MATTERPUNK (Prototype)

EDIT: I've submitted a complete version of this game to the winter games bundle, so to keep it fair to the bundle's mgmt and fellow participants, I'm hiding ver, 1.5 (which is basically an incomplete/unfinished version of the final winter jam version with a bit of unfinished code and missing SFX and visuals, but has the same amount of content as the final game so it's too close for comfort) and I'm instead unhiding all the older versions! so this page will basically serve as a documentation of the prototype and how it evolved into the completed game. In the event that the winter games bundle doesn't want MATTERPUNK for whatever reason, I'll probably republish the finished version for like a dollar or smth idk. If it makes it in, it'll be on the bundle!

MATTERPUNK is psychedelic-horror tribute to old-school real-time sandbox CRPGs, specifically the first three TES games (MW especially)

It's rather than being focused on providing a pre-made adventure, MATTERPUNK is a total sandbox that aims to let you create you own, with a focus on player choice, CRPG crunch and roleplaying

This is currently just a prototype, thus the modestly-sized open-world isn't fully fleshed out and I haven't added certain things like chem-making and sneaking, but so far there's:

• One mini open world
• Two towns
• A weird creepy abandoned house with randomized occupants
• five dungeons with randomized loot
• randomized npcs/enemies that spawn in every so often
• a dialog system that currently has bartering, repair for in-game currency (if your "hardware" skill isn't high enough) and also a "small talk" feature inspired that strings together procedurally-generated sentences that are as over-the-top-melancholic as they are surreal and nonsensical
• A very crunchy RPG system. You have "Trades" (like skills in TES) which are multiplied by one of four Attributes: Power, Personality, Wit and Speed
  • Note for CRPG nerds: This is an oversimplification of how the system is currently implemented. There's a lot more crunch going on under the hood, like how usually your Trade*Attributes is divided by 10 for balance, and RNG plays a huge role as well, in a many cases you'll get an random number for the requirement to pass the check and successfully perform an action, like landing an attack or repairing a weapon, but a you'll also get a separate random number that'll serve as the base. Then your trade*attribute bonus, either multiplied by 10 or raw depending on what it is, is added to that rng base number, and the rng+stats score and the rng needed score are compared as a bool. In the example of an attack, the base damage of you're weapon will be added with a random float and a "condition score" (that's a lot to explain even here, but it's how you're weapons current condition (in terms of durability) affects the damage it deals)  and then it'll also add a stats bonus that basically just Trade * Attribute / 10. Another thing to note: The Athletics and Acrobatics trades are heavily inspired by Morrowind. While MATTERPUNK does not have a fatigue system, your athletics and speed affects how fast you walk and sprint, and your acrobatics and speed affect how far you jump. I'm not sure if it's exactly like MW under the hood (probably isn't) but it feels very similar, albeit a bit less janky as this game is made in Godot which is ofc newer than MW's creation engine. All this is to say, if the point above sounds a bit too streamlined... yeah now you know it isn't
• a few pre-made classes, or you could just make a custom class
• cool music

this prototype took about four and a half days (granted, of very dedicated work) to get to this point

If i finish this game (plz tell me in the comments if you want me to finish, my ADHD will get the message not to fuck out on me lol) I think rather than make the current open-world bigger, I'll go the more conventional modern indie scrollslike route of have multi tiny open worlds to explore, this games set in a surrealist depiction of space so I'll probably frame them as planets, and for scope management the whole scale would be like a solar system

tell me what you think!