Dust is a 2D RPG I'm currently developing in my spare time. In general everything so far has been built 'from scratch' and is in a state of flux as I continue to explore how various parts of the game will work best.
For Dust I wanted the emphasis to be
story,
exploration, and
environmental survival themes, mixed with a lot of
traditional RPG elements: turn-based combat, detailed item management, and skill leveling. Some of the icons and artwork that can be seen in the update video below are placeholder and will be replaced, though most of it has also been created by myself specifically for the game.
Dust is very much inspired by some of the older tile-based RPGs I played when I was younger such as
Realmz (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realmz) and the
Exile series by Jeff Vogel (
http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/productsOld.html) and my hope is that I can possibly create a few unique hybrid mechanics by also rolling in various aspects of other classic games like the original
Oregon Trail (
https://archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990).
It is very much a work-in-progress but feedback is welcome. Thanks for checking it out!
Concept / GoalsThe idea behind Dust is to incorporate several gameplay elements that I've always wanted to explore mixing together:
- Open world adventure, non-linear plot; encourages exploration
- Oregon Trail-like travel mechanics where resource management and trip planning are essential to survival
- Meaningful environmental effects (weather and time of day play significant role)
- Classical party-based RPG with leveling, skill trees, and detailed item management
- Tactical turn-based combat
ChallengesThe biggest challenge right now is working with limited time resources. Aside from that I am also actively looking for reliable artists to commission for a few specific areas of the game, player and NPC portraits and combat icons being the biggest one. This is not a super high-priority at the moment though since there is still so much work left to do.
Early Development Preview VideoWebsiteI haven't yet created a website specifically for Dust yet, but my plan is to maintain a devblog on my personal website here:
http://sound-of-silence.com/?article=20170201Completion / StatusA few of the more presentable areas of the game are shown in the video, but in general significant groundwork has been laid in the following areas:
- Combat (targeting, basic AI, movement, looting)
- World exploration (map, terrain, weather, time, camping, encounters, and map editing)
- Item management (equipping)
- Bartering / Trade
- Encounters, dialogue, and world events
I've got a fairly hefty ToDo list which I'm working on organizing so that I can use it as part of any updates posted here. Thanks again for reading. Cheers
Community
