Godhood: The Ascension

Hiya Forumites,

Thanks to the horrible influence of this website, I have decided to make a game. The game in question, Godhood: The Ascension, will be centered around a lowly farmer who one day decides he wants to become a deity. It will be a 1-5 hour platformer with some Metroidvania spice and possibly some other game elements.

The game's design beyond the above paragraph is and will be very fluid. I've started a blog to keep myself organized. Blog's here: http://godhoodtheascension.blogspot.com/ Its rather threadbare right now, but I will be forcing myself for the next 10 weeks or so to write up and draw some stuff for the place in one or two big posts per week.

I've only ever really lurked on the internet, so this is my first attempt at doing something public. Please support it! I've been lurking on Tv Tropes for five years now so you guys are like my internet family.

If anyone knows anything about online mentorship related to any of this post I would like, no love to hear about it.

edited 14th Jun '11 1:54:26 AM by Neogeo

I like to pick up heavy things and put them down.

Well, if we have a game centered on apotheosis, the one big request will be to not off any of the pre-existing deities by the end. So many games both Western and Eastern have their protagonists successfully raging against the heavens that it would be quite refreshing to see one end with everyone up top co-existing in harmony...

... at least for the first installment.

This. Also, I'm thinking it would be better to have the farmer have a predefined name and personality.

UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI

Interesting concept, I'd like to see more of this.

Is using "Julian Assange is a Hillary butt plug" an acceptable signature quote?

The basic gameplay idea I have for the whole ascension aspect is that the gods wage war over humans, I.E. the "Gods Need Prayer Badly" trope. Wars would be indirect though so no God killing, not like God of War or anything like that. There may be indirect God weakening through follower stealing though.

I'd like to keep the games focus on conversion. Each god would have followers that could not be converted. The Christian/Judaian God would have the unconvertable Pope and Cardinals or the Dalai Lama for Buddism.

Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth will be the two original God's for the purpose of Godhood's universe creation.

edited 16th Jun '11 2:18:43 PM by Neogeo

I like to pick up heavy things and put them down.

Hm... regarding conversion...

'Preaching' or 'philosophizing' might be used as a standard attack, the strength of which depends on how many followers the player has. More devout believers might need more or stronger 'attacks' to sway.

Power gained from prayer could be used to perform miracles, which result in guaranteed conversions of lay believers (non-boss NP Cs). Rival or NPC deities would naturally also perform such miracles, with frequency or Ao E (depending on the mechanic you choose) depending on game difficulty.

Higher ranking religious authorities (bosses and minibosses) might be kept immune by some sort of meter that records how many followers their deities lose in a level or specific play area and they would become vulnerable when a certain number of followers in that proximity have been converted.

Might also want to note that a number of Real Life 'religions' are more of philosophies than religions, unless you're abstracting for gameplay purposes.

edited 15th Jun '11 3:56:15 AM by Recon5

Since gods are gonna be pretty active, the end goal of the game is to merely join the existing Gods' pantheon. The focus of the game will be converting agnostic/atheist folk while avoiding their religious neighbors. Attempts at religion conversions are reserved for the endgame. End game will start upon attaining demigod status. The plot will be more or less excuse. Some detail will be vested in The Farmer's initial motivations, but after that his personality and actions will depend on the player. Canon will be played hard and fast, ideally giving lots of room for alternate character interpretation.

I like to pick up heavy things and put them down.

It sounds quite interesting, and a Metroidvania style seems a curious choice, but then again, you do start with your feet on the ground.

I'm amused by the idea that, on a day like any other, he looked up from raking potatoes and decided "Screw this, I'm going to become a god".

Can't fault him for a lack of ambition. The same goes for the game's maker:

Best of luck to you!

This seems like a really fun concept. I can't wait to see what you do with it!

Support Gravitaz on Kickstarter!

New post is up: http://tinyurl.com/3wwhvet

Re Doug: I'm just writing what I know. I'll be writing what I like, (roguelike) whenever I wanna try for a magnum opus.

Re Recon: Getting followers will be fairly open-ended within game limits. The main character, being a farmer, will not have the mental resources to preach and convert large swaths of people from different philosophies. He will have to find other methods to gain worship. More worshipers will give boosts to The Farmer's divine stats/skills only. The other two gods are active, but due to the age and size of their worshipers rarely if ever preform individual miracles. Though they will create rainbows upon request. The "higher ranking religious authorities" will serve as beef gates, increasing the difficulty of certain cities dramatically, or in some cases epically.

edited 16th Jun '11 2:21:24 PM by Neogeo

I like to pick up heavy things and put them down.