Anamnesis, of Renascents and Monsters [RPG][Sim][Strategy]

[Vaccean]

A text-based simulation and role playing game of exploration, warfare, intrigue and romance in a low fantasy, early 20th century environment.

Devblog, Info and Downloads

Current Version (140210):

Windows Version

Linux Version

Mac Version

What is Anamnesis?

"Anamnesis, of Renascents and Monsters" is a life simulation game that attempts to recreate the feeling and freedom of choice of a "Pen-and-Paper" roleplaying game.

• * The different locations, enemies, factions and characters are manually written but randomly selected and scrambled at the beginning of each game.

• * The players can either play as adventurers to explore the world with but a small party or play as a governors and command engage in trade and armies to do their bidding.

• * The gender and interests of the player character can be chosen from the beginning of the game. This means your character can have any orientation or none at all and only suitable characters will be available to woo during the course of the game.

• * The player character starts fairly blank and is developed and customized in a variety of ways as the player interacts with the environment.

The game is in an early state of development and many features are not yet implemented.


Screenshots

Setting and Plot

In this world, at the end of each era, an event known as the Amnesia occurs. In this event, portions of land along with its inhabitants simply vanish from existence without a bang or explanation.

Inevitably, 7 years after the Amnesia, the Anamnesis takes place. In this event, the territories and peoples lost during the Amnesia will come back to life in a remote, barren and unremarkable archipelago. Those that go through the Amnesia, whether they are living or dead, behave as if nothing had ever happened, as if they had spent their whole lives on those islands.

But amidst the bafflement of both the mainland population and the inhabitants of Anamnesis, a small group of individuals know exactly what’s going on. These are the renascents, imperfect immortals that can die of any natural cause other than age, but will immediately afterwards appear elsewhere exactly as they have always been. These individuals find themselves drawn each cycle into Anamnesis, often against their will.

The game starts here, with the colonization of Anamnesis by the peoples of the mainland.
The exact goal and plot of each game is randomized to a degree. The player is an aristocrat and a renascent aligned with any of the two main factions. The Steppes, as the main land is known, is ruled by an elected aristocracy of outstanding individuals under the banner of The Court of All Humans. But there are those considered to be touched by The Outer Lands' Influence that plot against this regime. Whereas those aristocrats loyal to The Court stand for this anthropocentric meritocracy, those other aristocrats adhering to The Influence advocate instead for the wisdom of superior outer beings to guide humanity to greater goals.

Characters

Here are a pair of unfinished drawings I’ve been working on. I’ve been focusing on content and the system for now so there are no pictures inside the game yet. I’ll get to that soon(ish) because, quite honestly I don’t like drawing at all.



Some notes about the characters:

• * The game currently has 24 recurrent renascent characters, 12 for each faction. They can appear as either allies or enemies during the game.

• * The characters can carry orders just like other units, but additionally they are also available for quests and in your “home base” to interact with in a series of ways, including wooing if they meet your criteria.

• * Several minor semi-randomly generated characters might be available for wooing depending on your character’s interests.

What’s Coming Next?

I don’t have a real roadmap for the development of the game, just a series of general development goals lingering about.

The main focus will tend to be on more content in the form of more locations, units and characters. Once there are enough for this period, I might go for alternative time periods, such as a dark age or whatnot. Intermingled between it all, I will be adding new features too.

So…

I've been working on this for a while and now that the game is in a more presentable state, I would like to know your opinions and get some feedback. The nature of the game makes it very hard to spot all the bugs, so a few extra testing hands will come in handy.

It is also very likely that I committed several writing mistakes given the great quantity of text involved, so if you spot any typo I'd appreciate it if you tell me.

If you find any part or behaviour of the game confusing or not sufficiently self explanatory I would also like to hear it and see if something can be done about it.

[Anarchy]

Glad to see you here, Vaccean! (It's Xiang Xiang from your blog, by the way.) So excited to see that version 121118 is out! *goes to download it immediately*

Here are a pair of unfinished drawings I’ve been working on. I’ve been focusing on content and the system for now so there are no pictures inside the game yet. I’ll get to that soon(ish) because, quite honestly I don’t like drawing at all.

Maybe you should try recruiting artists? I remember reading the Anamnesis post on freeindiegames.com, and in the comments somebody was saying that they would love to draw for you.

[Vaccean]

So there you are, it is in good part because of your suggestion that I finally decided to announce the game here.

I'm exploring all options about the drawings, but I'm fairly sure that at the very least I'll be drawing the renascent characters myself.

[gekiganwing]

This sounds like a project that will require a lot of time for writing, debugging, and playtesting. Please keep in mind that it will take commitment and passion in order to complete it. If you're able to stay dedicated through all that life sends your way (perhaps including real life commitments, relationship concerns, health issues, and so on), then my hat is off in deference to you.

I can't offer much art criticism, but I like the first two sprites.

A personal aside: it has been quite some time since I tried pen and paper roleplaying. I didn't experience too many problems with players going on power trips, bizarre tangents, or sabotaging each other... it was mostly long arguments over rules.

[Vaccean]

I've been at it for a couple of years now and several real life issues, so consistency is not a problem in this case. I just don't like to announce things too soon precisely in case I drop them, which does happen some times.

In my case, it's actually been years since I played pen and paper rpgs. It's all about the ongoing lack of available nearby players.

[Vaccean]

Just finished uploading a new version of the game.

The last release adds about 180 pages of content in events for units and lovers, among other gameplay features like the manipulation of ancient relics and such.

All links have been updated. Here's the full changelog straight from the blog.

Change Log:

Units now generate events spontaneously.
These events can be punished or rewarded when performed by your units so you can avoid negative ones.
You can reach truces, capture or destroy enemy units to prevent their events from happening.
Your units can now be sent into battle as a combined force.
Units can now achieve strategic advantage for your side (or the enemy's), giving you a significant advantage (or disadvantage) in combat during the following week.
Added the ability to put your units into training to slowly raise their EX without danger.
Added an event log that stores most of your actions, those of your units, and the general game progress.
Added the ability to interact with collected relic pieces when staying home.
Relics now generate events similar to those of the units.
You can now interact with captive renascents and befriend them when staying home.
Lovers can now visit you at your base, and maybe find out about your other lovers.
Civilians can result dead during confrontations involving large amounts of damage.
Likewise, civilians might die because of the punishments of your units.
Changed the option "Fight Cautiously" to "Avoid Civilian Casualties".
Smaller units now suffer less damage in combat, larger units suffer more damage.
You are now asked for confirmation when disbanding a unit.
Several other tweaks and bugfixes.

[facadepapergirl]

Please make a RAPT packaged demo! I won't have time to play it but on the go, and this game looks too amazing to pass up! I also want to show it to my other roleplaying friends, who don't have internet access.

[Vaccean]

An android port seems worth considering, although I have never actually tried to use RAPT.

I'll document myself some more and try to fiddle around with RAPT to see what happens, but the whole thing will probably take some time. For the looks of it, I assume the game will require changes to work correctly on mobile devices.

[Vaccean]

A new version's up for those of you still interested, all links have been updated.

I haven't tackled the android port thingy yet because it will require significant changes in the core of the game, but I've started to work on the intrigue system.

There are now several working political and criminal factions, each one trying to further their goals during the course of the game, something that will of course affect the player at several levels.

I've also put together a bunch of other features, detailed in the development blog, such as dates with renascent characters, worth a total of about 130 new pages of text.

Here's the full changelog.

Changelog:

* Implemented basic politics and votes, with interchangeable favours, randomly selected lobbies and takeovers.
* Allowed lobbies to pursue their goals through political and non-political ways.
* Allowed the player to learn new voting proposals when visiting territories.
* Added a new way to win the game by proclaiming yourself emperor/empress using political influence.
* Implemented a basic system for economic investments through correspondence.
* Added values for overall economy, immigration and political tendencies inside the colony.
* Added 2 new information screens to keep track of them.
* Added the ability to extort tributes from enemies using envoys.
* Added decoys to expand the barriers' system (decoys are more effective against dumb units, barriers against weak ones).
* Renascents will now occasionally want to go out on dates with you if you are involved in a romantic relationship with them.
* Made anomalies less frequent and limited them to 1 at a time.
* Made subsidizing terrains more profitable.
* 18 new lobbies.
* 2 new relics.
* 2 new terrains.
* 4 new units.
* Many misc minor fixes and tweaks.

[Roseus Mirabili]

Just by reading what you've got so far has me impressed since it's obvious to see just how dedicated you are to this project and I'm also loving the traditional feel I'm getting by looking at the screen shots you have up so far. I'll be stalking this for quite some time and I wish you the best of luck with completing it and look forward to playing the game when it's released.

[Vaccean]

I'm glad you like it! The game is currently in continuous development though, so I'm not sure at what point it could be considered completed.

For now, I'm adding content and mechanics and making new releases whenever there is a sizeable amount of new stuff to show.

[Vaccean]

New version's up!

You can now learn unique abilities for your character, become outcast or engage in maritime trade, among other things.

NPCs are now a little livelier and show a greater free will, players start with more resources and a few annoying things have been removed.

I basically did the outcast mode two times because I didn't like how it was looking up at first, so the release took almost twice as long as usual.

All the download links have been updated, here's this version's change log from the blog.

Change Log:

* Players can now start as or become outcasts during the course of the game. Forcing them to wander the different territories while persecuted and exposed to greater dangers.
* Every territory has new dangers for outcasts and 2 new encounters for all players in addition to their 10 old ones.
* Each territory has an ability, trade or skill that the player can learn while visiting and employ in the future either at home or while visiting other territories. Players will be able to do anything from conjuration rituals to experimenting on corpses, prophesying the end of the world or drawing action comics.
* Seafaring skill has been changed into Ferrying. Representing each unit's capacity to carry goods and individuals overseas rather than the unit's seaworthiness.
* Added maritime trade. You can now buy trade licenses and use units with Ferrying value to engage in overseas trade. Local Tendencies and other fronts' variables influence your profits.
* Preliminary oversea fronts are now realized and visible in the "Colony" screen.
* Explorer players have been changed into Merchant Venturers. They start with "a battered freighter" and a Ferrying value of 35, allowing them to engage in maritime trade right away.
* You can now export units that you manufacture and train. The return will depend on the unit's Size, it's Experience and other oversea fronts' values.
* Instant afflictions have been replaced with an expanded Weariness system. You won't lose stats automatically anymore, instead your character will have to have over 100 Weariness before afflictions can take place.
* Certain actions can now lower your Weariness and the Local Tension while visiting territories or staying home.
* Renascents will rarely become unavailable when staying at home, providing more flavour.
* "Hanging around" with a renascent is not completely useless anymore. It will lower your Weariness depending on how generally nice the renascent in question is.
* When losing at the Shelter/Refuge, you will be kicked into outcast mode instead of automatically losing the game.
* Lovers will now miss you while you are outcast. This will show you different flavour messages but will bear no real effect.
* 4 new lobbies were added to the game.
* Lots of important bugfixes and minor tweaks.

[Haze]

I'm playing the latest version, and I really love what you have so far! Your game is a lot of fun, and I'm impressed you've been able to do all this with Renpy. My only real complaint is that the main menu has very gentle colors compared to the stark color theme of the rest of the game. Otherwise, well done!

[Vaccean]

Interesting, I hadn't even considered the issue of the contrast between color themes. I might eventually allow slightly different themes for the player to choose in the future but it seems to be something worth looking at.

Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying the game!

[Vaccean]

Just finished a new version of the game. There wasn't any real focus this time, but several previous player concerns have been addressed in this release.

I'll let the change log speak for itself.

Change Log:

* Enemy Activity: Enemy units and lobbies will now create emplacements in enemy territories to further their goals. The emplacements are shown under the "Interests" screen and can be searched by your units by selecting a territory with suspicious activity in it.
* Rescuing Renascents: When renascents are defeated, they don't just disappear anymore. There will now be a very high chance of them turning up trapped in some manner in one of the colony's territories. They can be rescued by visiting that territory. Two or Three renascents will start each game lost inside the colony in this way.
* Useful Lovers: There is a 25% chance that, after each encounter with a lover, you'll get an additional outcome from the relationship. The chances of getting positive or negative outcomes vary each time you start dating a character and you'll be able to dump them after each negative event. Wooing characters will also slightly reduce your weariness. To make up for the advantages of having lovers, players "interested in none" will get small, steady reductions of weariness and local tension.
* Enemy Economy: The enemy has a finite amount of resources now that they'll employ in a variety of ways. Most often in creating new emplacements.
* Reusable Relics: Relics now have more flavour once they are completed and up to three of them can be sealed and stored to be used in the following journeys by the same player, at a very high reactivation cost in Arkhe.
* Corridor Diplomacy: Sometimes you'll be able to approach lobbies before a voting to try to earn their favours if you are perceived as having the same character than the lobby.
* Gifts/Bribes: You'll now be able to give your furniture as a present to any lobby in exchange for favours. You can also store up to 4 pieces of furniture instead of 2.
* Difficulty Escalation: Collecting the relic pieces will get progressively harder and failure to do it will increase local tension. Lobbies will now also detect negative immigration rates and react more aggressively against them. Enemy units will also eventually stop attacking you upfront if you prove to be much stronger and stronger enemy units will tend to be deployed in territories with higher Arkhe reserves.
* Focus on Conquest: When you have a Fortress or Dungeon, local tension will decrease much faster. Additionally, owning all of the colony's territories will give you 0.5 Merit each week.
* Belligerence Value: There is now be a local belligerence value influenced by the different types of lobbies in the colony. A positive value will allow you to get away with more violent actions, while a negative one will allow you to play more peacefully.
* Mini Tutorials: Very bare bones guidelines for players will appear at the start of each game for players other than outcasts.
* Lore Screen: The lore posts have been put into a new in-game screen for quick reference.
* Charging Tolls: When you confront and defeat an enemy inside your territory, you'll get a third option enabling you to charge a toll, that is, rob them. This money will vary depending on the unit's size and the total enemy wealth, from which the money will come.
* Expanded Appearance: Characters will now have 3 visible traits instead of 2. Players will also be able to re-roll their avatar's appearance as many times as they want at the start of the game.
* Unique Territories: You shouldn't be getting any more duplicated territories in the same game.
* 4 new lobbies, 1 new relic, 2 new units and 1 new territory were added.
* Several minor tweaks and bug fixes.