Weekly Progress - Week 3

Despite a rather busy work week, I actually managed to get quite a bit of progress done on TUAH.

• I've modified the weapons two characters are using. It actually made a lot of sense, since their home locations have also been changed.
• I've started working on the database. It's going to be a huge undertaking, but I figure that if I take it slow and let LaMia do the bulk of the work (I'm not lazy, I promise!), I can get it done soon enough.
• I've messed around with the enemies in one of the early areas. There's a total of 7, including the area boss. Not too shabby for the first area you encounter.
• I had an awesome dream and it spurred an idea to start the game with a (hopefully) fun mini-game of sorts. I think you'll enjoy it, anyway. I just hope I don't have to spend multiple hours troubleshooting it.
• I've gone through the plot plan again and added a few more details. I'm going to aim for quality, rather than quantity. Some of the things I've taken out will probably appear in a sequel/prequel – should I decide to do one, anyway. If not, I'll definitely post a short story or two set in the same universe.
• I've started some light mapping:
  
  
  
   This is the revamped and redone version of Burgunda Port, the starting town.
  
   This is a screenshot of Neva Mountains, the first explorable area in the game.

I've also started restructuring the religion in Caeta. Even in its earliest incarnation, Caeta was a polytheistic universe. There were many gods and goddesses, and each town (and village, and some other random locations) had a patron god/goddess. It wasn't always an obvious one, either. For example, Ahmiran is located in the desert. Normally, you'd expect them to worship the god of the sun (or equivalent). However, the patron goddess of Ahmiran was the goddess of plenty – i.e. fertility. Unlike most desert towns where water is a rare and precious comodity, Ahmiran had plentiful water from a nearby mountain spring. (And there was a big long quest associated with this).

And while I absolutely love this idea, the gods and goddesses of other towns weren't as impressive. So, I started thinking about how to change the mythology to make all gods/goddesses more pertinent. And I think I've come up with a solution.

Caeta remains a polytheistic land, but they only worship female goddesses. And goddesses are born from mortals who have met tragic ends. The stars took pity on them and made them a place among them in the night sky, giving them the divine powers to perform miracles.

The tragedy element of the mythology will be very interesting to explore. Some people will use it as a model (becoming martyrs in some ways), and others will use it as a cautionary story of what to avoid. And because of this tragic element, it will be easier to explore the themes of fanaticism – though I'm not telling how fanaticism will play a role in the story, or whether it will play a role at all.