Short Summary
Frontier Town is a top-down RPG in which players can take on a multitude of roles within society. Set in the medieval era, players can do jobs such as farming to grow food for the populous, smithing to create new tools to equip the townsfolk, and building residences and workshops in order to encourage specialists to move in, or to sell to other players.
The Idea
The original idea was a singleplayer game with the basic task of gathering enough food to keep your town fed, as well as building and decorating homes for more people to move in to. A simple mockup of this can be found here.
![Mockup]()
Basic Features
Various roles - Take on the role of your choice and find your place in the world.
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Blacksmith - Create tools to supply the other workers with.
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Farmer - Sow seeds and rear animals in order to feed the other townsfolk.
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Builder - Create houses and workshops, which will encourage others to live and work in the town.
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Labourer - Lumber wood and mine stone/ores to supply builders and blacksmiths with the resources they need to carry out their jobs.
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Craftsman - Create furnishings to decorate houses, increasing the chance someone will move in.
NPCs - AI characters who will move into free housing and take on a role within the town, some of whom will barter with the players.
Multiplayer - Build up a thriving town with friends.
Inventory - Carry around items for trading and crafting with
![Basic Inventory & Character Panels]()
Advanced Features
(note: many of these are just ideas at this stage and may not actually be implemented)
Weapon/tool equip - Equip from your inventory and use them to complete various tasks (such as an axe for cutting trees down).
Wear clothing/armour - Equip different clothing through the inventory with different stats and visuals.
Further roles - More roles available within society.
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Tailor - Create clothes using wool, linen, and other materials.
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Hair dresser - Style the hair of villagers and other players.
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Brewer - Use various plants to brew alcohol.
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Mayor - Become mayor of your own town. Collect taxes from the people and choose to be fair or corrupt. Balance taxes and the sum of money going towards maintaining and expanding the town in order to create a true paradise, or a source of great wealth.
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Fisherman - Buy a boat and a rod and get fishing, the bigger the boat the more people can crew it, allowing for other players and npcs to board with you.
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Architect - Design your own buildings from a set of simple tiles.
More advanced AI - NPCs with jobs will go to work each day and live based on their earnings, which will then affect the overall wealth of the town.
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Player Relations - NPCs will react differently to the player depending on how well they get on, an NPC who likes you will be more inclined to aid you by loaning you items or completing a task for you. A friend who is a shop keep is more likely to give you a discount.
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NPC Relations - NPCs who like each other are more likely to buy from each other, to help each other out in times of need, and to gossip.
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Gossip - Acts the player carries out will become known to the town members if it is witnessed, or if one of them is told.
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Romance - Court NPCs and win their favour in order to marry.
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Back Story - A randomized back story for each NPC which will change the way they behave and how they react to situations.
Settle and build your own town - Create a town of your own, and choose to become mayor or appoint someone else (player or NPC). The surroundings of the town will influence what kind of business is best suited to it, and so what class and trade of people it will attract (for example, a town near a large area of water is likely to become a fishing/trading port, whereas one further inland could be a small farming village).
Advanced Inventory - Chests to store items in, weight system.
Trade - Swap items with other players/NPCs.
Technology
The game is being developed using the LÖVE engine, and being written in Lua.
It is being developed primarily for Windows, though LÖVE also supports OS X and Ubuntu, so support for these platforms is also a possibility.
What We Need & What You Get
With partial funding, a basic version of the game will be completed (all of the Basic Features list will be implemented, and maybe a few of the more advanced features) and funds will go towards acquiring other aspects of the game such as art & sound effects.
Complete funding will ensure that a more advanced version of the game is completed (more of the Advanced Features list will be implemented).
Background
I have over four years experience in creating games and mods, and am currently studying game design at university.
Throughout my time developing games I have created many variations of this basic idea, a medieval RPG in which the player takes on a role within society and has the ability to create for themselves.
Much of my experience has been gained through creating game modes for Garry's Mod;
- Medieval Roleplay - My first game mode, a simple medieval mod built on top of other mods, which gave the player the ability to mine and smith items. The old page for the mod can be found here, though the actual mod no longer works.
- The Middle Ages - My follow up to the Medieval Roleplay game mode, added more advanced skills such as crafting and alchemy, and a simple inventory. Experimented with a fantasy theme, as well as NPCs.
- Garry's Mod Civilizations - Another take on the idea, this time more focused on realism, with pre-designed buildings to construct, and further advancements such as trading, chests, farming and a faction system. A demonstration of game play and features can be seen here.
Other Ways You Can Help
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