The Ancient Amulets: A Forgotten Runes RPG for the Nintendo Switch and iOS

Trailer

First, watch our trailer! https://vimeo.com/727521727

Demo

Play the demo here! https://the-ancient-amulet.vercel.app/game

After watching the trailer, we recommend trying out our demo!

Just note that the demo is meant to be a proof-of-concept and a proof of our capabilities. It doesn't use the same engine as the final product and the end result will look and play almost entirely differently.

Proposal summary

The Ancient Amulets (working title) is an RPG for the Nintendo Switch and iOS set in the world of the Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult.

In The Ancient Amulets, you play as two non-magical brothers from a non-magical world, Chris and Clyde, who have been trapped inside two amulets and thrust into the world of FRWC. After two wizards discover the amulets and put them on, Chris and Clyde realize that they have full control over whoever wears the amulets.

In these borrowed bodies, Chris and Clyde set off on their quest to return home. They travel from town to town, meeting, battling, and taking control of the many wizards in this new and strange world. Along the way, they find themselves getting stronger, making new friends, and slowly uncovering the real reasons that they’ve been brought here.

Motivation

We believe that The Ancient Amulets team and The Forgotten Runes Wizards community are in a unique position to create a truly great “cult classic” console RPG.

To back this claim up, let’s consider what makes cult classic games like Dark Souls and Undertale so iconic. They’re great, dense games, yes, but a huge reason that these games have become so successful is that they’ve found a community who loved them enough to work together to unravel the seemingly endless mysteries hidden within. These games would be almost nothing without the people who write the wikis, perfect the speed runs, and create three-hour-long lore analysis videos.

It’s dangerous, however, for developers to intentionally try to create a cult classic. If the game never finds its community or gains traction, most of the game’s content might never be uncovered, and all they’re left with is an impenetrably dense gaming experience that no one is ever able to get through.

Forgotten Runes, with its pre-existing engaged community dedicated fanbase, removes the risk in attempting to create a cult classic.

We’re completely unafraid to create a “cult classic” gaming experience, complete with many possible play-styles, lots of hidden content, and dense storytelling. We’re unafraid because we know that there’s an audience for it. We also know that anyone trying to break into the Forgotten Runes universe for the first time with The Ancient Amulets will be just a quick search away from a community to help guide them through it.

(And of course, any game made with the Forgotten Runes IP is a “cult classic” by default because it’s a game created by and for The Cult.)

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That’s our pitch. But if you want more, here are three other key reasons why we believe that The Ancient Amulets should be made:

First, the Wizards, with their iconic art style and extensive collection of lore are the perfect collection for an RPG like The Ancient Amulets. We extended the already amazing FRWC art assets by programmatically creating “chibi” variants of every wizard’s walk-cycle. We found that the combination of “chibi” overworld sprites with higher-resolution battle art creates an experience reminiscent of the RPGs of the 90s. We relish the opportunity to create a game based on an established universe, and we plan on poring over the Book of Lore to create an unforgettable story experience filled with familiar faces and references.

Second, there’s a real market and demand for modernized-yet-retro RPG experiences, especially on the Nintendo Switch (Octopath Traveler, the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, Undertale, the upcoming remakes of LiveALive and Dragon Quest III, for some examples).

And third, in the bigger picture, we believe that traditional gaming experiences with NFT IP are needed to bridge the NFT world and the larger gaming audience. We want The Ancient Amulets to stand as an excellent game on its own and to be a cut above the average NFT gaming experience.

Details

The Ancient Amulets will be a 20 to 30 hour turn-based RPG.

We seek to pull off the classic game design trick of seamlessly merging gameplay and narrative into one cohesive system. The core activity of The Ancient Amulets is exploring towns and interacting with wizards. The real-world player and the fictional characters Chris and Clyde partake in this activity for exactly the same reasons: they want to find the strongest wizards and defeat them so that they can grow stronger and safely continue on their journey.

Battling strong wizards can serve either of two purposes. Chris and Clyde can either trick the defeated wizards into wearing the amulets so that they join their team, or they can reap the experience points, strengthening their current wizards along with Chris and Clyde’s ability to harness the strength of the wizards that they possess.

This gives players maximum control over their play-throughs. Maybe they want to go through the game with the same two starting wizards, leveling them up and slowly unlocking their true potential, or maybe they’d rather frequently swap out party members and experience new play-styles. The choice is theirs. Maybe they want a team consisting of a vulnerable damage dealer and a healer for a balanced fight, a tank magic absorber and a status inflicter for an unstoppable stalling duo, or maybe they just want to play with their two favorite wizards, even if they’re both support characters (they’ll make it work).

We want The Ancient Amulets to be fun and replay-able, but most importantly, we want it to delight and surprise you with its story and characters.

Team

Game Designer and Developer - Collin McKinney (on twitter as @collinmmck) - Founder of hyaliko, Game Designer, Software Engineer, JRPG Enthusiast.

Narrative Designer - Peter Carlson - Writer, Game Designer, Dungeon Master.

Environmental and Character Artist - TBD. (Know someone good? Send them our way!)

Composer and Sound Designer - officialandew (on twitter as @officialandew), Classical Pianist and Composer, Composer of All of the Music and Sounds from hyaliko.

Proposal Goals

We believe that The Ancient Amulets team and The Forgotten Runes Wizards community are in a unique position to create a truly great “cult classic” console RPG, and we want to be the ones to create it.

Benefits to the Cult

Having The Ancient Amulets on the Nintendo Switch eShop and on the iOS App Store opens up a whole new way to bring new fans to the cult.

It also offers the possibility of a return on investment.

100% of revenue from sales of The Ancient Amulets will go back to the DAO.

The Ancient Amulets will cost $20 on the Nintendo Switch eShop and $10 on the iOS App Store. Nintendo takes a 30% cut of all sales on the eShop. This means ~$14 per unit sold (maybe less if we involve a publisher).

To fully refund the DAO, we’d need to sell: $300,000 / $14 = ~21,500 units

On the scale of Nintendo eShop indie releases, 20,000 units would be considered quite successful, and our final numbers will be highly dependent on whether we choose to pursue any marketing or press.

It will also depend on timing. If our release coincides with the release of the Forgotten Runes TV show, for example, there might be more interest in this game.

Steps and Resources Required for the Proposal

We need one year to complete The Ancient Amulets. We’re aiming for a Summer 2023 release.

• Phase 1 - Onboarding

  • Recruit our Environmental and Character Artist
  • Onboard the whole team and finalize the tools will be using (e.g. Unity for the engine, Twine for narrative, FMOD for music and sound design, Blender for environment design)
  • Set up LLC, contracts, and payroll
  • Register with the Nintendo Developer’s Program and acquire Nintendo Switch Dev Kits. We may need to partner with a publisher to do this. TBD.
  • Create social media accounts for the project and establish monthly update channels
  • Estimated duration: 3 weeks

• Phase 2 - Finalize High-Level Narrative + Finalize Scope + Vertical Slice

  • Recreate our proof-of-concept demo with the new technology stack.
  • Finalize the high-level narrative structure of the game.
  • Finalize the scope of the battle system.
  • Finalize a loose outline of the content of the game, e.g. number of towns, number of NPCs per town, number of battles, number of playable characters, number of songs.
  • Estimated duration: 1 month

• Phase 3 - Production

  • Build out the game one area / town at a time
    • Concept art
    • 3D models
    • Environmental textures
    • Dialogue + Scripted Events
    • Battles
  • Estimated duration: 8 months

• Phase 4 - Post-Production

  • Core game is all but finished at this point.
  • Bug fixes
  • Prepare release materials
    • eShop listing
    • iOS store page
    • Trailers
    • Press releases
  • Estimated duration: 2 months

We’ll be providing monthly updates in the form of a blogpost including footage, screenshots, or concept art from the game, with increased update frequency as we get closer to launch.

Estimated Timeline

We need one year to complete The Ancient Amulets. We’re aiming for a Summer 2023 release.

Estimated Costs

We’re requesting compensation for the one year of work for our four team members.

Game Designer and Developer - Collin McKinney - $120,000

Narrative Designer - Peter Carlson - $50,000

Environmental and Character Artist - TBD - $65,000

Composer - officialandew - $15,000

Total Funds Requested $250,000

Payment Schedule

The funds will be distributed in three phases in equal time intervals: Phase 1: August 1st, 2022: $83,333 Phase 2: December 1st, 2022: $83,333 Phase 3: March 1st, 2023: $83,333

At every payment phase, we will come to the DAO and give an update on progress to get approved for the next round of funding. We can sort out the exact details with the DAO.