epocharpg

[epocharpg]

State of the Game: April 7th 2024

Art: More backgrounds, with the default aerial and aquatic backgrounds now done! Much happier with the both of these, they're better made artistically, look more interesting and are both general enough to fit any animal.

Now that the 3 main default backgrounds are complete, I'm really digging in on getting the starters made. Starters can be used in activities by people who don't yet have their own character so they can still participate, and players can also obtain slots to starters for breeding purposes. At least initially starters are going to be a pretty important aspect of breeding before enough player-owned creatures are in the game, so having a diverse roster of starters is important! Here are a couple of the starters I've done already, which hopefully provide a nice glimpse into what your characters in this ARPG could look like!

Additionally I've been doing more item art, notably general crafting materials that players can obtain through activities.

Guides: While I have yet to write the new format for marking guides, I have written a general walkthrough that can help players (particularly those new to ARPGs) with designing their characters.

[epocharpg]

State of the Game: December 7th 2023

Art: New default background! While I like the desert, it felt a little too basic and also was a very specific environment that didn't really fit animals like Iguanodon and Megalosaurus. I wanted something a little more interesting to look at that was also a fitting environment for a wider range of animals. I went with a somewhat-dry-climate riverside, with conifers which were very ubiquitous trees throughout pretty much the whole mesozoic. This sort of environment was pretty common and could be a warmer or cooler climate too, which helps make it fitting for a broad range of animals.

The aerial and aquatic backgrounds will be getting redone at some point too, as I'm not all that happy with them. The terrestrial one felt the most important to me though.

I've also started work on item art. Nothing is set in stone yet as I still have to nail down exactly what style I want the item art to be done in, but at the very least I got a start with the marking applicators.

Guides: Ranges are all done! This is probably one of the more time-consuming things now out of the way, meaning soon I'll be able to get started on actually setting up all of the marking guides.

[epocharpg]

State of the Game: October 3rd 2023

Art: At this point in development all of the main, important art for the bases is done, including the Crested mutation base variant.

Standard Bases

Crested Bases

There are two different types of mutations: Physical and Colour. Colour mutations are things such as Leucistic, Axanthic and Albino, which override the entire geno to allow for only specific colours. Physical mutations cause physical, anatomical changes. So far Crested is the only physical mutation planned to be available on release, although others are planned for later down the line. Physical mutations can have pros and cons, in this case Crested makes your animal more attractive and increases the chance of an extra offspring each breeding!

Other assets are also being worked on, and work has begun on item art, although currently it's all still in the concept stage.

Guides: There is a weebly page up and running where all the guides and information about genetics are hosted. Give it a look! At this points in time the main page is more or less done, alongside a few individual pages such as the natural colours page, or the pages for each of the free markings, although the latter might be seeing some slight adjustments.

Before much more work is to be done on creating the pages for each marking however I want to get all of the ranges images out of the way. Ranges show the player where specifically on the import a certain marking is allowed, and thus is very important. It's also a lot of work, and is probably the most time-intensive part of setting up the marking guides. Currently the ranges for all free markings on the 6 starters are done, alongside about half of the common markings.

As an example, this is the range image for Belly/Pangare on Megalosarus

Misc: Other than that most of the rest of the work being done so far has been brainstorming and solidifying certain other aspects of the game, such as figuring out how much EXP to reward on a piece based on what's depicted or coming up with prompts for quests. More will be shared on these as they're ready.

[epocharpg]

What is Epoch?

Epoch is a yet-unreleased ARPG being developed by @serpentariusart featuring dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles from Mesozoic Eurasia. Collect them, breed them and develop their stories with Epoch's unique approach to groups and personal quests.

What is an ARPG?

An ARPG, or Art-Role-Playing-Game, is in its simplest form a game in which you draw characters doing various things in order to participate in the game, such collecting items, new characters or even fighting. Epoch is modeled after the genetics-based system of ARPGs in which each of your creatures has its own genetics that determine how they look. These genetics play a part in breeding, which you can do to collect more creatures. There will be a hefty assortment of guides to help inform the player on how to implement these genetics into their designs, all of which are done on the official group bases (or "imports").

What makes Epoch unique?

Epoch is inspired by a love for paleoart and realistic depictions of dinosaurs, and this has informed many of the choices made for the direction of the game. One of the most significant of which is the unique take on groups. A group is a collection of animals of the same species that are, in-lore, in the same pack/herd/flock/school. Animals in a group gain bonuses for depicting them alongside the other animals in their group, and players gain access to special group quests through groups. Group quests aim to encourage players to further the story of this group of animals through interesting encounters and interactions, and contain various special rewards. For example a prompt for a Protoceratops group quest may be to depict your dominant male defending his herd from a challenger. Group quests can even give you the chance at lucrative rewards such as special and rare applicators for certain markings, or even abandoned eggs.

While Epoch hopes to inspire people to get into paleoart, there is no bar of entry skill wise! If you're a beginner artist, or someone who does not draw them "realistically", you're just as welcome as experienced artists and paleo enthusiasts.

The purpose of this blog?

Epoch is still in active development and likely won't be ready for release for at least another year or two, as there is a huge amount of art assets and guides that need to be created, alongside setting up a website for the game to be hosted on (using the Lorekeeper framework).

This blog aims to discuss and show the state of the game's development to set expectations on what's to come while also hopefully getting people a little excited for it. Plus there are still some aspects of the game that have no yet been solidified, and this blog may occasional field suggestions for certain choices made for the game.

New and old visitors alike are encouraged to take a look through the blog and see what Epoch has to offer!