Hi, everyone!
Thanks to all those who have read the first entry in our Developer diaries, thank you for your kind words in the comments and for likes.
The first entry of the diary was an overview. Its main aim was to let you know that we were alive, and the project was heading towards its release. Now, when you made sure of that, it’s now time to move from general words to detailed description of separate parts of the game.
In this entry I’m going to tell you about Graveyard Keeper’s world in general. I can’t avoid little spoilers, but, trust me, I’ll leave you the sweetest part for the first time you play the game.
The game world.
Graveyard Keeper’s world is a fictional world, where any reference to existing religions or historic periods and characters is purely coincidental. You can even say that the world looks like a fairy-tale. This impression is a combination of several components. First of them is an exaggerated cartoon style with a great deal of realism at the same time. Second - music and the sound design. And last but definitely not least, is a plot and characters. All the characters are a bit naive and all the main story twists and turns may remind you fairy-tales you’ve known since you were a child. Blam, now I remind you that you’re a graveyard keeper and you can break down corpses, and you have a talking drunkard-skull as a pet!
Looking for characters art style.
Let’s move on from the emotional aspect of the game’s world to its geography. I myself divide Graveyard keeper’s world into 4 big sections. First of them is where the you lives. The majority of construction sites and buildings are concentrated in here.
- Player’s house with a backyard. In the backyard the player is to start producing items and things of metal, wood and stone.
- Church and graveyard. Things are simple here. Bury corpses, give sermons, study artefacts in the church basement and write treatises.
- Morgue. Mysterious and horrible place I’d rather not talk about a lot. Let’s just say that the bodies, carefully covered with blankets, can also serve as sources of important and valuable resources.
- Garden and vineyard. Despite the fact that our game is about graves and stuff, vegetable farming, planting and gardening can become one of your favourite and profitable pastimes. And wine, aging in the church basements will certainly help you to deal with stress!
Sketch of the first zone.
Describing the previous section I mentioned several times subterranean parts of buildings, cellars and basements. Along with procedurally generated dungeons they are the second section. Those are the most dangerous places of the game. But where there is danger, there is treasure! Though combat mechanic has never been regarded as the core mechanic of our game, you can, if you want to, wield a sword quite enough.
Fighting with slimes.
The third game section is The Village. Almost all the important characters inhabit the village and its surroundings. Some of them sell important things, some can share useful information. Some can teach you a new craft or to give you a fishing rod. The majority of the game items you can craft yourself as well as buy them in the village. There is also a tavern in the village - the center of the public life. The tavern owner is also a village chief. So if you have some problems, you’re likely to get help in “Dead Horse” or at least they will pour you a beer.
Village crosroads.
The fourth section is scattered around different parts of the map. It consists of a big forest, a sinister swamp, witch hill and a sea shore. Their main purpose is to collect natural resources like ore or wood and some special, unique for this territory items. In the forest one can find mushrooms, rare herbs and hives with wild bees. On the witch hill there are silver ashes remaining after burning a witch. Not all of these places are available for you from the beginning. For example, to get to the swamp one should rebuild an ancient stone bridge or find another route through the forest filled with dangerous creatures.
A part of the Big forest.
The size of Graveyard Keeper’s world can’t be compared with the size of big procedurally generated worlds. We tried to make it cozy and diverse. Besides unique graphical elements this diversity is achieved by a dynamic weather system and the day and night cycle.
In general terms, this is all I can say about the world to keep an air of mystery. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask them here in comments - I will try to answer as much as I can.
Thank you for your time! See you next week! The next time I’m going to tell you about the plot and some game mechanics that contribute to the story.
Don't forget to follow our game! Click that FOLLOW button on the Steam page!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/599140/Graveyard_Keeper/
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Nikita Kulaga - Co-founder of Lazy Bear Games