[WIP] [RPG] Temporal Ascendance

Personal Prologue

Hey everyone. I have posted here in the past a couple of times with a side project named Presence which later turned into Temporal Ascendance, both were being developed part-time and as on-the-side projects. I am now back and working full-time as I am now available to do so on Temporal Ascendance (v2 essentially). Check it out, I am finally able to give it the love and attention it deserves.

This game has been basically in development VERY on and off and part-time since the beginning of 2015, and has just now entered full-time development

(the next few parts are taken straight from my new updated website, you can skip the entire post and literally go straight to it, just trying to summarize it here also for everyone)

Direct website link that has all of the information neatly arranged: http://www.temporalascendance.com

The Game
Temporal Ascendance is a first person RPG heavily focused on exploration, fast-paced physics-based spell combat, character customization, freedom, and difficulty.

- Adventure through hundreds of different areas.
- Advance your character through multiple means akin to classic D&D.
- Play the game however you want. Go anywhere, do anything. No built-in linearity.
- Master a huge array of spells to obliterate your foes.
- Fight hundreds of different creatures and other entities in fast-paced combat.
- Discover hundreds of items and artifacts.
- Catalogue your entire journey through the world of Tempus.
- No hand-holding.



Prologue (Story)

Take upon the role of a once powerful lord magus, Taelron, who was exiled from the Celestial Cartographers; an ancient order that traveled through the realms of time and existence itself in a never ending pursuit of knowledge and discovery of the universe. Unsatisfied by their meager purpose, the magi desired above all else, power - and for his sacrileges fixation to become more powerful than the Gods themselves, he became hunted by his own brethren. Escaping certain death, he had conjured a forbidden spell which allowed him to flee his pursuers.

Hurdling through the vast dark nether, he had eventually found himself upon a strange uncharted world. Tempus, a planet as old as time itself that were believed to be nothing more than a fable, a legend of the unenlightened past. Yet here it was before him, brooding with ancient life and power.

Go forth into the world of Tempus; rise, conquer, ascend... transform the universe.

Myself

I am an independent game developer that is currently working solo and full-time on Temporal Ascendance. My entire life I've been a dedicated gamer and designer as I've played just about every game out there and have made a ton of mods and maps for games. My true passion lies with creation; from characters to stories to entire worlds.

A few random screenshots (more here: http://temporalascendance.com/media.html)

Ascendancy
Advancing your character is done through obtaining experience points. Levelling up is soft-capped on a linear equation to allow for unlimited progression. Each level up grants 5 attribute points, 1 spell points, and 2 talent points. There are no 'passive' bonuses or upgrades from levelling up.

You earn experience from:

- Adventure (discovering certain areas)
- Slaying monsters
- Treasure (finding treasure chests and other treasure containers)
- Events (completition or participation in dynamic world events)
- Goals (completion of character goals)
- Journal (filling in your celestial journal with information and achievements)



Items
Gear ranges in different varieties such as most RPGs do these days with color which usually determines rarity and power but in Temporal Ascendance it is more of a guideline to what to expect on an item rather than a power slider.

More information: http://temporalascendance.com/ascendancy.html



Tiers and Schools
Earned spell points are spent on any spell currently available to be unlocked in your spellbook. Aura spells are unlocked at level 6, summoning spells are unlocked past level 10, and nether spells are unlocked past level 16. All other spells are unlocked at level 1.

There are currently 8 magic schools, under 4 categories:

Elemental - Cold, Fire, Lightning
Physiological - Poison, Physical
Spiritual - Holy, Unholy
Temporal - Nether



Resource Management
Your spells are cast through 2 natural resources normally and have the ability to be cast through other unique ways.



Your main and fast regenerating resource is mana. Your second resource is Power, a much slower regenerating resource that is used when powerful spells are cast. It acts as a 'global cooldown' of sorts rather than each spell having an individual cooldown period.

More information and current spell list: http://temporalascendance.com/spells.html

Talents
You earn talent points mainly through levelling up, which grants you 2 talent points to spend per level. You are also able to earn talent points through many other means as you travel the world.

Talents are split into 6 different categories. Each category has special talents that unlock depending on the amount of points you spend under that category, they are labelled as specials. Specials are unlocked in this order of points invested: 10, 25, 40, 55, 80.

More information and current talent list: http://temporalascendance.com/talents.html

Tempus
The world of Tempus is as ancient as time itself.




Inhabitants
The world of Tempus is brooding with ancient life and hundreds of different inhabitants. Monsters or enemies in this game have no set 'level' and don't adhere by basic RPG rules. Every monster you meet is unique in its own way from the stats it has, to behaviours, damages, and the loot it can give. It is up to you to learn the strengths and weaknesses of your enemies and overcome them rather than rely solely on your level and gear.



Treasure
Treasure is found all over the world. There are many different forms of it but the two basics would fall into the categories of 'respawn-able' and 'non-respawn-able'. Two basic examples include the 'Wooden Chest' and the 'Timeless Chest', the first being a random RNG chest with random semi-determined spawn points whilst the latter being a one-time, set in stone reward.



Resources
Resources are scattered all over Tempus and are available for gathering and extraction. You are able to find all currencies in the form of resources in the world, all of them are respawn-able in semi-determined locations.



Events
Dynamic events are the 'side-quests' of Temporal Ascendance. Rather than having set 'go kill 10' or 'gather this' from NPCs, you are thrown into an ever-changing world that has events happening all over it, some repeatable and some not.



Dungeons
Dungeons are set 'instances' that are much more structured than other areas and can also be reset and re-done as many times as you want. Dungeons vary in difficulty greatly just like all of the other areas in the world, and are also not set in stone by 'level'.



Travel
Travelling around the world is done in three means: Walking, Runestone teleportation, Boats. Runestones are found all over Tempus and act as waypoints between each other. Boats are found on shores and are able to take you back and forth from certain lands.




Random screenshots (more at: http://temporalascendance.com/media.html)




Thanks for checking this out! Next update will feature many short game-play videos covering some aspects of what to expect in-game.

Cheers and happy developing!

 

Edit - feedback below based on original images not shown.

Hey Vlad - the game is extremely saturated and vibrant. Usually this is associated with someone not knowing exactly what they are doing with respect to lighting, textures and shaders, but in this case - I really think it is the correct "on purpose" treatment for your game. It really looks good for the theme and setting.

One edit I think could be done to the shader on the goblins and it's shield. They look overly shiny which makes them look either wet or glossy painted. It might not look too noticeable in motion, but from the screen shots on your site it is pretty noticeable. The goblins might be fine as is, but the shader on the shields look to be setup the same as the goblin skin - which makes the wooden shields look fake.

Cool treatment - look forward to the game-play videos.

 

Thank you for your feedback. The goblin shader is pretty bad right now but I'm treating over all shaders / lighting and world colors on a final pass before the video update this week. Some things may drastically change, such as the the over all look of the game. Been going through a couple of random passes seeing what I finally like best and what to settle on. I think I'm leaning much heavier on a very fantasy but very soft-nice look rather than a sharp in your face vibrance.

 

Still the textures are much to bright making this look really poor. Keep working on it. It seems like a reasonably good idea.

 

Hey Vlad - not sure why but the last two images you posted are not showing up for me.
I'm on Firefox if that matters. I checked in chrome and they are not showing up in there either.

 

I have deleted both of my replies that had the screenshot progress posted that apparently didn't work.

You can check out my original post as I have updated my entire website, re-did the entire post, and it has all new visuals, screenshots and information all much better organized.

Cheers