(This topic is a copy of the one over at the
Roguecentral forums.)
Salutations,
I'm currently working on a game in early development called 'Cult' with roots in the roguelike genre that utilizes the awesome libtcod library.
The original synopsis/goals for the game follow, although they probably need to be updated a bit:
Game Synopsis:
Cult will be a real-time game that will blend features from several genres, most prominently roguelikes and strategy games. The player will take on the role of a fallen god's only supplicant - the beginning of the game should revolve mainly around locating the long-lost altars, temples, and places of power of such gods or spirits with the eventual goal of selecting one to worship.
Worlds in Cult will be randomly generated - this is the part of the game engine I'm working on now. Each world should have its own history, civilizations, legitimate religions, dungeons, and unique gods.
Gods - Gods should vary from one game to the next, and each world should end up with a set of gods that feels interesting in its own right. Gods could be single monotheistic deities (possibly with an evil counterpart), pantheons, strange entities from beyond the deeps of space and time, or pagan-esque place-spirits. Each god/dess should be generated with their own values and sets of abilities to impart to their followers.
Each world should have enough gods to keep the casual player from ever really discovering them all.
Religions - While the world of Cult should indeed contain bona fide cults, it should also have major religions. These will essentially just be cults like your own that have taken root and become the official religion of a civilization. Not surprisingly, they will represent a major hurdle to any aspiring evil pope.
Civilizations - The game will center around religion, but political maneuverings are necessarily part of religion as well. The player should be able to eventually control one or more civilizations in the name of his/her god.
Game Style:
* Recruit Followers -This will be one of your major goals in Cult. More followers means more power for your god and more minions with which to extend your influence. Also, towns and cities don't take themselves over - and if you've ever got any aspirations about conquering anything, you'll need meatsacks.
* Explore the World - Despite the overarching strategy themes in the game, it shouldn't neglect its roguelike roots. Dungeon exploration should be both profitable in monetary terms and in terms of power. Many ancient artifacts are sure to be buried in the deep places of the world, and possessing them would mean huge boosts to your god's influence and abilities.
* Set up Shop - Eventually, all high priests need to settle down somewhere. The player should be able to occupy a village/city he or she has taken over, or even build one of their own.
* Fight in Turn-Based Real Time - Cult will be real-time, but every combat action will have a 'delay' stat that dictates the amount of time needed to execute it on an opponent. The player should be able to control his own character's actions directly, and should also be able to micromanage the actions of his/her followers.
At this point, most of the work I'm doing is on the world generator. I've just finished up the basic design of a 'language name generator', for lack of a better description - ironically at just about the same point that one was released with the new libtcod library. This one has slightly different functionality and goals, though, and it will eventually aspire to not only produce convincing (or at least semi-convincing) sounding sets of names, but also pseudo-languages in the spirit of Dwarf Fortress that will allow names to take on a slightly more in-depth meaning.
Here's the (still very basic) open-source name generator as it currently stands:
http://fallout-mux.wdfiles.com/local--files/files/langnames.pyAs for a preview of the kind of results you can expect and how to use the module, here are a few examples of using it from IDLE:
http://fallout-mux.wdfiles.com/local--files/files/langnames1.jpghttp://fallout-mux.wdfiles.com/local--files/files/langnames2.jpghttp://fallout-mux.wdfiles.com/local--files/files/langnames3.jpgThe basic idea at this point is to generate the phonetic style of a language on-the-fly and then use that style template to generate names. There are still some kinks to be worked out (sometimes the templates end up a little bit TOO far on the Lovecraftian side), but I plan on making it considerably more advanced as time allows.
On to some teasers for the game itself; here's a screencap of world generation in the early stages of terrain gen.
http://fallout-mux.wdfiles.com/local--files/files/halfthrugen.jpgAnd here are two exported world images - one post-terrain generation and the other post-terrain feature naming (looks like this world got a rather Russian-esque precursor language). Both files are quite large, just as a warning.
http://fallout-mux.wdfiles.com/local--files/files/worldgen.pnghttp://fallout-mux.wdfiles.com/local--files/files/worldgenpn.png(Astute viewers might notice some names overwriting one another - this is non-problematic, because once in-game you'll be able to filter out which kinds of names you want to see at any given time. Also, caves and rivers ARE named, but they are named discreetly to avoid producing ridiculous amounts of clutter. The names will still be accessible in-game to be used for directions, flavor, etc.)
At this time I'm working on civilization generation - civilizations should move around the world map, clashing with each other and making friends/enemies as time wears on until they settle down and start building villages and cities. Each civilization will get a lingual theme and culture - some will be advanced, others less so. Although civilizations will play a somewhat lesser role than religions, I'm aiming to make the game as immersive as possible, so a believable world is a natural step in the right direction. In addition to the 'normal' civilizations, an ancient precursor race is generated with each world - these are the guys who've conveniently left advanced ruins all over the place for you (and monsters) to ransack. However, the precursor race, their attributes, and their role in the game world should also change with each game.
I don't want to get TOO ahead of myself, but I thought I'd at least provide a bit of a sneak preview of what's to come. At some point in the near future I plan on setting up a devblog/website, and I'll be posting a link to it from here for anyone that's interested in keeping up with the game's progress.
Thanks for your interest!
