Describe your ideal indie occult game.

[SkullTraill]

Let's imagine that some small indie game dev studio (around 10 employees) contacts you and says they will build your ideal game for free. Keeping in mind that this is an indie studio (so no MMORPGs, huge 3D handcrafted open worlds, or highly polished AAA realistic graphics and cutscenes), what kind of game would you ask for?

What type would it be? Combat (Grim Dawn, Noita)? Turn based? Card game (like Hearthstone or Pokemon Go)? Town management (Stardew Valley)? World building?

If combat, would it be 2D, 3D? First person? Third person?

Would there be a story? Or be purely multiplayer? Will there be any co-op elements?

What interesting mechanics would you have? Drawing spells to cast them? Crafting?

Be as detailed as you can. Perhaps an indie studio will come across this thread and bring your idea to life!

 

[KjEno186]

As a fan of Telltale games, a "choices matter" story is appealing to me. Cartoon style graphics are fine. Consider how good games like The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead look, for example.

The go-to ideas for occult seem to be in the horror genre, but I think a story demonstrating magical practice in a 'real life' situation would be interesting. It doesn't have to involve typical fantasy elements, and it would definitely avoid 'Harry Potter' notions of magic.

Situations arise, and the protagonist can deal with them in the materialist-realist sense or decide to try out rituals with the end goal(s) in mind. The choice of goals could be part of the story progression with branching outcomes based on what the player chooses. The items found in game and people that one meets make a difference as well. As in life, triggering events in the game would make the player deal with what has already been found up to that point, so choices going forward might not turn out for the best. Concepts like luck and synchronicity could surprise the protagonist, but spirit manifestation should be kept to an absolute minimum, perhaps occurring in a very specific set of ritual circumstances that the player wouldn't discover easily.