Project ZorkDeck(6): Narrative(2)

As far as systems go, we have thought about and implemented;

  1. A Movement system.
  2. A dungeon spawning system.
  3. A battle system.
  4. A deckbuilder system.
  5. A narrative system.

These four systems will make up the core loops of ‘Knight in the Woods’. I have other ideas for potential systems, however what I’m really interested in is populating these five systems and then evaluating the need for any others.

In my head, it makes sense to populate out a narrative line. Doing this will:

  1. Give me a good indication of session playtimes
  2. Get me to populate the battle system, and thus help with questions around balancing (i.e. walking/battle time ratios.
  3. Get me to populate out the deck builder system and thus help with questions around balancing (i.e. card power/progression ratios)
  4. Get me to populate out the dungeon system and think about things like gradual transitions between biomes.

These are just name a few potential obstacles.

Narrative number 1 is a classic; Journey to the Castle, slay the dragon, get the reward. There are many things to think about with this storyline, this post will deal with the environment and events;

I like to consider this from a ‘modular’ perspective as that feels the most natural way to me. The idea of this project, from the start, is that I should be able to insert, rearrange and cut out encounters and tiles quickly and easily. I really want this experience to be fun and so setting myself up this way will lead to clean and efficient modifications to encounters and visuals. Below are the types of encounters that I think will go together well, and leave me creative agency to quickly come up with a story to suit. The order of these is very subject to change, however I believe that there is enough there to piece together a classic, but cohesive and interesting tale. I don’t imagine it’ll win any politzer prizes, however I would once again remind myself that this is a first pass and the final narrative to this probably will be done by someone who is passionate about it and do a better job than me.

Phase One – Woods(Default)

Broken down wagon (Encounter)

Bandit camp (Encounter)

Cave entrance (Sidequest)

Nemesis Knight (Nemesis)

Nemesis Knight (Nemesis)

Bridge Troll (Encounter)

Bandit camp 2 (Encounter)

Fallen tree blocks the road (Roadblock)

The Alchemist (Encounter)

Letterbox (Sidequest)

Phase Two – Burnt woods (gradual theme transition)

Woodsman Hut Burning down (Sidequest)

Fire demons (Encounter)

Nemesis Knight (Nemesis)

Bandits ransacking (Encounter)

Fallen tree blocks the road (Roadblock)

Bandits ransacking (Encounter)

Cave entrance (Sidequest)

Nemesis Knight (Nemesis)

Fire demons (Encounter)

The Alchemist (Encounter)

Phase Three – Castle Precursor (gradual theme transition)

Nemesis Knight (Nemesis)

Bandits ransacking (Encounter)

Broken down wagon (Encounter)

Hole in the ground (Sidequest)

Barn Fight (Sidequest)

Bandits ransacking (Encounter)

The Alchemist (Encounter)

The Healer (Encounter)

Mad Animals (Encounter)

Nemesis Knight (Nemesis)

Phase Four– Castle Fight (gradual theme transition)

Kings Guard (Encounter)

Kings Guard (Encounter)

Kings Guard (Encounter)

Kings Guard (Encounter)

The Mad King (Boss)

The Healer (Encounter)

The Alchemist (Encounter)

Dragon Eggs (Encounter)

Mad Dragon (Boss)

Mad Dragon (Boss)

But what do all of these encounters mean? Glad you asked, below are my preliminary thoughts on what all of these will look like. Each one of these will have further discussion and reasoning down the line. For now, these are what I am thinking.

Woods(Default)

This is the starting theme for every run through and every storyline will transition from the ‘Woods’. The woods should start feeling a little claustrophobic, with trees surrounding the edges of the dungeon tiles. The area above the player should be thick and only let in trace amounts of moonlight rays. Each tile will visually guide the player by presenting broken and neglected paths, framed with delaptiated and run down wooden fences. Further to this: old and bent lanterns should crudely highlight selected parts of each tile, adding ambience and shadow.

Broken Down Wagon(Encounter)

Visually, this will take the form of a broken down wagon, surrounded by the appropriate tile theme.

When the player approaches this, they are able to decide (through lower UI prompt) if they want to

a) Investigate the wagon or

b) Ignore and move on.

If they select ‘Ignore and Move On’ they will no longer be able to ‘Investigate the Wagon’ and the encounter will become mute.

If they select ‘Investigate the Wagon’, they have a chance of:

a) Finding an extra card

b) Finding nothing

c) Initialising a battle

a) will result in the player being given a random card – with appropriate stats that support their level, as well as a UI prompt telling them of the outcome.

b) will result in a UI prompt telling the player of the outcome

c) Bandits will appear (3x with appropriate stats), with supporting UI prompt. If the player defeats and individual bandit, they will run away (and reference this event in the future). Once the player has defeated all the bandits, they may either result in a) or b) outcome.

Bandit camp (Encounter)

This is the same as ‘Broken Down Wagon’, but the player won’t get the option to ‘Investigate’. The probability of spawning Bandits is 80/20. Visually, this tile should look like three tents, surrounding a campfire, maybe with some meat cooking?

Cave (Sidequest)

This works as an option that can either be to the left or right option of a player. It is entirely optional, however the player will receive a reward and skip a section of the normal road if they are able to traverse the entire path. Visually, this looks like a cave entrance, with boulders surrounding a hole in a dirt build up. If entered:

  1. The theme will instantly turn into ‘cave’ aesthetic
  2. The player will encounter a friendly NPC, who is hurt. The NPC gives them a quest to battle their way to the ‘goblin leader’ and retrieve their younger sibling. They tell the player that they’ll meet them at the back entrance.
  3. The player proceeds through and will encounter:
    • 2x tiles with goblins
    • 1x tile with the goblin leader.
  4. If the player:
    • Kills the Goblin Leader: The NPC will meet the player at road where the cave exits, will reward the player with a healing card.
    • Lets the Gobline Leader runaway: The player will find the NPC dead at the road where the cave exits and no reward will be given.
    • Lets any of the goblins run: They will join the goblin leader in its fight against the player.

When the player has chosen any option, they will be unable to turnback or change the outcome.

Nemesis Knight (Nemesis)

This works as an encounterable enemy. For the first story, the nemesis is a Knight called: Lord Pomperoi. Visually, he starts off in very clean, regal gear. As the player wins more and more battles, he starts to look beaten up and more evil. The Nemesis:

  1. Talks a lot of shit.
  2. Runs from battle, until the final encounter where it can be killed.
  3. Gets more and more difficult to defeat as the journey progresses.
  4. Will base deck around cards that counter the players hand.
  5. Will drop a lesser card when they are defeated outside of the final battle; the card will be something to do with 4.
  6. Will drop the ‘Nemesis’ card when they are defeated in the final battle. This is a persistent card. This card will be discussed further down the track.
  7. Any bandits that the player lets run from a fight, will end up stacking in the nearest nemesis encounter. This will stack to a maximum of three.

Bridge Troll (Encounter)

Structurally this looks very similar to the Broken Down Wagon encounter. The player enters a tile with a river and a single bridge. As they try to go over the bridge, a troll pops out and stops them. It proposes that the player solve a riddle in order to pass.

The player can select the following from a popup UI.

a) Sure.

b) I don’t have time for this.

If the player selects b) the troll will voice their annoyance and start a battle. If the player selects a) they will be presented with a riddle and the answers to it on the popup UI. If the player answers correctly, the troll will voice their annoyance and move out of the way. If the player answers incorrectly, the troll will mock them, slap them (health hit) and then run away.

Fallen Tree Blocks the Road (Roadblock)

This takes the form of a tree that is blocking the forward path of the player, forcing a left or right path. For now, we can leave it like this, however I will revisit this in the future with options for removing the roadblock + rewards for doing so. Is this something that requires a persistent collectable card?

The Alchemist (Card)

This encounter allows has the player come across a mad wizard looking fellow, who is standing in front of a potion kit on wheels. The player is told (through the UI prompt) that they can give the ‘Alchemist’ a card and he will then upgrade it. However, he may also make it worse or blow it up (destroy it). The possible results are:

  1. -1 to +3 (scaled) to the primary stat of the card
  2. -1 to +1 trait to the card

Anytime the alchemist enhances the card, the card name should be changed to include ‘Enhanced’. This only happens once.

Anytime the alchemist ruins a card, the card name should be changed to include ‘Ruined’. This happens once.

If the player ‘enhances’ a ruined card, the name should remove ‘Ruined’, and vice versa.

Letterbox (Sidequest)

This side quest will appear on the left or the right hand side of the player and takes the form of a Letterbox (redflag and all), with gingerbread men painted on the outside of it. This sits next to a very thin path, with overgrown grass on either side.

If the player chooses to enter this:

  1. There should be an instant change of theme to ‘overgrown clearing’.
  2. The player should encounter an NPC called “Gransel”. The NPC will tell the player about how a witch has their sister (“Hetel”). They say that they will meet the player out the side of the witches house, after she’s been slain.
  3. The player proceeds through and will encounter:
    • 2x tiles of narrative (overgrown clearing).
    • 1x tile of narrative (gingerbread house entrance).
    • 1x tile of narrative (gingerbread house interior, Hetel = gingerbread) + boss fight.
  4. The player will be able to exit the house, when the fight is done.
  5. When they do they:
    • If the player has not killed the Witch, Gransel will be represented by a tiny gingerbread man, lying on the ground. If the player clicks it, they receive a card called “The Gingerbread Man”
    • If the player has killed the Witch, Gransel and Hetel will be hugging; he’ll thank the player and the player will receive a ‘double attack’ card.

Burnt woods (gradual theme transition)

The phase two theme is “Burnt wood”, narratively this feeds into the whole dragon plot point. The transition between ‘Woods’ and ‘Burnt Woods’ should be over four tiles, the idea being that the fog might get a little lighter – colour wise, the trees might be substituted out more and more regularly, there might be some ash effects that the player can see in front of them and on the ground, as well as a change in ambience colour (blue to orange).

Woodsman’s House Burning (Sidequest)

This one is a bit different to the previous sidequests. The player is presented (right hand side) with a woodsman trying to put their housefire out. The woodsman, looks at the player and yells (“Oi! give us a hand!”). The player can either:

  1. Turn to the left, move to the visible bridge and bucket, fill that up and put the housefire out.
  2. Move forward and ignore the event
  3. Use a ‘water’ card (elemental cards discussed later). There will be a prompt that will pop up if they have some kind of water card.

If the player selects 1. the house will be half burnt, but the woodsman will be thankful that he hasn’t lost anything. He will give the player a fire resistance buff card.

If the player selects 2. they will get nothing and there will be a chance that the player meets the woodsman again (in a bandit group).

If the player selects 3. the house will be fine, and the woodsman will be ecstatic. He will give the player a ‘greater’ fire resistance buff card.

Fire demons (Encounter)

Same as bandits camp, different visuals (Fire demons instead of bandits/portals instead of tents). 100% encounter chance.

Bandits Ransacking (Encounter)

Same as bandits camp, different visuals (ashy bandits instead of woods bandits/a cart full of loot instead of tents/ burning house next to them). 100% encounter chance.

Castle Precursor (gradual theme transition)

This will transition over two tiles, buy having the flames and tree stumps thin out (keep the ashyness). This should begin when the player enters through the front gate. As soon as the player moves through the gate, there is 100% chance that they have an encounter.

Kings Guard (Encounter)

Same as bandits camp, different visuals (Regal armour, blood splatters, no tents or anything like that). 100% encounter chance.

Mad Animals (Encounter)

Same as bandits camp, different visuals (Cows, red eyes, munching on a dead body, stable setting..etc). 100% encounter chance.

The Healer (Encounter)

There are two scenarios here.

  1. If the player has saved any of the sidequest characters, have them do the healing and dialogue. This will apply to the first one saved. The player will receive a full heal.
  2. If the player has not saved any of the sidequest characters, have a random model do it – with minimal dialogue. The player will receive 50% of their damage back in health.

The Mad King (Boss)

Visually similar to the Kings guard, except have him have:

  1. No helmet, crown and beard instead
  2. More blood splatter
  3. 4x Kings guardsmen to accompany him.

Two phases: First phase he summons his guards, second phase he resurrects them.

Dragon Eggs (Encounter)

These don’t fight back, however, how many the player can destroy determines how many whelps the dragon boss will spawn with.

Mad Dragon (Boss)

Will spawn with the amount of eggs that the player couldn’t destroy. Will also have an ‘enrage’ bonus based on the amount of eggs the player did manage to destroy.

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