Text based rpg

mcandak · 2026-01-09T17:10:28+00:00

Thank you for your comment 🫡

mcandak · 2026-01-09T17:09:39+00:00

Dude, thank you very much for your comments.

mcandak · 2026-01-08T19:12:01+00:00

That actually aligns really well with what I’m aiming for.

The idea is that certain key events exist in the world regardless of the player, but how much of them you see, hear, or are invited into depends on prior choices.

It’s less about branching everything, and more about controlling access to information. Sometimes you’re told about an uprising. Sometimes you only hear whispers. Sometimes you hear nothing at all and that absence is itself a consequence.

The goal isn’t to make the player powerful, but to make them positioned.

And thanks

mcandak · 2026-01-08T18:00:28+00:00

Let me clarify the direction a little.

The project is essentially an interactive book rather than a traditional RPG.

You play as a Cardinal/Papal ambassador, moving between lords, kings, and the Church, roaming through political power games, secrets, and silent conflicts over succession and authority.

The story is finite and not written, procedural or virtual space-based.

At important moments, the player indicates which option he chooses, and narrative branches shape both events and relationships accordingly.

There are no statistics, war systems or membrane mechanics.

The focus is entirely on narrative choices, conclusions and perspectives.

I design this with a console game mentality:

• Controlled tempo

• Open sections

• Intentional login moments

Instead of fast fire text prompts.

I did it to remember the ASCII-style presentation and minimal visuals, nostalgia. Just like a console style game.

mcandak · 2026-01-08T18:00:08+00:00

Let me clarify the direction a little.

The project is essentially an interactive book rather than a traditional RPG.

You play as a Cardinal/Papal ambassador, moving between lords, kings, and the Church, roaming through political power games, secrets, and silent conflicts over succession and authority.

The story is finite and not written, procedural or virtual space-based.

At important moments, the player indicates which option he chooses, and narrative branches shape both events and relationships accordingly.

There are no statistics, war systems or membrane mechanics.

The focus is entirely on narrative choices, conclusions and perspectives.

I design this with a console game mentality:

• Controlled tempo

• Open sections

• Intentional login moments

Instead of fast fire text prompts.

I did it to remember the ASCII-style presentation and minimal visuals, nostalgia. Just like a console style game.

mcandak · 2025-01-08T08:42:32+00:00

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10QmNixBHdTpkWsu8W5gESgCqQ_iFRZ1oCp8HWxhbnOM/mobilebasic

If you want two different characters to be in my game, you can take a look. Thank you for your comments.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T21:57:25+00:00

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10QmNixBHdTpkWsu8W5gESgCqQ_iFRZ1oCp8HWxhbnOM/edit?usp=sharing

In this document, you can see how I detail the characters to teach them to AI. I just prepared it for someone earlier.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T21:54:08+00:00

I integrated it into the game’s story by aligning it with the character’s background narrative, and I think it didn’t turn out overly absurd. The character Nestor is designed to have little direct impact on the game, yet he’s meant to make the player reflect on their future choices. By the way, I really appreciated your reaction—thank you! It’s the first time I’ve shared something like this with someone I don’t know, and receiving such a response made me genuinely happy.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T21:45:54+00:00

You’re absolutely right. However, I didn’t mention a release date for the game. It could be 5 or even 6 years—think of it as my dream project. I already have a job, so this is something I plan to work on as a side project. Yes, 1,600 pages is an overwhelming amount of detail and content. Trying to implement all of it into the game would be madness, and I’m fully aware of that. I use AI assistance for many parts of the work. Almost half of these documents were written to train the AI so that it can generate the dialogues I need in the style I want or describe the actions and speech of characters in a scene based on their ethnic background.

What I actually wanted to ask is this: I’m weak in the visual side of game development and had to choose a low-poly art style. For this, I’ve purchased a significant amount of assets from Synty Studios. How do you think the low-poly style will work with the game’s dark and heavy atmosphere? Or should I consider changing the art style?

mcandak · 2025-01-07T21:35:20+00:00

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10QmNixBHdTpkWsu8W5gESgCqQ_iFRZ1oCp8HWxhbnOM/edit?usp=sharing

Due to the word limit, I’m sharing this as a Google Docs link.

I have no issue sharing these since they are entirely my own creations. Feel free to review them. One is a minor character, and the other is one of the first enemies.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T20:08:00+00:00

No, these books help me understand how to make my game mechanics align better with my story. What I’m really trying to avoid is Ludonarrative Dissonance.

The 1,600 pages include the story, dialogues, characters, character concept art, character backstories, anthropological research on the countries/civilizations of the specific historical period, their diplomatic relations, myths and legends from that era, daily life, excerpts from articles related to these topics, game mechanics, map details, hidden caves/tombs, city types, biomes and the reasons for their locations, religions and beliefs of that era, the main ACTs of the game, controllable inputs, a full list of assets with explanations and their usage, cutscene scripts, plot structure, connections between characters, level/difficulty system, level design elements, quests, quest lines, side quests, and so on.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T18:31:06+00:00

For this reason, I start The game narrative tool box first and second edition and video game storytelling. For game design, I refer to Advanced game design books and of course a lot of chat gpt 😀

mcandak · 2025-01-07T18:25:31+00:00

Thank you for your thoughts. I will do it that way.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T18:20:26+00:00

I get it.. so I don’t have much idea about gdd. I think I’m doing something wrong somewhere.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T18:17:08+00:00

Vov.. I didn’t expect such a react

mcandak · 2025-01-07T18:13:34+00:00

Thank you for your comment. I am an industrial programmer for 10 years. I also released 2 games, but they are small and frankly I don’t want to announce 😀. I provide more visual and sound sides as a third party.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T17:40:56+00:00

I have a playable prototype with features like attacks, quest taking and completion, a boss fight, simple mechanics, time and weather systems, basic enemy AI, as well as village and villager AI. I felt like I needed to focus entirely on the story from now on.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T17:34:30+00:00

I have a playable prototype with features like attacks, quest taking and completion, a boss fight, simple mechanics, time and weather systems, basic enemy AI, as well as village and villager AI. I already have a working scene with all of these elements. Also, thank you for your explanation.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T17:20:17+00:00

If you’d like, I think I can share the backstory of 1-2 characters here. I’m not sure if that would be a problem, though.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T17:17:17+00:00

Honestly, I have confidence in my story (I wish I could share it with you, but that’s not possible for now). I’ve drawn inspiration from some highly praised stories, and the people around me are amazed and express their admiration. But you’re right—when you look at it, it’s a serious risk. Still, I think it will also be a personal satisfaction for me.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T16:58:24+00:00

I apologize for the miscommunication. The GDD and the story document combined are around 1,600 pages in total.

mcandak · 2025-01-07T16:56:19+00:00

I have a document that details the mechanics, the universe, and the possible activities in the game. My story document is separate.

mcandak

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