In this dev-blog, we will talk about the most important aspect of Terra Randoma that we would like to achieve: Replayability. We want people to play the game again and again because they know it will be a different experience each time.
The first step is the very beginning. It is a new island each time you start. A lot of effort was put in the development of a procedural map generation. We tried our best to make the map appear natural. It can be mountainous, full of forests or balanced. It can be one big land mass or more fractured. They all mean different experiences.
Towns have random prosperity levels and every now and then there is a chance that something good or hazardous happen to them. Like an epidemic or a royal marriage.
There are different character backgrounds and starsigns you can choose at the beginning of the game. A Retired Gladiator plays very differently than a Fire Acrobat. They have different starting stats, equipment and talent stones.
As we explained before in detail, the battlefields, dungeons and items are all random. We used procedural generation as much as we can. Even a mundane item like a comb you find in the game can be in different materials like bronze, gold etc. (and have different icons accordingly) We want a game that we can play ourselves and have fun. It must surprise us too.
Dungeon crawling is an important aspect of the game but it also has wilderness crawling, equally important and adventureous. Like the tabletop hex crawlers of the old times (but squares instead of hexagons). With every step you take at the wilderness, a dice is rolled and checked against a random table according to the tile you are on and the time of the day. And then something may happen or not. So wilderness is not only a place you travel from town to dungeon. If you are in a hurry though, you can choose the safer tiles and time of the day to avoid danger. If you want trouble, you can go to a forest at midnight and see what happens.
You will meet several NPCs in Terra Randoma. There is a shop keeper, a tavern keeper, a tavern patron and a lord at each town. You may also meet traveling merchants, or common folk randomly on the over-world. The human enemies, like bandits are lurking around as well. The gender, appearance, clothes, occupations and the defining characteristics of Terra Randoma’s people are all procedurally generated.
The quests you receive from the NPCs are also randomly generated. Combined with who gave you the quest, this helps generate amusing stories in the player’s mind. Irisa “The Sophisticated Actress” asks you to retrieve her porcelain mirror, looking all smart and charismatic in her woven green suit. You wonder what it means to her. Who stole it and why? And then you meet the notorious bandit Calamitus “The Sorrow Bringer”. Once you deal with him, you find the mirror, but also a love letter in his hidden chest. Wouldn’t you wonder for a moment what exactly happened here?
In Terra Randoma, your journey emerges as you play, as a combination of procedural generation and your own imagination. There are numerous meta-goals you may pursue but they are not mandatory. It's kind of a tool to live your own story.