Beneath a Dead City

Run your own Adventurer's Guild in this fantasy colony sim! Recruit heroes to explore a ruined city, but keep an eye on those murder hobos. An unhappy hero could turn to arson, violence, and jaywalking. Defeat the Black Knight in the Necromancer's Tower and restore sunshine to the land.

(When you start a game, it'll be easier if you can see trees and mountains in the starting area. You'll need to place woodcutters and quarries nearby.)

Controls:
WASD / Arrow Keys: move camera
QE: decrease or increase game speed
Space: pause
1 - 8: select different heroes or villagers

I made this game because I have some cool ideas about procedurally generated narrative, and this game will give me the chance to try them out. The current version focuses more on the core loop of the colony sim (base building, questing, and resource collection), but the bones of the cool dynamic systems are in there. You'll see them every time a hero decision dialog pops up.

What's coming up next? 

WEIRD MAPS - get maps of the past, the present, and the future. An apocalypse wiped out the dead city before. Can you prevent it from happening again? 

ANGRY DOMAINS - inspired by DotAGE and Dungeon World, appease or displease the ancient gods with domains over things like Fire, Ice, Hatred, or Books. One god caused the first apocalypse. But which one?

DEEPER RELATIONSHIPS - Friends and Rivals are already kinda implemented, but it's gonna go deeper. Lovers. Brothers. Mortal Enemies. Mentors. Magic experiments.

FAIL FORWARD: Failure is only bad if it's boring. A hero's death might lead to their younger brother coming to aid your heroes. A failed quest could make a Domain more dangerous. Forgotten powers lurk beneath the city...  

This game is a continuation of my game Within a Dead City. That was meant to be a tiny Majesty-like. This game was meant to be a sequel, but I expanded the scope so much that it switched genres.

Feel free to reach out with feedback, here or on the Discord (link on the main menu). If you  like the game, leave a wishlist on Steam! (https://store.steampowered.com/app/3389080/Beneath_a_Dead_City/)

This was originally created as part of the Tiny Mass Games collective, a small group focused on putting out a batch of polished short-form games every three months. Needless to say, this is less of a short-form game, haha. Check out more of our work at https://tinymassgames.itch.io/