About Summoning
What is Summoning?
Summoning is an open world fantasy action RPG created with the Godot game engine, blender and other open source tools. It comes with a 2002 graphical art style and a handcrafted world. Inspired by oldschool computer RPGs with some fresh ideas on combat and storytelling that I think have been missing from this type of game. I’m not trying to make just another love-letter to my favourite retro games… There is so much to be explored in a genre that only sees a true masterpiece once every 20 years, and is rarely made by small indie studios (for good reason I suppose). The project is almost out of proof of concept phase and looking towards a playable demo soon. TONS of work has been done building and refining gameplay systems and last count had about 20,000 lines of gdscript. The last major game systems to implement are global navigation (nearly done), questing and dialogue. Other systems need a second pass and even more polish, but are usable right now. For example - combat is functional, but not very flashy or polished. This doesn’t mean the game is close to release, but rather it is ready for a full content phase where the actual assets and content are created and implemented. Locations, items, quests, characters, enemies, dialogue etc etc.
So anyway, thanks for reading and following along with the project! For screenshots and other FAQ check out the game’s page.
The Pillars
I wanted to share some of my guiding stars for Summoning. It was important for me to write these down early on, and I have been refining these since late 2021/2022 when I first began work on this project in earnest. In no particular order…
Action Combat
- Hit box combat that requires creative skill / spell usage for encounters.
- 6 Ability slots that can be swapped while not in combat and used on the fly.
- Fights of similar level should be challenging.
Deep Progression
- Dense, detailed RPG progression.
- Start with nothing, end as a god.
- Player should feel the power fantasy as they move through the game.
- Large item, ability and enemy variety.
Freedom with constraints
- Open ended level design with gated, unlockable level progression.
- Character design freedom with limited, but deliberate skill / class choices.
- A mix of skill-based / class-based character design.
No level scaling
- Level scaling is a crutch for open world designers.
- Player should have the freedom to roam the open world to encounter high level enemies.
- Cities / towns contain all levels of NPCs.
- All NPCs / Enemies / Creatures will have fixed levels.
- Returning to places once you are high enough level is part of the journey.
Emergent Gameplay
- World that is alive. NPCs with their own agendas.
- Can kill any NPC (even if it hard locks you from finishing a quest).
- Thieving, murder and assault are designed to be part of the experience.
- NPCs should respond well to these actions.
- Physics objects to play around with.
- Possibly spell creation??? Not sure about this.
No right answers
- Quests should be largely open-ended in how they are completed.
- Try to stay away from 'good action' / 'bad action' as obvious paths.
- Each quest should be completable by either fighting, talking or stealth.
I know I’m not alone in thinking that these are the kinds of gameplay cornerstones that will get players excited. Because - just like you - I’ve probably watched hundreds of hours of “Whats wrong with Bethesda game design” youtube videos, and there are thousands of hours more. There is something missing in open world RPGs, and everyone knows it. I don’t have the hubris to believe I can be the one to save this god-forsaken genre… but I know that if I can execute on most of these design pillars, I will be happy!
Thanks for reading, I hope you follow along this journey with me!
Liam