Just thought I would post a little bit of the GDD
Game Description
Ethos “It Begins Again.” Is a constantly evolving experience dependent on melee and magic combat revolving around three forms of play and one Sand Box: Real Time Strategy Players engage in strategic attack and defense of critical assets; action in the Role Players Game is intense as players clear out dungeons and take on legendary warriors; soldiers for hire compete for supremacy in the Battle Arena. Regardless of a player’s personal preference in carnage, all engage in the same centralized Sand Box where you can make your mark on History. Build. Defend. Conquer. The world is your canvas, and war is your paintbrush.
SB – The “Sandbox” with many towns/cities is spread over an open world with several continents. Combat in this part of the game will be limited to individual combat between one or more players for the sole purpose of robbing the other player of any valuables they might be carrying. On occasion a small or large band of thieves may lay siege to a small town, however, the towns people are under attack not the city. Only the citizens can lose whatever they might be carrying at the time. It is up to the local Monarch to provide security for his empire. Any crime that is committed can be reported to the royal guard and the criminals name is added to that town’s most wanted list. Bounty hunters can then load that towns most wanted list into their inventory and be alerted when a known criminal is nearby. The Sandbox will scale to as many as seven large continents depending on the amount of active players in the game. The Sandbox will consist of many towns/empires that are owned by individual players and must be built, expanded, and maintained by the player. There is no limit to how large an empire can become, it is up to the player to entice other players to settle within their empire and then strategically expand the empire as they see fit.
RTS – Empires are built using RTS game play in the Battle Arenas. Battle arenas are individual levels where teams of players from competing empires come to fight. The intent is to have as many as 20 unique levels that can hold as many as 50 individual players. All RTS empire building battles start with a challenge from one Monarch to another with a similar ranking empire. The challenge is simply what the Monarch wants form the opposing empire. The opposing Monarch has three options when he is challenged; he can surrender and give up whatever is demanded, he can accept the challenge as is, or he can up the ante and fight for supremacy. The Monarch who has issued the original challenge has two options, walk away and pay a preset penalty in gold or he can accept the higher challenge being offered. All battles that risk an entire empire or “Pinks” have a built in rematch so that the victorious empire must win in the battle arena twice in a row to claim an entire empire. If the winning army should happen to lose the second battle then either Monarch can declare a draw and part ways with no cost or penalty. The victorious empire can leave the existing Monarch in place to manage his old empire but he pays homage to the victorious Monarch.
RPG – The RPG is built as a standalone and obvious transition from the sandbox. Or The RPG levels are hidden within the Sand Box, as players explore the world they will discover the many levels full of new enemies a boss encounters. RPG Levels will consist of a semi open worlds with a semi linear paths. Built in side levels and optional levels will add to the game play experience. There will be many interconnections between various levels to allow for multiple routes to the end of the game. The levels in particular will be highly game-play driven centered around character development, enemy encounter, boss fights and coop. The levels will be tailored to the standard mechanics of an RPG plus some unique features that will be covered under Character AI and User Interface.
BA – Although the MOBA genre is comparable to the battle arenas, it is not an accurate description; a death match may be a better description. The battle arenas in the Ethos game are centered on individual and team based PVP. There are no structures to destroy or flags to capture it is a fight to the death. The player/team come to the arena to practice against other players or teams. Continuous tournaments along with practice matches will be held in the arenas to determine the rank and Handicap of individual players or teams. Matchmaking will be done by XP level and a Handicap system similar to golf. Teams with high level characters will have a low Handicap and teams with low level characters will have a high Handicap. These Handicaps will adjust how much health players have for the match. There will be a maximum allowable Handicap but no minimum Handicap, meaning players and teams can go below zero. Player win percentages, Handicaps, rank and total arena stats will be public knowledge so any Monarch can assemble the right players to expand his empire. The lower the Handicap the more expensive the Mercenary is to hire to represent any empire in the Battle Arena. Handicaps or XP level will not apply when battling in the arena for the purpose of expanding an empire. Empire building battles are open class with no XP limit or Handicap.