Brandon's Game Dev Blog #1

Concept

What started off as a horribly written fanfic has turned in to a personal goal for me. Creating is and always has been my greatest passion but I lacked what every successful person has, and that’s a voice. After many trials and soul searching I finally found mine and I wanted to talk to the world through my first gaming project: The Lumin Book Rush.

I’m sure you have a lot of questions like “What exactly is a book rush?” or “Damn, how many side projects are you trying to do?” Well I’ll focus on the more pressing one and inform you that The Book Rush is a yearly event that takes place in Lumin to help libraries get new books. There are many lost books and scrolls scattered through out dangerous parts of Lumin and the librarians pool their money together as a grand prize for the team that gathers the most books in a 24-hour period.

The home base for this year’s Book Rush is being held at a popular tavern known as The Woeful Jester. Those involved in the contest can return here to heal, read books, gather information or buy supplies. There is conventual “Game Over” however, you and your party just revert to level 1.

The two biggest things I want to promote with this game are reading and problem solving. I want to immerse the players in the world so when they come across a road block the first thing that comes to mind is, “Huh, maybe I should read a book and get some info.” Designing the game in this style allows me to give players both unique rewards and challenges that I’m sure will leave you impressed.

Books

Books are the bread and butter of this game, when you obtain a book and return to The Woeful Jester, it gets added to the library for you to view later. This is important because there will be times that you have to go to the library to solve various challenges. Think of the library as a strategy guide that builds during game play, you just have to know what you’re looking for.

To give a bit more depth about the books themselves, they’ll do more than just give you clues about the challenges, they will also give you special insight to the world of Lumin and the characters involved. From spells books that explain the mechanics of a fireball to the horror stories of The Blood Moon General, every book you read will be anything but useless. In the world of Lumin, knowledge is power.

Characters

Oh, the characters! This is my favorite part to talk about, though its difficult for me not to blurt out spoilers. Quite a few are related to each other, the three characters in the demo are known as The Kismet Sisters. At any rate, the characters you meet during The Book Rush will be featured in future games, so this is the best time to get to know them.

Artura Kismet is the eldest of the three and a renowned knight known as “The White Blade of Lightning.” While she can be stern to the point of stubbornness, she does tend to get easily flustered. One truth that always shines through though is her desire to protect everyone, driving her to train every single day.

Julia is the middle sister and one of the most well-known mages in Lumin. As intelligent as she is beautiful, Julia boasts a wide variety of spells and unique ways to use them. Julia seems genuinely polite and well mannered. However, her sisters would be the first ones to confirm Julia’s harsh sarcasm and vanity.

Naomi is a straight-shooting thief and the youngest Kismet. If there is something she disagrees with, she has no problem voicing her opinion. Despite her sister being a knight, Naomi has earned a living as a thief because of her ability to escape from any situation. She helps run the thieves’ guild with her aunt and uncle, earning a reputation for being a strict leader.

The gentleman helping run The Book Rush is known as The Host. He is a mysterious bard who runs The Woeful Jester with his wife and three vampires known as The Morai Siblings. The Host naturally gives off an aura of mystery, shrugging off any suspicion with an almost eerily calm deflection. Of course, no one in Lumin trusts him, but this seems to affect The Host very little as he continues to run his tavern with a warm smile and greeting.

The Morai siblings consist of three bards named Darlene, Harley, and Robin. The aren’t related though, Robin just tends to adopt and turn stray humans. While traveling, the three met with The Host and fought him. He defeated all three easily with bard spells they never even heard of, so they decided to train under him. And although he may own the tavern, Robin is the one who runs it, keeping everyone in check with creepy passive aggressive threats.

And last, we have The Host’s charismatic wife Iris. Iris is much more outgoing than he is, saying and doing what she feels caring little about the consequences. She has a knack for befriending anyone she meets and spends most of her time picking on her husband. While endearing, there have been rumors about their marriage. According to some, they don’t seem to be very romantic with each other, but that could be because they’re both private people.

End Game

I’ve been gaming since I was a year old, thanks to Punch-Out I have a talent for noticing patterns. And I feel as if learning is something that is lost in too many games these day. I’d be a hypocrite if I said I don’t like any games on the market right now, but I want to bring back that nostalgic feeling of pride when you solve a problem instead of playing the same level until you get lucky.

I get a lot of my inspiration from the same shows, books and games we all grew up with and I want to keep those lessons alive. So, when you’re playing this game just remember, “Take chances and make mistakes.” To paraphrase a certain bus driver.