Alora Fane

I'm going to spend the end of the year focusing on things other than Atonal Dreams, to refresh my energy for it and my mind in general. There are three things I could work on: putting old games up somewhere (probably itch.io), releasing soundtracks of all the music I've ever composed, and maybe even starting work on a secondary game which combines Alora Fane: Creation and Belief, sort of!

I wish I could spend every waking moment getting Atonal Dreams to the finish point, but sadly that's not how minds seem able to work! The creativity muscles get sore after a while and need a break, at least from specific focuses of attention. I definitely don't want to abandon Atonal Dreams, absolutely not, but I feel that if I just keep trying to push it, I'll get so sick of it I won't be able to continue anymore. So since it's the lovely magical Chrimbo period anyway, now seems the best time to redirect my attention to some other stuff.

Creating things is my way of relaxing, by the way. If I were to just do 'nothing', or just play games all day, then I'd feel worse than if I were to devote myself to a novel, exciting project of some kind!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote ∞ this post about re-releasing old games, and about a possible remake of Alora Fane: Creation, my map creation game thing that I never finished or widely released ∞. Much of what I'll be saying here is essentially an update to that post, after having the things I talked about in it swirling around in my head for a bit.

In that post, I was thinking maybe I could release my old games as a collection on Steam, like other Flash devs have. I'm unsure about that now since the Steam upload process is so convoluted. Something like itch.io might be less hassle for me, especially since I suspect these games would have very limited interest anyway.

These are the games I might do something with; the list isn't exactly the same as in the other post:

Deliverance (2007)

Some people remember and have mentioned this to me, plus it's interesting in that it's essentially a prototype version of MARDEK.

Beast Signer (2008)

People have also asked me about this one. It's a Pokemon clone.

Clarence's Big Chance (2011)

This is the only one that I didn't include last time, though I feel it's worth doing something with since I actually did release it back in the day. And it's actually finished, unlike most of my stuff!

Miasmon (2011)

I consider this a better version of Beast Signer!

Alora Fane: Creation (2013)

I'm unsure about what to do with this original version if I do more with this; more on that later (same as the other post).

Taming Dreams (2015)

This is the one I'm most interested in bringing back from the aether in some form, but which also feels like the most difficult to actually resurrect due to technical issues!

One possibility is to stagger their releases on itch.io over several weeks or months, so then it's not overwhelming for me or anyone else. So rather than devoting myself full time to converting them all at once, I can do it as a side thing when the mood takes me. Eventually, if there's any interest, I could even bundle them together for a Steam compilation release... though I feel that whoever's interested in them isn't going to buy them on both itch.io and Steam, and I'd feel bad charging them twice if they did anyway.

I suppose they'd only really be of interest to people who are invested in me as a creator, or who have fond memories of the Fig Hunter days where they discovered them as a child, so I'm not really expecting to gain any new fans, or any significant income from them. I'm not exactly financially stable at the moment though, so if people are willing to give me a few pennies in appreciation, that always helps me out!

Because of the limited audience, though, I'm not eager to dive into actually doing the arduous conversion/upload/whatever. The first will be the hardest since I'll have to joylessly figure out the process (I already did for MARDEK, kind of, but that was ages ago, plus I've never uploaded to itch.io before and don't even know if I'll be using that site). After that, the others should be easier.

Music Albums

Not entirely dissimilarly, I've also been organising my music, after talking about that in the weekend post. I've composed a lot of music over the years, over 600 pieces according to the file counts. Most (all?) of it is very amateurish and rife with theoretical incompetence since I'm self-taught and had no idea what I was doing at the start - and it's only recently the theory stuff has really clicked - but it's all very meaningful to me since each piece is a portal to a different time in my mental life. Obviously nobody but me would experience that for all of the pieces, though, so I'm unsure how much value there'd be in it for other people, especially the non-game stuff.

Much of my early music is in midi form, with no corresponding mp3/wav files, so I'd need to do some awkward conversion (which involves playing the midi and recording it in audacity as it plays... though due to the nature of midi sometimes they don't sound exactly as they're supposed to, or the players that do sound right cut off a little bit at the start or end or... it's a hassle, anyway!).

I was originally planning to just have one big "all my old stuff" album, which is a possibility too, though organising my files in a way that seemed sensible resulted in almost 30 different albums. I don't know my music's worth that many albums - some could be combined - and I feel that most (all?) of them would be more interesting as curios than as things you'd choose to listen to for enjoyment. But maybe I - we! - will be pleasantly surprised?

If I did a bunch of shorter albums, I could stagger their releases like with the games; like one a week or two weeks, maybe. So then I actually have regular content of some form, since games take forever to manifest!

I'm curious actually if you know of any other composers (people like Toby Fox) who've released their earliest works anywhere, and if you'd be interested in listening to them if they did!

There's another thing I wanted to ask: with soundtracks of looping game music, I prefer it if the tracks play around 2.1 times, so they repeat once then fade off as they move into their second (third?) repetition. Some soundtracks do this, while others just fade as the second repetition starts, which I personally find disappointing. Which do you prefer?

Alora Fane: Creation Remake?

Doing stuff with my old music and games is... interesting, a distraction maybe, but I've spent much of those past couple of days also feeling depressed since they apparently don't hold my attention that much and remind me of unpleasant things from the past. I have an urge to work on something more substantial, something fresh and new, since the early stages of creation are the most stimulating, and my mind keeps returning to the idea I mentioned at the end of the post a couple of weeks ago.

I'd like to make a game where I can do some asset creation, after which there'd be a 'toy' that people could get a lot of play out of beyond a single linear story. AFC appeals to me for that reason, since it's something I could conceivably make in weeks rather than months (though I thought I'd be done with Sindrel Song months before I was, and with Atonal Dreams by November, so take that with a grain of salt).

On the previous post, people pointed out that there are other RPG creator tools out there. I don't know of any other than RPG Maker (and I've no idea what that's up to these days), but that's a fair enough point. I don't have much interest in making something to allow people to make simple generic RPGs when there are better options available.

However, what I found when working with AFC - and seeing others play around with it - was that many of the generic RPG mechanics (mainly battles) sort of got in the way, and weren't used. It seemed more interesting to write stories and silly dialogue than to include mindless battles.

I also consider it a shame that I didn't stick with Belief, which I was working on around this time last year, since I like a lot of ideas that I explored in that!

So what I have in mind is something more distinct and idiosyncratic that's in line with the other kinds of things I'm interested in creating these days:

Essentially, a simple map editor that focuses on accessibility of use, which would allow creators to make short, simple stories that focus entirely on social interactions between customised, emotive human characters.

That is, rather than having a basic swords-and-sorcery battle system, instead it'd have something which combines dialogue with RPG battles in some sense, kind of like the Belief 'battles'.

I've not done any serious planning yet, but here's some extremely rough ideas:

Field

The game would include an editor like AFC's, shown here. You'd be able to make a grid of 'rooms', each of which would have very limited options for terrain that you could use for decoration which could still be creatively combined for more-than-passable results like this. You'd be able to drag and drop various objects from a palette.

The primary aim of the tool would be accessibility. It should be easily possible for anyone to make a quest in minutes or hours without having to learn any programming or complex operations. Quests would also force simplicity by limiting the number of areas or lines of dialogue in each conversation so as to discourage getting carried away, and assets would be deliberately kept minimal so as not to overwhelm with complex choices.

The rooms would be 3D dioramas like the ones I made for Divine/Atonal Dreams early in the year:

Maybe it's not the most immersive thing in the world, but I like the stylised abstraction of it, and feel it'd be appropriate for the aims of this.

Character Customisation

In AFC, the characters were very stylised:

I feel these super-deformed proportions worked well for the intentions of the game. I like the thought of it being like some kind of toybox, like they're action figures you're playing with, plus it echoes the deformed proportions of early (SNES-era) JRPG characters.

I like the proportions I've come up with for Divine/Atonal Dreams, which are still super deformed, but slightly less so:

I'll likely make new models - honestly I enjoy the thought of the process - but I'll probably go for a look similar to that.

I'll make a character creator which allows you to customise facial features, skin colour, body type, etc, allowing you to make every character different without too much hassle. I like the challenge of making that, too; I already attempted it a few weeks ago, and it'd be nice to revisit that using what I learned then. Maybe I'll make it particularly exaggerated and cartoony, almost like Miis; I'll need to do some experimenting.

For the sake of simplicity, I think I'll only focus on human (Bold) characters, at least at first. No other races, and no monsters. So no goblins, unfortunately! But I could add facial features that would allow for goblinoid/monstrous-looking humans, which could serve a lot of purposes. This means I could do full facial emotes and animations for these humans without worrying about animating (or making) a bunch of other models. (Tall emoting goblins??)

Dialogue scenes would allow the creator to specify elaborate emotes like the ones I've been using in Atonal Dreams.

I'd need to make the process of deciding on the facial features intuitive and simpler than it is for my own personal use currently!

Conversation 'Battles'

I released this video of Belief a while back:

I like those 'battles' because of all the silly potential interactions, though of course they'd be more interesting to watch with more variety in things like animations, visual effects, sounds, etc.

I'm thinking something like that here might allow for some interesting/amusing storytelling possibilities, moreso than just generic RPG battles. I've only done a few hours of brainstorming so far, but here's a (very rough!) idea of some potential mechanics:

You'd control up to three characters (your character and two allies), and you'd be able to face up to three as well. So 3 v 3 battles.

The aim would be to convert your opponents to your side - your point of view - by convincing them. This would work the same as Belief, where each side has a colour, and your 'arguments' (skills) fill a 'rapport' bar with your side's colour. Filling an opponent's bar with your colour makes them convert to your side - at which point they come and be an ally for the duration of the battle - but the same works in reverse too, and you can lose allies to the opponent's side.

I thought this might be too inaccessible at first and didn't intend to carry it over from Belief, but the more thought I've given it, the more it seems appealing from both gameplay and humour perspectives. One of the most amusing things in the Belief demo is how characters are converting all over the place! It's such a ridiculous thought, people being swayed that easily. Plus I feel the whole idea conceptually resonates with the political 'belief wars' we're in the midst of culturally at the moment.

Mechanics would be similar to Belief, though different in some regards.

I could use the three pairs of 'sentiments':

Amity/Enmity
Joy/Sorrow
Fear/Desire.

I thought about using the elements from Atonal Dreams, but these ones work better for the system that I have in mind. The term emotions might be less elusive.

I could also use the runes, also paired:

Abstract/Real
Tough/Feeling
Jolly/Serious

...though I get the impression people had issues with those, perceiving them as complex and arcane. Not exactly appropriate for something that's stressing accessibility! I feel the issue lies in the presentation though - the system itself isn't especially complicated - so maybe if they were presented something like this, it'd be more palatable:

I could also use alternative terms, like:

I'll need to do some visual brainstorming about how this could look on a UI, probably using icons rather than words. The point is to show where on a 5-point-scale each value lies.

So each character wouldn't have stats as in AFC or a typical RPG, they just have these three personality values, which communicate something about who the person is as well as their 'battle' prowess. The only other stat they'd have is a max rapport value, maybe, which represents how tough they are to convince.

They'd still be able to equip different pieces of clothing that'd show on their model, though these would either be purely cosmetic or they'd shift these personality values.

I feel that something like this works better than a numerical character progression like levels in something of this scope, where players would be entering many minutes-long quests rather than lingering in an hours-long epic adventure.

Battles would involve a card-based system! Each character would have a deck/arsenal of potential cards, which would have properties something like this:

That is, they have a name (of course), a power value (the number in the middle), a 'flavour' (or something) which resonates with the personality values, an associated emotion (Amity here), at the bottom are a list of additional effects, and above that are a list of topics.

When you use a skill card, an amount of 'damage' is calculated like this:

The base power is multiplied by 1 - 0.25 * (the distance between the actor's and target's personality value on the appropriate scale). So that number would range from 1 for a perfect match (eg Abstract actor using Abstract skill on Abstract target), to 0 for a complete opposite clash (eg Abstract actor using Real skill on Abstract target).

Characters can be afflicted with moods by some cards. There's one per emotion, and characters can have up to three at once, one from each pair. For each matching mood (eg Laughing for if the card is Jolly), the 'damage' value is doubled. For each clashing mood (eg Crying if the card is Jolly), it's halved. The card's emotion does nothing if neither person has a relevant mood.

It's a fairly simple system with a lot of depth!

Additionally, there are the topics. These would be specific tags that the quest creator would be able to specify, unlike the emotions and flavours that are baked into the engine. When a card is used on a target, all of its topics add their number to the target's 'mind'. On their turn, these numbers are used to determine which cards are drawn randomly from their 'deck', maybe, or perhaps they'd be used to determine some kind of 'flow combo' if you reply in a relevant way or something; I'm still trying to figure this out. It's something that I feel could make them feel like actual dialogue exchanges, though, and could be the basis for most authored interactions. The numbers in the mind would refresh on taking a turn.

As an example, say a character uses this Cat Fact card on a target, who then has cats+3 in their mind. They have a card in their deck called "I hate cats!", which makes them angry and has the Enmity flavour, which they're very likely to use in response to this Cat Fact since it also has a high value for the 'cats' topic.

So I'm thinking that these topics could be either used to steer encounters in an interesting/amusing way, or to build up 'flow combos' by having a conversation of sorts rather than just randomly going off topic, but it still feels very rough and unsettled in my mind, and definitely needs some more refining.

Some other card examples:

I'd include a catalogue of premade cards in the editor, though the quest creator could also make their own custom ones, using custom topic tags.

Belief also had excitement, which was used to determine move availability and as such isn't relevant and would only complicate things here. I'd need to determine turn order in some other way, though I'm unsure how. Basic speed stats?

Overall, this is a fairly simple - and intriguingly novel - system that I feel that could allow for some compelling scenarios, much more so than just violent battles, but I'm curious to know what you think! I'm aware that novelty and psychology are very much right up my street, and that other people might prefer the familiarity of samey generic RPG battling, but this at least offers something that hasn't been done better before? (As far as I'm aware.)

I'm definitely going with a 'social absurdity' angle though rather than a sensitive exploration of emotional experience!

Branched Stories?

AFC had a simple, linear plot progression with up to 8 states. Each state had a completion condition (eg 'talk to X'), and you the quest creator cause specify alterations to the state of the world or the content of conversations based on the current plot state.

One possibility is to have a more advanced 'plot tree', which can branch off. Limitations would be wise - like three branches at most or something - but we'll see.

Different plot branches might be triggered by your choices. For example, maybe a quest has you go and convince your friend to leave the evil dictator they've got into a relationship with, so you 'battle' against the pair of them. Converting your friend gives you the intended ending, while converting just the dictator leads to a silly 'he's mine now!' ending, and being converted leads to a bad ending. Possibilities!

Another Possibility

Some of these ideas have been on my mind for a while, after wondering what I could make that might appeal to streamers, since that seems to be the main way of getting noticed as an indie dev these days.

One idea that felt promising was something like Belief, where you set up your own religion, and had to convince everyone else in the world of its value. "lol ima convince the world to believe in shrekism yeet", I imagined they might say verbatim; this was likely how that game about diseases I forget the name of did as well as it did. Maybe. (Plague Inc?)

Procedural generation - 'roguelikes' - are also big among indie devs because of the massive amount of gameplay that (theoretically) emerges from relatively little development effort.

So I was thinking of a Belief-like game where you create a custom character and convert a procedurally-generated-and-populated world to the religion that you name (perhaps with some kind of church-building aspect, and you can gather all your followers together in a hub area).

But there are a lot of similarities between that idea and this one I've presented here. So much that I could even combine the two, and have that as a kind of 'Religion Mode' or something, with the AFC-like story creation for people who were interested in that.

It's a thought.

Phew, that's a lot to cram all in one post! Probably should have been several! I'm very curious to hear your thoughts anyway! I'm already feeling alert and excited about the thought of planning and designing something new, so I'll likely spend the next few days on that regardless. It's better than staring into space depressed, anyway!