Begin Again.

The Starting Point

Iterating through multiple prototypes over the last few months has all led here. I am working on Sands of Chaos, a single player RPG with a turn-based combat system.

It took quite a while just to get to this point. I was working on a mobile multiplayer game, Arenas of Ryst over the last several months. During playtests however, we found that some of the ‘neat’ ideas didn’t translate well into satisfying and smooth gameplay.

At the same time, our progress on character abilities was coming along really well. The characters (already having a lot of personality due to the concept art and pixel art) now had really unique abilities. One character in particular stood out. One of Azrae’s abilities was a time manipulation/teleport ability. That mechanic was something that everyone who played it (core play testers, internal and external) found very appealing.

Concept art for Azrae. She has her own story to tell!

We tried applying the mechanic to a few different genres finding it fit best in a turn-based RPG setting. After doing some research we also found that this hadn’t been done before in turn-based RPGs before!

I’m excited to be making this game. I see it being a significant effort in terms of design and development time. This one feels right.

The Road Ahead

We’re just starting out on this journey. I hope it will be an interesting one, and especially readers, who are designing/developing games will be able to learn and benefit from.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll dive into the core gameplay loop, the story, playable characters, enemies, and more!

If you’re a turn-based strategy/rpg player, we’d love to hear from you! What would you like to see in a new turn-based game?

Come join us on Discord and sign up below to get updates on Sands of Chaos!