same feeling of dread and excitement as you send your adventurers out into the world, never knowing if they will return alive or not.

Key Features:

  1. Hardcore and Deadly Combat: The main focus of the game is the turn based isometric tactics screen. When your adventurers arrive at a location, the screen shifts to an isometric grid. Here, you will have to explore, fight, and loot your way through the location, all while managing your parties health and resources. Combat is deadly and quick, and a single mistake can spell the end for one or more of your adventurers.
  2. Real-Time World Map: Outside of the combat, you will watch over a world map with real time progression. As time passes, new quests will arrive at your base of operations, as well as news or other random events. You will have to manage your resources and reputation in order to ensure you stay in business and thrive. Send parties out to explore new locations, gather resources, or set out to find new quests, and watch as your parties travel across the map and potentially meet new encounters on their way.
  3. Base Management: Starting out with nothing but a small tavern and a few willing recruits, you will eventually build and expand your guildhall, adding new facilities and improving existing ones to support your business. Eventually, you might even expand and build new guildhalls, or turn your existing one into the likes of a mighty fortress, for competition is tough, and other jealous mercenary guilds might retaliate against you.
  4. Technology Tree: The game will eventually incorporate three distinct technology trees: Arcane, Martial, and Innovation. Each tree will require its own facility and unique workers, and will give you opportunities to unlock new equipment, spells, and facilities. As one example, building a library and hiring scholars will allow you to research new spells and magical equipment, while building a smithy and hiring blacksmiths will allow you to research and craft new equipment and armor from the resources your party gathers. the Innovation tree meanwhile, will give you new abilities to expand and better manage your guild, from bartering for better prices to sending specialized recruiters to find new talent.

Progression and Narrative:

Begin your journey as a humble new guild leader, taking on simple quests for the nearby friendly locations, such as clearing a small bandit camp or hunting a dangerous wolf pack. As you complete quests and gain renown, you will be given more complex and dangerous quests, such as clearing out a nearby crypt or escorting a caravan to a distant town. Eventually, you will be given a pivotal quest by the kingdom's authorities, tasking you with investigating a demonic cult that has been gaining more and more infamy. However, you are free to accept or reject any quests you are given, but be aware that your reputation and fame matters. Refusing to accept too many quests will cause your reputation to suffer, and you might be forced to close your guildhall for good!

Gameplay Experience:

I want this game to have a grounded, lower fantasy feel to it. Magic exists but it is rare and powerful. There are many races, but they feel alien to regular humans. The world is dangerous, and even a lowly bandit can easily slay one of your own adventurers with a lucky blow. Death is cheap, and you will have to get used to loss. However, with proper planning and strategy, even the lowliest of recruits can become a legendary hero. Only once you have proven your experience as a successful guild will you be given opportunities to recover magical artifacts or slay/ capture powerful monsters, and even then you will have to be careful, for even the most powerful of adventurers can be felled low.

Gameplay Mechanics

Combat:

Combat is the heart of this game. Taking place on an isometric grid, you will have to navigate a randomly generated dungeon or lair, fighting monsters and looting treasure as you go. Combat is turn based, with each "team" taking a turn for all their units. Each unit has a certain amount of action points which they can use to move, turn, attack, or use items or environmental objects. Combat is deadly and quick, with every blow being deadly to unprepared mortals. Preparation is key, as knowing what you are about to face can give you the edge you need to overcome the odds. Your parties will almost always be either outnumbered or outmatched, and it's up to you to ensure they are prepared for the challenges ahead.

  • Your Adventurers: Your recruits are the lifeblood of your guild. Your first recruits will be weak and inexperienced, but with proper tactics and skill, even the humblest recruit can bring low the mighty. With a classless system, you can customize your adventurers to your liking, and with a variety of weapons, armor, equipment and spells to choose from, you can create truly diverse and unique parties.
  • Your planning can save the day: Sending a party off into a dark, mysterious crypt? Make sure they have torches and lanterns to light the way. Hunting a werewolf and his pack? Make sure to bring silver plated weapons and armor. Preparation is key, and it is up to you to discover and determine the most effective way to accomplish your goals.
  • Live to fight another day: Missions are not all or nothing. If you are in over your head, you can always retreat your party and try to recuperate some of your losses. While this wont bode well for a quest giver, it is better than losing your entire party. As well, if your only goal is to explore a location or recover an item, fighting to the death isn't always necessary. You can always try to sneak past enemies, or use your hardiest adventurers to distract enemies while your stealthy ones can complete the objectives quickly.

The Worldscape:

The second largest aspect of the game, the Worldscape is where you will plan out your quests, manage your bases, and oversee the world as real time progresses. You will see your moving parties, neutral or enemy parties, as well as places of interest, such as villages or dungeons. As well, you will always be able to see your current finances and time, so you can prepare accordingly when one of your parties will arrive at a location. Random events will occur, and its up to you to engage or avoid them... if you can!

  • Dynamic Events: As your parties explore the world, they will encounter a variety of events, ranging from simple encounters with traders or bandits, to more complex events such as a village being attacked by a dragon, or a noble requesting your aid in a quest. These events can be ignored, or you can choose to intervene, and your choices will impact your guild's reputation and influence. For example, if you refuse to help a village being attacked by bandits, your guild's reputation will suffer, and they may even refuse to let you recruit villagers in the future until you make amends.
  • Quests and Choices: When you start the game, you will only be given simple tasks by local villages and towns, such as clearing out a nearby crypt or dungeon, or escorting a caravan to a distant village. As your renown grows however, you will be given more difficult and serious quests by the kingdom's lords and nobles, such as retrieving a lost artifact, or slaying a legendary beast. These quests can sometimes be solved in different ways, and your success or failure will impact those quest givers opinion of you.

Base Management

Beginning with an old tavern, you will have to build and expand your guild headquarters, adding new facilities to improve your guilds efficiency and capabilities. Build stables to house your mounts, a library to research new technologies, or a training grounds to hone your adventurers physical skills. Every facility is placed on a top-down grid, and you will have total freedom to design your guildhall as you see fit. Want to create a fortress manned by heavily armored knights? Or perhaps a magical academy filled with wizards and scholars? The choice is yours.

  • Size and Scope: Your guildhall small, with only a wooden fence and sleeping quarters for your first party. With every addition you will have to pay resources and taxes. As your guildhall grows, so will your expenses, and you will have to manage your finances carefully to ensure you can afford the monthly upkeep. If you fail to pay your taxes, your guildhall will be seized by the local lord, and you will have to start over, unless you have a second base to cover the costs.
  • Resource Management: Aside from gold and manpower, you will have to manage a variety of different resources such as food, drink, magical tomes, and ores of different types. These resources are used to build new facilities, research new technologies and create new equipment. You can gather resources by sending parties to mines or lumberyards, or by trading with local villages and towns. As well, you can send out caravans to gather more exotic resources from distant locations, but be sure to send skilled adventurers, as these caravans are vulnerable to attack by monsters and bandits.
  • Be as dependant or free as you wish: When it comes to gathering your people and resources, you are given the freedom to determine how you accomplish your goals. You can choose to sign contracts with nearby villages and towns for supplies in return for completing quests, or you can choose to build your own facilities and halls to gather your own resources. As long as the taxes get paid, the lords of the land don't care how you get your materials.

Technology Tree

Whether its learning new smithing methods to speed up production or create new metals, or researching new spells for your magically inclined adventurers, the three technology trees will be a key part of your guild's progression. As you complete quests and expand your guildhall, you will gain access to new technologies, allowing you to create new equipment and spells, and even newer, advanced facilities such as a dwarven forge, or a wizards spire.

  • Research Progression: Recruit specialized scholars and smiths to research new technologies, and build the appropriate facilities for them to work in. As your guildhall grows, you will gain access to more advanced technologies, allowing you to create more powerful equipment and research more powerful spells. You might even be able to create your own magical items with enough research and resources!
  • Artifact Discovery: With great power comes great treasure, and as you explore the world, you will uncover lost artifacts and ancient knowledge. These artifacts can be used to unlock new technologies, or serve as a powerful boon for your favorite adventurer. As well, you can sell these artifacts for a hefty profit, but be careful, as some artifacts may be cursed, requiring you to learn rituals to purify the items before they bring misfortune to your guild.
  • The Magical Tree: Hiring arcane scholars and giving them the space in a library will allow you to research new spells, as well as discover which of your recruits has magical potential. As well, you will be able to research new magical items, or use rituals on the worldmap to gain powerful boons or remove curses from artifacts.
  • The Martial Tree: By hiring blacksmiths and giving them the space in a smithy, you will be able to improve your guilds equipment, craft new items, and research new materials and techniques to improve their efficiency. They will be able to directly take the resources you gather and turn them into weapons, armor and other equipment for your adventurers out in the field.
  • The Innovation Tree: By hiring specialized researchers and recruiters, you will be able to improve the non combat, non magical aspects of your guild. You will be able to research topics such as new medicines, better living quarters, or even new techniques for haggling and bartering, or negotiating quests for better pay. Finally, research down this tree will allow you to recruit better and more specialized / experienced recruits, or even allow you to tame and train different beasts to use as mounts or companions. After all, why walk to your quest location when you could instead ride a mighty gryphon or drake?

Storyline

RetroQuest: Chronicles of the Guildlands (Title pending) is a freeform game, with very little set storyline or narrative. Instead, the game focuses on the players ability to create their own narrative through the adventures they undertake, and the successes or failures they experience along the way. There is a late game story, but it is only unlocked once the player has reached a certain renown, and it is up to the player to decide if they want to pursue it. The game is designed to be replayable, with every new game offering a new world and adventures to undertake, and different options for the player to take compared to their previous playthroughs.

Guild Development

You begin the game as a newly retired adventurer, starting a new guildhall with the proceeds of your adventuring career. You will have to recruit new adventurers, gather resources, and complete quests to gain wealth and renown. As your guild grows, you will gain the attention of more important peoples, and you will be given more dangerous and complex quests. Finally, when you have made a successful name for yourself heard all across the region, you will be given a pivotal quest by the kingdom's leading authorities, plunging you into a dark and perilous quest to root out corruption and dismantle a demonic cult threatening the realm.

Freedom of Choice

Do you want your guild to specialize in magical warriors and wizards? Or perhaps you shun magic entirely, recruiting only the most skilled warriors and barbarians? Maybe perhaps you prefer skill and subtlety, training your recruits to use tools and specialized items to sneak into dungeons and accomplish tasks with as little combat as possible? You are given the freedom to mold your guild however you see fit.

The Ultimate Goal

As your guild progresses and gains significant fame, you will finally be given a task from the highest authorities in the realm, tasking you to investigate a demonic cult that has been gaining more and more infamy. You will have to send your adventurers out into the world, gathering information and clues, and eventually you will have to confront the cult itself, and destroy it by the roots before they can unleash their dark plans upon the realm.

Epic Showdown

Prepare your guild for the ultimate challenges. Explore dark and dangerous realms, equip your adventurers with legendary equipment, and delve into the heart of the cult's operations. Face the most powerful enemies you have ever encountered, mighty demons and their devoted cultists. In the end, you will have to enter a dark portal, and descend into the depths of hell to confront the overlord, and close the portal from within. Will you be able to save the realm from the ultimate threat?

Will your guild rise to the occasion, or will you fail and doom the realm to a dark and terrible fate? Only with the skills, cunning and bravery of your adventurers will you be succeed.

Recruitment and Adventurers

In RetroQuest: Chronicles of the Guildlands (Title pending), the heart of your guild lies in the diverse group of individuals you recruit. Unlike traditional character-focused games, your guild is built upon the shoulders of villagers of all shapes, sizes, and races. This game uses a classless system that allows you to shape and mold your recruits into the adventurers you desire, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses.

Classless System

Say goodbye to predefined character classes. Each recruit is created with random attributes and skills, and it's up to you to train and guide them. While the potential is vast, not every recruit is capable of mastering every skill. Some may struggle with certain weapons, while others might lack the physical resilience for melee combat, or be entirely incapable of magical ability. Embrace the challenge of working with what you get, utilizing strengths, and mitigating weaknesses to turn recruits into successful heroes.

Randomness and Adaptability

The recruitment process is unpredictable. You never know what kind of potential recruit your guild will receive until they arrive. You might get lucky and receive a recruit with a high natural stats, or unfortunately find someone with almost no skills whatsoever. You might shun these poor dropouts, or use them as meatshields for your more capable recruits. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide just how to utilize the recruits you are given.

Race and Diversity

As your guild gains renown, you'll unlock the ability to recruit individuals from different races such as dwarves, elves, ogres or kobolds, as well as many more you might meet along your adventures. With the right heroes and facilities, you will even be able to tame and train powerful beasts, like drakes, gryphons and wyrms.

Recruitment Strategies

Progressing in the game and research trees will allow you to further refine your recruitment process. Send recruiters out to search for recruits with specific talents, stats, or unique abilities. Tailor your searches to meet the demands of specific quests or challenges by strategically seeking out recruits with desired traits, or by training your existing recruits to meet the challenges ahead.

World Generation and Environments

This game will utilize a variety of procedural generation techniques to create a unique and interesting world to explore. Both the Worldscape and each dungeon, crypt or lair will be procedurally generated, ensuring that no two playthroughs the same.

Procedurally Generated World Map

Generation starts with the world map, which defines the different biomes and environments of the world. It is then populated with a variety of locations, such as villages, towns, dungeons, crypts, and lairs, and more, and then given a short history of events that have occurred in the past. This is not an entire planet, but rather a small section of one, focusing on only a single kingdom and its surrounding lands.

Isometric Maps

When your party arrives at a location, the isometric map is dynamically generated based on the environment and biome of that specific location on the world map. The map is then modified according to the type of place it is, ensuring that a dungeon in a desert environment feels distinct from a dungeon in a forest, both in appearance and the creatures that inhabit it.

Dynamic City and Village Generation

Even cities and villages are subject to procedural generation, with sections generated by "blueprints" that are randomly selected and placed. This ensures that each city or village feels unique, and that you will never see the same layout twice.

Art and Design

WORK IN PROGRESS

Audio

WORK IN PROGRESS