Q & A: What is Golden Treasure?
Our first project, Golden Treasure, has now been officially announced! This, of course, raises quite a few questions. In the coming weeks, we will attempt to answer some of these. We'll start with a few commonly-received inquiries:
Do I actually play as a dragon in this game, or is it just about dragons?
Yes, you are completely and wholly draconic in this game. You will literally have the experience of hatching from your egg, and will be one of the blessed Kin (which is what they call themselves - other beings call them the Draak) until the moment you die (or stop playing).
To which genre will Golden Treasure belong?
This is a frequent question, and it's honestly a little hard to answer. The best one I can give is that it is a "life simulator". You, as a dragon, are in charge of your own life, and can choose how to spend your time. Will you hunt? Explore? Engage an owl in a riddle contest? Debate the nature of "home" with a spider? Gather treasure? Learn about nature? For each length of time, you can choose to do one thing, and the dragon you are will evolve with each choice.
This isn't just a choose-your-own-adventure thing - you have statistics, based on the elements, which are key in everything from being swift enough to run down a deer or being fierce enough to incinerate a bear to being eloquent enough to convince a heron to give up frogs, etc. You have to hunt regularly to stay alive, and you are exploring an open world to reveal new opportunities and ways to spend your time.
It also isn't an RPG, because although you have statistics, you have no levels. There is no such thing as Experience Points - you learn and grow by, well, learning and growing. A magical spell isn't just a button you click, it's a secret of the universe which you will have to learn and fully internalize.
We're striving to deliver the experience of really being a dragon, with all of the large and small challenges which come with the life, so we're calling it a "life simulator". Games like Academagia and King of Dragon Pass have played with this kind of thing before, though we have many, many new improvements we will be bringing to the fledgling genre.
So the first game is "Golden Treasure - The Great Green". Does that mean you're planning on other Golden Treasure games?
Oh, yes! Most certainly. Plans exist for 5 Golden Treasure games in the long term, although of course which ones will find their way into full development will depend on how the first one is received. The life of a dragon is filled with too many possibilities to be addressed in just one game. The Great Green will be focused on life in the forest and the spirit of the land itself, but dragons don't always live in forests - each new game will have the player making a lair in a completely different environment and finding brand-new adventures which can only be found in such a place.
Look for more questions next week, and thank you for reading! If you would like to submit a question of your own, feel free to e-mail bludwig@dreamingdoor.net, and you may see them here!