Story concept

As a small sidetrack, I thought to come up with the basics of this hypothetical ARPG. It follows as such:

Quote

Times were changing fast, and the power of the old gods started to fade away. O but they warned us that this would happen, if we would turn our back on them. They knew that they would not be able to hold back the Great Void any longer. And their words carried the weight of the universe. . . And that was a calamity, humanity did not anticipate. With each passing day, more and more grotesque creatures were summoned into existence, while most parts of the world started to decay and collapse into the endless pits of hell. But some believed that with great spirit, and with the right mindset, anything is possible. That is why we were chosen to be the first of our kind, to bring an end to the chaos, that was bold enough to threaten our very existence . . .

The idea was to come up with something familiar, but with a hint of something new. I mean, the goal was to create something solid, not to redefine a whole genre.

Gameplay wish list

When thinking about the game, it has

• to implement the same saving principal that Diablo 2 used (waypoints and chapters as points of reference)
• to be casual-ish: it derives from the game mechanic mentioned above, paired with the fact that the emphasis is on the Action (which translates to a relatively short time-frame, when dealing with quests and objectives)
• to have good replay value via randomly generated levels, loot and monsters, and well designed/interesting skills/mechanics
• to be challenging and rewarding, especially for the time you will put into it (but not in the way of holding your hands while you are at it)
• to show the action, rather then tell it: Meaning that the story--mostly--has to be told via action (in game), rather than tales from deceased people. Although, chatting with NPCs would still give you plenty of lore/info -> this is there to keep you focused on the action
• to have that Gothic aesthetic, combined with a darker gameplay experience
• have that exploration aspect to it, where you travel from one location to the other, and face different challenges/monsters along the way
• to avoid/limit favorable skill trees, aka. metagaming for the most optimal build

And above all: It has to be fun and easy to play.

Well then, back to sculpting . . .