Strike the Earth!

Hello everyone, we're a band of three game developers from Las Vegas and Montreal working on a computer game called Architect of Ruin. This is the first of a series of regular posts that share our progress in developing the game and lay out a roadmap for the project's design. We started working on this game last November, inspired by old D&D modules like the Temple of Elemental Evil and the Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun.

Architect of Ruin is a sword and sorcery colony survival game centered on the reconstruction of an ancient, ruined temple. Your cultists begin at a site of ancient power and you guide them as they secretly rebuild that power and corrupt the lands beyond. These impoverished outcasts hold only modest possessions, but as the game progresses your cult will develop unique rituals, god-given powers, and unholy warriors.

To accomplish your goals you must balance secrecy with bloody adventure and mayhem. Gather power too quickly and you become a threat to local lords and petty monasteries. Yet the gods demand their due and idleness brings no glory. You will need to send your cultists to raid enemy settlements, plunder ancient sites, and desecrate the temples of the holy.

Milestone Update

We plan to post milestone updates regularly that cover what we've been working on and where the game is headed.

Our main focus in the first half of 2024 is getting all of the basic colony management mechanics and systems built. In January we built the logistics, hauling, resource deposits, items, schematics for buildings, tile selection, and task systems. At the moment there isn't any task scheduling or priority, so colonists rush to do everything immediately and not very efficiently, but they are getting work done and moving materials around to accomplish it. Enough systems are in place that we can start to focus on the "Basic Survival" mechanics, like food, rest, and shelter.

Ulrick finished the core tileset, made a bunch of first pass assets for things like stockpiles, and has been focused on concept storyboards for the initial phases of the game. One of our goals for the game is that there are many different ways to develop your cult... maybe you have a coven of blood harvesting vampires, maybe a lonely lich with only undead "automation", or perhaps you appear to be building a holy monastery to attract locals to worship. In order to work through these ideas, we use a lot of visual design, and we tend to not use traditional design documents at all.

Here is a concept of an early game start:

Marketing Update

If this kind of game interests you, please let us know by signing up for our newsletter. It will be a little bit before we have a Steam page, so the newsletter is the best way to stay connected to our project and our progress.

We are learning marketing as we go and we'll share what we've posted. Feedback and questions are appreciated!

• Some of our concept art got a bunch of upvotes on r/orcs_and_goblins.
• Also... doot doot.
  

That's it for this week!