Divine Ascension (WIP) (High Fantasy)

[Zaldath]

As a Minor Deity, you’ve been given a Domain to rule over as you see fit. Can you gather enough faith, divinity and might to thrive despite facing many external threats… and even competition against the other deities?

Demo link: Demo

This is a “reboot” of my earlier attempt at the same basic idea (Divine Succession (WIP) (High Fantasy)). Many details have changed, but the core ideas/characters have not. This time around, I’m a lot more confident that I’ll be satisfied with the end result, so I think my motivation won’t be exhausted nearly as easily.

Currently I have tentatively finished the first chapter of the game (roughly 15-20k words total so far or 5-10k words in one playthrough). The first chapter is mostly an introduction/prologue to the main story, and not a huge amount happens yet story-wise. It’s intended to be kind of like a story-driven editor for your own religion/Domain/traits.

Chapters 2 and 3 are supposed to be more about the strife between the seven Minor Deities with diverging plans and ideologies, as well as the existential threats to the whole world. Your own religion/Domain is your main asset to survive and thrive through the chaos. Chapter 1 is the smallest of all the chapters, and even it took me around two months to write, so I think both of the remaining chapters will require several months to be completed. The whole game might be finished roughly in July/August/September perhaps?

I’ve never used Patreon or such platforms until now, but I thought it might be worth a try to see how much intense/committed demand for this game there is. Patreon is quite expensive and time-consuming to use though, or so I’ve heard, so I chose to try Ko-Fi instead. For now there’s no special benefit for using it, but it exists for those purely interested in donations and so on. I guess it might increase the appeal if there’s some hidden content only available in there? Well, I don’t intend to spend a crazy amount of time writing this game (much less so on maintaining Ko-Fi!), so maybe it’s better if it remains pretty low-maintenance? If you’re interested in trying my old Hosted Games, that’s also an option to indirectly support this project though. Regardless, I’m quite confident that I will finish this game, but extra support might increase my motivation and art commissions or things like that…

Ko-Fi
Dawn of the Sol Empire
Grand Casino of Fortune
Mage Elite

Any sort of feedback is very welcome, especially open comments and suggestions. Here are also some polls for an easier form of feedback:

Preferred schedule for content updates?

• When a chapter is finished
• When a decent portion of a chapter is finished
• Whatever is finished after a certain time period

Opinions about Ko-Fi / donations in general?

• Would only use Patreon
• Would prefer Patreon
• Would prefer Ko-Fi
• Would never send money through platforms like these
• Would become a regular supporter for certain guaranteed benefits (which?)
• Would purely/mainly donate as a gesture of support
• Would prefer to send a bigger amount at once
• Would prefer to send a smaller amount monthly

Which area of the game are you most interested in exploring more? (the main plot will likely not change anymore, but some details may be reconsidered)

• Your own religion / Domain / believers
• The Divine Mountains / other Minor Deities
• The Nether (invasion)
• Competition/conflict between Domains

[Dragomer]

Interesting concept.

[Zaldath]

Looks like the polls are already quite clear on their results, and there’s a lot of traffic to the demo. Any open comments/suggestions are welcome too though

[Aries]

Quite great so far, specially the variety of options on shaping of domains and its governance.

[Empress_Nightmare]

@Zaldath it’s going good so far, are you gonna implement saves?

[Blunderbutts]

I could see myself being a big fan of this! I get Black & White vibes, which was one of my favourite games growing up, so being able to customise my domain is excellent.

I really liked the idea that I could seemingly build the domain up as something that could function more independently or as one that was more reliant on my own divine power, interested to see the potential outcomes of that in future updates!

[Shadyaddams]

This sounds amazing. I’ve been wanting a game like this for a long time!!!

[Zaldath]

@Empress_Nightmare A save functionality has now been implemented (3 save slots with the Dashingdon plug-in). That should improve the efficiency of finding certain types of errors, I guess, even if there isn’t a ton of content yet!

@Blunderbutts One inspiration for this game idea was probably a similar game from my childhood… this one: Populous: The Beginning (1999) - PC Gameplay / Win 10 - YouTube

Although everything isn’t finalized yet, the main idea for chapter 1 is that you can customize your religion/Domain, then in chapter 2 form relations with the other deities, and chapter 3 is almost like a battle royale for control of the world between several factions. The main specialization for chapter 3 is tentatively focusing more on divinity (direct powers most useful against mythical enemies) or Templars (indirect physical power in the mortal realm). Then there are also the deity relationships as well as reputation stats (loved/feared, observing/controlling, intimate/detached) that will all have some effects. And there are some special hidden stats such as the death management system (reincarnation / divine host / guardian spirits). We’ll see how it works in practice

[Otaku_Mode]

I love this kinda of game so much. I love world building, i would really love to make a magical.world with dragons and etc. Also if i can make certain followers as immortals to guide my sheeps . I become a bit controlling but its better than them fighting and doubting.

[Zaldath]

I actually got some ideas from your post, although I don’t think there will be mortal → immortal changes in the main story… the death management system is an important part of it after all. This is a high fantasy world though, so there will be many magical/supernatural elements.

[Asterya1]

I really liked what I played so far. Godgame are among the hardest to make in my opinion. There is so many possibilities of how to handle it ! Like how do you make the player feel like a god without getting drowned out in pages of codes ? It’s one of the niche genre I can understand isn’t more represented. Thus I’m excited for your game !

Feedbacks :

• I wish that we could choose our form of adress like being able to be called “Lady” or something else like your “Divinity” or even “Divine Mother/Father/Parent” and also what pronouns we like ect I understand you wanted to picture the MC as being kinda formerless since they are a god. It’s just a personal preference of mine to be able to choose if I’m a gender neutral deity or a god/goddess
• Is the sapient species we have basically humans ? Just asking because of the description but also the fact we cannot name them. I mean, sure we didn’t create them. But since now we are their deity and their our people I think it be neat if we could give them a name. I mean at least to our followers.
  (Excuse me if this is all coming later but I’m so used to those details being put at the beginning that I’m not sure)
• So far I only have minors tiny things I wished were different or we could choose. I just really love being able to customize ourself or our domains when I play godgame. (Of which I’m a great fan and would write one if I could) Like if we decide to lead our templar ourselve it’s written that we fight with a hammer. A small and frankly insignificant details but one I wish we could change. Deciding that the weapon we favor and is thus more estimed is like the sword, the lance, the arc or even none. Like I dunno maybe when we create the templars having some small customization options that could be purely cosmetic or have some impact later.
• Or when we change the land temperature, wish the description was a tad more detailed depending on our choice. Like did our choice make a mediteranean climate ? An evergreen land pretty similar to europe ? Or the steppe or a taiga for the cold option ? What kind of biome are we even starting with ? I won’t expect super detailed architecture descriptions but I admit it be nice if we saw our choice reflected in the city and kind of culture that develop. Like are the building austere and martial and the people making a face. Or are they richly decorated and lavish, the crowd loud and vibrant ?
  That’s all small details. But it’s the kind that for me make me feel that yes, this is MY domains that could only have been like that because of “insert small details that changed based on my action” and MY deity who is unique compared to other because “insert customization” choices I made. Seeing my actions bear fruits and leading to even insignificant changes make me feel as if I really have the power to shape the domain. It make me feel as if I truly have the power and influence of…well…a god.

Questions :
So there will be only 3 chapters ? I imagine long one if this is the case.

How important and detailed will dealing with our domains be ? Will it mainly consist of general stuff like land and populations management or will we be able to shape our people personality or culture a bit ? So far our followers barely have a personality but I’m already attached to them like a motherhen. I want nothing more then to help shape their culture and ensure their growth and prosperity. I be honest I ain’t that interested in our fellow gods so far (will probably change when they will be properly introduced) except the MC creator.

Will there be events ? What kinds mainly ?

During the battle royals will we get to make alliances with other minor gods against others ? I have a bad impression toward subicim and all their warrior but fiel I could see as an ally.

[rafsan]

I think this will be similar to Athier life as a god if you ever play that game.Maybe its me but I actually like that we are a formless entity but maybe later we can have a form.I kinda like what you are saying.It will be nice if we could customize our domain.

[Zaldath]

@Asterya1 Yeah, it’s indeed pretty complicated to manage the consequences of a god character’s actions… Well, I’m pretty confident in being able to manage it due to the plot-heavy structure of this game. It could be more difficult if the focus was mainly on management / creation.

Yeah, the title “Lord” is kind of masculine I suppose, although it’s technically gender neutral (there are many female Lords currently). I mainly associated it with the idea of the Domain’s ruling god being its “landlord” (kind of). Divinity = rent in a way. Any other opinions on this issue? I mean, is it important for the title to be changed and/or to be customizable? (EDIT: currently the pronoun mainly used for you is simply You, but also They/Them/Their are rarely used, but other options are possible to consider…)

The species inhabiting the continent are pretty much humans, although there are minor differences, like being able to sense divinity and having a high aptitude for communicating with deities and being less prone to exhaustion/injuries/sickness. Kind of like stronger and more religious humans. The reason for not allowing customization of the physical features for this species was that the story wouldn’t really make sense if the people from different Domains were physically different from each other. They’re supposed to be more or less the same as each other except for religion/culture. I’ll have to think about the idea of naming them though…

That’s a pretty interesting idea to customize the weapons for Templars. It shouldn’t actually affect the story in any major way, since it’s more about their numbers/divinity/faith than tactical skills or weapon training (mostly). I only chose hammers as the main weapon for them since a blunt weapon fits the idea of using raw divine power to damage the enemy. It doesn’t exactly have to be a hammer though.

I agree that altering the Domain’s environment is a bit… basic… right now.

The current plan is for there to be 3 chapters, with the first chapter (currently playable) being maybe 10-20% of the whole story. Chapter 2 would be perhaps 30-40% and chapter 3 around 50-60%. Chapter 1 is pretty linear though, without a lot of branching, whereas chapter 2 will have more branching and chapter 3 a LOT of branching. That means a single playthrough might be roughly equally long for all chapters, although chapter 1 is still the shortest of them, but especially chapter 3 would have many different paths to pick.

The most important choices for Domain management are related to spending divinity on it or preserving it for other uses, and also focusing more on either faith or Templars. In the first chapter you can also choose how death is managed, how hot/cold it is and if the government is more theocratic or more secular. Chapters 2/3 will have less focus on managing the internal affairs of the Domain, but there will still be more choices like that. Ultimately their fate will be more affected by what happens in the world in general rather than by your management choices, but all choices will matter (some more than others).

We’ll see how people react to the other Minor Deities in chapter 2. It’s understandable that more interest would be in guiding your own believers considering the content of the story so far.

There will be conditional events based on your earlier choices that happen during chapters 2/3. I’m not completely sure about this yet, like how many or how important they would be. I’ve been considering adding randomly selected minor events (like in The War for the West) or just focusing on less but especially important story events (kind of like what happens in the remote village you infiltrate during chapter 1). This is a question related to balance, preference etc.

There are (currently planned) 5 different main endings you can reach depending on your choices during the game. All Minor Deities have their own goals and relationships, many of them incompatible with each other. It’s possible to focus on your own divinity to dominate the world, but also to work with other deities to aim for common goals (either as a superior, equal or inferior partner in an alliance). There are external enemies that all(?) deities share in common. The Originator can also be either your ally or enemy in the end. I won’t spoil too much yet though!

[Zaldath]

@rafsan I guess it depends on if you view gods as more like Greek gods/goddesses (basically just immortal, emotional and powerful humans) or totally alien entities in a different dimension (like spirits, ghosts etc.). For this story, I’m going more with the latter approach. I could see the Greek style deities being interesting to play as well though, especially if you want to have romance/friendships with specific mortals.

[Iukan]

I like the concept so far, I think there should be a focus on personalization over religion, like. What are the dogmas? What is the main color of the temple? Do we favor the elites or the population? You put this kind of choice in when choosing which faction to choose (the priest one and the anti-priest), I think that if you focus on this aspect it will definitely differentiate you from other games.

[Zaldath]

Yes, that is what I’m aiming for, at least to some extent! Perhaps not too much, to avoid making the structure of the story too confusing, but there are some important choices like what happens to souls after death / what is the position of priests in government in chapter 1. There will be more choices like that in chapter 2 especially (I think).

[Ashten]

Just played the demo and I like it.I remember I played a similar game like this.I liked the management part and it felt good governing the religion.There is so much potential for this game.I as a reader am with you through the journey.Good luck.