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The Story of a Roman Slave - 2D RPG set in an alternate history Britannia

Douglas McMann · 2015-06-25T17:06:09

Hello, I'd like to bounce a game idea on the people of this forum because this is something I have wanted to do for years (game development, that is) and I believe I have an idea (story wise) that many have never seen before. 1. The story/premise: You play as a slave in Londinium, the Roman Empire fell centuries ago, except on the island of Britannia. The year is 1745 and, from a Britannian's perspective, the last few centuries have been quite good for them. The Dark Ages never affected Britannia much and as a result technology was able to advance while the rest of Europe was tearing itself apart. This advancement creates a steam-punk Roman Britannia which will never cease to look and feel interesting. 2. Gameplay: The game takes place in a top-down 2D JRPG style wherein players fight their battles in a 2D environment that should feel very familiar to those who have played the earlier Final Fantasies. 3. What makes this unique? Why should I care? The uniqueness, I believe, starts with the story, as the player dives into a familiar part of history that becomes alien with the changes made to it by the changed course of history. Secondly, the upgrade system. Every character in the game uses 1 weapon throughout the course of the game, for instance, the main character has a wrench for a right forearm. However, the player is given a wide range of upgrades to be used to customize their weapon how they choose (physical damage upgrades, magic damage upgrades, crit power, etc.). This system leads to a party that can be as universal or as specialized as the player wants. Anyway, that's my idea, such as it is. I'd love to hear your questions, feedback and criticism so that I can make something that will be truly worth playing.

Writing for Games Game Design

Started by KaiserKlay June 25, 2015 05:37 AM

8 comments, last by Brain 9 years ago

Brain

19,059

June 25, 2015 05:06 PM

simple fact that you have an island so close to the mainland (Brittain) developing means they'd have dragged the rest of society out of the middle ages significantly earlier.

Making them isolationist and xenophobic would explain the fact that slavery was still alive and well, and also explain why the Roman technology hadn't fallen into the hands of France etc. If you move it back a few hundred years perhaps they had also enslaved and absorbed the vikings who in this reality of your game would be nothing but a minor historical footnote...
Food for thought...

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