Devlog - game concept

23 days ago by Darcytg

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Working title:

One Drunken Knight

Concept Statement:

A knight is drunk on a night out, the forces of supreme evil want to kick them out of the tavern for nearly drinking all the beer, will you let them?

Overview:

The game will hopefully have a casual dungeon-crawler/arcade genre feel to it. I plan to make the mechanics simple, such as basic combat, a system in which to keep score and replenish player health, and only a couple of levels. The game will be for older teens/adults due to the inclusion of a tavern/bar setting and alcohol and fighting, and general adult humour.

In terms of inspiration, I’ve always enjoyed fantasy settings like Morrowind (Bethesda Game Studios), and I also enjoy serious toned games such as the Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar Games) series, which have interesting and funny missions/events sprinkled in to add some humour, and so I feel the setting of a drab and backwater fantasy tavern, with the unlikely and impossible mission of throwing out a wasted and enraged knight, seemed funny to me. Regarding the genre, I haven’t played so many arcade style games, however I believe it will feel like games similar to classic arcade mobile games like Jetpack Joyride (Half Brick Studios) or Vampire Survivors (Poncle), where defeat is inevitable, and a high score is the main objective.

Vampire Survivors, by Poncle. I want to try to make the general feel to the art style very similar, and also think the horde/enemy spawning mechanic would fit very well in my game:

https://poncle.itch.io/vampire-survivors

I plan to make it for a casual audience, and as such would also point to games such as those from Nintendo, where I can say from personal experience I have always found to be very easily to sit down with and play casually with some friends for an hour or so, before moving on. As such, there won’t be a deep story or setting to the game, but hopefully what story and setting there is, will be relatively polished.

Super Mario Bros, by Nintendo. I do find old games like this to be a good benchmark, as I’ve played these with my friends, seeing who could get the furthest for a couple hours at a time, before moving on to something else.

Treatment:

You are a glamorous knight, who after being sent from your fellow royal guards (fired), out to spread peace and prosperity (banished from the capitol), heroically saved a local backwater town from a dangerous dragon (ran it over in your wagon on the way to the tavern). After having a well-deserved short rest in the local tavern (sinking 1 million beers), a kind old gentleman approaches. He explains he is a member of the waitstaff at this establishment, and that unfortunately they have run out of beverages, and you will have to move venue to the inn across the road. Recognising this is a common plot from the forces of supreme evil (the general public) trying to catch you unawares when you leave the tavern, you are left no choice but to face these denizens of evil in your unfortunately inebriated state!

A foot soldier in the forces of evils army (a line cook who got asked to help de-escalate)

With a devastating punch and kick, you will fight your way through the masses (bystanders), scavenging half drunken mugs of ale to replenish your health, but beware! The greater your damage to the fiends pursuing you, the more doggedly they will pursue seeking vengeance (legal action), with increased health and damage to their attacks. Furthermore, as you seek out drunken salvation further into this twisted tavern, the number of fiends will only increase, and your chances of getting thrown out with them (barred from the tavern). It will be up to you to use the environment to create space between your and your foes, chairs? tables? Punch and kick them between you and those attacking you to create openings in the ever-increasing crowd to smartly and successfully evade capture and uncover whatever fiendish plot is in play here (persecution for drunken disorderly conduct)!

A vicious one-two combo from our valiant hero will surely keep evil at bay!

Bravely delving further into this twisted dungeon (staff only area), what enemies will you discover? Will you find more beer? Can they legally throw out an anointed knight from a tavern in olden times? This story or heroism and triumph over evil will surely be talked about for days to come, if not a week at least!