Author Topic: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"  (Read 5426 times)

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Offline Escheron

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Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« on: February 19, 2016, 03:53:06 pm »
(... or maybe more aptly Escheron on crack)

Since the Escheron engine (once released - still a ways off) will give us a complete framework for future projects, I've been brainstorming ways to squeeze the most potential out of it. Although any formal announcement would be premature, I thought I would nonetheless tease a few details.




— Setting and Characters —

Ultima Memoria is set in a post-apocalyptic present, abruptly following the events of a nuclear holocaust. The story centers around Brennis, a 29-year old psion accompanied by his traveling companion Seschet. Brennis' past isn't very clear, neither to Seschet nor himself. Together, Brennis and Seschet aimlessly explore the ruins of civilization in hopes of triggering Brennis' memories and better understanding the cause of his amnesia.

Meanwhile, the surviving population is facing several threats in the form of lawless gangs, maddened occultists and an opportunistic faction of slavers that has declared martial law in the absence of any continuity of government. Brennis and Seschet must inevitably cross paths with these figures, potentially bringing Brennis closer to the keys needed to unlock his past.


— Features —

· The "Link" System - By coming into contact with certain places or events, Brennis may experience flashbacks, allowing him to recover repressed memories and abilities. Brennis' skills and physical status are largely shaped by how the player chooses to explore and interact with his surroundings.

· Very detailed setting with extensive character development. The story explores many existential and downright controversial themes as the cast struggles to adjust to the harsh conditions of a desperate world.

· Massively open environments. The player can freely travel anywhere at any time, unlocking Brennis' memories in a completely non-linear order. The player can also take quests from any number of factions, or ruthlessly conquer civilization for themselves.

· The remains of civilization are complete with several environmental hazards. The menu has a "rads" display that indicates characters' exposure to harmful radiation. As a character's exposure increases, all of their physical attributes begin to diminish. The player can find and trade chems that alleviate the symptoms of radiation sickness.

· A variety of psionic powers that both Brennis and Seschet can master - instantaneously regenerate wounds, move from location to location in the blink of an eye, or even cause enemies to combust spontaneously.

· A large selection of sci-fi implements at the player's disposal, including vibro swords, Gauss pistols, power armor and improvised arms - and plenty of mutant species, manmade constructs and other futuristic foes to unleash them upon.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 03:57:13 pm by Escheron »

Offline Dudeman313

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2016, 04:35:49 pm »
Whoa! So amazing! O.O
*reaches for vibro sword*
And also, DDD. :P

Will there be a CE port, unlike with E:ToR? I'm guessing this won't be ported to the CE, and might be released for the CSE.
I don't know if it's possible to remake this in C or eZ80 or such. I know that for E:ToR, it will require about 90% of the game code to be rewritten for a CE version, making it quite unlikely. But maybe since this is just starting, it could be done simultaneously like JamesV is doing with AB5?
Does this qualify as a signature?
The answer is "Sure."

Offline SpiroH

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2016, 04:46:03 pm »
Looking great thus far! I specially relate to the last shot 'too old for this shit' :P. Any timeline to bring this into fruition?

Offline Escheron

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2016, 05:17:50 pm »
Will there be a CE port?

Likely not, since this is based on the Escheron engine. The engine would have to be completely rewritten.

I want to get the most use out of this engine, so I'll probably be working on a handful of other projects for the Z80 as well.

Any timeline to bring this into fruition?

Hard to say since we're still actively developing Escheron. Iambian only recently began coding the battle engine. Once that's finished, we'll be orchestrating cutscenes and balancing things out. With Escheron in release state, I'll probably focus all of my attention on Ultima Memoria. I can't speak for Iambian or Geekboy1011 though, as they may have other projects in their backlogs.

Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2016, 04:18:45 pm »
Wow, as usual, your stuff looks really good. ^^ I know it's a small detail, but the lightning icon is particularly impressive. I attempted a 5x5 one a while back and failed. I know this one is 6x6, but still. :D The small custom font also looks really great. :D

Offline Escheron

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2016, 07:48:49 pm »
Some of the icons were indeed a pain in the ass to draw, but I managed. Actually, you can feel free to use any of those assets in your own projects, if you like. I've attached my current revision of the game's font.

Offline Escheron

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2016, 10:49:40 am »
Geekboy1011 and I have been in talks about making a move toward other platforms, so I don't think we'll be developing Ultima Memoria for the z80 after all. 2D B&W hardly does any justice to my vision of what Ultima Memoria should be. Ideally, we'd like to create a fully interactive 3D world with a real-time battle engine - a modern post-apocalyptic Dark Souls / Fallout crossover with tons of cutscenes? I'm not trying to stick my head in the clouds, but maybe we can hash out a proper development team, set up a Kickstarter and actually get something off the ground. One can dream, at least.

I'd nonetheless like to use existing z80 assets to produce a game that follows a similar theme, so maybe something in the likeness of Ultima Memoria on z80 will eventually come to fruition. It would be a shame not to do something more with the Escheron engine before retiring it.

Offline SpiroH

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2016, 05:32:51 pm »
Geekboy1011 and I have been in talks about making a move toward other platforms, so ...
Great idea! What platforms do you have in mind ? Can you be a bit more specific? (IMO, you should target mobile platforms from the very start  :P).

Well, I actually don't know how low-level you are programming on the z80 but surely many of the scene algorithms, if well documented, should be fairly portable to write in a higher level language.
Timing issues are always pretty tricky though and require quite some effort (+time) to optimize.

Anyway, you'll only have a sound grasp of the difficulties ahead once you put your hands on the dirt. ;)

Offline Geekboy1011

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Re: Ultima Memoria, or "The Existential Terror"
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2016, 06:38:56 pm »
We are looking into haxe and snowkit. OR UE5. So PC mac linux android and IOS :p
« Last Edit: May 26, 2016, 07:22:19 pm by Geekboy1011 »