Yes, that's correct. There is one more game to make in the UQ series, and this one takes place first. I know I said that I would probably never make the game which is alluded to in Shadow of the Towers and Tree of Life, but after thinking about it for a long time, I've decided to go for it.
I have no idea when I'll actually get this thing made, but like the last game, I've already got a ton of ideas on paper.
For those of you who haven't played either of the other 2 games, Shadow of the Towers takes place 20 years after Mercer's March, and Tree of Life takes place pretty much immediately after Shadow of the Towers.
Mercer's March will be a castle siege/strategy RPG, similar in a lot of ways to Romance of the 3 Kingdoms, or more specifically Dragon Force. At the beginning you're overlooking a huge world map which is only viewable from this high vantage point because the map is supposed to be to scale, and if you could run around on it you'd see how small it really was. The effect though, is that it seems like you're really up higher than you're supposed to be able to be under the mechanics of RM3. It's kinda cool. Anyway, you're asked which of 8 kingdoms you want to play as, and each comes with a ruler for you to assume the role of. Only 6 of the 8 are available until you beat the game, however. Basically you choose one of the kingdoms, a shaft of light appears over it, the ruler's picture appears along with a brief description of the kingdom, and then you choose whether or not you want to play as that ruler/kingdom.
There are 8 opening game storytellers, one for each kingdom.
Once you gain control as your chosen ruler, you're able to run around in your castle, and select characters for your various positions such as advisor, generals, etc. Certain scenarios will have default characters, for instance if you select King Leonidas V, then one of your generals will be Troy, and your advisor will be Brogan. He's Troy's adopted father, after all.
Then There will be eight maps (ugh) that you can run around on, for a total of 9 maps in the game. That's a lot, but it's still 5 less than Shadow of the Towers had. If 2 or more kingdoms wind up landing on the same land mass then that number will drop, and it's looking like that will be the case.
You can run around freely until night falls, at which time you automatically warp to your audience chamber, in order to begin domestic mode.
During domestic mode, you are given announcements about things that have happened earlier the same day. Your other elected officials also give messages, and then you go through a series of decisions for the next day. You decide things like whether to develop town defenses, whether to send a spy or ambassador, and whether or not to declare war. You can also award medals to your officials if you want, and assign troops to them. Medals increase the number of troops an official can have (0-3), and troops can be one of 8 different types:
- Gorilla
- Frog
- Ninja
- Mage
- Birdman
- Treant
- Wolfman
- Soldier
Each one will have strengths toward and weaknesses against other types, so you're either going to be neutral, at an advantage, an extreme advantage, a disadvantage, or an extreme disadvantage when you fight against generals with different troop types. I'll probably have to make a manual for this game, and the full chart of strengths/weaknesses will be in there for reference.
During domestic mode you can also assign officials to certain jobs. Right now they're solely military positions, but I hope to add a lot more like potter, farmer, builder, medic, etc. These military positions are things like 'Royal Guard', 'Castle Guard', and 'Siege Captain', and they correspond to 3 the 4 waves of combat. All castle siege missions have 4 battles, and at the beginning of the siege you're given the option to choose the order of deployment. You are then faced with the enemy's 3 choices, and depending how the battles go, you can either successfully invade the castle and the kingdom with prisoners, or with no prisoners, or you can be repelled and either suffer little from it, or be killed or captured. The 4th wave is always the ruler of the castle. You're already at a disadvantage when you are the aggressor, as you won't have your ruler with you. A little strategy should go a long way though, I hope.
Another duty you can assign will be 'TRAIN', so that you can level your troops.
The last thing (not necessarily in game order), will be a tactical phase, where you're back up on the observation tower overlooking the world map. All of the kingdoms which serve you or are allied with you have shafts of light illuminating them, and you've beaten the game when all are lit up. During this phase you can look at other kingdoms if you are allied with them or have successfully spied on them.
Like my last game, this one will have a crapton of variables. I'll probably even wind up using all of the internal variables for the rulers, the castles, and the world maps for things like 'what is this country's attitude toward us?' and 'what is this character's INT?' I'll be using INT for lots of things (like success in espionage), and other stats too, so I'll have to represent them (in)variab(ly). As another example, your ATT will be the equivalent of your 'WAR' stat in Rot3K, resulting in good or bad results from training (10-50 EXP points for your troops).
Well that's all for now, but I hope to add more to this soon.
I have no idea when I'll actually get this thing made, but like the last game, I've already got a ton of ideas on paper.
For those of you who haven't played either of the other 2 games, Shadow of the Towers takes place 20 years after Mercer's March, and Tree of Life takes place pretty much immediately after Shadow of the Towers.
Mercer's March will be a castle siege/strategy RPG, similar in a lot of ways to Romance of the 3 Kingdoms, or more specifically Dragon Force. At the beginning you're overlooking a huge world map which is only viewable from this high vantage point because the map is supposed to be to scale, and if you could run around on it you'd see how small it really was. The effect though, is that it seems like you're really up higher than you're supposed to be able to be under the mechanics of RM3. It's kinda cool. Anyway, you're asked which of 8 kingdoms you want to play as, and each comes with a ruler for you to assume the role of. Only 6 of the 8 are available until you beat the game, however. Basically you choose one of the kingdoms, a shaft of light appears over it, the ruler's picture appears along with a brief description of the kingdom, and then you choose whether or not you want to play as that ruler/kingdom.
There are 8 opening game storytellers, one for each kingdom.
Once you gain control as your chosen ruler, you're able to run around in your castle, and select characters for your various positions such as advisor, generals, etc. Certain scenarios will have default characters, for instance if you select King Leonidas V, then one of your generals will be Troy, and your advisor will be Brogan. He's Troy's adopted father, after all.
Then There will be eight maps (ugh) that you can run around on, for a total of 9 maps in the game. That's a lot, but it's still 5 less than Shadow of the Towers had. If 2 or more kingdoms wind up landing on the same land mass then that number will drop, and it's looking like that will be the case.
You can run around freely until night falls, at which time you automatically warp to your audience chamber, in order to begin domestic mode.
During domestic mode, you are given announcements about things that have happened earlier the same day. Your other elected officials also give messages, and then you go through a series of decisions for the next day. You decide things like whether to develop town defenses, whether to send a spy or ambassador, and whether or not to declare war. You can also award medals to your officials if you want, and assign troops to them. Medals increase the number of troops an official can have (0-3), and troops can be one of 8 different types:
- Gorilla
- Frog
- Ninja
- Mage
- Birdman
- Treant
- Wolfman
- Soldier
Each one will have strengths toward and weaknesses against other types, so you're either going to be neutral, at an advantage, an extreme advantage, a disadvantage, or an extreme disadvantage when you fight against generals with different troop types. I'll probably have to make a manual for this game, and the full chart of strengths/weaknesses will be in there for reference.
During domestic mode you can also assign officials to certain jobs. Right now they're solely military positions, but I hope to add a lot more like potter, farmer, builder, medic, etc. These military positions are things like 'Royal Guard', 'Castle Guard', and 'Siege Captain', and they correspond to 3 the 4 waves of combat. All castle siege missions have 4 battles, and at the beginning of the siege you're given the option to choose the order of deployment. You are then faced with the enemy's 3 choices, and depending how the battles go, you can either successfully invade the castle and the kingdom with prisoners, or with no prisoners, or you can be repelled and either suffer little from it, or be killed or captured. The 4th wave is always the ruler of the castle. You're already at a disadvantage when you are the aggressor, as you won't have your ruler with you. A little strategy should go a long way though, I hope.
Another duty you can assign will be 'TRAIN', so that you can level your troops.
The last thing (not necessarily in game order), will be a tactical phase, where you're back up on the observation tower overlooking the world map. All of the kingdoms which serve you or are allied with you have shafts of light illuminating them, and you've beaten the game when all are lit up. During this phase you can look at other kingdoms if you are allied with them or have successfully spied on them.
Like my last game, this one will have a crapton of variables. I'll probably even wind up using all of the internal variables for the rulers, the castles, and the world maps for things like 'what is this country's attitude toward us?' and 'what is this character's INT?' I'll be using INT for lots of things (like success in espionage), and other stats too, so I'll have to represent them (in)variab(ly). As another example, your ATT will be the equivalent of your 'WAR' stat in Rot3K, resulting in good or bad results from training (10-50 EXP points for your troops).
Well that's all for now, but I hope to add more to this soon.
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