0 reviews
  • Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS
Under the blistering sun of the southern desert, a caravan discovers a previously uncharted massive stone complex. The temple contained many strange properties; hallways that seemed to overlap in space and walls that appeared or disappeared on their own. Stranger, and more threatening still, were the inhabitants -- grotesque demons and otherworldly beasts. The tale of the ruins in the desert passed from the survivors up the chain of command to the seat of the Emperor himself. An Imperial expedition is organized, composed of handpicked experts and earnest volunteers, to delve the ruins and return with their findings.

The player’s avatar and their band of non-controllable allies have to probe the secrets of the Sanctums, exploring its shifting halls and many unpredictable mysteries. The player has to maintain their allies’ loyalty and coordinate with a team that thinks for themselves. The game starts the player at the crew’s base camp each day, where they choose allies to enter the dungeon with. Allies will only join the player if they trust them; you must encounter them in the dungeon or chat with them at camp (or meet other requirements).

Once in the the dungeon, the party is subjected to a series of randomized encounters -- fights, chests, and oddities -- as they must decide after every few encounters whether to press onward or return to the camp. Longer streaks reward the player with progression and plot, but also with greater dangers and stronger foes!

Latest Blog

Sound

Given that this is a text-based game, a lot of questions are raised regarding something that's generally taken for granted in an RPG: sound.

By and large, most novels don't make sound. The vast, vast majority of novels lack a soundtrack, or sound effects, beyond the turning of a page. The closest thing that commonly plays music would be a visual novel, but that means sound comes long after a graphical element. After all, plenty of novels are illustrated, often beautifully. But how many times does a story have sound but no imagery?

The question is thus: exactly what level of sound is expected from a text-based game? Generally, I'd expect, the answer would be none. Total reliance on written description is acceptable in this case. But is it optimal, or demanded?

Sanctum has a rather elaborate combat engine. There's a lot of information scrolling by each turn, and sound could help ease the burden and the pacing of this information. A sound for friendly damage and enemy damage, a sound for KO, a sound for the start of a new turn. All of these could do a lot to streamline the flow of combat, and therefore the entire game. Simply having sound effects at all, however, brings up a whole host of other issues.

Having flat sound effects draped against a backdrop of nothing creates issues. That is, with sound effects comes the expectation of music, and that could be an issue. Reading plot events book-wise can become difficult if your speakers are constantly reminding you that you're playing a video game. Inversely, dead silence while deep in the dungeon can deaden the mood entirely. Which is worse?

Further effort in writing can clear up the battle log, maintain tension in the dungeon and in battles, and steer the game in a novel-based direction. A well-chosen set of songs and sounds can provide a framing devise, set a mood, and steer the game in a, well, game-based direction.

The benefits of one over the other are not clear at this time.
  • Hiatus
  • LouisCyphre
  • RPG Maker MV
  • RPG
  • 04/22/2013 01:20 PM
  • 10/04/2016 08:41 PM
  • 12/31/2016
  • 25157
  • 22
  • 0

Posts

Pages: 1
slash
APATHY IS FOR COWARDS
4158
I like the logo! Clean, to the point, and yet mysterious.
This looks really interesting! I'll keep an eye on this for sure.
By the way, your game page is really solid looking, good job!
How does combat work in this game? I'm curious given some of the things you've posted in the screenshot topic.
Can i join to the project? As a composer?
As a fan of text-based RPGs I'm looking forward to the final product.
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
I can't promise schedule consistency, but this game sees progress as time goes by. Figured I'd at least share as much!

e:
does this work yet
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
Status update isn't anything anyone didn't already guess.

This game is gated behind my ability to properly manage my time, as all of my games are. In addition, I want to tackle this game after I solidify my environmental writing. I've always found characters easier than worldbuilding... but in a game where you have to describe the walls, smells, sounds, and so on for every room, it takes a lot more that character writing to carry your game.

It's funny, it seems that each of my projects has stat requirements that I have to reach. "You must have 80 writing to make this game."
Pages: 1