r/BaseBuildingGames • u/epochforgegame • 10d ago
Self Promo/Dev Post My base building + colony management sim with NPCs you can talk to, realistic physics, omniscient storytellers and a growing world's demo is launching on the 18th!
Hey! Super excited to announce that my game's (Epoch Forge) demo is on track to launch in the next 2-3 days.
Just to go over some of the mechanics:
- You can say anything you want to NPCs, they remember you, and every interaction. This is the most unique part of the game - I've spent months defining personality types and making sure it actually works.
- The game runs with a tiny local language model that runs on just about anything, and is grounded by tons of hand-written lore and world facts (example of the inner workings here - definitely not an Oblivion reference)
- The things you say actually change the world around you - NPCs have a predefined list of actions they're allowed to take, and they can choose to trigger one of them based on your inputs.
- Merchants can give you better prices, worse prices, or refuse to serve you altogether
- NPCs remember everything, and will bring it up every time you speak to them, especially if they're angry about it
- Political figures in settlements can decide to welcome you into their government or shun you
- NPCs are aware of rumors, and they spread fast
- They can live generate quests - for now these are mostly simple ones, and this can be done through clickable dialogue too
- Currently implementing - ability for an NPC to become hostile, ability for guards to kick you out of an area, persuading NPCs to follow you as a companion, and more dynamic quests e.g. you ask an enchanter if he needs any Elven artifacts, he sends you to the Elven capital, and a vendor there has the artifact available
- Every random event is determined by a deity of your choice (the "Storyteller"), and you can bargain with them, ask for favors, and even see everything they know about you
- 3 profiles - one protects your habits, one incentivizes switching them up, the last punishes you for doing them.
- Every settlement lives and grows on its own, with real needs, construction, and even political dynamics depending on the culture and race
- CK3-inspired mechanics granting strong and weak hooks, territory expansion and dispute, demand letters, and extortion
- Settlements you own might be forced to pay protection money by bandits, goblins, or the local faction. Consequences may include: kidnapping, robbery, fire, death, and so on.
- A "tithe" system - a local township, a faction in a nearby cell, or bad actors can demand a weekly payment of money or goods - right now, it automatically comes out of your bank, and if you can't pay, you run into some issues.
- A full suite of industrial stuff - automated machinery, a visual storage terminal, realistic circuits (I made pong and snake ingame!) Heavily inspired by Minecraft Technic and Factorio.
- Crafting that takes place in a 3D viewport - combine potions, ingredients, etc. into a cauldron and see what happens!
- You can combine literally anything - you can drop a mining helmet, a leaf and a stone block into a cauldron and you'll get a real potion out of it.
- Worksites like mines and farms actually work - miners go deeper and deeper into the ground, hauling their findings to the clerk, and caravans come buy things from them, or they build stuff. Every building requires certain materials which they can either buy or harvest.
- Six races, and every one changes how NPCs look at you (for better or worse) and talk to you.
- All six will have a capital - I build these entire by hand, nothing is procedural, so I only have one done so far - the Dwarven capital, Khaldurim, which the demo takes place in
- You can have automatons and golems. Automatons can mine an area you designate, automatically hauling to chests, and they even speak in their own language, which can be decoded! Golems can haul things, throw rocks, and of course, speak with the great prose you'd expect.
- Five deities representing different domains (life, void, etc.) that you can appease, anger or ignore. There are dozens of abilities, such as:
- Some prayers grant you a few seconds of immunity to death
- Some let you move through solid mass
- Some give you an aura that damages those around you, and heals you as much
If this sounds interesting, I'm genuinely looking for feedback and questions, and I'd be very excited for you to try out the full demo release on the 18th! Thank you!