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Progress Report
Dungeon Preview: Mirror Grotto
Nemica
Since we started working on Fata Morgana more actively again, it's time to present some more content. And what better content is there than the dungeons you're going to traverse over the course of the game?
No One Likes to Talk About That Place
To the north of Kal'Deera, there's an abandoned mine. Years ago, it was discovered that a vein of crystals, used for all kinds of purposes, ran right through the mountain ridge to the north of what would later be Kal'Deera. People started settling in the village and the mining begun.
First, things seemed to run smoothly, even though the valuable crystals were deeper inside the mountain than people expected. Even the less valuable crystals could at least be made into jewelry, so no harm was done in digging further.
Then, the miners hit the entrance to a grotto deep down below, with walls covered in exactly the kind of crystal they were looking for. But with these crystals, the madness started. Miners started hearing and seeing things, often deeply personal and unsettling to them. Accidents became more frequent and the morale sunk.
Eventually, after one too many deaths, the mine was given up and the grotto was closed off. No one has ventured into the mine deeper than the first sections since then.
The Mirror Grotto
No one except for our poor protagonist, whose quest leads him right into it. The mirror grotto is one of the dungeons that requires more thought than action, but that doesn't mean you're going to drown in puzzles. (Also, we kept that one for another dungeon.) The maddening effect of the crystals, too, is going to play a role here.
And there will be blobs. Blue, wobbling blobs.
No One Likes to Talk About That Place
To the north of Kal'Deera, there's an abandoned mine. Years ago, it was discovered that a vein of crystals, used for all kinds of purposes, ran right through the mountain ridge to the north of what would later be Kal'Deera. People started settling in the village and the mining begun.
First, things seemed to run smoothly, even though the valuable crystals were deeper inside the mountain than people expected. Even the less valuable crystals could at least be made into jewelry, so no harm was done in digging further.
Then, the miners hit the entrance to a grotto deep down below, with walls covered in exactly the kind of crystal they were looking for. But with these crystals, the madness started. Miners started hearing and seeing things, often deeply personal and unsettling to them. Accidents became more frequent and the morale sunk.
Eventually, after one too many deaths, the mine was given up and the grotto was closed off. No one has ventured into the mine deeper than the first sections since then.
The Mirror Grotto
No one except for our poor protagonist, whose quest leads him right into it. The mirror grotto is one of the dungeons that requires more thought than action, but that doesn't mean you're going to drown in puzzles. (Also, we kept that one for another dungeon.) The maddening effect of the crystals, too, is going to play a role here.
And there will be blobs. Blue, wobbling blobs.
Game Design
The Many Iterations of Fata Morgana
Not long ago, Avee asked us about gameplay details. While I did give an answer, it was kind of vague, which has a reason. The gameplay has been changing since the beginning of this project, and it still is. Sure, the core mechanics stay the same, and by now, I doubt we'll throw away the whole concept and start anew, but Fata Morgana has had a few approaches already.
History Lesson Time!
Warning. May contain traces of tl;dr and German.
The Original Plan
It all started with a contest in a German RPG Maker community. It was called the Ten Words Contest and the goal was to make a game with, wait for it, ten specific words in it. Not written somewhere, but as actual things or concepts.
The words were (translated)
Rache (revenge)
Buch (book)
Mond (moon)
Eifersucht (jealousy)
Spiegel (mirror)
dick (big, thick, fat)
Gefängnis (prison)
Spiel (game)
verboten (forbidden)
Feuer (fire)
Some of them are quite obvious now, some are deeper in the game.
It all started with me wanting to participate in this contest. But I had no idea what to do, storywise. That's where Flare's ability to pull plots from a place I will not mention comes into play. The original story concept for Fata Morgana was literally a spoiler-filled paragraph that managed to contain all the words.
Back then, we had planned on having more enemies than now, and a bigger focus on combat.
After the Contest
The fact that we did not get finished in time is a forgone conclusion. Still, we wanted to finish that game. That was when we looked at what we had so far, and we weren't all that pleased. Our protagonist was a fourteen-year-old noodly-armed teenager with no combat experience. And suddenly, he should walk around and punch people.
We didn't see that work in a more story-driven game, so we shifted from combat to... uhm... non-combat? With next to no direct combat, we were left with almost no gameplay.
We didn't want to end up with a game full of context-less riddles, or gameplay elements that could be reduced to "talk to environment to do stuff". But then we realized something.
We Have a 2 Key
Somewhen during all this, we noticed that the 2 key (see screenshot) was only used for 2 items. Everything else was used automatically. Now, you can basically run around and use every item everywhere. Use it in front of a person and you show it to them. Use it at a specific place and you actually do something with it. It wasn't a big change, but in the end, it made the gameplay much more interesting.
What You Can do Now
Currently, you've got three kinds of objects in your inventory.
Artifacts : These are the things you collect. Basically, they're dungeon items that will help you advance through, well, the dungeons. Most of them are active, which means that you use them when you press the 1 key. Others are passive, which means that pressing the 1 key will activate or deactivate them. Even though they're magical, you don't have a mana bar you need to worry about.
Items : Everything that's not a key or an artifact is an item. As opposed to artifacts, they will not permanently stay in your inventory, as you'll use them up, lose them or trade them in for other things. Pressing the 2 key will cause you to do something with the item.
Keys : Keys are stored in their own part of the inventory. They're used automatically and, since they're unique objects, not consumed (*cough*Zelda).
I hope this gave you some insight, and that I didn't ramble that much nonsense.
History Lesson Time!
Warning. May contain traces of tl;dr and German.
The Original Plan
It all started with a contest in a German RPG Maker community. It was called the Ten Words Contest and the goal was to make a game with, wait for it, ten specific words in it. Not written somewhere, but as actual things or concepts.
The words were (translated)
Rache (revenge)
Buch (book)
Mond (moon)
Eifersucht (jealousy)
Spiegel (mirror)
dick (big, thick, fat)
Gefängnis (prison)
Spiel (game)
verboten (forbidden)
Feuer (fire)
Some of them are quite obvious now, some are deeper in the game.
It all started with me wanting to participate in this contest. But I had no idea what to do, storywise. That's where Flare's ability to pull plots from a place I will not mention comes into play. The original story concept for Fata Morgana was literally a spoiler-filled paragraph that managed to contain all the words.
Back then, we had planned on having more enemies than now, and a bigger focus on combat.
After the Contest
The fact that we did not get finished in time is a forgone conclusion. Still, we wanted to finish that game. That was when we looked at what we had so far, and we weren't all that pleased. Our protagonist was a fourteen-year-old noodly-armed teenager with no combat experience. And suddenly, he should walk around and punch people.
We didn't see that work in a more story-driven game, so we shifted from combat to... uhm... non-combat? With next to no direct combat, we were left with almost no gameplay.
We didn't want to end up with a game full of context-less riddles, or gameplay elements that could be reduced to "talk to environment to do stuff". But then we realized something.
We Have a 2 Key
Somewhen during all this, we noticed that the 2 key (see screenshot) was only used for 2 items. Everything else was used automatically. Now, you can basically run around and use every item everywhere. Use it in front of a person and you show it to them. Use it at a specific place and you actually do something with it. It wasn't a big change, but in the end, it made the gameplay much more interesting.
What You Can do Now
Currently, you've got three kinds of objects in your inventory.
Artifacts : These are the things you collect. Basically, they're dungeon items that will help you advance through, well, the dungeons. Most of them are active, which means that you use them when you press the 1 key. Others are passive, which means that pressing the 1 key will activate or deactivate them. Even though they're magical, you don't have a mana bar you need to worry about.
Items : Everything that's not a key or an artifact is an item. As opposed to artifacts, they will not permanently stay in your inventory, as you'll use them up, lose them or trade them in for other things. Pressing the 2 key will cause you to do something with the item.
Keys : Keys are stored in their own part of the inventory. They're used automatically and, since they're unique objects, not consumed (*cough*Zelda).
I hope this gave you some insight, and that I didn't ramble that much nonsense.
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