Hey everyone!
People have been asking to see some of the game, so I've put together just a few screenshots to update everyone on the progress toward a public demo. Keep in mind that everything you see in these screenshots could change even before a demo version is ready.
Title Screen and Interface
The GUI is clunky, and doesn't yet display everything it needs to. What's there has been added as I need to track things while test playing. The entire interface will change, putting things like the equipment paperdoll display in their own closable windows, and making the play screen much larger.
The title screen is very basic, only allowing for entry into the game. There is no save system in place yet, as I haven't needed to save test characters with everything changing so often, so when you click the start button, it just plops you down into world.
Speaking of the world...
It's almost completely procedurally generated. Every time a new server is created, the map will be entirely different.
Thrive or Die takes place in a medieval fantasy realm that I have been imagining for over 20 years. I have written stories, created a geography, have developed entire geopolitical systems, and more. The world itself is an archipelago, a world of islands, one shattered by a cataclysmic event in the realms long history.
Players will spend most of their time in Garund, "the new land". Undiscovered until recent years, Garund is unsettled by any major kingdom, and is a completely new frontier ready to tamed by those who can handle the perils it has in store for them. The world map for the game will always be the same. Certain things like the shape of islands and landmarks should fit with the background story. Other than that, all the way down to how many apples spawn in a particular tree, will be random. Even I won't really be able to tell you where the best place to find gold ore is until I've scoped out the world, which could take days even with a small map like I'm using for testing (250x250 'tiles').
Not all monsters of the same type will have the exact same number of hitpoints, or attack with the same ferocity. When you craft multiple daggers, unless you're incredibly skilled at it, they probably won't all deal the same damage. Randomness will be the name of the game, and if it can be procedurally generated, it will be.
You'll need to be resourceful to survive.
You can kill animals like turtles and rabbits with your bare hands, but try and take on something like a wolf with no protection, and you might win, but it won't be pretty.
The crafting system will be incredibly in-depth. You will make things the same way you would in the real world, or as close as possible. Just to get started, you'll need to find rocks and sticks, sharpen your rocks so you can strip the sticks of their bark, make lashings, then you finally have what you need to make crude tools. The game won't be easy, but I believe it will be very entertaining, but I'm somewhat biased...
You will also need to keep hunger and thirst at bay, or you won't last long. Forage or grow food, and collect water to stay alive. A planned feature will be seasons and body temperature. You will need to stay warm in the winter, and your chances of dehydrating will increase during the summer.
Thrive or Die will have something for everyone!
Whether you plan to explore this new world in search of fame and fortune, want to live the quiet farmer life, or anything in between, the possibilities will be endless. The game will be a complete sandbox, manipulated by the actions taken by players. You will become more skilled at just about everything you do, the more you do it, and character development will be open-ended, meaning no rigid "classes" to hold to.
Just a reminder: I will soon be seeking funding to turn this game's development into my full time job. To do so, I will be selling "shares" of the profits generated from all of the game's current and future monetization. Follow @thriveordie to keep updated on that.
Hey there,
Thanks for the sneak peak, will there be an alpha/beta available to trial the game open to the community? I would be keen to try it out!
All the best mate, if you focus your efforts into this and ensure you keep the positive affirmations, you'll do great.
Will resteem this post as well!
Cheers,
Shannon
The game will be as open and transparent as possible. I would love for the community to have a large input on how the game evolves. From early development, through beta, and alpha, Thrive or Die will be open to the public.
It's going to be very buggy at first, but as soon as I feel it's stable and polished to a minimum playability, I'll have it online.
There will indeed! I'm polishing up some stuff to make it playable as more than a test environment. I've mostly been building infrastructure for the game, and things like the GUI have taken a back seat.
Okay cool, thanks for the update mate I'll keep my eye out :)
Good luck man with the release. Always glad to see more indy game developers on steemit. I've been working on a game as well and i can attest that it is am adventure.
I've been developing games, both physical and digital, for over 20 years. It's my true passion. Thanks for your support. I'll have a working demo going as soon as possible. I hope you'll stick around for the fun to come.
Great concept, if you need help with any artwork let me know :)
You know it, man! Thanks again for the logo!
looks cool, keep us updated.
Certainly will!
This is going to be very interesting. I just chose to follow you in order to get into the game as soon as it's possible to do so. Can't wait.
On a side not, I'm very new to this forum and haven't posted much of anything yet other than a couple quick comments. But I've been reading alot and the shear number of ideas here at Steemit is impressive and encouraging. I think I'm going to enjoy this place. :)