Godfall: The Lord Savant and the College of Mages
Jun 21st
The College of Mages is an old and venerated institution, and the battle mages they train have helped to turn the tide of battle and safeguard civilization for hundreds of years. But when the gods fell, so too did the College. It was initially thought that none had survived.. until the Lord Savant made his triumphant re-appearance.
In the years since, he has rebuilt the institution, and taken a personal hand in the instruction of a new generation of mages. Many end up in the Companies, where their rare skills can best be used. As ruler of the rebuilt city of Savantine, the Lord Savant is a mysterious and influential figure. Though the Clerics distrust him, he is a powerful ally in the fight for survival.
Lost in Translation
Jun 3rd
The past week or so has (unfortunately) been spent trawling through the hideous innards of Book of Dread, prepping it for localization after I signed a deal with a foreign-language portal.
This is bad news in the sense that no new work has been done on Godfall, but good news in that it helps me fund it. Hope to get back to my lovely new engine soon.
Godfall: Combat Mechanics I
May 21st
In the wake of the skills post, I thought I would shed a little light on some of the combat mechanics changes in Godfall. This is only a sample, there are other large (and potentially controversial) changes I’m not ready to talk about yet.
Another Birthday
May 12th
Monsters’ Den: The Book of Dread was released two years ago today. That simultaneously feels like forever ago, and only yesterday. Thank you everyone for your part in making it a success.
Monsters’ Den Geniuses: I Need Your Skills
May 10th
Alright guys: Tell me about the skills in Book of Dread.
What are the best / worst skills for each class? Which are essential, and which are useless? Share your thoughts or links with me in the comments.
At the point where I’m designing the skill system for the next game, it’s useful to have as many outside perspectives as possible on this.
Statistics. Or, “how many codes?”
May 6th
Earlier today my brother pointed me at this neat little plugin for FlashDevelop, so I’ve been compiling some statistics from my various projects.
The first Monsters’ Den is built from 21,091 lines of ActionScript.
The more advanced expansion/sequel, Book of Dread, ran to 30,024 lines of code.
The game I made with EA, Dragon Age Journeys, has a whopping 58,667 lines.
My new project, Monsters’ Den: Godfall, is currently at.. 11,509 lines. It’s much more efficiently written than the old Monsters’ Den engine but still, I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Godfall: The Cult of the Outward Path
Apr 27th
The Cult is an old organization, with a history reaching back hundreds of years before the Godfall. Since then, however, their numbers have swelled. They believe that better worlds exist, if one can only master the knowledge and self-discipline needed to reach them. In a shattered world strewn with the corpses of gods, this idea has found growing support.
The Cult also provides a rare opportunity to escape the oppression of the clerics. It is one of the very few sects able to provide genuine protection from the demonic to its followers: the powerful Cult Magis, in their study of Planar magic, have discovered a way to seal a person’s soul.
Utilizing the lumbering constructs known as Nexus Engines, the Magis constantly poke and prod at the boundaries of reality. This sometimes ends badly, as most realities are not nearly as hospitable as the Cult implies to potential members. Many Magis have learnt to call forth creatures from these nightmare planes, to serve them on the battlefield.
The elite of the Cult are the Enlightened: humans who have crossed the veil and returned, changed. They are seldom seen, and almost nothing is known about their true nature or motivations.
Godfall: Relics
Apr 16th
There are many changes and new concepts in the Godfall item model. One of these is the relic bonus. Several different types of item can have relic bonuses, including equipment.
The Company Keep has a certain number of slots for holding items in the Reliquary. These can be rare items or trophies you feel deserve pride of place. For more tangible benefit, you can place items with relic bonuses to passively confer the bonus to the active party or even the whole company, depending on the bonus type.
Forum
Apr 14th
By request, I’ve added a forum plugin on a trial basis. I’m not sure how well it works, or if it’s even set up correctly, so if you use it let me know.
Company Emblem
Apr 6th
When you create your new mercenary Company in Monsters’ Den: Godfall, you’ll be asked to create a Company Emblem to represent them. Here’s your first look at the emblem design screen.
The emblem you create will appear in various places in (and outside) the game. Combined with the ability to enter a custom name, no two Companies need be exactly alike.
This is the first actual screenshot from the game. Please bear in mind that it’s early days, and almost everything you see here will change before release.