Full introduction of the 'Civilization'!

The time has come to reveal quite some details about my second game ‘The endless world – Civilization’, which is being created now.

PLOT

As most of you know, the game is the second title in the series and it will once more follow the adventures of the heroine – Meretrix. After her hardships in the Stone Age, and a long long sleep after, she is about to wake up in a totally different times – the Ancient Times.

ENGINE

‘Civilization’ does not stick to the RPG Maker VX Ace engine, and instead it is being created in RPG Maker MV, meaning the general look of the game will change a bit.

INCLUDED CULTURES

Many people asked me, which cultures will be present in the game, so here are some details:

Babylon, Greece, Rome and Egypt – these four are intended as the MAIN lands, which will be compulsory locations, during the main plot. However the game is about to offer a lot of side content and side exploration, meaning there will be other fully-optional well developed locations to discover like Capua or Crete. We can also encounter other cultures there, such as Asyrians or Summers.

The mapping of the first one of the big cities is already done, as well as the general overview of the World map.

DIRECTION OF THE GAME

The idea of ‘Civilization’ is to go a bit in the direction of sandbox, and to give every town/village its own life, meaning that Babylon will have its own group of stories, problems and interactions, while moving to Greece will greet us with brand new experiences, other quests and issues to follow. The only direct bridge between the locations will be the main-story.

COMPANIONS

The second game in the series will also introduce the companions system. They will be able to support the heroine during the in game mechanic events (i.e. battles) but all of them will be also given complex side contents and quests. Here, the important aspect for me is to avoid patterns. It won’t be like: ‘speak what the character likes to hear for the entire game, then the character will approach you and eventually you go to bed right before the final battle of the game – the end’. It is by far too mechanic for my taste. Therefore every companion will have an unique approach toward him or her. I wish to keep the companions system as one of the most important issues and keep the ideas here as fresh as possible.

GAMEPLAY TIME AND BRANCHING

In general – just as it was in the ‘Beginning’ – I intend to keep things fresh for the entire playing time, which should be at least a few times longer than in the first game.

Speaking of which: Although the game will be at times linear, mostly it is intended to stay branched. 

The pattern here is: 1 shorter event linear leading to two branched longer events, both routes then lead to 1 shorter linear event (with some differences depending on the route chosen earlier), and then again are split into two totally different paths. If I was to say, I would guess that the main story will be around 30% linear and 70% branched, but it’s just a guess right now. 

All in all, the game is intended to have even more choices than in the ‘Beginning’ count and change the outcome.

GRAPHICS

Unless a miracle occurs, and someone talented joins my ‘crew’, all the graphics will be created by me. That means – I will prepare all the custom made sprites – both for characters and for the maps. Of course not all the sprites will be custom made, and regular materials from the maker database will be used as well.

Currently I’m using facepacks created by RPG Maker MV, just slightly upgraded by myself. It is yet unknown if I won’t try to create fully custom made faces, but if I decide to do so, it will be done, when the game is mostly completed in other areas.

As for the CGs. There are three options I’m currently considering: 

1. If I can get more Patrons I will pay someone to create the needed arts in a great quality. However, due to the small interest in patronage of my project this solution is really unlikely... 
2. After the game is completed I will spend a month or two sketching and trying to do some amateur arts. If I will consider these good enough I will spend another month coloring and improving these. This way the game can include arts BUT it will greatly expand the time needed to release it. Also, I’m NO artist, I will just give it a try eventually.
3. I can give up on the CGs, simply because I will have no technical means to create these… As much as I would wish to avoid this outcome, it is possible that ‘Civilization’ will follow in ‘Beginning’ footsteps and will be left without many arts…

BATTLES

Lastly, I have few words about battles. As the poll to see your desired systems is nearing the end, and the results are coming really close to what I was expecting, I intend to implement two systems. Players should be able to make a choice whether they prefer to follow the story with or without battles/leveling and so on. I have general idea how to do it, so I believe it should come up fine ;) It is highly possible that non-battling system will also include occasional instant result encounters, the option, which was desired by the players as well.

FINAL NOTE

The whole concept might change slightly while the work will be progressing. I’ve just gave you an overview of what is CURRENTLY on my mind. Although I usually STRONGLY follow my ideas and concepts, please don’t take this text as an exact promise.

SUPPORT

Also, if you can spare some money and you wish to support the development of ‘Civilization’, please support me on my PATREON PAGE. It is REALLY vital for the game’s development to gather funds, as otherwise I am left 100% with only me to cover all the fields. That means MUCH more time needed to create the game, and LESS content simply because I’m not talented equally on all the needed fields.

If there are any artists, who are willing to help my project, without requesting payment, please PM ME. I will be more than grateful for the support.