What worries me the most with Forged Odyssey?

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Started by Legend, Aug 01, 2020, 06:37 AM

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Legend

I'm afraid my "road trip" form of world exploration will simply not be liked by the majority of players. It's the one mechanic that really goes against what is currently popular.

TLDR: I'm making my game empty on purpose.


Forged Odyssey is built using real world scale. A mountain can take hours to climb instead of just minutes. A ship can take 10 hours to reach a destination.

As such, I don't want to clutter the world with distractions every 100 feet. The focus is on the journey itself, hence my "road trip" concept. Most stops along the way either help with reaching the end goal or hurt and act like detours. They function like story beats in a linear game, instead of like carnival attractions calling the player over for some side fun. The game should feel more like God Of War's journey up the mountain than Breath of the Wild's zig zag region exploration.

To help pull this off I've focused on platforming/travel mechanics, world events, and travel companions. Things like crafting canoes to speed down rivers, strategic forts that control access through mountain passes, and squadmates that can be talked to while moving.


Will I pull it off? I don't know. I could see lots of players enjoying the game in spite of it. It will not have the pacing of a hand made linear game and at times it could be pretty boring. I might have to put a magic fast travel system in even for unvisited locations, but I really hope it isn't needed.

Maybe I'll just be a stickler and force my vision on people even if they don't like it. Yolo. Works for Animal Crossing.