Resume

Project Description

Feudal Management is a project that aims to create a game based around a calendar system. The game will take place in a setting similar to feudal Europe. The player will play as a lord who is managing a fief or township for the king. This includes all the responsibilities that a lord would face while managing a fief. Such responsibilities include the taxation of people in your domain, managing crop output, providing aid against a plague, answering the king’s summons and surviving the year’s winter.

The game will be heavily text based with some visual elements. The goal of the game is to manage a fief which is a piece of land that a lord rules over in place of a king who has much more to rule over. This includes a number of responsibilities and issues. The player will be charged with overseeing, planning and reacting to a number of events that occur during their service as a lord. The main gameplay loop will stem from the game’s calendar system. At the beginning of every week the player will be given a menu to choose how they spend each day in that week. On some weeks an event will occur. These events will be pre programmed into the game or react to something the player did in a previous week. The player will also need to manage resources such as food and troops. These will be used to assure the general health and safety of the people in your fief and deal with events like highwaymen raiding a trade route. This project aims to provide the player a sense of immersion and fulfillment from their time as a lord.

Methods

This project will consist of three tools to build three types of assets for this game. The first is the game’s engine. The game will be built on an engine called Ren’py. Ren’py is a program that is used to develop visual novels. Visual novels focus on text based games and stories. The engine can make text and player choice very manageable and organized when it displays for the player. Though the engine can make text and dialogue appear on a screen it also needs other assets to bring it to life. Art assets such as visuals and music can also be incorporated into a visual novel. A visual novel game normally takes 2D art assets. This is also true for Ren’py and it’s engine. To create these 2D art assets Krita will be used. Krita is an illustration software that outputs to various file formats. It can produce any number of 2D assets to be used in the project. With in game visuals and text and dialogue of both static and choice are available the project will also need music to make it a complete experience. Musescore is a music composition program that can create such a soundtrack. These three tools will be used to bring the project into fruition.

Most of these tools are some that I have done research and have worked with in the past. At the moment these will be the tools that will be used for the project’s completion. This however must come with a note that these may be changed at a later date. Ren’py is a tool that I have used in the past and am very comfortable in using. Krita is a tool that I have used in the past but have not managed to learn all the functions and uses of. Musescore is a program that I have never used before and have only done research on. It is out of the question for me to switch Ren’py in favor of a different game engine however my choice of illustration and music composition software may change during the project. Although this decision is unlikely it should be noted as a possibility.

Deliverables

• Game Design Document
• Completed project in executable file
• Up to 2 in game soundtracks
• Up to 3 game backgrounds
• Up to 3 character art
• Culmination project poster

Schedule

Resources and Budget

The tools that are used in the project will be free to use as long as they are used for educational purposes or are free to use in general. The tools that I will be using are few and are as follows:

• Software: Ren’py, Krita and Musescore.($0.00 for educational use)
• Hardware: Personal computer or laptop, Personal drawing tablet.($0.00 paid for hardware)