Good catch.
I’m working on some underlying code but the visuals I wanted transposed so that piece was done by hand (thankfully an easy error to amend 
)
How’d you feel regarding the flow?
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I like it, but I’m used to rules-heavy systems and I develop system mastery for fun even for games I have no hope of eventually playing, so I’m probably not the right person to ask this question of.
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That’s fair!
I do imagine given the game-heavy elements, the project will tailor itself to a certain audience. If it’s successful, it’ll definitely provide the foundational systems to build upon for future titles.
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I have to ask. The first screenshot says that you “tap into your inner aether.” So is each race going to have individual inventory text? I’d guess this one is for the Aetherials. Then again, i doubt there’s 5 different ways you can describe a bag.
And you might just want to put in a little thing that shows you how many coins or whatever the currency of Estheria is somewhere. The inventory is likely the best place for that.
wait is that me?
Oh lord now I have to ask. Probably a stupid question but is putting @JBento, me, and @Eiwynn as party members just an easter egg for the screenshots or are we actually going to be party members in the game?
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Hey, Leila!
So, the inventory itself is a form of magick that allows the items to be masked in aether. The spell has weight limitations, hence the inventory weight. That said, every character has some level of aether they can harness, hence their mana points (I’d call them Aether Points but AP is reserved for Action Points and MP is simpler for me.)
Very good point. I’ll add in Tessetts (Gold aka Estheria’s currency).
It’s just an easter egg. I thought it’d be amusing when everyone noticed, haha.
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Although giving the narrator “moderator” powers might be fun, storywise … 
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It’s hammerspace.
Wait, if the inventory is spell-carried, why is carry weight dependent on Strength?
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“You wander into a small cavern, sword in hand, when you find a small cavern, illuminated in rainbow lights.”
“You attempt to enter, but you walk face first into an invisible wall.”
“It is then that a voice from the heavens booms out, “Turn back, this is the moderator lounge!””
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That’s a very good point out for continuity purposes…
I’ll probably either make a change to that or have it that the spell physically drains the body strength as a trade-off.
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You still need to carry it, it just doesn’t get in the way?
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You can always make it a temporary compression spell instead of a hammerspace spell. That way you can make the inventory small enough to fit in a pocket, but it still weighs the same because while it affects volume, mass is unchanged.
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It was something I considered!
I only mainly was against it (in my head) as the thought of someone with 20 strength hauling 250 pounds of crap everywhere with them seemed ludicrous to me
Though an aether-infused bag or sack could work… Something that just magically expands but still is weighted.
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We had the same thought, lol.
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Right now, building the inventory system is a critical piece for the Combat Simulation component. I’d like the player to have the choice to pick a few items in each scenario, and utilize those effectively - that way I can simulate a live situation.
Thankfully, that’s coming along. I’ve begun building out my Google Sheet database, and planning on how I’ll use subroutines for loot tables.
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Apparently, daily updates are my thing now.
Plenty of work is ongoing under the hood for Update 0.5. I have achieved my first test on a baseline for Combat and how the narrative experience will work. This is something I’ll detail in State of the Realm on Thursday.
For now, though. Sneak peek!
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Hello, Heroes!
Apologies as I misstated the original date of State of the Realm. State of the Realm is a monthly development update released on the 1st of each month. As such, the first State of the Realm shall debut this Saturday, April 1st (not a prank!).
That said, I don’t want to leave without giving something, so enjoy an in-development teaser for A Realm Divided…
Until next time,
~Zach.
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STATE OF THE REALM - APRIL 2023
Hello, Heroes!
Welcome to the first State of the Realm for Estheria: A Realm Divided. This series will release on the 1st of every month.
State of the Realm takes a deep delve recap on the prior month in development. New announcements are made, teasers and art drops take place, and more goodies as they unravel!
For the debut edition, this month’s theme is the Class System. Let’s delve in, shall we?
Three Classes, Three Playstyles
The Class System in Estheria: A Realm Divided focuses on three classes present throughout development and at launch. Players can choose to play as the Warrior, Ranger, or Warlock/Witch classes. For our deep dive, we’ll talk about each class individually.
When designing the Class System, I drew upon extensive research and previous experience in both game development and focus on old-school RPGs such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. My entire combat premise is built upon creating a narrative-driven RPG experience within the ChoiceScript medium. While unorthodox (as it appears not many titles follow this approach), Estheria is a wildly vast and creative world built as a proper role-playing experience. It would do this universe injustice to approach it as anything other than that.
As such, I created a lore-centric basis for each of the classes. In Estheria, there are many Guilds, each spread throughout the realm and backing their unique professions. These professions range from those of a noble mercantile nature to crafting and gathering, and lastly to combat.
Combat Guilds will train and hone the prowess of each member, focusing on evolving their craft over time. Tasks are provided, unique storylines may open up, and Guild ‘Laws’ take effect. The only uniform law spread across each Guild is the Armament and Protection Regulatory Act; restricting members of each Combat Guild to specific categories of armor, weaponry, and abilities. This lore basis provides consistency for gameplay, as classes are restricted in what equipment they may use, and what abilities they may learn/execute.
During your travels throughout Estheria, you will learn to specialize and gain insight into your class as part of key character development. Expect unique class-based dialogue, class-based choices and option paths, and class-based skill trees.
I’ve blathered on enough, I’d say it’s time to introduce them properly.
The Warrior
“Forged by blade and steel, those that call themselves Warriors take pleasure in the thrill of the kill. It is no greater honor than to fight and die by the iron and grit of combat.”
The Warrior Class will specialize in melee combat, utilizing a mixture of one and two-handed weaponry, while employing the use of Action-Points to execute Action-Abilities.
Action-Points will increase through each point spent in the Strength Stat, growing by a maximum of 10 per point spent. Each Stat caps at a maximum of 20 points, allowing you to reach a total Action-Point cap of 210.
Warriors are generally employed as a more aggressive playstyle, focusing on brute force, tanking, and taunts over direct strategy and tactical prowess. They’re your first and last line of defense, charging headstrong into battle in an effort to severely pummel and cut down the enemy.
While it isn’t required, you’ll find that aggressive and arrogant personality types/styles will work hand in hand with unique dialogue and choices presented for the Warrior Class. They’ll train and empower themselves at the Warriors Guild, (known as the Blade and Spear) which possesses multiple locations throughout Estheria. Gain new abilities for the cost of Tessetts (Gold), or through the completion of Class-Quests; unique storylines that unravel as you continue to level during your adventures.
Remember…
Cut them down first, ask questions later.
The Ranger
“Masters of the forest, protectors of nature; nothing excites them more than the taut pullback of a bowstring before unleashing devastating blows from afar.”
The Ranger Class will specialize in ranged combat, utilizing a unique mixture of bows, Cool-Down based ranged abilities and nature abilities through the use of Mana-Points.
Mana-Points will increase through each point spent in the Intelligence Stat, growing by a maximum of 25 per point spent. As mentioned previously, each Stat caps at a maximum of 20 points, allowing to you to reach a total Mana-Point cap of 525.
Rangers are highly tactical in nature. Focusing on their primary stat Dexterity for dodge-chance and turn-order priority, they deploy harsh and fast efforts to create the perfect strike for their party. Expect quick, brutal takedowns through the use of their deadly arsenal.
Generally, Rangers are witty, sarcastic types. Mocking those of brute-like nature, they’re as quick with their words as they are with their feet. Training at the Rangers Guild, (Known as the Dancing Arrow), they’ll train new abilities for the cost of Tessetts (Gold), or through the completion of Class-Quests.
Their enemies were cool like you, until they took an arrow to the knee.
The Warlock/Witch
“Equipped with the aetheric capabilities of the realm, the wicked magi find themselves masters of the arcane.”
The Warlock/Witch Class specializes in magick combat, utilizing a wide arsenal of magickal abilities through the use of Mana-Points.
As previously mentioned, Mana-Points will increase through each point spent in the Intelligence Stat, growing by a maximum of 25 per point spent. As mentioned previously, each Stat caps at a maximum of 20 points, allowing to you to reach a total Mana-Point cap of 525.
Utilizing a mixture of brute-force arcanic abilities and tactical prowess, the Warlock/Witch adapts the best of both worlds to deploy unique powers on the battlefield. Their primary focus is on the Intelligence Stat, helping to expand the damage and capabilities of their arsenal while allowing for the sustained use of magicks. Capable of pure abilities such as healing while also maintaining a combat presence, the versatile nature of Warlocks/Witches is key to a robust party.
Warlocks & Witches are typically snarky, arrogant types. Weaponizing their intelligence in a know-it-all manner, they’ll overpower the competition with sheer fact and deft debate. Training at the Arcanic Guild, (known as the Aether’s Heart), they’ll train new abilities for the cost of Tessetts (Gold), or through the completion of Class-Quests.
It’s time to rain fire.
Development Recap (March 2023)
Now that I’ve given a close look at the Class System and their individual classes, I figure I’ll give a bit of a recap on March. It was a hell of a month, merging into a whirlwind of development and releases.
- The Character Creator Demo was released @ 7120 words!
- Update 0.1 deployed, with multiple fixes and changes.
- Update 0.2 deployed, adding further enhancements and fixes.
- Updated 0.3 deployed, bringing to life the Compendium Stats area for the first time.
- Lastly, Update 0.4 deployed, iterating heavily upon the Compendium with Stat Descriptions and Kingdom Lore, with this update, the Demo word count updated to 12,667.
It’s been quite hectic. I’ve been toiling away on both Update 1, but have spent plenty of time working on the combat system and planned Update 0.5. Given the nature of the combat system’s complexity in this type of game, I have opted to hire an outside software engineer and am currently fielding candidates to develop some of the systems from a code perspective. In turn, I’m realigning my focus temporarily on Update 1, and character development.
Branching paths are being built, characters are whirling to life, and a planned story synopsis update is coming as I add additional twists and overhaul the underlying plot. Development chugs along at a smooth pace. My hope is to maintain the June release date of Update 1, but this may push depending on how difficult implementing the combat system properly would be.
Nonetheless, my weekly updates will continue chugging along. You’ll receive polls, Patreon will be updated, and plenty of other components will activate over time. I’m beyond excited at the prospect of introducing everyone to Update 1 for the first time, as it will be proper gameplay. You’ll witness the Shadow Elves and the world that lay within the Kingdom of Veltar.
Speaking of Veltar…
Conclusion - Teaser
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through the whirlpool of text that is my first State of the Realm. Quite a bit is going on and will continue to do so. As a major thank you, I’d like to release the first piece of major artwork developed for A Realm Divided.
Veltar’s legendary technical achievement…
The Chamber of the Arcane - Home of the Mirage Aetherial Transportation Network.
Until next time, Heroes.
~Zach.
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Just for the record, if you had called this the “Weaponry and Armour Regulatory Act”, it’d be WAR Act. 
Any tidbits you’d care to drop about the magicks available to the W/W class?
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Ok, 2 things.
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It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when authors spell magic with a ck. I don’t know if it’s one of those words the UK spells differently, but it annoys me. It always gives the impression (which might be totally wrong) that the author wanted the magic to be “special,” like magic isn’t already special.
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I don’t love that the classes have personalities associated with them, especially since they all seem negative. Arrogant, snarky, sarcastic… is anyone other than random villagers actually nice
. It just seems very pigeonholey.
That being said, I am looking forward to the update. I’ve decided to play the intro section for each race, then pick one for subsequent updates (which has a 95% chance of being an elf, since I almost always play an elf who uses magic. When given the choice, she’s a healer or uses plant magic)
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Like the ideia, there is to little to do a proper feedback, but your plans seems nica so I will fallow this game. I would just ask a personal favor that if possible to put a noble backstory. Was trying to create my first DnD character, but I can’t. But I will play even without it
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