Game Concept

Overview: 

The working title: The Land Awakened 

Concept statement: 

A shard of magic grows in some long forgotten ruins, breathing into them new life, and drawing in unwanted attention. Expand your territory, spawn new creatures, defend your core; consume any who dare invade your land. 

Genre: A dungeon builder, for its defence, expansion, and upkeep of territory 

Concept creation process/area and influences: 

It began with the fictional game system described in the book series “Dungeon Life” by Khenal, building on the core idea of a player needing to defend a ‘core’ from various creatures using creatures of their own. Simplifying and taking inspiration from other dungeon builder games such as “Dungeons 3” 

Audience, competitive analysis, and unique selling points: 

The Land Awakened can be picked up by a casual audience with a simplicity suitable for players over 10 years, specifically those that are interested in strategy and resource management. A particular challenge is the single resource ‘mana’ standing in as both health and currency, with each new level you gain unlocking more territory and increasingly irritated invaders. 

Game treatment and concept art:  

You, a newly born magic core, must expand your territory of ruins while protecting it from invading animals. The issue is you can’t move, you can’t see beyond your territory, and you only have the bare minimum mana to keep you alive, along with a few spiders for company. 

• Spawn denizens to protect your core and resources from invaders, and gain mana. Sometimes delvers will enter your territory and earn you mana. 
• Core 
  • Starts out small, but grows with every upgrade 
  • Stores a certain amount of mana, upgrades will increase the limits 
  • Passively generates a small amount of mana 
  • Influence over the surroundings grows with each upgrade 
• Mana 
  • Think of it as currency, stamina, and health, all in one 
  • Use it to upgrade spawners, resource nodes, and area of influence 
• Nodes 
  • Resource nodes draw in delvers and invaders, delvers will generate mana, invaders will destroy them 
  • Barrier nodes prevent delvers and invaders from passing, but can’t be used to close off any area 
  • Hazard nodes may prevent delvers and invaders from passing depending on the type 
• Spawns 
  • Animals that attack delvers and invaders 
• Invaders 
  • Depletes resources, denizens, and core 
  • Killing them will generate mana 
  • Upgrades will draw in more&/stronger invaders 
• Delvers 
  • Harvests resources and spawns which will generate mana 
  • No interest in your core 
  • Killing them will generate mana 

Influences mentioned: 

Dungeons 3. Kalypso Media/Realmforge Studios, 2017. PC game. 

Khenal. Dungeon Life. 6 Feb. 2024.