Although surgeries to remove the part of their brain that is tied to the hive mind are occasionally performed, the shock at being suddenly isolated has been known to drive Sisters mad. A little understood side effect of this madness is a sharp increase in psionic power.
One of these may be seen in a later game side quest. The fight mechanics would involve carefully moving your forces to avoid her attacks completely or risk losing units to just one or two hits.
Tutorial level board, with the UI and movement grid removed. The first level starts with a 1v1 battle to teach the player basic movement, attack, and interaction commands.
Introducing Genie’s best friends, and two of the members of the core cast, Violet and Val! These two have gone through some of the most design changes. I hope you like them!
Hey guys, got some worldbuilding stuff for you today! Check it out under the cut. WARNING: This is REAL long xD
The story takes place early in the 31st century, during a time of general peace and prosperity throughout the galaxy. However, it was not easy for humanity to make it to this point, and not all is as wonderful as it seems to be. Here’s some background to the game’s events...
Massive overpopulation plagued the people of Earth throughout much of the early and middle periods of the second millennium. Many solutions to this problem, compounded by rapidly depleting resource stockpiles and rampant natural disasters, were attempted.
City skyscrapers, largely based off of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design of the Illinois, were constructed worldwide. Several attempts were made to colonize Mars. After the success of an initial small scale operation in the 23rd century, a second, much larger, effort in the 24th met with spectacular failure. One of several domed cities, each housing a population in excess of 1 million, was completely destroyed by a violent storm. Only a few thousand evacuees survived.
A breakthrough in terraforming technology finally allowed a successful resettlement of large portions of Earth’s population to Mars and the various moons of the Solar System in the 28th century. Soon after, several generation ships were launched to attempt to colonize the nearest known Earthlike planets in the galaxy, though communications with all were lost soon after they left the bounds of the system.
[Picture 1 is a mock size comparison diagram. From left to right: Generation ship UNS Korolev (c. 2850), The Illinois tower (mass production revision, c. 2400), Burj Khalifa (c. 2010)
Picture 2 is an advertisement for the second Mars colonization project (c. 2300)]
Spreading throughout the Solar System did a lot to ease humanity’s problems. With the generation ships lost, however, it seemed that spreading beyond the local planets was an impossible dream.
Then, in 3027, an unknown fleet appeared without warning around Earth. These aliens had had no trouble bypassing the system’s defenses. Moreover, they contacted humanity’s leaders throughout the system. They invited humanity to send a member to the intergalactic council, and offered to construct a warp gate in the Solar System which would allow instant travel to any other gate in the galaxy. In return, humanity would pay them an annual tax on any commercial endeavors facilitated by this deal. Though a few governments were skeptical, the overwhelming majority of leaders agreed to go through with the deal.
Over the early years of nonvoting membership on the galactic council, humanity’s own government changed drastically. The ability to travel instantly anywhere in the galaxy gave rise to a number of colony worlds. Humans also mingled often with alien civilizations, though few came to the Solar System for matters other than business or research. The vast majority of political entities came together under the United Nations name, with only a few pockets of independent governments scraping by on the most unwelcoming of colony worlds.
Humans found themselves to be among the least technologically advanced civilizations and would have been an almost irrelevant presence on the galactic stage, if not for the unexpected massive popularity of the human entertainment industry among other races. Something drew vastly different races to watch human programming and hire human advertising agencies. Media moguls became some of the most powerful and influential members of society...
Still, humanity remained unable to sway many decisions of the council, and shadowy figures continued to work behind the scenes to obtain a full seat on the council.
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The council is made up of a voting bloc of 15 races and an Executive Council of the 3 oldest and most powerful civilizations in the galaxy.
The last 3 pictures relate to those:
Picture 3 shows Minister Zhafrey, Helian Representative to the Executive Council of Systems. The Helians are a highly advanced technological race who have perfected the engineering marvel humans know as a Dyson sphere. They have harnessed dozens of suns for their own civilization, and provide (very expensive) aid for other civilizations looking to harness the POWER OF THE SUN. At the time of the game, however, the civilization is embroiled in social turmoil, as the patriarchal society of thousands of years is slowly dismantled.
Picture 4 shows Mother 10142, sole ruler of the Trillion Sisters, a semi-hivemind and the oldest known race in the galaxy. Via proxy, she is always their Representative to the Executive Council of Systems. The Trillion Sisters (as they are known by other races throughout the galaxy) are made up of a single queen and her daughters. Each member of the race possesses a split brain: one portion shares all sensory information and memories between every sister, and also allows the queen to directly take control of her subjects. The lifespan of both queens and subjects can reach up to 1000 years. Near the end of her life, the queen chooses a mate and successor. The mating ritual includes her passing on the information stored in the personal portion of her brain, and she passes away soon after. In recent years, exposure to independent alien civilizations has led to the rise of rebel factions that perform surgery to remove the portion of their brain that is part of the hivemind.
Finally, picture 5 shows Queen L'saya, monarch of the Chrysen -- a race with powerful psychic abilities -- and their Representative to the Executive Council of Systems. She is supposedly a figurehead, but in truth exercises massive influence over the elected government. The Chrysen have developed a relationship with a parasitic plant which grows within them, drawing nutrients from the Chrysen host, while simultaneously cleansing their bloodstream of contaminants. The plant grows to maturity with its host and its blooming is considered by the Chrysen to be an indicator of maturity. Unfortunately, it takes the path of least resistance as it grows, and frequently causes irreparable damage to the host’s eyes and ears. A popular trend among the Chrysen involves getting tattoos using the ink from their own flowers.
Introducing a new alien! An enthusiastic if hopelessly scatterbrained xenohistorian, they are working on compiling a text on human culture. They like to think they are very good at putting humans at ease -- hence the carefully coordinated outfit you see on the right. A member of an alien race known commonly among humans as the Susserants, they join your party at a later point in the game. More details under the cut!
Name: Their race communicates via stridulation, and as such, their name is exceedingly difficult to convey in English; however, to better work with their human colleagues and sources, they use the name Chirp in reference to that mode of communication.
Age: 72 (equivalent to approximately 35 in human years)
Occupation: Research of alien (in this case, human) culture, with a focus on old Solarian history.
Personality: Very easy-going and friendly. They feel confident in their ability to read any situation correctly, but in reality are prone to massive misunderstandings.
Combat style: The Susserants are averse to combat, so Chirp uses their high Intelligence to provide support and manipulate battlefield tech, as well as providing your team with the ability to recover alien artifacts, that can be sold or researched outside of combat.
They join your party because they think its a great research opportunity. That’s it. It totally isn’t because you help them out of a jam that they got themselves into with their big mouth. Nope.
One of the first character designs outside of the main academy characters, this is Captain Alonso. The right version is her current design, as I felt the original design was far too uninteresting and unoriginal, and also didn’t really fit well in the setting. More details below!
Name: Captain Alonso (Full name classified)
Age: early 30s
Occupation: Leader of the anti-Federation forces in the Kepler system.
Personality: Usually serious and straightforward, she is not without a dry sense of humor. Very distrustful of those outside her closest allies.
Combat style: Uses standard ranged weaponry with high Skill.
When things start to kick off, her group of rebels show up to rescue Genie from Federation clutches. Still, the anti-Fed rebels may have some ulterior motives in mind... Whether or not she will reveal those to you will depend on the strength of your relationship with her.
Sprites! Here’s a little section of a wall and a door at the actual resolution the game will be in, as well as blown up versions of a few individual sprites.
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