Each year, the vassal factions must pay a tribute with gifts, weapons, women and gold to the Zenman.
Its capital city, Zalumi, has been protected by the four most powerful noble families. Those four families are the Sutherlands, the Pantelakos, the Totens and the Rileys.
One morning, Leonardo, the only child of the Sutherlands, was nowhere to be found. The news shocked the whole nation.
People freaked out by the mysterious disappearance of Leonardo, a young nobleman with unlimited potential.
Meanwhile, in the north, Martia Kingdom has been staring at Zalumi for years. The Amazailian are also lurking around from the south.
Both of them are growing tired of being a vassal nation. They are getting tired of paying tributes to the Zenman Empire.
They have been watching Zalumi like a hawk, waiting for a chance to take action.
Sources from the Iron Eagle from Zuda Kingdom revealed that Martia and Amazail have been trying to form an alliance.
If the two indeed become allies and something happens in Zalumi, they will launch an invasion to Zenman. With their powerful forces, they should reach the capital in no time.
The once great Zenman Empire is suddenly facing two big threats from both the north and south.
The conservatives in Amazail - led by Gaer Capulet, the General Eunuch - always want to maintain the status quo.
They always want a peaceful environment for economic development. They are against wars and want to maintain good relationships with neighboring countries, especially Zenman Empire.
The Amazailian conservatives obviously want to prevent the alliance between Amazail and Martia so they can prevent the war from happening. It seems that they are the only hope to stop this madness.
Inspiration
The stories and settings that influenced us are:
- Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire)
- Middle-Earth (from Lord of the Rings)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
- Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Northern Europe's tales and mythology
- Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and European medieval history
General Characteristics
✓ Jumping, lock picking, finding secret treasures (chests), solve mysteries, explore hidden caves.
✓ Scripted side-view battle system with visible opponents (no forced random encounters or invisible monsters).
More aggressive beasts are going to chase you down. The bandits obviously will approach you. Less aggressive opponents will leave you alone, unless you attack first.
✓ A more realistic spoils system that make more sense. You won't see the "heroes" broke into people's houses, open chests and take the gold away right in front of the owners. Beasts and some monsters don't drop gold. In this game, they drop body parts instead. You can sell body parts for some quick money or save it to build weapons/armors in the shops.
You won’t see any chest in a public place and people around doesn’t even bother to get it. You won’t see any chest in jungles, deserts. Other types of reward are available. We’re trying to make everything a bit more realistic and get rid of some common annoyances in a J-RPG.
✓ The game features a loosely and flexible classes system. The game focuses on characters, every character is unique and different from each other, depends on their figure, appearance, schools, profession, orientation and career path, as well as fighting style and cultural background.
✓ Grinding is unnecessary. All you need to do to win this game is to be careful with each decision, look out for quests and secrets, managing your money wisely and using your skills, potions and items precisely.
✓ Different mechanics on Gameover. You won't lose your progress.
We're trying to make this game and other games in the series unique and different from other RPGs in the market. We have made many little tweaks to make it different from other RPGs and hopefully better experience for you.
Specific Gameplay Features
✓ There are tools and gadgets for exploring secrets and finding treasures.
✓ A more diverse and non-linear boulder system for puzzles. You need some strength to push the boulder. You'll need more strength to pull it.
✓ Two simple Quest systems. One for Story Quests and one for Side Quests.
✓ A more realistic Party management system.
✓ Special treasure chests that required special tokens.
✓ Fun minigames to collect your treasures.
✓ Grinding is not necessary for level advancement. However, there are grind areas if you want to grind.
✓ Simple mining system and gathers natural resources.
✓ Advance scripted jumping systems.
✓ Good replay value. Multiple endings. Multiple dialogues depend on various game progress and party member availability.
The endings will be decide by many variables, including multiple choices (like Visual Novels) and subtle triggers. For examples: When you go out of your house in the morning, who will you go to see first? Which house did you go to first? After you got the quest to gather the party, which party member will you come to see first?
✓ We focus on the growth of the characters, on not only levels and skills but also intelligent, maturity, confidence, mental toughness, and personality. The plots and dialogues will be managed very carefully to execute that plan.
Inspiration
- The battle system is influenced by Final Fantasy.
- The on field real-time gameplay is inspired by Zelda.
Leonardo is the only child of the Sutherlands, one of the four most powerful families in Zenman Empire.
Unlike other spoiled brats that we used to see in royal and noble families, he is a nice gentleman with kindness and compassion. He never lacks of enthusiasm. He's been groomed to be the next great nobleman.
Unfortunately, during one morning, a servant brought food to Leo's room in the Sutherlands' mansion and the young master is nowhere to be found. The Sutherlands and the Imperial Court have searched everywhere for him but have not find anything.
Rhyna is the daughter of an Amazailian noble and an Elf from Everland.
She always has a pure love for Leonardo. She isn't sure what kind of love is that, but it didn't prevent her from cling onto him and made him promised to have a big wedding with her when she grows up.
Elves sometime can be very lovely and straightforward. They don't hide their emotion like human does.
A long time ago, Rhyna's father, Frank Slade, tired of the political struggles in the Imperial Court and ran away from home. He also ran away from a pre-arranged marriage that his family forced upon him.
He traveled to Everland and met Rhyna's mother, Fydia. They eventually fell in love.
However, when Frank took Fydia home to introduce her to his family. His family freaked out because she is an Elf. Obviously, they were against this marriage.
Frank angrily left the house and swore to never return.
Frank eventually married Fydia anyway. They wandered around the world fighting corrupted officials as well as bandits and monsters. Later, Rhyna was born.
Years later, Fydia passed away because of an injury in a battle.
Frank is still taking Rhyna wandering around the world to this day. However, the death of his wife woke him up. He is unsure of their current lifestyle. He is not confident in his ability to protect his daughter.
He's been thinking about going back home to Amazail, but still reluctant due to his pride and ego. If he's really care about Rhyna's safety then he'll have to make some hard decisions.
Gaer Capulet is the General Eunuch of the Amazailian Imperial Court. He was Frank's teacher when he was younger. He taught Frank magic and the art of fighting.
Gaer single handedly defends the peace in Amazail Kingdom. He is the number one public enemy of the liberals, including the military leaders.
They want wars. Gaer wants peace.
The liberals and military leaders want wars so they can sell weapons, and so they can get huge military funds.
Gaer basically block them from making money on people's corpses. Therefore, he must die!
The liberals have been trying to assassinate Gaer for years. Nevertheless, he keeps on survive.
Some of the liberals and military leaders were also mysteriously vanished or perished.
Gaer is not a person who just stands there and doing nothing. He will retaliate.
He is a peacekeeper, but he's also one of the most dangerous person in Amazail Kingdom.
Wherever he is, wherever he goes, someone tries to murder him!
Yet, he's still here.
* An Eunuch is an official who is very close to the kings and the royal families. He helps them with day-to-day operations. Every Eunuch is either homosexual or had been castrated before they can serve the Imperial Court.
This practice is an effort to forbid the inappropriate relationships between the Eunuchs and female members of the royal families, as well as to prevent adultery and scandals in the Imperial Court.
As the General Eunuch, Gaer is the leader of all the Eunuchs in the Amazailian Imperial Court.
No one knows what her name is.
No one knows what she looks like.
Everyone refers to her simply as "The Orc Princess".
However, everyone knows her father, Murlock, the Slaughterer. He is the most feared humanoid monster in the world. He is a legendary leader and widely considered the Orc's greatest fighter of all time.
While her father locked himself inside the mountain to practice magic, she is the one who leads the Orcs and manages everything from top to bottom.
She has done everything behind the scene, therefore, no outsiders ever saw her.
There are rumors that she is hiding behind the mountains and never shows up in the public is because of her bad appearance.
People speculated that she's so ugly that she's afraid to show her real face.
The setting of this game is in Shaola, a different world in another galaxy.
Shaola is a world of love and war. It's a world of romance and power struggles between 1 empire, 8 kingdoms, 1 republic, 25 smaller factions and 4 main races.
Main human factions:
I. Zenman Empire, the largest and one of the oldest nations in the land.
II. Martia Kingdom, a nation of war and violence.
III. Ankania Kingdom, an old and weak kingdom that formerly a rival to the Zenman Empire in the past (thousands of year ago). At the present, it's widely considered the most cowardly kingdom in the world.
IV. Amazail Kingdom, deceptively the strongest and most powerful nation.
V. Zuda Kingdom & Kazen Kingdom, together, these two small kingdoms formed the Southern Double Alliance. They feeds of each other and watching each other's back. The northerners called them "The Twin Dragons of the South".
VI. Zokang Kingdom and Green Kingdom (common usage: Greendom) is located on Everland, an island on the Eastern Sea, southeast of the mainland. They have unique cultures and customs. The islanders dress differently from the mainland people. Therefore, the mainlanders called them "The Weirdoes of the Far East".
VII. Republic of Aquilon, the most civilize and technological advance nation in the world. It's an isolated country that located on the other side of the Great Desert.
In the past, there were some smaller neighboring countries but Aquilon conquered all of them, as swords and arrows have no chance against guns and bullets.
Except for Iron Eagle agents, no one from the other side of the Desert has set foot on Aquilon.
Other races:
I. Elves are well known for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the sword and bow. They are famously long-lived, capable of living much longer than the average human.
Slightly smaller and shorter than the average human, elves tend to be quicker, faster, slender and graceful, this is reflected in a bonus to Agility and a penalty to Physical Defense.
The Elves were divided into two basic groups: the Wood Elf and the High Elf.
Wood Elves are a reclusive race, preferring to the old ways of life in forests and jungles. They are conservatives who preferring old habitats in tropical woods. They are hiding and staying far away from human. Trees are their friends and wild beasts are their main source of food.
The Wood Elves have been produced some of the finest hunters, archers and bowmen. Majority of them have been living in Greendom.
A Wood Elf in Greendom.
The High Elves were once members of the Wood Elves, the original group of elves. They are liberals who decided to go live in the cities with human. Other races commonly encounter them. They're the most open and friendly of their kind. They believe in peaceful coexistences. They travel to everywhere, while Wood Elves stay in the woods.
The decision of the High Elves to leave the woods always has been controversial. Some of them have found success and happiness in serving human, even in the local government or Imperial Court. Some of them having great career as bounty hunters or mercenaries. However, others have been miserable, suffering from depression and having to endure unemployment and hunger. Some have sold themselves to the slave owners. Others have been forced into slavery.
The High Elves have been produced some of the best swordsmen in the land.
Overall, the Elves are the largest minority community in the world.
A High Elf serving a Human kingdom.
II. Dwarves are very short, but are wise and have great strength. They dwell in mountain and in the earth, and are good at smithing and mining. They are the second largest minority community.
Dwarves tend to be miners. They have a natural fascination with minerals (especially iron and gold) and feel more comfortable underground. They are much shorter and stockier than Men, Elves and Orcs. They able to withstand both heat and cold and have a longer average lifespan than the average human.
They are great metalworkers, smiths and stoneworkers. Fierce in battle, their primary weapons are hammers and have produced a lot of great axemen, but they also use many type of weapons including large crossbows, broadswords, falchions, pikes, slingshots and shields. Dwarves live in anywhere that has mountains, mines and minerals.
Dwarves don’t need to sleep as much as human do. They are diligent, hardworking and work in the mines through days and nights. All they need is few hours of resting. Consequently, dwarves are unaffected by sleep-inducing magic and effects.
While Men, Elves and Orcs generally hate each other, the Dwarves have stayed neutral. Their ultimate goal is to find their traditional ally, the Snow Palace on the Snow Mountain, a hidden and mysterious place that no one has discovered. According to ancient books, the Snow Palace are the Dwarves most trustworthy, reliable and closest ally from thousands of year ago.
"The Boss", leader of The Luxia, the world's largest international underground criminal organization. Yes, he is a Dwarf. He is also a leader of the Dwarves community. Everyone called him "The Boss" out of fears and respects. No one seems to remember his real name.
III. Orcs basically are a large group of bully. They are the third largest race of humanoid creatures, behind the Elves and the Dwarves.
They are brutish, aggressive, repulsive and generally malevolent species and generally pressed into the service of some evil powers. They are tall, big and strong who are used as soldiers, slaves and henchmen by the greater villains.
They are miserable beings, hating everyone including themselves and their masters, whom they serve out of fear. They make no positive things, but rather invent cunning devices made to hurt and destroy.
Majority of the Orcs have been led by "Murlock, the Slaughterer", a legendary leader and the Orc's greatest fighter of all time. He has claimed to united all the Orcs and fight for their freedom. He called for fellow Orcs to revolt and kill all their masters. He has even bigger ambitions to unite all minorities (Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, other monsters and demons) and declared war against the human.
Murlock and majority of the Orcs reside in Amazail.
In case you're wondering, this is a different character, not the Orc Princess. The Orc Princess' real identity is one of the biggest secrets and plot twists in the game. So, we don't want to spoil it.
FAQ
Q. What are the basic info and Minimum System Requirements?
A. Rating: Teen 13+
Type: Commercial
Price: TBD
Platform: PC
Operating systems: Windows 98 to Windows 10
Processor: 1 GHz or faster
RAM: 128 MB or more
Free space: TBD
Q. How do I get this game?
A. Once the game is ready for release, we'll go through the options and post the necessary links in our blog ( https://rpgfaction.com ).
My guess for now is the game will definitely available via itch.io. We'll also put the game on Steam Greenlight and see how it goes. Hopefully it will get greenlit.
Q. Is this game episodic?
A. No, it's not episodic. No prior experience with other games is necessary.
