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Wizardry Legacy: the Forgotten Academy

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Fri, 04/05/2024 - 20:28
questccg
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Title Screen:

The screen slowly fades from black to reveal the ancient, ivy-covered gates of a forgotten academy, its stones whispering tales of arcane knowledge and hidden power. The title, "Wizardry Legacy" materializes with a mystical glow, inviting the player to enter.

***

Narrative Introduction:

In the realm of Ardania, where magic intertwines with the fabric of reality, the once-great Academy of Arcane Arts lies in ruins, its knowledge lost and its masters long forgotten. But the world whispers of a time of change, of a moment when the stars align to herald the rebirth of wizardry.

You, an unlikely candidate with latent magical talent, have been drawn to the remnants of the academy by dreams too vivid to be mere fancy. As you stand before its ancient doors, a voice, old as the wind and deep as the earth, speaks directly to your mind:

"Welcome, Seeker. The paths of magic are treacherous, filled with wonders and horrors beyond mortal comprehension. The Academy once stood as a beacon of hope, a place where the arcane arts were nurtured and protected. But darkness crept into its heart, and it fell to ruin. Now, as the world teeters on the brink of chaos, it calls for a new generation of wizards to rise."

"Your journey begins here, among these hallowed ruins. You will unlock secrets long buried, master spells that can weave the very fabric of reality, and confront beings of unimaginable power. But be warned, Seeker. Magic is a double-edged sword. It can bring light to the world, or engulf it in shadow. The choice will be yours."

As the voice fades, the doors creak open, revealing a courtyard overgrown with wild magic. The air crackles with potential. Your adventure into the unknown begins now.

***

Gameplay Introduction:

As players step into the academy's grounds, they're greeted by a world that blends the familiar with the fantastical. They must explore the academy, uncover its secrets, and rebuild it as a haven for a new generation of mages. Along the way, they'll encounter other would-be wizards, each with their own stories and ambitions. Players will learn spells, battle mythical creatures, and make choices that will shape the future of Ardania.

The introduction sets the stage for an epic journey of discovery, danger, and destiny, inviting players to become the architects of a new era of wizardry.

***

Okay I've just written your STORYLINE/STORYARC... And it's absolutely FREE...

The idea here is that the Academy while it used to be standing like a Fortress has many secrets hidden within itself... All kinds of secrets which are waiting for the players to explore as they unlock the mystery as to why(?) the Wizards of this Great Academy of Arcane Arts vanished so suddenly leaving no remnants on the surface of Ardania...

***

Let me know what you think???

Cheers @larienna.

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Fri, 04/05/2024 - 20:49
#1
questccg
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More about the Academy of Arcane Arts

So what this sets-up is a Fantastical WORLD in which Magic ALTERS the reality of what is possible. You may travel UPWARDS in towers and spires to reach untold secrets and unlock more magic ... And conversely, you can travel into the depths of the Academy in which lies dark and dangerous mysteries...

This makes for a GAME WORLD/UNIVERSE which is very FLEXIBLE since all the parameters don't need to make LOGICAL CONGRUENT SENSE. Because it's a location of pure enchantment and flowing with magical aura...

If you don't like it ... It's okay. I would be willing to maybe(?) help with Level Editing and generation given a sufficiently flexible editor.

Right now, I've given you a FLEXIBLE WORLD with which you can work with... One that blends DEATH and STERILITY and MAGIC and VIRILITY... Let me know what you think.

Best.

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Fri, 04/05/2024 - 21:16
#2
questccg
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Dichotomy between the present, the past and the future

One idea that I had was related to MAPs and exploration. For example you could first (1st) travel through a barren level with puzzles only and no immediate threats and so you work to visit the "level" given traps and secret passages and hidden rooms, etc. But it's all BARREN, STERILE, DEAD... Like the present.

But then when you reach a broken mirror near the end of the level... You piece together some shards of glass and try to "fix" some of the mirror. As your hands touch the shards, the magic within you flows and RESTORES the mirror as a DOORWAY into the PAST!

And now you need to REDO the SAME LEVEL this time at a time where the secrets of the Academy can be revealed... So you travel to a TIME when the Academy was under siege ... By whom and why? Those are variables to which you don't have the answers to... At least NOT YET!

Your goal is to stop the attack and ensure the FUTURE of the Academy... By combating all the baddies and clearing the level (and continuing into the depths of the Academy to find the Boss who is wanting to destroy the Academy and all its residents), you will open up a gateway to another AREA of the Academy ... Introducing you to new secrets and puzzles and the likes!

Something like that...

Sometimes it will be PRESET/PAST, other times it will be PRESET/FUTURE. And of course some of the more fantastical PAST/FUTURE...

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Fri, 04/05/2024 - 21:54
#3
questccg
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To complete another AREA...

Your party need to SLEEP in a designated location (room)... And then you are TRANSPORTED into the FUTURE of the Academy... You must AVOID all of the "Guards" in the future and make it to the top of the TOWER/SPIRE to help free a White Wizard...! But again you must do so in secret...

And once you free him ... You complete the "Area/Level". This would mean that you must SNEAK around the levels and make sure you encounter NOBODY. (The opposite of the normal game where you FIGHT everyone...)

That also could be interesting too! Or if you encounter SOMEONE... You are RESET back to the START of the LEVEL... It's like a Waking Dream!

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Wed, 04/10/2024 - 16:35
#4
larienna
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By the way, Ardania, is the

By the way, Ardania, is the world of "Warlock: Master of the arcane".

We both have one idea in common. The original game was called Wizardry, but it had little relationship to wizards. So you put wizards back in the foreground like I did.

I had a new idea recently, to have some sort of harry potter type of adventure in a school of wizardry. Again, it borrows the same idea. It gives me another spin-off opportunity on the maze crawler genre.

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Wed, 04/10/2024 - 19:29
#5
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It was just a sample name that I came up with...

The World of "Solaria" ... That realm of the Sun/Light... It has a Magical feel to it. Mostly about "Solar Panels" and so forth (from Googling)... Hehehe.

That could be an alternate name.

Yeah well with a name like "Wizardry" you'd think it's about MAGIC and WIZARDS. I just figured something to do with Past, Present and Future could be cool and travelling in TIME ... Is always NEAT! Or the concept of drifting away to sleep and waking up in another world or different place in time. etc.

Well if ever you want to work together on whatever I suggested (the Abandoned Academy...) Maybe we can share some ideas and see what develops. I'm a pretty easy guy to get along with. I'm more for Team WINS than personal goals.

Anyhow... I like the idea. And I like the PARTY concept. But I would take it one step further... At the start of the game there is ONLY YOU (the 1st player in the Party). As you travel in your journey, you get to ADD members by meeting these characters in your travels. And the "Midnight Gate" is a place where you can leave members and SWAP between them... It's another magical place in the realm / world. When you sleep and awake at Midnight, you gain access to the gate and therefore your other characters.

Some necessities is not to be able to take certain EQUIPMENT... So that some of the special gear these members have will NOT part with it. Unless you equip them with more powerful gear and you swap the equipment for their own gear, etc...

I'll leave that up to you... ATM I am so busy I don't have all the time to take care of all my projects. Multi-tasking and doing my best to move them along...

Sincerely.

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Thu, 04/11/2024 - 09:49
#6
larienna
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I am still at the dreaming

I am still at the dreaming phase for game development.

I am building up my tools to make game dev a breeze when the time comes.

I have not explored time travel concepts, it's just difficult to make time have an impact on the maze. The only thing I can think of is to keep the layout, but change the content. So it's like having multiple copies of the same maze. It could work, I would need to explore this.

Your idea of single character, I had it. It's for the sequel. You will play the villain Sorcar who tries to escape the well of souls. The goal is to build a party of characters, move them up in the well, then you can jump down (alone or not) to move new people up again.

If you die, you use new characters, but Sorcar (you) cannot be defeated (you are too strong), you just start over again at the bottom of the well.

I have a few themes that uses range weapons, that is more complicated thematically for the genre.

  • Single character mecha: How to have a strategic 1 character vs many. Weapon cards and cool down is the only thing I could find right now. Also, how to handle the fact you cannot attack multiple spaces ahead.
  • Western: Having a posse of gunfighter could be another idea, but everybody with range weapon in a formation does not work for a theme where characters would generally run for cover.
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Fri, 04/12/2024 - 18:36
#7
questccg
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Yeah you understood my "angle"...

larienna wrote:
...I have not explored time travel concepts, it's just difficult to make time have an impact on the maze. The only thing I can think of is to keep the layout, but change the content. So it's like having multiple copies of the same maze. It could work, I would need to explore this...

The idea is that in the PRESENT the "Academy" is void of life (desolate) nothing but an empty landmark. But it's like the "LOBBY" ... It will have different things that can connect you to the PAST when the "Academy" was being attacked and others to the alternate FUTURE where you have to perform acts to save characters that you will encounter and meet in the PAST too.

So Level #1 (I call it that because it's more like a series of levels) you need to find the Broken Mirror and reshape the pieces into a warp tunnel back to the PAST. And then once you complete that series of levels and find what you need like Enchanted Ring which is frozen in a piece of solid ice (in the PAST) and then you need to bring it to the PRESENT and melt the ice by the making a FIRE in the "Lobby" and that could lead you to the FUTURE and the character who is responsible for the "Ring of the Frost Enchantress".

These are just ideas I am trying to explain how you go about the MAZES.

But they are different MAGICAL areas of the "Academy".

Something like this could be REAL NEAT. I think people might like the concept!

It's original I believe TBH. And sometime you NEED "KEYS" to travel back to Levels (in the PAST) where you can UNLOCK other mysteries or areas that have yet explore because you didn't have the ITEM required to unlock an area...

Could be super FUN and neat... And could definitely add to the TIME taken to explore the LOBBY, PAST LEVELS and FUTURE LEVELS, etc. I like the concept... And it was something cool that I thought could inject some different vibes in a "Maze"-oriented ADVENTURE.

And of course the PAST is all about the secret levels BENEATH the "Academy" whereas the FUTURE is more a link to spires towards the peaks into the Towers at the very top... To create like a PARADOX between SKY (SAFER) and CAVERNS (DANGEROUS). And so forth.

Anyhow ... Just sharing some additional ideas to explain my "vision" of how to handle "Past, Present and Future"...

But yeah you would be travelling the same levels over and over with different challenges and unlocking new areas that you could not access previously, etc.

Tell me what you think?! I think this may be a cool way to adopt a VERSION of what you are trying to achieve (Interesting Video Game).

Cheers!

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Fri, 04/12/2024 - 20:50
#8
questccg
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Could be better than M&M:4!!!

larienna wrote:
I am still at the dreaming phase for game development.

I am building up my tools to make game dev a breeze when the time comes.

What could be COOL and REAL PRO is if you can make like "Might & Magic 4": Clouds of Xeen. Seen here:

If you could incorporate a BACKGROUND as the clouds and not have a ROOF everywhere... That too could be interesting.

I've got to be HONEST, I LOVED M&M:4. I went to a friend's home to play each weekend because he had a better computer and could install and PLAY the game.

Here's another screenshot:

Was all the way back to 1992!!! Holy Smokes that's a LONG TIME AGO! Was worth it TBH.

Cheers @larienna!

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Sat, 04/13/2024 - 02:06
#9
larienna
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Your idea of past present

Your idea of past present future is worth exploring, but I have to define what will be the impact on the game play. I intend to use maze generators like found here (I bought the book)

https://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2011/2/7/maze-generation-algorithm-recap#

to create levels, then have another generator that will explore that maze to set objectives, rewards, "keys", etc.

Now how to I want the past present future impact that adventure generation. Choices in the past could make things spawn in the future. Locations in the pass, could be walled in the future, so that knowing past maze layout, help find future secret areas. That could allow discovering hidden areas.

So I need to determine what will be the relationship between all 3 time lines. There are some board games that explored this, like Chronos, where the buildings put in the past spawn in the present and the future. In dungeon crawlers, you do not build much stuff.

***

Yes, open sky would be possible, it might be partially visible by making some portion of the roof or the floor open (chasm). The problem with having a maze open during daylight is the horizon line. In an interior dungeon, everything fade to black, but outside, there is no such fading to back. Different solutions I found so far:

A: Make the background have a thick blurred horizon line like if it was a very distant wall. Or just draw a line of walls and blur it.

B: Create a fog effect, the further away, the more it dither to white or gray. Arcana on the SNES used this:

https://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/cf_vods/d1m7jfoe9zdc1j/306bf918e03e26c9eecd...

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Sat, 04/13/2024 - 17:12
#10
questccg
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Wow ... That actually looks COOL!

Neat! That Maze Generation Page has some pretty decent samples. I guess you are thinking more like GENERATION over DESIGNED mazes. Games like M&M:4 all had PRE-DESIGNED levels. So you would always have the SAME adventure. In your case, I understand you want DYNAMIC mazes. I'm more the FPS type of designer in which I would DEFINE the maze once and the create the Levels given some kind of LEVEL Editor...

That Sky / Horizon Clouds looks good too! That's a good way to make the maze and Horizon "collide" and form what seems to be clouds in the distance. Seems like a good idea too...

You really have done a lot of research for this project!

Which is neat because you seem to have GOOD IDEAS. And that's important when making a video game: you need to appeal to the gamers. And from what I've seen in terms of working on the Video Game (and tools) you're doing a good job!

Keep it up and let us know when you have a finished product or more to show!

Regards.

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Sun, 04/14/2024 - 07:33
#11
larienna
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Lately, I have been having a

Lately, I have been having a lot of board game idea since I focus more on solo games.

Development is fun, but at this step, only working on engines can be kind of boring. So once a while I try to make a prototype and play it. Like I said in the past, the main objective is to entertain myself, so I need to make the development process fun to experience.

I think the only near complete game that I had so far was my stock market game, but I had balance issues I was trying to fix the most elegant way. Maybe I should work to finish this game in the months to come. I'll need to retrain my AI with the new rules. The goal was to make a game crafter's game.

The advantage of video game development is that it's more ... how can I say this ... constructive (not the right objective). It's like building a cathedral where you can clearly see the progress of the cathedral getting built. You can see the blocks, and you can see how much has been achieved.

In board game design, it feels like there are tons of cathedral parts everywhere, but no cathedral can be seen. So it's hard to judge how much works remains, what the cathedral will looks like, etc.

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Thu, 04/18/2024 - 09:07
#12
larienna
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Questccg, in case you are

Questccg, in case you are interested, I found an example for Raylib that has some fog support. I think they are supplying the shaders for you. Good thing, because shaders are now always fun to code, unless you are doing something very simple (ex: copy a color).

https://www.raylib.com/examples/shaders/loader.html?name=shaders_fog

I also started to read my Maze Programming book and it looks very interesting. I have seen 2 simple algorithm so far, the binary tree and the side winder. They should be fairly easy to implement.

I was thinking that maybe I should be jumping into learning the D language by generating those simple mazes randomly instead of working on that poker dice game. The algo would become available for later, and it should not require sophisticated libraries if I output the content in ascii on the console which is suggested in the book. I could integrate Raylib when I want graphical output.

I am trying to do multiple hits with the same stone.

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