For nearly a thousand years, an group of heroes and adventurers known as the Vanguard have protected the people of the world of Echo. They have protected civilians in the heat of war, and turned back the tide of monsters that encroach from the Wilds.
But something has happened. One of the Vanguard’s most closely guarded secrets is being turned against them, slowly but surely, and it’ll be up to the next generation of the world’s adventurers to avert catastrophe. They’ll have time to learn, to grow, to train, but will it be enough?
I’m posting this WIP so early so that I can make sure that the world building works, listen to what kind of choices work/don’t work/are desired, and just in general get a read for the audience reception. On top of that, feedback has always been great for helping me get through long projects, and whatever way this thing ends up working out, I can tell already this could be a long one.
Journey of the Vanguard is a science-fantasy story that follows the player character from happy childhood all the way to late adulthood. It covers the protagonist’s career as an adventurer, their battle with an arch nemesis that threatens the entire Vanguard order, and their attempts to to have a life beyond all of that.
The game is currently planned to have 5 segments (detailed below): Child, Survivor, Student, Adventurer, and Veteran. Each segment will eventually support multiple paths that greatly change them. As an example, in the survivor phase, the player can live in an airship crashsite, in the wilds, or in a very dangerous town.
Child
The child phase is a where the groundwork of the player character is laid, establishing their interests and serving as the origin story for both them and the central conflict.
Survivor
Immediately following that, the survivor phase is the “taking a beatdown” phase, the crucible which serves as the player character’s final transition from talented youth to fully capable individual.
Student
The student phase will focus on time spent making friends and honing skills, both with those friends and under more experienced mentors while also pulling the player deeper into the central conflict.
Adventurer
This phase focus on the player as a full fledged adventurer traveling the world and helping where and how they decide to while also dealing with a personal life and the central conflict.
Veteran
In the final phase, the player trades some of their youthful vigor with hard earned experience. The focus here is on the player deciding what their real priorities are, and what kind of legacy they’ll leave. Also, there’s that central conflict that needs a final, firm resolution.
The Cast
Anthony Howler (Male,) [Saboteur]- The son of a wealthy Talisean industrialist, an obsessive and particular inventor and tinkerer. Also, a bit of a flirt.
Unrevealed Student (Female) [Futurist]
Clark Kalburn (Male) [Helmsman]- A simple, kind boyscout raised on a farm in the Fertile District of Westerra
Diana Recpin (Female) [Combat Medic]- Top of the combat class, accepted into the Academy a year early after fleeing Kaberon on a refugee ship.
Tayana Wilson (Female) [Enforcer]- A stern and fiercely independent girl who left Valiant Academy after her first year to become an active vigilante
Perry Haro (Male) [Ace]- A serious, withdrawn vigiliante whose parents fled Oriean crime families
Marty Matthers (Male) [Cypher]- A cocky, wisecracking thief who specializes in finding people
Unrevealed Street Tough (Female) [Surgeon]
Without further ado, here is the current playable build (v 0.4.3):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/wxicpzfnpjvcplr/Journey%20v0_4_3.htm?dl=0
Current features:
- Fully playable childhood and character creation
- Childhood/survivor transition scene
- Work in progress Survivor stage (1/3 paths completed)
- Survivor/Student transition chapter
Patch Notes (v. 0.4.3):
- Fixed numerous typos
- Marty now only feels the need to tell you how classy he is once
- Marty has also ditched his finerless gloves in exchange for fingerless ones
- Sprinkled in additional text here and there
- When meeting Diana, “My eyes are up here,” has been changed to “Like what you see?”
- Added two new stats, under a new category: Reputation. Players will now have a measureable reputation on the streets and with the Vanguard
- Added conseqeunces to some existing choices to effect both street and Vanguard rep
- Attempted to add Reputation to the stats screen when it becomes relevant
- The fight on the train now provides combat experience in much the same manner that the Tesla snake fight does
- Fixed an issue where a strategic retreat from the Tesla snake was misinterpreted as “running away so quickly you break the game”
- Moved the “To be continued…” from the end of the Survivor/Student chapter to the start of both the Student-Street and Student-Vanguard chapters
Known bugs/typos in current version:
Features to be included by the next major update:
- The rest of the drone sidequests pilots can unlock during the Survivor-Mountain chapter
- New chapter, dependent on feedback
Especially Looking for Feedback On
- What other auras might players like
- How well the NPCs work as characters
* Which chapter the audience wants to see next - Continuity errors in the Tesla snake fight
Is it that early in the process? (joking, of course)
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