FDD Grim

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GRIM DESIGN - OVERVIEW

NARRATIVE DESIGN

World Building

Overview

In the World Before, mankind was guarded from harm by the Seraphs, leading to era after era of peace and prosperity. But humanity wanted more, and quickly realized the Seraphs were an obstacle to their ambitions.

They rose up against their wardens, and started a war that would last for centuries.

This Seraph War led to the discovery of the Grim, a twisted energy flowing from the depths of Earth. They used it to make ungodly weapons of mass destruction, and fell Seraph after Seraph. They merely had time to enjoy they victory, when they found that everything the Grim touched was doomed to die. Trees withered, dirt became barren, mountains crumbled and an invisible sickness spread across the plains.

Now a millennia later, mutated monsters roam the land, the dead won’t stay still, and humanity has been thrown at the bottom of the food chain.

The World Before

The World is shared between humans and the Seraphs, beings hundreds of meters tall. This is an apparent utopia, where the two races live in symbiosis. Regarding technology, this is a high fantasy setting between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and this game takes place in a Mediterranean region. Seraphs are the source of everything magic in this civilization, and protect the World against famine, wars and natural disasters.

The Seraphs

The Seraphs are around 300 meters tall, glabrous, mouthless beings with a smooth skin devoid of any recognizable features (genitals, nails). All of the magic they brought to the land come from their body: a drop of their blood can make an apple tree grow to gigantic size, producing enough fruit to feed a whole town, and their tears can cure any disease.

They arrived before humans started having a written record of their history, and have kept a watchful eyes on humanity since then.

The Seraph are assigned to Casts, here presented from the lowest to highest:

Casts

The Wanderers roam the lands, helping those in need, and delivering resources between towns.

The Sources are assigned to a village, and help with the fields, the milling and the cattle. They like to move as little as possible.

The Angels are the warrior cast, wielding fire swords. A thousand horns announce their arrival to enemy armies or bandits.

The Gatekeepers are hidden from humans, and are tasked with carrying the true purpose of the Seraph. Once the humans reach a certain technological level, the Gatekeepers wipe them out and creates civilization again.

All of the Seraphs obey those in upper casts, and the Gatekeepers obey an unseen entity, compared to God with the extremely obvious biblical theme going here. This entity is the will of the universe made flesh and blood, and wants to preserve a cycle of death and rebirth.

The Humans

With every one of their needs fulfilled, humans thrived. But one day, a group of alchemists made a new discovery by accidents, and stumbled upon the Grim. The Seraphs where harvesting this energy in secret to destroy the humans and make sure nothing living could survive the Apocalypse they would bring.

Humans banded together when they saw this, and in the Capital, an army was formed and tasked with killing the Source that took care of them. The placid Seraph did nothing, and was killed promptly. After finding that the decaying Seraph corpse produced Grim, further advancing their end, the Kingdoms started weaponizing the Grim, in an attempt to wage war against the Seraphs.

The Seraph War

Two main aspects of this war will be talked about, because they have ramifications in the prototype:

The Grim Organs

The Seraph Forges

The Grim Organs

To properly fight back against their colossal enemy, the Kingdoms’ brightest minds created the Grim Organs, huge siege weapons towed by three thousand horses each. They work by concentrating Grim in brass tubes, hence the name, and projecting enriched Grim so bright it brought daylight to the darkest nights. These weapons could bring every kind of Seraph in a single volley, but the toxic byproduct slowly killed the soldiers using it.

The Seraph Forge

In order to enforce their plan, the Seraphs built Forges all around the world. They threw humans on a gigantic anvil, and smashed down with a hammer forged in Seraph’s Blood. The result were seeds made of metal and bone, that sprouted a tree that grew for miles. This Soul Tree was covered in thorns, and the souls of those trapped inside resonated for miles.

What about now ?

We start the game a millenia after the Seraph war is over, the land is fully corrupted by the Grim, and mutated creatures roam the land.

The PC wields weapons made from shards of the Soul Trees, containing broken echoes of the people sacrificed at the Seraph Forges.

Our goal is to find the ultimate source of power, which turns out to be the last Seraph alive, who is keeping the Grim “alive”.

Weapons

The Character wields a sword holding the soul of one of their previous victims.

This is a tease of what we want to show in the full project next year, as the PC traps the souls of

Bosses⁠

in them.

Planned Weapons for the full project:

Scythe

Hook Sword (in the vertical slice)

Censer

These Weapons can react to the PC’s Actions, and are their voice, as the PC doesn’t speak in the vertical slice.

The Level

Canyon of the fell Knight

This level features the giant skeleton of a fell Knight, a warrior part of an holy order in the World Before. The site of his death has been exploited as a quarry, as fossilized Grim was buried beneath the earth by the years. A river of Grim flows through the canyon, rendering the extraction of the fell Knight’s bones even more dangerous of a job.

In his skull, a Mausoleum has been built in his honor to ward off against the Grim, guarded by a fearsome Warden who never forgot its purpose.

Characters

⁠

The Protagonist is a power-hungry man, corrupted by the Grim and doomed to a painful end. Cursed to feed on an energy that makes his death closer and closer, he roams the land in search of more power, doing whatever he needs to obtain it.

He has an Alembic on his back, allowing him to refine Grim and use it for powerful abilities.

He wields souls turned into weapons, that still retains elements of their former selves, but are reduced to a martial purpose against their will.

⁠

The Sword was a benevolent Queen who died during the detonation of a Grim weapon. Now trapped into a bone sword, she is torn between her desire for freedom, and her dying wish of vengeance against those who waged war for aeons.

She has formed an unlikely alliance with the

Protagonist⁠

, who wields her against his enemies after he saved her from a mutated warlord.

⁠

Husks were human, once, long before the Grim found its way inside their bodies and souls and ripped them apart.

They now populate the lands, growing in number every time an expedition finds its way inside their territory.

Their body has hardened and their ravenous hunger gave them a killer instinct in a fight.

Being born of the Grim, being exposed to it only makes them stronger.

⁠

The Warden is an amalgam of souls brought back to life by the Seraphs as caretaker and trooper in their armies. Loyal to the end, it stayed by the side of its master for a millenia and fell into a deep slumber. Awoken by the Grim and twisted by its foul influence, it still guards the corpse of its master along with an army of Husks, and killed a mining expedition meant to pump Grim from its master’s bones. It rests in a sarcophagus covered in runes, ordered by its masters to rest until the War starts again.

Relationship Graph

⁠

Cutscenes

List

Start of the game

Real Time Cinematic

Setup

Shows the PC picking up his Sword, and looking at the skull at the end of the level, overlooking the Canyon.

Enemy Fleeing

Real Time Cutscene

Rules

An enemy flees after seeing the PC, leading him deeper into a cave.

Tutorial Ambush

Real Time Cutscene

Rules

The fleeing enemy strikes from a corner, this serves as the tutorial for the Parry

Bone Falling

Real Time Cutscene

Payoff

After cutting the chaines maintaining it, the vertebrae falls and creates a platform for the PC to cross the gap.

Entering the Boss Arena

Real Time Cinematic

Rules

Introduces the Head Warden as the final boss of the demo, and teases his abilities.

Killing the Boss

Real Time Cutscene

Payoff

After killing the Boss, offers two choices for a finisher, and shows the brutal result depending on the Player’s choice.

There are collectibles giving the Player information on the World.

This demo will contain 3 phrases, read by the Sword after finding it scribbled on walls.

The phrases have to reveal something about the area the Player is in, in a cryptic way, by way of prose or verse.

Poem of the fell Knight

He stood tall and proud, even when they took his head, even when they broke him.

Inside him was Death and Power, so they devoured him, limb by limb.

Now his bones stretch high, for he is finally resting, the last Knight of the Grim.

Voicelines

Weapon

The Weapon may speak on the following occasions:

When attacked from behind

When an enemy is stunned

When an enemy is grimmed up

When an enemy is killed

When a ranged attack is incoming

When the Player is stuck on a puzzle

Enemies

Enemies might speak ? Depends on their design.

Boss

The boss will speak on the following occasion:

Death cutscenes

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