Project InfoCouncil of Torment is a top-down 2D dungeon crawler inspired by Ultima IV, with a very rich storyline, gameplay elements that's been under development for 10 months. The project is at a very early stage, aiming for an eventual steam greenlight release. It's a game meant to give you an old school feeling, because old doesn't mean bad, and it's meant to innovate with some features that you'd normally see in a 3D game, brought in a 2D environment. Currently the project is run by a single person, which means that all the artwork, coding, sound effects, music, level design and marketing is done by a single person, although any offered help is welcome (E-mail: simion.stefan120@gmail.com - Skype: simion.stefan4)
Game StoryThe gameplay takes place in a very young world, on an eastern continent. King Artemis was a general sent from the Northern Continent to colonize the lands at all costs. Artemis colonizes an island in the middle of the world map, an uncharted island, and begins to construct a harbor. The harbor is called "Stormhold", and it is there that the legend begins. A boy is born there, in the tough life conditions of the newly found colony. His name unknown but his force great. Roaming the streets of Stormhold, the boy is assaulted by a gang of bandits trying to take his loaf of bread. The boy struggles, and manages to knock one of them out, but is restrained. As the bandits try to run away, they are caught by the king and his men. As the king gives the loaf to the boy, he asks "What is your name, boy?". With a small hesitance, the boy says "Evrain, sir". The king offers Evrain a position in the king's military training group, a group of young children recruited to become potential elite soldiers.
Years go by, and the ships land on the eastern continent. Evrain turned out to be one of the finest soldiers in the military, proving himself every time he is put to the test. He eventually becomes a part of the king's personal military men, charged with the protection of the king and receiving direct orders from him. As fate holds, it turns out the eastern continent was not empty. The ancient dwarven race populates the eastern lands, and opposes the new human king, starting what will later be known as "The Iron War'. Artemis begins constructing a large capital city, that will later on be the symbol of the iron war. He constructs villages and encourages people to live their lives and work the lands as if it was their own. In a first struggle, Artemis beings by destroying nearby dwarven settlements. Dwarves have a better technology but the histories tell us that they are weak in combat, but sharp with a tool. In a book we find an interesting turn of events: As Artemis was raiding an old mining settlement of the dwarves, he was assaulted by a few dwarven guards, and injured. All his guards were dead, but out of nowhere, the young Evrain shoots some arrows to the dwarves, causing them to flee and saving the king. Artemis promotes the boy, and Evrain shortly becomes the right hand of the king. He is taught everything that Artemis knows - Military strategy, combat, economy. These skills would later on proove useful to the boy.
The iron war eventually ended, with the victory of the humans, that managed to establish many colonies, and drive the dwarves to the mountains, back where they belong. The kingdom began to thrive, and Artemis was raising his young son, Nero, for becoming a future king. Years went by, and Evrain was the most respected military figure. He became a brilliant strategist, but a man that seeked peace and freedom. The king eventually agreed to free him of his service, and allow him to live a regular life of a farmer. Evrain retired from his service to a small village, took a wife and two children and lived a simple life, growing crops and making his fair share of gold. Years went by, and the king became very old. His son wanted the crown of his father, and decided to ease the burden by killing him. The only problem was, that Artemis anticipated this would happen. He lost faith in his son long ago, and gave order that when he dies, his right hand would be made king. In order to kill both his father and his right hand, Nero made a feast, and invited the most noble men of the kingdom to the feast, including his father and right hand. When the feast began he ordered the servants to lock the doors of the room. He raised a toast in the honor of his father, and everybody drank the poison wine. Several seconds later, chaos erupted in the hall room. Nero started to laugh as his father collapsed to the floor, in tears, next to the right hand of the king.
A dark age had started. A tyrant had came to power, and the kingdom instantly entered a state of chaos. The king had sent men to every village in the land, in order to try and stop a potential rise of the peasants. He wrote a series of tax measures that raised the taxes up to 60%, lowering the wage of the peasants, and forcing them to slavery if they were unable to pay. In order to handle the slavery and manage taxes, punish all free men that dared to raise their tone against the kingdom, he created an institution called the Council of Torment. The institution was in charge with taking care of every peasant that doesn't pay his taxes, and making sure everyone follows the law. A civil war had started.
Evrain's village was shortly enslaved, as were most villages in the kingdom. He was forced to slavery, but refused to accept it. He killed the guards that were watching his house, and took their armor and weapons. Single handedly, he went from house to house, freeing the slaves and killing the guards, giving the weapons and armor to the freed peasants. As he liberated his village, he was making plans to liberate other villages as well, but the tyrant king intercepted him with a large group of soldiers, killing many innocent people from evrain's party, including his wife and children. Evrain went into despair, and retreated into the nearby forest. As he stopped to make camp, he realized that the king had no knowledge of the nearby forests, it was a territory that only a hard working man or a peasant knew about. So he decided to make small communities similar to villages in forests. The villagers began to thrive in those forest camps, making weapons, harvesting nearby materials, hunting animals for food, and learning how to fight. He began liberating more villages, taking the free men either to his own forest camp, or making new ones. This was a brilliant tactic - he was going to make many forest camps well hidden in the forest, right around the capital city and eventually strike. If a camp would be found and raided, the men could escape and go to another camp.
In this civil war, you play as Baldric. A mysterious figure with a mysterious background, that ends up in Evrain's camp and becomes the hidden hero of his actions. The player will eventually be the key to ending the civil war, and you get to play before the civil war as well, in order to experience both.
Planned features- Open world
- Being able to get natural materials and craft them
- Skill system based on recipes - find books in dungeons that teach you how to craft new things. Grow your own crops, make your own armor, mine your own metals.
- Randomly generated quests in villages, and storyline quests as well
- A dynamic AI - people will walk around, talk to each other, hunt animals, sleep, be natural
- Fluent combat system. Push crates around, throw oil and set it on fire, use the shadow to remain stealthed and more.
- Dozens of dungeons, each very complex with at least a unique boss in it. Each dungeon would have a different theme, boss, rewards and natural materials. Each dungeon would take at least 30 minutes to complete, resulting in a pretty large game
- Endgame - The game doesn't end after the final boss. You get to keep playing and doing side missions, and you're able to take a ship to Stormhold as well, where new quests and areas await.
Screenshots (Early Development)
