[ Eluria - (non-combat) Puzzle Adventure Game ]

[Jamitter 0]

 

* Seeking limited help, read appropriate section *

* This thread will be a WIP over the next few days (aka I'll post fancy "Storyline!" "Gameplay!" words later, as well as a logo that a buddy of mine is working on), so understand that! *

* Also: we're in the bugtesting phase of much of the game, and are well aware of some graphical issues (those being our main bugs).. like in the first screenshot. We're well aware of this. *

 

I. Gameplay

If you're to understand one thing about Eluria, it's that it is a puzzle adventure game that includes no, or limited combat. The idea is to focus on...

 

A.Puzzles

 

 

Eluria won't be easy. The largest chunk of playtime within the game is spent trying to solve its various puzzles.. not jigsaw puzzles or anything simple like that, fully immersing puzzles that you see, for example, in the Zelda series. Pushing blocks, sliding ice blocks, finding keys, hitting switches, raising / lowering water levels... as well as riddles, mazes, and much, much more (I don't have the list handy, buddy does, will update this later). This section is a WIP.

 

B.Plot

 

 

Main character: Redd, a 13, and eventually 18 year-old boy.

Intro setting: The City of Graystone.

 

A bit about Graystone; it's a very prosperous city, with high walls, and not a single entrance / exit except for the port. It is a completely self-sufficient city with a hefty market district and a farming area - but the majority of their supplies come in via boats to their dock. No one but the sailors ever leave or enter. It's been over 10 generations since anyone who wasn't a sailor came into the city. The city is run by King Wallace, who typically only shows his face to the public during the Festival of the Spirits.

 

You start the game as a 13-year old boy who wakes up to a long-time friend rushing you out of bed to go and participate in Graystone's (the very prosperous city you live in) annual scavenger hunt for the youth of the city. On your way out, you realize your parents aren't home for some strange reason.

 

At any rate, you don't question it. This is the first year you'll be able to participate, as the minimum age is 13. After (naturally) placing first in the competition, you are awarded, as with every year, one ticket to attend the Festival of the Spirits within Graystone Castle - a very exclusive event that, typically, only rich people can attend - except for the 1 person who wins the scavenger hunt.

 

One day (and several quests) later, you are at the festival. The king strides in with his many guards and the socializing starts. At this point, you're quite frazzled as to the location of your parents - but you know a friend of theirs is at the party somewhere and can tell you where they're at. Once you meet him, he is startled at your presence.

 

"What are you doing here? Don't know you about your parents? I thought they got you, too!"

 

He goes on to explain that your parents were exiled from the fair city of Graystone for 'illegal' business, and he insists you leave the city at once - and that he'd explain more at the dock.

 

"You won't get past the guards at the front gate, I overheard they're looking for you, go out the garden entrance!"

 

At this point you go through an avoiding-the-guards by ducking around objects sequence, much like in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time just before you meet the princess as a child. Think that, but 3x bigger and pretty difficult.

 

Once you reach the end you find a tunnel that leads to the port. Your parents friend whom you met at the party awaits you and explains that he is the captain of the cities main import-export vessel and that if you return to the city, you'll be captured and thrown out of the city to die. He tells you your best option is to go with him on the ship. You do.

 

Once the ship takes off for the first time he fills you in on the state of the country.

 

"Graystone is a stronghold of prosperity, no doubt, but that the consequences of that are as much as 99.9% of the countries profit (both financially and in terms of food / exports) are being sent to Graystone alone and the fortunate 1% of the country that live there. The other 99% of the population are left in rancid, starving conditions and are barely surviving.

 

So why, you ask, don't the outside population try to overthrow Graystone and King Wallace? Simply because when the idea of Graystone began, the Thanes of the country procrastinated. They didn't attempt to overtake Graystone while it was vulnerable, and now they can't for two reasons;

A) They aren't strong enough. The Thanes don't get along with eachother and thus the already weak seperated parts of the country are even weaker, since they can't get along... and,

B) The King's heavy influence throughout the country. He has dispatched a "Bloodguard" to ensure that nearly ALL supplies, whether farmed, mined, or otherwise created are sent to Graystone. The Bloodguard are everywhere. This is the reason the outside colonies are starving and barely making it through the winters every year.

 

The worst part? The citizens of Graystone have no idea. Only key figures in the city, as few as 10 in the entire city, myself included, have any idea that there even IS an outside world since this has been going on so long. The only regular citizens who would remember anything would be long dead, the city being founded 10 generations ago. You kids aren't told about the outside world, you think our entire country is this city... but that isn't the truth. Your parents were trying to help the outside world. They falsified shipping documents, and even smuggled an orphan or two inside the city. They were caught, and they were exiled from Graystone two days ago, without even getting a chance to say goodbye to you."

 

Think; Sprawling utopia, where its inhabitants have no idea that their good-fortune is coming at the cost of thousands of lives throughout the rest of their country - something they don't even know exists. And one very, very bad King to make sure they don't know whats going on, and to ensure his wonderland remains just-so.

 

For the next 5 years (various small on-the-ship quests / mini-games including cannon-use, hoisting sails, etc) you live on the ship until you're 18, and on one of your routine visits to a port, the captain - now a strong father figure to you, tells you its time to start your own journey. To find your parents, primarily.

 

This is where the specifics of the story get smaller, since it's still being discussed. Basically, you'll go off on your own somewhere in the country, find your parents, and find out that they're planning on trying to unite all of the divided Thanes of the country, all of whom's land is full of dying citizens and ruthless Bloodguard, and make them work together for the first time in order to bring down Graystone, and spread the wealth and happiness across the country, rather than centralizing and privatizing it as it has been for over 100 years. Once you do a large puzzle filled dungeon in each climate, for each respective Thane, you will have a force strong enough to overtake Graystone - and what happens after that is a secret :)

 

C.Mini-games

 

 

Various things such as races, stealth-sequences (don't get caught by the guard / spotlight), memorization sequences, and many-more. This section is a WIP.

 

 

D.Exploration

 

 

Expect large, open-world areas FULL of secrets. We're talkin' a secret grove / tunnel / dungeon / hole / anything else you can think of thats.. you know... secret... on almost every map. A fast-travel system will be put in place between major areas, and the world will be pretty large in general. This section is a WIP.

 

E.Quests

 

 

This section is pretty major. In a game without combat, we're relying on heavy story and a lot of exploration / item retrieval / item delivery / PUZZLE quests to fill up the gameplay hours. This section is a WIP.

 

II. Screenshots!

 

 

 

 

III. Help us!

 

 

Filling a game with playtime will be tough without any combat creating gametime on its own - so we're relying on puzzles that take thought and trial-and-error to solve. We can only come up with so many puzzles by browsing the internet and using our own ideas, so we're asking if any of you have puzzles you feel like posting, feel free! PM them to me or just reply in a thread, and we'll discuss them and possibly put them in the game for you. Then you'll be listed in the credits, and we'll be forever grateful!

 

Current developers:

Latros (Overall Developer) (AKA Sam)

Jamitter (Overall Developer) (AKA Matt)

Cwall (Story) (AKA Cwall)

 

Credits thus far:

Marked, for his torch / flashlight effect used in many of our dungeons.

A link to his tutorial - use it :) Thanks Marked!

[Dark Den 4]

Seems like a fun game

[madanchi 18]

wow, that agme sounds interesting, adventure puzzle games can be very good, so hope it goes well :)

[FranklinX 37]

The game looks very good. It is interesting to see how this non-combat game will work. Your maps look pretty good as well.