Sylvan's Curse - Reanimated

Note that a playable prototype using early assets and only for the first part of the game at Sylvan's Curse - Reanimated by Chadyaniki

Often, I found myself looking at my game library wanting to play something but not finding anything to play. Then logging into a digital game store, browsing the wares, and not finding anything that will scratch that particular itch. Not to knock the available games, they are fun games, but sometimes I find myself in the mood for something that is back-to-back game play with little story or system interruptions. Something I can sink my teeth into without having to keep too much track of what is going on, my build, which quest I am on, etc. That was my motivation in creating Sylvan's Curse. What the game brings to the table:
- complex, challenging, and addictive gameplay that stays fresh throughout the playthrough
- traps and pitfalls that require nimble fingers to navigate the world
- puzzles that challenge your thinking skills and leave you feeling smarter
- boss fights that test your patience and the skills that you have honed through your journey
- a simple story that does not get in the way, but stays in mind as you play
- a thumping soundtrack that will get your foot tapping, watch out that it does not get you out your gameplay rhythm... or will it help you maintain your rhythm?
- a world map where taking a detour can lead you to a much-needed boon to aid in your quest.
- multiple biomes so you will not just be looking at green forest for 8 or so hours. 
- mini games, one of which is a card game that is unlocked for free play once encountered in the game world
- two endings, if you get the "happy" ending you unlock a boss run mode.

The Story

Welcome to Sylvan's Curse (working title). In this world a mysterious plague has ravaged the land. All the best healers, alchemist, and enchanters are at wits ends, their efforts limited to curtailing the spread as much as possible and making life for the afflicted as comfortable as possible. Legends have it of an all-powerful catalyst that is said to be able to increase the potency of any healing potion. The downside is that it can only be procured from the cursed forest. Many have ventured into, but none have returned. As tensions rise, the Regent grows desperate. At the risk of kingdom security, soldiers are no longer sent to the accursed forest with reliance being placed on adventurers. Hefty rewards have been offered to those that can find the fabled vitalizer. Enter the player character... Discover what lies in the forest, where the character will discover that there is more to this forest than just a forest, there is also... ahh, no spoilers. 

The Hook

The three main hooks for the game:
1 - combat
2 - platforming
3 - player restraints'

Combat

The initial aspect of the combat is that enemies can only be attacked when they are in a vulnerable state. If the player tries to attack during any other time, then the enemy will dodge or the player attack and enemy attack will clash.

Enemies function using pack mentality. A pack is a group of enemies that belong to the same party. Depending on the make-up of the pack, the enemies' behavior changes accordingly. Take the Grunt, when on its own it attacks aggressively. When there are two grunts in a pack, the one grunt is an attacker while the is a defender. The latter's role is to protect the attacker when they are vulnerable. 

When there are 3 or more grunts, then there is an attacker, defender, and the rest are opportunist who try to catch the player distracted by the attacker and defender.

The mage also changes their behavior when there are grunts in the pack and when the grunts die then the mage reverts back to their usual behavior.

The grunt and the mage set the base for this enemy pack system. After this new enemies appear that take advantage of the gaps from the formation of the grunts and the mages. There are enemies who will
- set traps in the battlefield
- hide in the battlefield and attack the player stealthily
- others who are just juggernauts and can devastate the player on their own.

Boss behavior patterns operate on a system different from the normal enemies thus forcing the players to evolve or die!

Platforming

The world is not a straight path, that would be too easy. The world is full of bottomless pits, traps, moving platforms, falling platforms, disappearing platforms, etc., to make the navigation of the world nail-biting tense.

Player Restraints

With all the items coming against the player, life is made harder with the restraints placed on him. The player movement is based on magic. First they have the spirit slash. This is an ethereal blade that appears when called upon to damage the enemy. The player can only call upon this blade once and then has to wait for the spell to cooldown... survive during that time.

To avoid the danger as well as to navigate the world the player can blink between locations. Obviously, it will not be that easy for the player, the blink also has a cooldown.

All this exertion is not free; it takes a toll on your hunger levels. As your satiation decreases your efficiency decreases. Luckily for you, there are fruits in this world that can be used to fill your belly... however, you are not of this world, as such this fruit, best available source of sustenance, gives you sickness. 

Game Assets

The game clips you have seen relate to the first part of the game including the first boss. This part of the game has assets that have been updated with the help of a professional artist. The remainder of the game is based on my developer sprite, which are... bad, to be nice to me. These assets are placeholder assets that will be updated with the help of a professional. Even the clips that have been shown, even though they are a major improvement from my developer sprites, they are still to reach the level of my final vision for the game.

As such, one of the intended uses of the funds that are raised through this crowd funding campaign will be to update the visuals of the game world to achieve the final vision I have. This will be achieved by engaging a third party company that specializes in creating in game assets.

Other uses for the funds raised will be:
1 - filling the empty spaces in the game world
2 - engaging composers to make the music that will be used in the room. With the composers I have in mind the music is promising to be "thumping!"
3 - engaging a sound studio to make the sounds effects that will permeate the game world.