by ValturNaa » Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:13 pm
I'm also getting a picture of the back story, and how the game would go. Monsters have always been around, as long as anyone in the kingdom can remember, and their relationship with humans has always been a hostile one. Some, like the wolves and cats and bunnies, can be tamed, but still are seldom trusted outside their cages. Others are too ethereal to capture, too powerful to capture, or too stubborn to train. Among these dangerous breeds is a variety of incubus which, like the incubi/succubi of legend, rape humans in their sleep. Children coming from such pairings are rare, but not unheard of, and are traditionally feared. When the late king's young bride was tainted with such a child, the king gave it away the moment it was born, in the hopes of removing that stain from his house. But the queen was unable to bear any more children and, thus, never delivered a proper heir. It was shortly thereafter that the queen became ill and died, and the brokenhearted king regretted his decision for the rest of his life. One night, as he was preparing for bed, the king was visited by a fairy, a powerful but relatively benevolent monster, who assured him that his wife's child still lived and promised that when the time was right, the scion of demons would see the way and turn the realm into a greater kingdom. The king rejoiced, and immediately sent forth his fastest riders to search the land for the missing heir. He confessed the truth to his most trusted duke, and together they searched the land. But the king never lived to see his heir. Imperial assassins infiltrated his castle and murdered him at his feasting table, and Imperial armies began to march. Without their king to lead them, the army was scattered and slain, and the people helpless to stop the invasion. The duke gathered his own forces to forestall the invasion, and by chance, his men discovered the missing heir, who survived the sacking of a village where monsters where bred and trained for the ampitheater. Enter the player. As a former trainer of monsters, the Duke believes that you can help his cause by breeding and training loyal monster soldiers (and, hell, at this point there isn't much to lose). Along the way, you are encouraged to give your monsters experience in the field by leading them yourself in battle (the campaign). As you successfully fulfill the duke's requests, you attract his personal attention and he comes to visit you. He sees something in you that seems familiar, but he won't say what or why, and instead vanishes into his library to do some reading. When he returns, he reveals that you are the missing heir and can ascend to the throne. Of course, to do so, he needs more and stronger monsters with which to fight the enemy and reclaim your land.
Along this journey, you can choose to focus on the monster farm, breeding and supplying monsters to the army to reclaim your land. As time goes on and you fulfill more contracts, these contracts will become gradually harder and require you to refine your breeding system as you go. Or you can capture these regions yourself through the campaign mode. The campaign mode will bypass the main story, allowing you to advance at your own pace and reach the ending in which you are crowned king/queen, but will fit, story-wise, with completing the two in concert. Neither one will override the other, and regaining regions by either method will allow you to visit these areas.
The map consists of a bunch of regions, and should naturally expand to include new areas. Each region comes with several scripted battles (we can start with 3 per region, and expand later if we choose to). Once all battles have been completed, or the region has been liberated via the main quests, the player can choose to "visit" the area. Traveling to a region will automatically take you to its central town or city, where you can visit buildings to find stores, taverns, and whatever else is needed, or talk to townsfolk seen along the street. Townsfolk and people in taverns can tell you about the local monsters. You can also choose to Explore the area (also available from your farm) which results in random monster battles, foraging for supplies to build up the farm, or coded local events. The final option in each region is to visit the local ranch, talk to the ranchers, offer to buy or sell monsters, and purchase certain supplies such as milk.
As for how you start out, the Duke's soldiers provide you with a breeding pair of a starter breed that they captured in the woods. Breed them until the female gets pregnant, explore with the male until she delivers, and expand your breeding population from there. I don't see any reason to either require or allow players to purchase monsters initially.
I'm not mad. I'm only forty and eighty percent crazy, and that's split between two personalities, which makes me almost half sane.