pcp_apocrypha

Here I am, exceedingly late and in a bit of pain. To explain just where my stuff is, well… I was on vacation for most of my break. Like, 26th until the 6th break. With this current week being filled with lots of “oh I’m busy” due to my little vacation, I now have to complete all of this on a Saturday/Sunday combo.

Including that little video I said I’d do. Oh joy. I’ll finish that I swear.

Anyways, game updates! General updates from… oh dear who knows how long it’s been. I don’t know and I’m not counting!

But, yes, I’ve been generally thinking up prototypes and stuff. It’s not the best, but it’s here and it counts.

(Also, just as a note - some of the endings of paragraphs might just be… abrupt. It’s more because I have nothing more to say than anything. This might also have a different look because I copy+pasted it all from Google Docs.)

Game Mechanics

So, lets get the big one out of the way.

These past few months, I finally got to dig into one of my now-favourite games ever, Dark Souls III. In order to summarize just what this game is, I’m gonna link my semi-recent stream of it here.

You get the general gist of the game, right? It looks easier than it is when you’re not playing it yourself, but yeah. It’s a challenging game indeed.

I think, in terms of that, my game would be mechanically similar to Dark Souls III/Bloodborne. Bloodborne is essentially the same thing as Dark Souls III with a few differences, but I don’t have the time to list them out here. Instead, I’m going to link this video from Snoman Gaming, who does a way better job of comparing the two games (and also explaining them) way better than I ever will.

So, what would I take from these games? What would I leave behind?

Well, for starters, I’d definitely take the Estus system, and mash it together with the Rally system from Bloodborne. Rally being the term they use for, as explained in my little video example, the portion of health you can regain by being aggressive. I like the reliability of the Estus, as you will always have healing, with Rally being the sort of “back-up”. I don’t think my game would have shields or guns, at least in this stage. More so because as I figure out which way to go with it, I’ll decide on the general direction. I don’t think I’d keep the parry system though - or if I did, make it a bit easier to understand. Because personally, I want my game to be challenging but fair, and for it not to require countless hours of level grinding.

In terms of pacing, which is not something the video mentioned, I think I would go more like Bloodborne. When I say pacing, I mean the general flow of the game - is it a slow game, or a fast one? I always liked the pace Bloodborne set, being that it focused more on dodging than blocking.

I’d also keep the really cool way that levels link up to one another, except I’d take it a step further. Making a connected world with few exceptions sounds… really cool to me? Like if I had the budget, making a big kingdom with differing interconnecting landscapes would be neat. Since this is my planning phase, I’ve got all the budget in the world (except I don’t, but we don’t talk about that), so that would be ideally what I do.

I’d also keep the magic system, but instead of faith, intelligence, miracles, and whatnot, it would be divided into two categories - light magic, and dark magic. Both would have various spells, and all bosses would be categorized as either “light-oriented” or “dark-oriented”. If they’re light-oriented, you bring dark magic. Same thing for the reverse. Light magic would have things like healing included in the offensive mix, with dark magic adding in offence/defence buffs to the character kit.

I don’t know… much else, yet, more so because I personally haven’t gotten all of my ideas together. Except...

I think I’d add a punishment system for various actions that are against the game system, like killing innocent NPCs or things like that. Not exactly sure what else, but I think this would be called “Anathema”. It’s a value you’d only see on your character’s stat sheet, and each time it goes up, it would “curse” you. I think that each time you’re cursed, your HP permanently goes down until you absolve this Anathema.

How, you ask? Well, if you killed an NPC, I think there would be an area right outside of the main hub (a cathedral which I will get into), which contains a graveyard. You would have to pray in front of their graves to absolve your sins. Perhaps there is an altar in the graveyard you can pray to as well? Who knows.

Either way, don’t kill the innocent. Just don’t.

Locations / Characters

On the topic of graveyards, NPCs and the like, let’s talk about locations/characters! I’ve lumped them into one category for the sake of my sanity.

In terms of locations, as I have mentioned before, I picture the main ‘hub’ to be a cathedral. I nicknamed it the Cathedral of the Seraphim, and it’s your main access point to various areas. Imagine, if you will, various places all leading back to the cathedral. After trekking through a dangerous forest, you unlock the cathedral’s garden gate. Old catacombs filled with lurking beasts takes you to an underground passage, and into one of the locked cathedral rooms. Things like that, I think, would be really cool.

They don’t overly play around with that in Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne, unfortunately. But I think it would be really cool to play around with.

In terms of actual places though outside of the cathedral, the main place would obviously be Milyra. AKA the kingdom this is all set in. Other locations I’d personally like to see are the wyvern citadel (a bunch of dragons!!! Dragon boss!!!), Giddane (it’s a snowier city of Milyra with another giant cathedral! I like cathedrals okay), and just… there’s too many to name and not enough time. Also, Reverie, an old kingdom covered by snow as well… but it’s all pretty much ruins. Which would be neat, I think.

In terms of level design, I’d definitely go with something open. I always hate the areas in Souls games where you’re stuck in some cramped hall with ten enemies right in front of you. I wouldn’t make them overly open, though, because then you’re stuck with an empty level in most cases. Instead, I’d try and strike a balance between the two, y’know?

Either way, onto characters!

Gonna tie in real quick to the part about what I’d take from the Souls series, I think I’d have a level-up lady too. Except here, she’s the high priestess of this hub area, fittingly named High Priestess Marianne. I don’t have much of an idea of her personality yet, but I think she’s the kinda typical kind woman who helps you on your journey, y’know?

… And also might be the final boss. Yep, the level lady turns on you, uses all of the stuff you’ve been collecting for her, and ascends to become a demon lord. I thought it would be a cool twist on the formula.

I’m not so sure what the collectables would be yet, but I’ve also had the idea for a trader named Liliana. She’ll trade all of the stuff you get for other things - like the collectables obtained from bosses for various other items, making a sort of “trade chain”. Which is pretty neat. I also don’t overly have a personality for her yet, but I thought that the things you’d get from the bosses are… their eyes. Because Liliana is blind. You’re kinda trying to comfort her in a weird, Lovecraftian way.

Speaking of bosses, I’ve had… a few ideas? In Giddane, I had the theory that the Cathedral would be a sort of “boss gauntlet” with lots of rewards… but ever harder bosses. Thus, the area isn’t supposed to be completed all right away, but you’re supposed to keep picking at it in between the main areas. The first five bosses are various people named the Apostles, with their master at the end being the Priestess Queen Freja. Also a dragon boss would be cool. Maybe some sort of boss that starts as a human, but turns into a dragon half-way? I dunno, seems like a really memorable boss though.

Which brings me to my next point - memorability. I think, if I actually did make this a game, I’d want time to mull over everything. I want it to be a memorable experience, so you’re not left sitting there, trying desperately to remember what just happened. I feel like too many games these days have that sort of factor… You don’t remember anything about the experience you just had.

Which is why I want my locations, my characters, my bosses, my everything to be memorable, to both the seasoned player and the newbie.

Art WIPS / Music

Okay so honestly, I didn’t do much art over the year, especially relevant stuff. But I’ll try my best to retrieve things I think are relevant.

Before I do that though, I’ve got one honourable mention here! That being my friend Loki, who produces music. He’s cool. He also made a song that I’d like to talk about, regarding one of the characters who also has… an art reference! Nice.

The song is named Sweet, and you can listen to it right here.

As for art, I’m just gonna start off with the stuff I have on my computer and branch out to whatever is on my iPad.

Okay this is more one I wanted to show off for fun, but it’s a simple star background I made. I also made a flipped version where the stars are on the top, but it really doesn’t matter. It’s a placeholder background meant for the menu of a visual novel I’m working on with my friends. Which I would’ve talked about, but all of us convening on a single thing for my schoolwork is a bit too difficult.

This one, like the one next, is also a rough sketch of a general background for the visual novel. Which is set in Milyra, the same location as this game, so it still counts and nobody can convince me otherwise. It was just a random sketch of a balcony, so yeah. Maybe you’d pick up an item there or something.

This time, we’ve got a bedroom! I always imagined the cathedral would have rooms, and this would be one of many. This one belongs to, well… Ciana. She got the theme because she’s in the visual novel, but yeah. In terms of how you’d find her, I think you’d end up rescuing her from some sort of bad situation. She moves herself in, complete with her wheelchair and all.

Well hey, I’ve got some pencil sketches too! This one is an older one of a character who I think would make a really neat boss, Asclepius. He’s nicknamed the “Three-Winged Angel”, because he’s got three wings, and he’s missing a foot. Whoops. Also, not pictured is Baphomet, his familiar. So it’s essentially two people against one, so… fun?

Here’s a sketch of Ciana, which I won’t go too much into because… it’s just her. Probably what she looks like in her room.

Well, hey, here’s the last mention of Ciana. Flanked by her ‘guard’, who we’ll nickname Ami, I think this is where she’d become a full-on boss. I don’t know which location they’d be in, probably the ruined Reverian castle. Once you enter Reverie though, Ciana would disappear from her room, complete with a Gehrman cutscene-esque entrance of her standing up from her wheelchair. I think it would be a fun boss fight, personally, and it would almost remind me of the fight against Ornstein and Smough.

Onto another NPC, but this time… not a boss or anything. Vivian here would be one of the teachers of light magic. AKA you’d buy spells from her. As a character, Vivian herself is… a nice lady, who used to serve a king. In fact, she served him so well she became queen, until they were thrown out by a rebellion lead by a country they were at war with. Now she’s hiding in the cathedral and selling spells.

Okay, so… this is an extra bit. This is my most recent sketch, and I’m… kinda proud of it? More so of the sword and how cool that looks but yeah. No comment regarding story here.

Final Words

Well… that was one hell of a writing exercise.

I’d just like to take a moment to list off my inspirations. In the story department, the works of HP Lovecraft, Shouzou Kaga, Kinoko Nasu, Sir Thomas Malory, and all of the various myths of old I enjoy so much.

In the art department, the artists who were involved in the Bloodborne/Dark Souls III artbooks, lack, Melka, Itsuki, Cotetsu Yamanaka, and Shirow Miwa. All links will be in the sources part, with appropriate warnings if necessary.

Sources

In order of appearance:

Snoman Gaming - Bloodborne vs. Dark Souls 3

Zachary Wright (TrickyLOKI) - Sweet

Myyrs - Bloodborne - Gehrman joins the hunt cutscene

Boss Fight Database - Dark Souls: Ornstein and Smough Boss Fight

Bloodborne Artbook - Hunter’s Dream painting

All other assets are my own.

Links to artists mentioned:

lack - Pixiv

Melka - Pixiv

(NSFW Warning) Itsuki - Pixiv

(NSFW Warning) Cotetsu Yamanaka - Twitter

(NSFW Warning) Shirow Miwa - Twitter