The basic idea for Deity Quest came to me when I was trying to fix some fundamental problems with a scrapped game design where you would support an AI controlled main character. The problem with that design was that there just wasn't enough for the player to do - however that's where I borrowed some ideas from Pokemon. The problems were solved by having a team of up to six followers you need to support and position, with the ability to gain new followers by converting enemies. The game is similar to Pokemon in that there's a large number of follower types to find and convert, however, the followers are all completely AI controlled, and your job is to lend your followers support using your deific abilities.
Deity Quest is also inspired by dungeon crawler games - you'll traverse through randomly generated areas and dungeons while managing limited mana and items to get you and your followers to the end. You're only allowed 6 active followers and 6 backup followers per area, and if they all die, you're thrown out of the dungeon. Likewise, running out of mana can be a big problem, as without mana, you cannot support followers or convert new followers, and followers that draw mana from your mana pool will not be able to use skills.
Finally, the story and progression are similar to a role-playing game, where you travel to different areas, follow a linear plotline and level up to gain new spells and abilities. The story is broken up into eight parts that span your adventures on the planet Aberos. Will you be able to become the Overgod?
Deity Quest has certainly turned out to be a bigger project than I originally imagined, but I'm excited to see it happen and it's already well underway! Right now, I have completed the battle system and an outline of the story, locations, dungeons and boss fights. This is the groundwork behind the game, and I've also done preliminary balancing for all spells, skills, equipment and follower types. There's still a lot to do - all the out of battle code and systems, like handling locations, dungeons and dialog. My current progress is still an impressive milestone and that is why I've decided to announce Deity Quest now. You can see some example battles in the following video:
As a god, you will need to choose an alignment that will affect various parts of gameplay as well as where you start and who your starting follower is. The alignments you can choose from are:
Good - Good deities follow the ideology that every follower's life is priceless, and gives all followers a slow regeneration to help keep them alive. While good deities can convert evil followers, they are harder to convert and require a mana conversion cost of 1 mp every time they draw from the divine mana pool.
Neutral - Neutral deities believe in balance, and that both good and evil have their place in the world depending on the situation. While they give no benefits to their followers, they are able to easily convert followers of all types, and can choose to learn both good and evil spells, giving them more flexibility and options.
Evil - Evil deities believe the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and will not hesitate to slaughter enemies and sacrifice allies to further their cause. Evil deities give all followers an additional 25% damage bonus to help them accomplish what needs to be done. While evil deities can convert good followers, they are harder to convert and require a mana conversion cost of 1 mp every time they draw from the divine mana pool.
So pick your alignment, convert followers to your side, create a balanced team of followers to fight, and support your followers as you head towards becoming the Overgod! I hope you're as excited as I am, and follow my progress on Deity Quest's IndieDB page!
