RMMV Wildwood Tales

[VioletSpark]

Hey everyone, this is just a short introduction to the project I'm currently working on. I'd love to hear your opinions!

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SECTION A: SYNOPSIS

• This is a game for people who actually like the part in RPGs where you run around solving everyone's personal problems.

IMAGES/SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler

Here's a couple of concept art pieces for two of the characters.

View attachment 95054




And here's a demo of how the town changes with the seasons

SECTION B: CHARACTERS

Spoiler

• The completed game will have over fifty characters, spread across three generations.
  Each potential couple has their own unique child.
  
  It's not just your character who can experience romance: you also affect the relationships of your townspeople--
  Stoic woodsman Caleb is courting diligent, serious shopgirl Lucia. What happens if you push him together with Deina, the fearless gambler who always speaks her mind?
  
  Relationships also affect the town itself--
  Lucia is set to inherit the shop from her parents- but what if she elopes with reckless sell-sword Dominic? Who will take over the family business then?

SECTION C: STORYLINE/PLOT

Spoiler

• You are the Mayor of Wildwood Village. The entire game takes place in one small town, in one small forest.
  
  Instead of traveling to lots of different places, the town and its environs change around you.
  You'll meet lots of new people, but also see how familiar characters change as their lives progress.
  
  There are sixteen distinct story branches spanning three generations. There are countless variations within those branches, depending on your decisions.

SECTION D: SETTING AND/OR WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Spoiler

• The Royal Road has only recently been extended into the Wildwood. The village itself has just been built; its population consists mainly of orphans with nowhere to go and debtors who chose living here over going to prison.
  Although the village is new, there have been inhabitants in the woods for ages:
  The Shade- These elves have remained hidden in the forest for decades. The encroachment of your village may force a confrontation.
  Metamora- Wandering witches visit towns like traveling traders. It is rumored that they have a permanent encampment, somewhere deep in the woods.
  Astari- A mysterious yet overly-friendly group of horned beings.
  Vampires- There's no such thing as vampires.

 

[Traveling Bard]

Oooo cool idea! Sounds pretty complex with a large cast of characters & possibilities. Perhaps you'll have to break things down into lists of traits & possible events, mixing that with a timer and environment system (could be accomplished via switches or variables), and a system of branching text with choices and variables that could be impacted by those choices. Apologies, I see something like this and think "how would I do it?"

The relationship portion sounds kind of intense, particularly the npc to npc relationships that you might be able to impact. Though, I've never tried to make a game like that maybe it's easier than I think lol

I'm curious about the elves because it sounds like they are a random event that could yield positive or negative consequences. Would it all be story driven/choice driven? Ex. you piss off the elves so they kill a random member of the town and demand tribute for encroaching on their land. The town gets angry & fights OR they get scared & acquiesce to their requests. Could it spark a generation of issues with the village? They live longer so I wonder if they would see the grandchild of a person and remember their grandparent lol now that's starting to get complicated...

Will there be resources in this town that you as the mayor keep track of or is it more about the relationships between these people & their lines?

You said there were generations that you are dealing with, does the map change to show that kind of progress or are these youth to adults living in their parents' houses? Do you, the mayor, change between these generations or do you just get older and older? Are you a half elf that just lives longer?

All in all, sounds ambitious and fun. I like story/choice driven games like this and the idea of being able to impact not just my own but npc to npc relationships sounds interesting. Looking forward to see this project come along. I'd like to play it good luck!

 

[VioletSpark]

Oooo cool idea! Sounds pretty complex with a large cast of characters & possibilities. Perhaps you'll have to break things down into lists of traits & possible events, mixing that with a timer and environment system (could be accomplished via switches or variables), and a system of branching text with choices and variables that could be impacted by those choices. Apologies, I see something like this and think "how would I do it?"

Lol thank you for the detailed reply!
Yes, there's currently a day/night cycle, and seasons, along with skills and relationship values.

Through personal choices during main quests, the player ends up following one of 16 distinct storylines. Their choices during side-quests affect skills, relationships, and the composition of the town.

The relationship portion sounds kind of intense, particularly the npc to npc relationships that you might be able to impact. Though, I've never tried to make a game like that maybe it's easier than I think lol

The first generation of villagers alone have 20 different potential children.

I'm curious about the elves because it sounds like they are a random event that could yield positive or negative consequences. Would it all be story driven/choice driven? Ex. you piss off the elves so they kill a random member of the town and demand tribute for encroaching on their land. The town gets angry & fights OR they get scared & acquiesce to their requests. Could it spark a generation of issues with the village? They live longer so I wonder if they would see the grandchild of a person and remember their grandparent lol now that's starting to get complicated...

As an example:
If you end up enemies with the elves at the end of the first generation, in the second generation your town will have stronger defenses and less new residents than a town which welcomed the elves. At some point, a new threat may arise, and you'll have to decide whether to put adise your grudge and work with the elves against your common enemy, or take advantage of the threat to destroy them once and for all.

Will there be resources in this town that you as the mayor keep track of or is it more about the relationships between these people & their lines?

It's about relationships.

You said there were generations that you are dealing with, does the map change to show that kind of progress or are these youth to adults living in their parents' houses? Do you, the mayor, change between these generations or do you just get older and older? Are you a half elf that just lives longer?

You start off as a young adult, with mostly young villagers. Eventually there will be a sort of chapter ending event, and then we time skip to the next generation, where you are middle aged, and your children are young adults. When that chapter ends, we move on to the third generation, where you are now elderly, your children are middle aged, and their children are young adults.

All in all, sounds ambitious and fun. I like story/choice driven games like this and the idea of being able to impact not just my own but npc to npc relationships sounds interesting. Looking forward to see this project come along. I'd like to play it good luck!

thank you!

 

[barnzie8]

So how much of this is standard rpg vs sim city/ harvest moon? It sounds like a big game, can you handle all the eventing and other work?

 

[MMMm]

Sounds very, very ambitious. And like a lot of work. I'll be happy to bug test this game once you release a demo.

 

[VioletSpark]

So how much of this is standard rpg vs sim city/ harvest moon? It sounds like a big game, can you handle all the eventing and other work?

It's not exactly either of them. There's no combat, and there's no farming.

I have a partner helping with eventing.

Sounds very, very ambitious. And like a lot of work. I'll be happy to bug test this game once you release a demo.

Thank you! My current plan is to get the main quests of generation one finished before releasing a demo.

 

[onipunk]

Sounds pretty interesting! Unfortunately the seasonal changes just don't read well to me at all. Typically a tree whose leaves turn yellow in autumn would lose those leaves in winter and you'd be left with a lot of dead trees as a result. I'd put lots of leaf litter on the ground during autumn to show the trees losing their leaves, maybe a chimney with smoke coming out of it in winter to show that people are holed up inside with the fire on, and I'd experiment with screen tints, picture overlays and weather effects to drive the point in more. The amount of light in each season varies drastically (at least where I live, a very temperate climate edging towards cold) and there's not much light during winter at all. Sun rises at 9am and sets at 4pm in winter here, it's pretty dark so maybe having it be nighttime or overcast would help sell it more. Autumn is similarly overcast and dull, usually, not dark but lots of grey skies. For summer I would actually put a lot of flowerbeds in your town, and you can have the bulbs and shoots start to show during spring. The identical levels of lighting are what's stopping it looking like a real seasonal change, they all look like a bright summer with a pallette swap to me, and there aren't enough details to set one apart from the other. Hopefully that gives you some ideas, anyway, it's up to you whether you follow up on them of course!

 

[VioletSpark]

@onipunk Thanks for the detailed feedback! We are actually working on the day/night lighting changes right now. Trees are next.

 

[onipunk]

If it helps, I know whtdragon has a thread in the resources section with a lot of winterised RTP tilesets and stuff like leaves and flowerbeds (again in RTP style) so that might be worth a look to add some detail to the maps? Interested to see where this goes, an RPG based around social interaction with NPCs with no combat is a really neat idea!

 

[kranasAngel]

Sounds like an interesting idea, seems like a cross between Agarest and Animal Crossing which I'm loving. I'll look forward to when you release your first demo.
I like the idea of your actions having lingering consequences on the story, that'd definitely make me and probably many others inclined to replay the game and get all the endings. How long are you planning on making the game?
Social games, are fun and we don't see enough of them, I'll be cheering you on!

 

[VioletSpark]

If it helps, I know whtdragon has a thread in the resources section with a lot of winterised RTP tilesets and stuff like leaves and flowerbeds (again in RTP style) so that might be worth a look to add some detail to the maps? Interested to see where this goes, an RPG based around social interaction with NPCs with no combat is a really neat idea!

Thank you! Here's a preview of where the maps are going.

Sounds like an interesting idea, seems like a cross between Agarest and Animal Crossing which I'm loving. I'll look forward to when you release your first demo.
I like the idea of your actions having lingering consequences on the story, that'd definitely make me and probably many others inclined to replay the game and get all the endings. How long are you planning on making the game?
Social games, are fun and we don't see enough of them, I'll be cheering you on!

Thanks! Right now we're aiming for around 60 hours of gameplay.
And yeah, that's the thought behind the replayability- what can I change, and how does that change the world?

 

[onipunk]

That's a big improvement! I'd still add quite a few details if it was me but that immediately reads as autumn now, and the inclusion of the dead trees dotted around is a great one. Really good work on that one!

 

[kranasAngel]

Thanks! Right now we're aiming for around 60 hours of gameplay.
And yeah, that's the thought behind the replayability- what can I change, and how does that change the world?

I’d be careful. If your game is 60 hours, then no one is going to want to replay it, I can’t even finish something that’s 60 hours long.

Unless you meant 60 hours total including all branches in which case carry on and pretend I didn’t say anything.

 

[Kupotepo]

@VioletSpark , I think that good to give a freedom to choose for players; however, it is going to be hard work on your part. I think you should have other maps too because it makes the game less boring. You should allow the characters to visit their familiar members in a different place. Please tell us more about the gameplay, so people here can understand yours though process.
If you want people to critique your game from cutscene to cutscene, from map to map, you need to send demo here people which can playtest for you.
I hope my input helps you in some way.

 

[Jayje]

Cool Idea. I'd like to see how you pull it off. Kinda reminds me of Animal Crossing in a way.