World of Thardomhainn Post

I'm pretty upset at the moment. My Skype account sent out another barrage of spoopy links to my contact list, and on analysis I found that since I changed my Microsoft Password a week ago, nobody but me has logged into my account. So, they didn't get my password, but they're somehow accessing my Skype. I've gone ahead and deleted Skype from my system, and Skype's support says I probably have a virus so I'm scanning my system. Rob thinks someone is spoofing my account, but I don't know. It's very upsetting.

To pass some time while I wait for the virus scan to scan for viruses, I want to plot out some design for World of Thardomhainn and the Roguelike I'm workin' on.

I've got some concerns about the long term game design of what I'm working on.

What is World of Thardomhain becoming, and what about what I'm working on now? Is it even still World of Thardomhainn?

Right now I'm making a pretty bare-bones Roguelike with very few notable features. It's based strongly on Azure Dreams, a japanese roguelike, but with less features. There'll be no monster hatching/training, and limited items and magic. My plan was to have random health potions to heal and magic items to make your attack and defense stronger. The idea of the game would be to go into the dungeon, power up your items, and come out again, and keep doing that until your weapons are strong enough to survive to the bottom floor.

I'm also thinking about putting in a hunger mechanic but I'm not sure.

When I started working on World of Thardomhainn under that name, I was making an RPG rather than a Roguelike, and I abandonned it because I didn't want to make a complex system of connected stats and abilities. Then I came across the idea of making a roguelike and I thought, hey, I could revive World of Thardomhain using that. But what's really changed about creating complex RPG systems? Is that something I want to do? What about the story and setting of the world, and making it all work? That's so much bigger of a task than just making a video game.

Yet, I haven't had any other ambitions for some time now. The other games I had considered making in the past don't call out to me like they once did. All my focus is on this project, and specifically on the minutia of this project, such that I'm not looking at the larger whole. Perhaps I've been burying my head in the sand.

I ask myself "What am I making this game for?" and I can't come up with a reason besides a certain passion. Why this game? I don't know.

I keep thinking about this but I still don't want to quit or jump to another project. I don't know why. It's a bit vexing.

Anyways I convinced myself I would be able to do it as a Roguelike if I pared down the systems to something really simple like Azure Dreams or Mystery Dungeon, and made your strength primarily related to your weapon and shield.

But I'm not sure how that will work long-term. For a simple, bare bones Roguelike, it's one thing. But for the sort of large scale simulation RPG I'm ultimately making, I don't think it's enough.

--------------

It's tomorrow now, I was gradually writing this over the course of the evening and slept on it. Well technically I think it's two days from when I started it, but it's tough to remember. Anyways I thought I should draw a little line where I had paused for a long time.

I haven't really done much to solidify the world of Thardomhainn. I mean, all I know is that it's some kind of fantasy world with lots of dungeons. I don't know its history or cultures. The name is in Googles translation of Gaelic but I don't think it's going to be based specifically on that culture's mythos.

One thing I've considered is instead of making my own RPG system, using an open source RPG system like D20 or something. It's hard to turn tabletop into a computer RPG though, since there are so many edge cases where the DM gets to decide what happens.

But yeah, going back to Thardomhainn, what sort of a place is it? High fantasy or low fantasy? Are there furries? Magic trains? What's out there? How many layers of ancient civilizations are there, and what killed them off but allowed for civilization to rise again?

I'm kind of frustrated because I don't feel like creating those sorts of things, at least not right now. I'm not sure what to do though. It's like I'm rushing into building a house without the foundation. Or maybe I have it backwards and I should build the house first and worry about the decorations afterward? I don't know. It's all a mess of metaphors.

The more I think about it the more this whole endeavour feels like a shortcut or easy route. Like I'm trying not to do anything too hard. I'm not sure why. I think the reason I don't want to do a modern looking game is because of the art overhead. I don't want to do an RPG because of the stats and lore writing.

But I do want to do those things. I just don't enjoy them as much, and they all take time that I could be spending on my speciality.

I tried joining a team but I haven't had much luck with that. Most of the projects proposed to me weren't interesting, and the one I picked has been going slower than a snail in molasses.

Worst of all is I'm not bringing in any money and I don't know how or if I even can. Bleh.

I'll have to try and contact my ODSP rep and see if I can get a straight answer about patreon.

I'm still looking for a 'normal job' but I haven't had much luck. It'd be nice to be paid for something though.

Any of you need a game programmer specializing in Unity Development with around 20 years of unquantifiable experience?

------------

Anyways the long and short of it is I haven't come up with a background for World of Thardomhainn and I don't want to yet. I'm not sure what to do about that. I'll give it some thought, but I've spent too long writing this and not enough time posting this, so up on the journal it goes.