A Township Tale

A Township Tale is an upcoming Multiplayer VR RPG videogame developed by ALTA, a games development company based in Sydney.

The game was designed by Boramy Unn, who alongside Tima Anoshechkin and Joel Vorstenbosch founded ALTA and begun development in 2016.

Gameplay

A Township Tale takes place in a fantasy world in which players harvest ores, wood, food and other resources to forge, chisel, cook and craft into greater things.

Players begin with a twig backpack, some sticks, and rocks. Using these to create primitive tools, they can mine metals and chop wood to create better tools, as well as building and repairing the town itself.

Gameplay requires a Wi-Fi connection, as it is played on servers, each with it's own progression and world. Players interact and work together in these worlds to build communities and friendships within the game.

The Player

Players in A Township Tale are human, though in-game do not possess a lower body. They can vary greatly in appearance, as different body shapes, skin tones, hair styles and colours, as well as hundreds of outfits are available to players.

Inventory

Players have four inventory slots around their belt, and a fifth, unique slot on their back. All belt slots can hold small items, the leftmost and rightmost slots able to hold small & medium size tools and weapons as well. The fifth slot on the player's back can only hold medium & large size tools and weapons, or a backpack. Backpacks are the main mode of storage for players, as they can carry many items, as well as accommodating for expanded inventory in the form of attachments, such as a weapon loop, or side pouch.

Health

The health bar is shown around the player's wrist. It is red, and segmented into 8 bars. Players can increase their maximum health by finding heartflowers around the game's world, each granting one additional bar to a maximum of 20.

Players with more than 25% nutrition will regenerate health over time, but if their nutrition is below 5% they will slowly lose health. If a player's health drops to zero they will die. Upon death, a player's body disintegrates into golden dust, and their items fall to the ground (unless keep inventory is enabled in the server's settings). Within a few seconds they will respawn with full health, and a fraction^[1] of the nutrition they had on death.

Nutrition & Fullness

Nutrition is shown as a second, orange bar below the health bar, with a line at the 5% and 25% mark to help players gauge their needs. The fullness meter is shown in the form of 5 yellow lines between the health and hunger bars. Having all five lines means the player is full, having none means they are empty, and able to eat. Players can survive with empty fullness, as only low nutrition will harm them.

Over time, a player's nutrition and fullness will deplete. Nutrition and fullness are restored when a player eats. Depending on the food eaten, nutrition and fullness will increase separately, so players will need to eat food that is good for them to avoid being malnourished. Cooked food is generally better at providing nutrition than raw.

Stamina

Stamina is shown when not at 100% in the form of two curved green lines that make up a circle, representing the stamina of the player's left and right hands.

Should a player complete the climbing tower, they will be able to climb on almost any surface throughout the game's world. Clinging to a surface will deplete the player's stamina at a rate dependant on their grip. Stamina is regained slowly over time on each hand independently when not climbing, and can be regained faster if the player shakes their hand(s).

Creatures

There are many strange, mystical creatures throughout the world of A Township Tale, ranging from living fungi to deadly phantoms.

Most creatures have a chance to drop resources for the player to use as a reward for a successful hunt.

Animals

Usually easy targets, animals are great sources of food and crafting supplies for players.

Spriggull

These dodo-like creatures roam the town and it's surrounding areas. They are easily taken out by anyone with even a primitive weapon.

On death they drop two Spriggull legs and two feathers. Spriggull legs are poisonous if eaten raw, but when cooked are good sources of nutrition.

Feathers can be used to create fletching to craft arrows. Spriggull feathers have a chance to be red instead of the usual blue. Arrows made with red fletching are significantly more accurate than those of blue.

Schmeechees

Schmeechees (Often called Schmees for short) are small living mushrooms. They are identical to mushrooms from a distance, but when approached pop out of the ground and run from the player. They are peaceful, and occasionally playful creatures. They can be found in caverns, crates, and among other patches of mushrooms. They can come in several forms, mimicking orange, red, white and glowing mushrooms. Schmeechees can be eaten for a significant amount of nutrition, but like their mushroom counterparts, are poisonous if white or glowing.

Dais

Dais are creatures similar to deer that roam the forest, they can be identified by their loud mooing call. They can be anywhere from child to adult size, and can have brown, or reddish brown fur. Male Dais have antlers, while females do not. They can run extremely fast, and will attempt flee from any approaching player.

Should a player manage to take one down, Dais will drop leather and Dais legs. If the hunted Dais was an adult, it has a chance to drop a large leather roll, a valuable resource for creating large backpacks.

Babu

Babu are massive creatures reminiscent of a large brown boar. They stomp through the forest, eating any meat they come across and charging down foes that attempt to hunt them. Babu are deadly if fought unprepared, with a large health pool and fast charge attacks, it is advised to attack from range. On death, Babu drop massive chunks of meat, a bounty of leather, and occasionally large leather rolls. It is possible to land on the back of a Babu to ride them, but players will not automatically be moved along with the creature's walk.

Dragonflies

Dragonflies are fast moving insects of the forest, making cricket like sounds and darting around in the air. They are harmless, and can be grabbed by players, but not stored. Dragonflies do not drop anything on death, cannot be eaten, and currently don't have much use. It is speculated that they will be a component in alchemy in future, as they have a page in the tavern's nutrition guide.

Monsters

Aggressive and territorial, monsters attack players, and sometimes other monsters on sight.

Wyrms

Large insectoid monsters with scythe like arms, Wyrms burrow up from the ground and attack anything nearby with their acidic spit and sharp arms. Found in the mines, the dustbowl, the maze of the mountain pass and the forest they are immobile once sprung from the ground. They attack by spitting balls of acid and swinging their scythe arms at anyone daring or stupid enough to come close. Defeating a Wyrm is usually rewarded with the player's survival, but can sometimes drop rare green leather. In previous versions of the game, Wyrms could drop their scythe arms as weapons, and their heads as cosmetic armour.

Crystal Wyrms

A variant of Wyrms, Crystal Wyrms glow with bright blue crystal embedded into their biology. They are significantly larger than ordinary Wyrms, and launch balls of crystal that shatter on impact into many damaging shards. Their attacks deal heavy damage, their sharp crystal claws able to instantly kill a player who hasn't found any heart flowers. Crystal Wyrms have a chance to drop blue crystal orbs on death.

Turabada

Living rocks and ores that roam the caverns and quarries of the world, Turabada are melee fighters that utilise their large stone fists to deal damage, and defend from player attacks. They can spawn in a range of sizes, increasing in power the larger they are. Turabada are aggressive toward players and Wyrms, approaching both with a defensive stance. If a Turabada's fists are hit while it is blocking, they will gain an orange glow, boosting the monster's attack. Turabada have a few attacks they can use to combo into heavy hitting moves, like ground slams, uppercuts and lunging punches. On low health, Turabada may burrow their rocky fists into the ground and hit it repeatedly, which once finished can either heal damage they've taken, or cause them to explode violently, damaging nearby creatures. On death, Turabada fall apart into rocks and boulders, dropping many stones, ores, and "Turabada shards", small explosive rocks that can be thrown to deal explosive damage. They also have a low chance to drop a useable Turabada fist, which players can use as a hammer if attached to a suitable handle.

Gotera

Much like Turabada, Gotera are living elements of the world, taking the form of tree trunks with two stump legs. Gotera attack at range, rooting themselves in the ground and spitting seeds at nearby enemies, They can come in several variants, in order of size being Oak, Birch, Walnut, Ash, and Redwood. Oak Gotera are the original added to the game. As well as spitting seeds, they can stomp the ground to force a barbed vine to spike out of the ground through a player's chest, or launch many yellow spores into the air to damage and slow approaching enemies. Birch and Ash Gotera are similar in their seed shot and vine spike attacks, but can also attack with spores that function like landmines, landing on the ground and exploding if touched, or if left for long enough. Walnut Gotera are unique in that they shoot many seeds at once in a shotgun like spread. Ash Gotera are large grey variants that shoot fast and at long range. Redwood Gotera are massive foes, shooting a larger projectile than the others, dealing more damage and travelling further. On death, Gotera drop their respective wood type as well as Gotera Spores, round yellow objects that can be thrown to slow enemies, or expose Phantoms in combat.

Phantoms

Phantoms are ghostly entities that roam the outskirts of town at night, visible only when nearby, but heard from a distance by their wailing choir of cries. Phantoms are seemingly passive until approached, when they will lunge at the player and scream, spitting out a black foggy mist that invokes the Nightmare effect on players. When under this effect, fog will surround the player's view and damage them over time. Out of the fog, fast moving Phantom heads called minions can chase and attack the player. They can be defeated, but may be summoned again by the Phantom. The Phantoms themselves cannot be attacked, as they are incorporeal. Weapons will pass through them unless made corporeal by throwing a Gotera Spore at them. This causes them to recoil and become physical beings for a short time, in which players can attack and damage the Phantom. When killed, Phantoms have a small chance to drop the Phantom Guard, a weapon attachment that allows players to summon their own minions at the cost of their own health. The guard can also supposedly heal the player for damaging enemies, but this can act strangely in game.

Story

A Township Tale takes place in a mysterious fantasy town, long abandoned and decayed. The events and groups that lead up to this outcome can be discovered through various clues throughout the world.

can't tell ya tho hehehehehehe

Development

ALTA began development for A Township Tale in ??? of 2016. The game is developed in the Unity game engine.

Although in a "pre-alpha" state, the game was open for players to explore and test, as player feedback and bug reports helped the developers refine and shape the experience into something more enjoyable.

i need the boss man to gimme details for this one

^ research needed

[1] research needed

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