Hello!
We’ve been working tirelessly on Bayaya, and we have more and more features ready. That’s great, but also very technical. Because of that, we would rather talk about something else. The gameplay itself. The game is going to be, at the same time, different from and similar to what you are used to. Let’s get into it!
The basics
Bayaya is between an RPG, a simulation and an adventure game. The story, based on the famous Czech folk tale of the same name, puts the player into an interesting point of view. Bayaya, even though he is a prince, has his communication capabilities limited - he only speaks “bayaya”, a nonsensical word. He doesn’t want to flaunt his noble upbringing. It could both lead him to abuse his privileges (not the point of his journey) or bring danger upon him. The only “person” that you’ll get to talk to in a regular way is your magic horse. As you may imagine, this limits the possibility of conversation with various NPCs. This is why Bayaya is rather a man of his deeds, not his words.
The main gameplay could be classified into a couple of general activities. Let’s quickly cover them:
Questing - there will be plenty of quests that will follow the story of the folk tale. They will range in their magnitude, from playing hide and seek to fighting the evil dragon. Bayaya’s life isn’t a regular one, so be ready to do all sorts of things!
Jobs - leaving the court and being thrust into the real world, Bayaya won’t have the comforts and sustenance he’s used to at his disposal. This means that you’ll need to help people with their work - chopping wood, harvesting, carrying sacks of flour, etc., to earn a living and learn to rely on yourself.
Travelling - the game’s world will be randomly generated each time you begin a new playthrough. You will be presented with plenty of opportunities to go through the land, where something interesting happens just around the corner.
Combat - it’s a little bit funny how such a lighthearted and whimsical game has a pretty serious combat system. Based on the real-life German school of fencing, you will wield your blade, and you will get plenty of opportunities to test your strength and wit!
Bayaya, the game, is going to be a little bit of an immersive life sim. It’s just that this particular life is quite a bit crazier than the normal ones. As you will have some freedom deciding what to do next, the game will also present you with a choice - you can play using both keyboard and mouse, or just the mouse (controller support will possibly be added in the future).
The plan
Let’s talk a little bit about how we expect to roll this all out. Bayaya will be released in Early Access, so quests and additional content will be added over time. Not all quests will be available in the early iteration of the game. We expect to deliver the rest as quickly as possible. We also hope that the modding capabilities of the game will be easy and enticing enough, so people will also create and share their own content. A person on Reddit asked us whether they could play as a princess - not in the vanilla version, but maybe that idea would make for a great mod?
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