Archmage Rises - the play-how-you-want mage simulator - now available on Early Access

[LordYabo]

Looks interesting, are you planning to have unique events?

There are unique world events that only one can happen per game out of a deck of about 12. It happens mid game.
Is this what you mean by events?

 

[LordYabo]

Just make sure it doesnt end up feeling pointless. Happens far too often in RNG dependant games. Playing for the sake of playing can be cool, but it will end up tiring players fast, so add a point. Maybe RNG quests based on the character creation. Like tracking a long lost sibling, dethroning a an evil king via murder or stirring up a rebellion, claiming a crown, taking revenge against a high ranking official backed up by an emperor, stopping a demon invasion, hunting down a family of powerful vampires.

Have all of them and more be an option at character creation, this gives your player a goal and a motivation for their characters, and it provides a context to your actions. They dont need to be super complex, just need to be there.

Interesting ideas. My favorite simulators (Capitalism 2 and Tropico 1) have you pick specific goals at the start and then try to achieve them. That isn't what I was thinking here, I was thinking the goals you set would be more situational as you play along and spot opportunities.

But I agree with you, one thing I don't like about open world games or crafty games like minecraft is things being pointless. I need a point, i need a win. Archmage Rises will has that.

 

[ThisNameIsFree]

Finally, and this may elate you, there is no experience points for combat. None. Nor loot. What you get for winning combat is to keep living and doing what you want.
Simply by removing the power gain reward from combat immediately takes combat from center stage (most games) and puts it back into concert with the other pieces so the game works more as an "ensemble piece".
In fact, deemphasizing combat begs the question: well what else will I do???? And the answer is EXACTLY! That's why Archmage has so much for you to do because there is so much more to being in a game world than just slaying stuff (as important as slaying stuff is).

How do you gain power in this case?
Mad experiments/conquering places of power/gear/sacrifice people/spreading religion?

 

[Tytus]

These are really good questions, do you mind if I post them on the steam discussion so others can see the answers?

I don't mind. I'm just glad I could help.

Early in dev I said "NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS EVER". I've since had to qualify that a bit for situations like this:
The giant spiders have a nest at a specific location on the map. The player moves through that hex. Do they encounter spiders?
Well, a hex represents about 3x3 miles, so based on the population level of the lair there should be a significant chance of having to fight giant spiders just to get through. Is THAT a random encounter? I don't think so. But to a player it may look like one. But that encounter is actually a clue to the player that this is an area populated by giant spiders and may want to investigate it further. Lairs operate like monster generators sorta like guantlet. Kill the generator, stop the flow of monsters.

Sounds cool. Will there also be a method to learn the locations of such places before visiting them? Like hearing gossip in a tavern, buying a map, having a knowledge local skill, visiting a cartographer/a huntsman, meeting other adventurers, using a scrying spell, or maybe even hearing it from your spouse? (you return home and your spouse relies the information to you becasue he/she knows you are an adventurer and she naturally tries to gather such information/gossip around town when she does her/his chores.) Of course I'm all up for exploration aspect of the game but it would be cool that because if the game doesn't take place in an undiscovered country (not a colony) some people would probably know what is going at least to some extent.

In your game world, a historical mage may have written a book with level 30 fireball in it, but not in my gameworld. So even here I've put work into making questions like "what's the best spell to use" irrelevant to ask. It also makes for different experiences on different play throughs as the overal strategy and combos change. (It's more involved than this, but this is a good summary)

Interesting, don't forget to include an armageddon spell so my Wizard can destroy the world - restarting the game from an in-universe perspective

Finally, and this may elate you, there is no experience points for combat. None. Nor loot. What you get for winning combat is to keep living and doing what you want.

Good. Combat XP is overrated anyway. But I hope that means you plan to include a lot of non-combat skills.

Simply by removing the power gain reward from combat immediately takes combat from center stage (most games) and puts it back into concert with the other pieces so the game works more as an "ensemble piece".
In fact, deemphasizing combat begs the question: well what else will I do???? And the answer is EXACTLY! That's why Archmage has so much for you to do because there is so much more to being in a game world than just slaying stuff (as important as slaying stuff is).

So can I open my own Wizard school - which could simulate settling down? You take a position in such school, push a button - time progresses you earn money from it, your relation bars with your family go up because you stopped going away for months and maybe have some encounters tied to the job. Like a rogue studen event that will later appear as an antagonist in the game. Or finding a protege you can train up and later use as an ally, if you don't have kids. Maybe even if you have kids and take a protege your Wizard son will feel betrayed and fight against you, like the ex from the trailer. Maybe even some event regarding a competing Wizard School. Like a Wizard tournament every 2-4 years in which you use your students to "battle" againt enemy students before a duke/king/emperor/grand master wizard. (In this situation - having a job - your exp either doesn't go up, or goes up really slowly - no adventure = no leveling) Of course you could leave such job at any time and return to the core gamplay.

I'm proposing something like this, because I'm a little worried that if combat doesn't give you any real rewards and is just an obstacle to overcome. The second most valube resource - gold - will become the center of the universe. If I want to survive next encounter I need better gear. To acquire gear I need gold. This may lead to people farming gold - thus grinding for gold not XP.

I'm probably full of shit and you already thought about it, though.

Short answer is: Yes!
Clearly you "get" what this game is doing. These are some really good ideas and I've just brought them to the dev team to consider because I think you said it better than I did.

Awesome. I'm considering myself part of the dev team now. I will take my payment in the form of you finishing the game.

 

[Kaldurenik]

Looks interesting, are you planning to have unique events?

There are unique world events that only one can happen per game out of a deck of about 12. It happens mid game.
Is this what you mean by events?

Yes both unique events that can happen while you travel both major ones or minor ones. Where you have choices on how to handle these situations.

For example i travel along the road and i encounter bandits. Are there multiple ways to handle them? Do they depend on some kind of stats if they do? If i play the game again would i encounter the bandits at the same location?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Will I absolutely have to rely on magic or can I just beat everyone up?

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

looks good, would buy if it ends up fulfilling the design goals to a satisfactory degree. Extra points for including Gold Box D&D, that pushed me over the top to vote 'Yes".

Good luck; hope you finish it- look forward to playing.

 

[V_K]

Are there spells to summon allies? Or is it always just your mage against whoever?
What about the character system and build variety?

 

[ArchAngel]

Let me clarify what I mean by "unwikiable":
A game where you can't go to the internet to get the answer of what to do or how to solve the problem.
Every world is randomly generated, so there is no way to know if this noble will betray you or not.
Every quest is randomly generated, so there is no way to see where to go to get the quest item.
Even the history of your world is randomly generated which affects some of the parameters of your game. For instance, the availability and power of spells are different from game to game. In your game world, a historical mage may have written a book with level 30 fireball in it, but not in my gameworld. So even here I've put work into making questions like "what's the best spell to use" irrelevant to ask. It also makes for different experiences on different play throughs as the overal strategy and combos change. (It's more involved than this, but this is a good summary)

It would be cool if you attached this randomness with seed numbers. And let players put a seed number into start of game and always get same world and with same quests and same items. So people can share their fun world with friends or something.

Also please implement a teleport spell into the game. I love that in M&M games.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

The Greenlight page describes the game as a Raistlin Majere simulator, but from looking at this video I'd say it has a bit of Rance in it as well.

If the dev is here reading this, pls go full Rance and let Archmage be a slavemancer.

Ya, someone pointed me to this thread, so thanks guys!
Yes, you can enslave people. Sell em or force them to work for you.

lol, this game's Greenlight trailer is a must-watch:



The Greenlight page describes the game as a Raistlin Majere simulator, but from looking at this video I'd say it has a bit of Rance in it as well.

Rance Majere Simulator. You have my vote.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

there is no experience points for combat. None. Nor loot. What you get for winning combat is to keep living and doing what you want.
Simply by removing the power gain reward from combat immediately takes combat from center stage (most games) and puts it back into concert with the other pieces so the game works more as an "ensemble piece".

That's a big incentive to load every time you stumble upon a random fight.
And will give meta feelings of dread, followed by boredom if you decide to actually fight. No carrot at the end of the fight sounds like a bad idea.

That's what Pillars got criticized for in the beta when there was no combat XP, and even Sawyer had to concede this point and made those creature discovery xp points in the end.

 

[Perkel]

Rance Simulator 2016.

You have mu pe.. vote !

 

[Durwyn]

To be honest I don't know what's with hate for combat XP. It's just taking fun from players and any incentive to fight whatsoever.

In that case, when exactly do you earn XP in your game ? After succesfull usage of a skill, event completion, learn-by-use ? If the game was quest-based and it would give XP only for completed quests, that would make some sense. Otherwise it's illogical.

 

[Norfleet]

That's a big incentive to load every time you stumble upon a random fight.
And will give meta feelings of dread, followed by boredom if you decide to actually fight. No carrot at the end of the fight sounds like a bad idea.

Maybe this can mean the death of another thing: The random fight. Why are we always in so many random fights? How many random fights have you ever been in? Hell, I was in the business of getting into fights for a living, and not ONCE did I ever get in a "random fight". Random fights should not really be a thing. It takes a seriously deranged person to just get into random fights.

 

[Durwyn]

I've never met orcs on my way to job either.

 

[Canus]

Is that the fucking Arcanum music for the first second of that trailer?

 

[Haba]

Really liking what I see so far. It is an extremely solid premise and I loved the greenlight video.

Couple of approaches I'd take, if I was making the game myself.
- (series of) Story events triggered by player actions (from Kichikuou/Sengoku Rance). Basically you have a premade pool of things that can happen in the story, depending on what choices the player makes. I.e. you can choose to pursue a certain end game goal, making some factions stand against you. You can maintain a degree of non-linearity and dynamism (if a character gets killed while their story is actively playing, it simply won't be told) but still have a meaningful events happening and means to introduce new characters and antagonists.
- Deeper wife/advisor/golem etc. interaction in your tower (from Dragon Commander). Since this is a one man show, you'll probably have limited resources to spend in writing. I think leaving most of the deeper interactions to certain characters that you have to choose to pursue is a good way to apply a bit more depth, while still leaving a good degree of replayability. You can still leave the dynamically generated characters in towns as they are, but simply have a select few characters that have their own stories (with c&c to influence the way they end up)
- Ways to do some radical things with magic (that change the map permanently, warp or eliminate certain factions etc.)

I realize that more writing is at odds with your random generation approach, but even a tiny amount of "extra" writing would help to make the characters feel more alive and your actions more meaningful.

 

[LordYabo]

How do you gain power in this case?
Mad experiments/conquering places of power/gear/sacrifice people/spreading religion?

It's a long answer, but here is the quick version:
Your spell effects are driven by your power in that spell school. You increase your spell school power through items, books, research, equipment, and trainers.

Your description is accurate in that you gain in power by DOING STUFF.

 

[Lhynn]

Btw, will it have character creation? or complete will it be?

 

[adrix89]

- Ways to do some radical things with magic (that change the map permanently, warp or eliminate certain factions etc.)

I am not saying to steal Dominions magic and artifacts, but blatantly steal it. Also no self respecting mage has no summons. But the current system doesn't seem to be set up like that, maybe have in addition to the 3 rows an additional summoning row that is where your mage standing but the summons can also go forward?
Also maybe have something like familiars that are not that powerful in combat?

Heroes of Might and Magic map locations might also be interesting where you can collect random magic spells or artifacts or have other interesting effects.
Thea: The Awakening also has an interesting skill system and challenges, and its fairly similar to your game, you can get a lot of ideas and feedback from that game.

I was also thinking about a game like this and have some key ideas about design:
Have independent active agents. NPC like you that can do stuff and move around. They can be neutral adventurers, enemy rivals or companions that might be commanded around but like you its essential for them move about, mess with your plans and affect the world.
You can have a political simulation game on top of the base game. It can quite literally play like a strategy game only that you are not the commander but a random shmuck that messes things up, the AI would have the same actions as in a strategy game with building stuff and moving units around the map, doing sabotages and spying. It does not have to be in depth as you are not playing it but it will give the world a bit of dynamism. But don't be to cheap or otherwise it would be pointless, have some different type of units and tactics that they can employ.

Also Chris Crawford has been trying to do procedural stories for decades so he has a treasure trove of ideas, they might be a little complex but I am sure you would find something interesting.

Having Visual Novel Sprites with expressions are a good way to make your characters more alive as well as give you cues and hints about their personality and perspective. I know Oblivion barter system is an abomination but it is an interesting idea if you can implement it properly in dialog.
Another thing is that in the demos you don't have that much information about the characters, rumors could work but you need something more interesting that is more risky but you can employ tactics and stuff.
The best example I can think of is in Sorcery! 2 gambling mini-game and while you are at it you might as well check out the whole Sorcery! series as well as other CYOA games like Swordbreaker, Academagia as it has that adventure feel you are looking for, might be a bit heavy on the scenario writing if you go that route.
A gambling mini-game where you trade money for information and increase in relationships in a unguarded conversation that has more juicy bits. And of course cheat! as you are a mage but you have to really think about what you value, money or other things.
Some type of conversation combat could also be interesting maybe with factors like patience emotion/anger, Arcatera was what I was thinking about.

As for a bit of development advice, there are a lot of ideas that can go in this game and a lot of ideas that will have to be cut, you don't have to do everything at once, you can have 1.0 version of the game. My advice is leave a bit of room for expansion by leaving a solid foundation from the start and have a 2.0 version of the game, maybe as a new paid expansion, like I said a lot of ideas can go into this game and you are pretty much in uncharted territory, I don't think you will ever exhaust what you are able to do with this game. Most successful Indie developers live on their expansion packs.

Now for a bit of criticism. The barter system shown in the demo is bad. Its not interesting. Its pointless busywork, either make it a opportunity for real dialog to exchange information and rumors about the situation and economy like I talked about above or cut it.
Its not X amount. Its X amount because there have been bandit attacks. Its X amount because I am your friend so as a friend I get a discount. Its X amount and I'll put in a rumor to go with it. It's X amount and I will also sell/buy this for Y amount. It X amount with a Bless spell casted on top.
So its X amount because something Y,Z and Q.
In fact in this game you should think in terms of four resources: wealth(money, items, tradable assets), status/reputation/relations , magic and information. And all of them should be a challenge to get.

 

[JoKa]

Looks interesting, voted.
Putting a demo out there to generate more interest for the pre-order is a must.

 

[LordYabo]

Love the thread, keep it coming. We're currently at a show, have to expo in a few hours, and demo doesn't work yet.
Anything you post here will be read and responded to, as we can, while at the show.

 

[Kaldurenik]

Are there any spells that will have a major impact on the world / story?
How powerful is magic in the setting could a mage or a few mages level a mountain if they got together?

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Voted on Greenlight. Looked at your post from the other place about leaving the mobile market behind, I hope this works out for you, game looks interesting

 

[Smashing Axe]

There's so much potential in this game. Voted.

Have you considered adding non-age related ending/victory conditions? For instance could I become a lich, having spent my life honing my knowledge of necromancy, researching arcane rituals, saving up enough coin to build a phylactery and collecting the souls of newborns? Or achieve fire elemental apotheosis by eating the heart of a phoenix? Players wouldn't necessarily have to go for these endings, or know about them, and different ones could only be possible for certain world iterations. You could have a large collection of rituals that the computer picks from each time a new game is started and the player would need to discover what is possible and quest towards fulfilling the conditions if they so choose. In some ways they could be meta-quests, by no means obligatory but really world secrets. To do the ritual of Infernal Transmutation you might need to find the artifact of Nignanog, learn the truth about the Xenophon War, find a complicit noble willing to round up a bunch of peasant sacrifices and steal the Ruby of King Bob.

After all, D&D is littered archmages who have transcended their mortality and become NPCs waiting around to mess up adventurers. A stepping stone to something greater.