ÆVINTÝRI [eye-vin-tear-ee] is a 2D action-rpg, with platformer elements, set in a Dungeons and Dragons style fantasy environment, where anything is possible.
The main goal is to make it play slightly like an arena shooter where, in-between the exploration and story, you will come across closed off areas where you will be swarmed by fairly large amounts of the various creatures that inhabit the area. This will be done in a "dungeon" style ,which wont necessarily have to be dungeon in the dark underground cave sense, they can also be forest or mountain scenes or even the inside of a building. Some of them even ending in major boss fights, and they all will of course reward you with the appropriate riches for making it through to the end.
One of my biggest hopes is to try to be able to hand-crafted towns and enviroments while making some of the dungeons randomly generate each time you enter one. I have no experience with this so I'm not going to get my hopes up, but I am going to research the idea and give it my best shot.
Races
I have in my mind at the moment, three playable races, all of which will also be npc and enemy races as well. I may or may not add more races as playable later on, but I'm not really going to worry too much about that this early on.
Satyr-
The Satyr are the most fleshed out race currently and are vaguely inspired by the goat-men of Greek and Roman mythology.
Usually a fair bit taller than the average human, these are strong broad shouldered humanoids with typically "human" skin tones and matching fur that ranges from grays and browns, to dark reds. Their horns can grow many ways from curled around to straight back and usually range from 10 to 20 inches, but its not unusual for them to longer or shorter.
Culturally, the Satyr are an angry broken species. The current age only leaves them a generation past a mass epidemic. A disease spread across the world which caused the almost literal rotting of bone in the still living victims, leaving them in crippling pain and eventual death. Coupled with the fact that early symptoms of the disease result, which effected even those who managed to survive, in the permanent loss of the horns and ultimately any pride that a member of the species has for themselves. This all caused a near extinction of the Satyr, and because "Bone-Rot" effected only them, they saw it as a spiteful curse from the gods. When the disease was finally beaten and passed, the Satyr were left broken and scattered. Culture wide atheist beliefs spread quickly, and to this day there are almost no Satyr left with any affinity to the deities. They are left as nomads. Some turned to crime as pirates and highwaymen, others traders or mercenaries. Very few major Satyr civilizations are left, most never stay in one place for long or have merely merged with the humans.
One major thing to be born out of this extreme social change was the newly formed grasp to music. Bardic magic was uncommon at the time and the Satyr picked up what existed and turned it on its head. A form of primal music was born using sets of drums and lutes with various spells cast upon them. Think basically, heavy metal or punk music done in medieval times. This rise, thought not always popular, is one of the only thing that keeps this race holds as a cultural likeness.
Mindflayer-
The Mindflayer are inspired largely by the Dungeons and Dragons race by the same name, though do not share all the same traits. The name will most likely change later on.
The Mindflayer are around the same average high of humans though extremely light in build. They look frail, and though they aren't as strong or sturdy as humans or satyr, they are capable of being skilled warriors. They are a very organized and intelligent race, centered around a group of elders that are said to be unnaturally old and can speak with the gods.
Their main claim to fame are their mental abilities, notably their slight hive-mind. Though they can't necessarily read each others minds, they do have complete and instant understanding of emotions and intentions with the only limitation of needing to be close enough to link. They have even developed an attachment to a species of sentient cat-sized dragon that have a similar mental connection to the Mindflayer. Though its hard to tell, they are not pets, more along the lines of a spellcaster's familiar.
The Mindflayer focus strongly on magic and alchemy, as well as heavy use of weapon and armor enchantment to make up for their weaker and more frail builds.
-Mindlayer will probably play best as spellcasters, alchemists, and assassins.
Humans-
I don't have much figured out about the humans yet. I'm having trouble deciding how much of an "original" take I want to try to make on them.
As of right now they are a fairly balanced people, not as strong as the Satyr and not as magically inclined as the Mindflayers, but with the benefits of being much more creative and adaptive. They tend to mix in with the other races, with only a few major human cities scattering the world. A lot of them have taken on the nomadic lifestyles of the Satyr, and a select few have even made it into the monk-like temples of the Mindflayer. Most just live as common folk, following their religious beliefs and the word of their mortal kings, whom squander and bicker over throne and crown like the real royalty of the medieval ages.
-Humans will most likely play the strongest "hybrid" classes, ie..Spellswords, gunslingers. As well as being balanced with basically any play style.
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Usually a fair bit taller than the average human, these are strong broad shouldered humanoids with typically "human" skin tones and matching fur that ranges from grays and browns, to dark reds. Their horns can grow many ways from curled around to straight back and usually range from 10 to 20 inches, but its not unusual for them to longer or shorter.
Culturally, the Satyr are an angry broken species. The current age only leaves them a generation past a mass epidemic. A disease spread across the world which caused the almost literal rotting of bone in the still living victims, leaving them in crippling pain and eventual death. Coupled with the fact that early symptoms of the disease result, which effected even those who managed to survive, in the permanent loss of the horns and ultimately any pride that a member of the species has for themselves. This all caused a near extinction of the Satyr, and because "Bone-Rot" effected only them, they saw it as a spiteful curse from the gods. When the disease was finally beaten and passed, the Satyr were left broken and scattered. Culture wide atheist beliefs spread quickly, and to this day there are almost no Satyr left with any affinity to the deities. They are left as nomads. Some turned to crime as pirates and highwaymen, others traders or mercenaries. Very few major Satyr civilizations are left, most never stay in one place for long or have merely merged with the humans.
One major thing to be born out of this extreme social change was the newly formed grasp to music. Bardic magic was uncommon at the time and the Satyr picked up what existed and turned it on its head. A form of primal music was born using sets of drums and lutes with various spells cast upon them. Think basically, heavy metal or punk music done in medieval times. This rise, thought not always popular, is one of the only thing that keeps this race holds as a cultural likeness.
-Satyr will most likely benefit for warrior and ranger type characters, as well as heavy bonuses to bardic magic.
Mindflayer-
The Mindflayer are inspired largely by the Dungeons and Dragons race by the same name, though do not share all the same traits. The name will most likely change later on.
The Mindflayer are around the same average high of humans though extremely light in build. They look frail, and though they aren't as strong or sturdy as humans or satyr, they are capable of being skilled warriors. They are a very organized and intelligent race, centered around a group of elders that are said to be unnaturally old and can speak with the gods.
Their main claim to fame are their mental abilities, notably their slight hive-mind. Though they can't necessarily read each others minds, they do have complete and instant understanding of emotions and intentions with the only limitation of needing to be close enough to link. They have even developed an attachment to a species of sentient cat-sized dragon that have a similar mental connection to the Mindflayer. Though its hard to tell, they are not pets, more along the lines of a spellcaster's familiar.
The Mindflayer focus strongly on magic and alchemy, as well as heavy use of weapon and armor enchantment to make up for their weaker and more frail builds.
-Mindlayer will probably play best as spellcasters, alchemists, and assassins.
Humans-
I don't have much figured out about the humans yet. I'm having trouble deciding how much of an "original" take I want to try to make on them.
As of right now they are a fairly balanced people, not as strong as the Satyr and not as magically inclined as the Mindflayers, but with the benefits of being much more creative and adaptive. They tend to mix in with the other races, with only a few major human cities scattering the world. A lot of them have taken on the nomadic lifestyles of the Satyr, and a select few have even made it into the monk-like temples of the Mindflayer. Most just live as common folk, following their religious beliefs and the word of their mortal kings, whom squander and bicker over throne and crown like the real royalty of the medieval ages.
-Humans will most likely play the strongest "hybrid" classes, ie..Spellswords, gunslingers. As well as being balanced with basically any play style.
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Other than this I have a few more generalized ideas that may or may not happen depending on resources, time, and ability.
-The player will start with an owned shack in the slums of whatever central city the game takes place in. This can be used to store items and also houses the equipment for item enchantment, alchemy, and other stuff. Once certain skills and stats reach certain levels, you will be given the ability to upgrade your home and move to another part of the city. If you play as a caster you will eventually end up with a wizards spire, if you play as a warrior you will end up with a viking style mead hall. These will give the player specific benefits.
-I really hope to try and put together random generated dungeons, but this is a far fetched hope. I want a bit of emphasis on the "arena" type dungeon runs and boss fights. Basically a story driven, but heavily combat based, action-platformer.
-other stuff...
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This game is extremely ambitious for someone that hasn't done much more than a ton of prototyping, and I have a terrible case of feature creep, but I am trying to stay fairly realistic to my abilities. The kicker being that I'm attempting this in GameMaker, but to defend myself a bit I am making it sound much bigger than it really is.
I do have ideas for various "stages" of the game that I would like to reach in order to keep myself on track. Starting with reaching the point of a small map arena fighter using a pre-chosen character with basic stats, then moving from there to a quest system with multiple maps and so on.
As of right all I have finished is a menu system that I'm re-writing to make more stable, and a bunch of unused art. Progress isn't fast, I am a college student after all, but I've managed to keep going with the same project for a while now.
If you managed to read all this...fantastic! Thank you! Opinions would be amazing, criticism would be even better. Please comment or email me or something.
-tl,dr: I'm making a game...it has some stuff in it.
-The player will start with an owned shack in the slums of whatever central city the game takes place in. This can be used to store items and also houses the equipment for item enchantment, alchemy, and other stuff. Once certain skills and stats reach certain levels, you will be given the ability to upgrade your home and move to another part of the city. If you play as a caster you will eventually end up with a wizards spire, if you play as a warrior you will end up with a viking style mead hall. These will give the player specific benefits.
-I really hope to try and put together random generated dungeons, but this is a far fetched hope. I want a bit of emphasis on the "arena" type dungeon runs and boss fights. Basically a story driven, but heavily combat based, action-platformer.
-other stuff...
___________________________________________________________________________________
This game is extremely ambitious for someone that hasn't done much more than a ton of prototyping, and I have a terrible case of feature creep, but I am trying to stay fairly realistic to my abilities. The kicker being that I'm attempting this in GameMaker, but to defend myself a bit I am making it sound much bigger than it really is.
I do have ideas for various "stages" of the game that I would like to reach in order to keep myself on track. Starting with reaching the point of a small map arena fighter using a pre-chosen character with basic stats, then moving from there to a quest system with multiple maps and so on.
As of right all I have finished is a menu system that I'm re-writing to make more stable, and a bunch of unused art. Progress isn't fast, I am a college student after all, but I've managed to keep going with the same project for a while now.
If you managed to read all this...fantastic! Thank you! Opinions would be amazing, criticism would be even better. Please comment or email me or something.
-tl,dr: I'm making a game...it has some stuff in it.
email- jsmiththree@gmail.com
twitter- @TheW3REWOLF
