[edit] I also forgot to mention that this is a Metroidvania game, and thus will tightly incorporate exploring into the gameplay.Something in my heart has compelled me to finally tell you all about my game: religiously-themed 2D platformer called New Advent. I say it's religiously-themed because I'm trying to make it adhere to and express Roman Catholic social teaching. It's called New Advent because many of the themes (e.g., capitalism vs communism) were influenced by Pope John Paul II. He coined the phrase. (I am aware that there is a Catholic website called New Advent. I asked the site owner if I could use his the name for the title of my game. He was happy to oblige.)
Now for the plot abstraction:[edit] I decided to junk the whole fringe-world idea, and just place the player within the heart of the possessed person at the beginning of the level.Basically, the game takes place inside the minds of modern-day, demonically-possessed people, whose possessions are of special cases. How does the player go inside their minds, you ask? First, the player enters the area around the possessed person's “fringe”. This fringe is a large barrier, shaped like a dome, that resides within the fringe-world” (the spiritual realm of Mother Earth outside people's fringes (I'll explain how the player enters it in a moment)). Inside the fringe is the “inner world” (i.e., the mind of the possessed). (The different inner worlds act as the dungeons in the game.) The player then enters the inner world of the possessed in search of the “ego” of the possessed, locked away by the inhabiting demon(s?). There will be… I don't know how many dungeons there will be, but there will be at least a few. I'll now explain the inner worlds (dungeons) that I've come up with thus far in just a sec, but first I need to
explain how the player can enter the fringe-world:First, the player (in this part of the game composed of two characters: a priest named Paul, and a religious sister named Dymphna (named after the patron Saint of the demonically-possessed)) is sent to an orphanage to exorcise two ~16-year-olds. The two of them, one a boy and the other a girl, are friends. The boy's case is older and more severe, yet the player is suddenly told by the Holy Spirit to exorcise the girl first. The player approaches the girl, and is suddenly take to a forest. After exiting the forest, he enter a large, expansive prairie with flowers carpeting it. The girl's fringe is inside the prairie, and the player has to go through a process to receive the key to enter her inner world. After defeating the demon inside of her and freeing her ego, the girl becomes apart of the player's party of playable characters. She has “Mother Earth” powers (I'll elaborate more on the powers in just a moment) and is able to enter the fringe-world, and she can take people into it with her. She gives the player the key to the boy's inner world, and the game continues from there into the boy's mind, and the boy becomes a playable character, too.
Now for the powers:The powers in this game are based on the classical Greek elemental system: air, water, earth, fire. Each has “alchemical” and “physical” properties. The primary and secondary properties of the elements are thus: air is primarily wet and secondarily hot, water is primarily cold and secondarily wet, earth is primarily dry and secondarily cold, and fire is primarily hot and secondarily dry. The physical properties are what you'd expect: water is wet and cold, air is cold, fire is hot, and earth is... earthy. Because two people will be playable at once (one controlled by a player, and the other controlled by the AI or another player), combos can be created by mixing one elemental power with another. The combos can combine one or more alchemical and/or physical properties from each of the two playable characters (e.g., the wetness of air plus the wetness and the coldness of water create a large ice (ice berg) attack, and the wetness of air plus the coldness and earthiness of earth create a glacier (since glaciers exist on land). The MP of the game is called Aether, and the more powerful the attack/the more properties of elements that are used, all the more Aether is used. Either each character will have his/her own Aether gauge, or there will be one big Aether gauge. Eitehr way, every character's Aether will be filled with each upgrade. Aether (and health) can be found left behind by enemies (enemies are to be discussed in the next paragraph), and Aether can be filled at special stations. I don't know as to whether I'll allow health to be filled at save points like in Metroid or not.
Now about the enemies:Most enemies are manifestations of the imagination of the possessed, and others are the visions of evil that the possessed is given by the inhabiting demon. The first class of enemy is usually inside fairly calm parts of the mind of the possessed, while the second class of enemies are usually found inside disturbed parts of the mind. The first class is often inside the disturbed part of the mind, but the second class is rarely inside calm parts of the mind.
The
weapon system is fairly straightfoward: weapons are upgraded by finding upgrades among the the dungeons. Weapons may have higher attack power, have better basic spells, or both.
For more religious references, the priest has “pillar of fire” power (reference to Exodus), the nun has “pillar of cloud” powres (also a reference to Exodus), the girl has Mother Earth powers, and the boy has Holy Water powers. Air, fire, earth, water.
Most of the
other gameplay mechanics are what you'd expect from a co-op 2D platformer: running, jumping,
and shooting, and exploring (basic spells don't use Aether, while other, more complex spells do), and whacking (the weapons are blunt). I'm trying to work out what types of weapons the characters will use, and I may get back to you on that.
That's about it for the basics. There are further elements to the story that I don't want to spoil; and there are other, more experimental gameplay mechanics that I don't want to discuss just yet. Just know that the story elements relate to Catholic social teaching, and that the gameplay mechanics aren't too conventional.
Input is strongly encouraged, and
positive feedback is greatly appreciated.
If anyone would like to work on the project,
PM or
email me, and I'll try my best to reply. Thank you for reading and for your responses!
[edit]: I decided to have the player enter the heart of the possessed, instead of the mind; as the mind is composed of both body and soul. One cannot enter the soul of a person.ONE MORE MORE EDIT: I decided to KEEP the fringe-world idea, except this time, the player starts inside the the middle of the heart of the possessed, and tries to make his way to the OUTSIDE, where he will face the residing demon, who is blocking the PATH to the fringeworld. Woo.