Introduction

Anarchima is a game I've been developing solo since the beginning of 2022, in my spare time. It's a tactical cRPG heavily influenced by Ultima and Fallout (first two) with a strong focus on narrative and choice.

Aside from the game itself, I've also developed various content-creation tools to make my life easier, as well as provide some basic mod support without using Unity.

Narrative Design

Dialogue

Dialogue is fairly standard fare. There are branching choices, some based on item/stat checks, others based on previous choices, quest states, and so on. Some checks work on an absolute values, showing a specific reply if the check passes; other are "rolls", which are randomized around stats; these are either unrepeatable, or incur a penalty on failure.

Structure

This is, I think, my biggest contribution in terms of game design, and what will make the game stand out if I solve the "low level problems".
Taking a cue from the early Fallouts and Neverwinter Nights, the important quests will involve a conflict about multiple towns, with several possible solutions.
Taking a cue from Ultima, each solution will affect internal "proto-sociological" variables which will then influence the choices and results in the end game.
I'll leave the details for when I actually release the game!

Combat

Mechanics

Combat is turn-based, a mix of Fire Emblem and World of Warcraft. Some important points are:
- Character can move one before attacking, or move twice without attacking;
- Skills are a direct damage/healing component, as well as de/buffs, statuses, tile effects (triggered and sustained) and damage-over-time effects (which can themselves be a complex attack like a walking bomb which affect surrounding targets);
- Positioning is central, with some attacks having flanking/backstab bonuses, piercing effects, other require line of sight, etc.;
- Turn order is determined by the Initiative stat, which increases the character's "current initiative" after each round;

AI

I initially considered a role-based AI, but ultimately decided for a "utility-approach", where the AI evaluates its whole list of actions and chooses the best one. Each AI can be further customized with traits influencing how much it values attacking enemies vs. supporting allies, how much damage it is willing to sacrifice to itself (for example, by stepping on a tile effect), and so on. It evaluates positions based on "influence maps", and paths to the desired tile based on the effects on the way.

Tools