I'm Making a Video Game Part Five - The Setting

Heyo. Zed here. This is the fifth post in my ongoing series about making my upcoming video game line. I’d read the first four before reading this one. We have a name for the first two games in the line; a premise and a proof of concept for the script; a software and engine do to it in all for free; and a player character with a name, character model, animations and combat style. Next up is the setting.

The setting for Allegro is a landmass named Chandesh. Allegro refers to the game’s plot and the fact that the main character can sing. Chandesh is the name of the continent the game is set on. The continent is steampunk themed and is in a constant state of armed conflict between the technology using nations on the West coast and the nature loving nations on the East coast. North is a city state called Rynn that is neutral to their wars and trades with both. They are called the Iron West, the Untamed East and the Arcane North. All ten nations on the continent will be in the game including Rynn.

The City of Rynn

Rynn is a city state to the North that runs much of the continent’s economy. It is one vast cityscape spanning the interior of a mountain range. It is run by a network of merchant Guilds and was once in a state of open civil war, but the intervention of the land’s gods, the Founders, forced them to end it and sign the Accord. The Guilds still live by the tenants of the Accord to this day and don’t war with one another but do compete economically. The entire continent remembers the coming of the Founders and swears by their names to this day.

Their people are divided into two Houses each with a surname. House Sunclaw are gold coloured wolves and House Silverfoot are dark coloured foxes. House Sunclaw relatives of some of the peoples of the Untamed East and are known to be talkative and strange. House Silverfoot are quiet, valuing secrecy and knowledge. Strangely, a House of hellspawn known as House Faldrath also reside in the city and help in its defence in exchange for room and board. House Faldrath are there for their own reasons.

Kyran

The Iron West is composed of five nations. The first and most prosperous of these is Kyran. It is the founding member of the Alliance and is both technologically advanced and wealthy. It’s divided into two biomes. To the South is Redridge, a mountain range rich in iron ore, and the towns of Redweary and Marcir. Cess is the capitol and regulates trade between the two biomes. North is the vast farmland of the Kynmarch and the towns of Marchvine and Sappling. The Redridge mountains and the Kynmarch make it a wealthy nation. Redweary and Marcir are connected by sea and Cess manages the trade between them and Marchvine and Sappling, which are connected by rail.

They are home to a single House known as House Relgrove. House Relgrove are gold furred or dark wolf folk. Our main character works for their military and as such is outfitted with agility and strength enhancing clockwork armour that he wears under his clothing. This is why the player character can jump and never takes fall damage in the game.

Rhandan

Rhandan is more warlike and is rapidly industrializing with the help of its allies in the Alliance. It values strength, endurance and shared hardship, things that are all too easy to find in its Northern arctic lands. It contains three cities, Resk at the centre, Marvan in the North and Kest in the South. Resk is the capitol and regulates the economy through a complex web of politics. Marvan runs the mines and smelting yards while Kest sees to food production in the warmer lands it occupies.

Rhandan is composed of five Houses that each were once wandering tribal peoples of the North. These Houses are named Abran, Kaeskan, Resc, Caern and Abreu. Abran run the government, Kaeskan run the factories, Resc hunt and forage in the old ways, Caern run shipping and Abreu run the ships for both fishing and industry. They are all black and white coloured rodent folk.

Theos

Occupying the Eastern region of the Iron West, Theos is under constant threat from the wild peoples of the Untamed East. It sticks to its iron faith and love of industry to keep it safe, along with its allies in the Alliance. It has one major city names Actan and a fortress ironically called Calmwall. Actan runs the food production for the small nation and Calmwall sees to its border patrols.

It has three Houses living in it. House Emerald are the ranking priests and run the nation. House Scarlet do the bookkeeping and scribe work. House Duskblue are smaller and do the factory work and crafting that the nation needs. House Emerald are equine folk, House Scarlet are wolves and House Duskblue are feline folk.

Lynn

Lynn practices a variety of machitech that requires relatively few resources but a deep knowledge of magic and engineering to do. This suits them as their cold Northern land is lacking in resources and borders the wild tribes of the East. They recently lost a city to warfare, leaving only the capitol Eara and the factory centre of Acke. Eara and Acks composed of stark white stone taken from their cold land. Their people are House Moonbind, The white wolves of House Moonbind are both practical and spiritual and don’t see the difference between them.

Khor

Coastal and wealthy, yet full of scum and villainy, Khor has the most impressive navy of the Alliance nations and constantly battles the Eastern nations capable of manufacturing ships. It has one city on the mainland known as First Eye and four smaller towns on farming islands. Like First Eye they are all numbered. House Walken are dark wolves and run the navy. House Belkan are tan wolves and do the work that requires staying on shore. Both House Walken and House Belkan are passionate and romantic people and love seafood.

Jhaska

Jhasks is the first and the least aggressive of the tribes of the Untamed East. Jhaska occupy the cold and utterly desolate Northern regions of Chandesh outside of the city of Rynn. Chandesh once saw the people of Jhaska and Rynn being one tribe until they split apart to settle other areas of the continent. They have three small towns centring on Lonely Mount. Lonely Mount is their capitol mostly in a technical sense since the people are mostly nomadic. Their people are House Sunstride. The lions of House Sunstride do not speak of the brother tribe they lost to the city state long ago.

Matha

The Matha peoples are everything the Untamed East is known to be. They inhabit the vast hot steppe and scrubland of the East and are violent, passionate and warlike. Their two cities are Hak-Akan and Hak-Ulan. Hak-Akan runs the nation and the economy while Hak-Ulan wages war for no reason. Its people are divided into House Allsun and the Sunborn Houses. House Allsun are tan wolves and the Sunborn Houses are pale lions.

Kaska

The cold lands of the North are also home to the entirely wandering people known as the Kaska. Uninterested in war, metal, weather, cities and money, they spend their lives moving across the great land of ice. They have one city of ivory and hides known as Mastha. Mastha is where they spend the cold winters and tell their stories of the year’s travels. House Sunset and House Sunrise call this land their home. House Sunset are white tigers while House Sunrise are grey tigers.

The Hask Nations

The true danger the East poses are the Hask Nations. They are several islands of undead and necromancers off the Southern shores of the main continent. They want war and nothing else. Their two cities are known as Raven and Moth. Their vast jungle land hides them from view well. Raven does the manufacturing and Moth the warfare. The people of this dark land are House Sundark, House Sunmoth and House Sunmoon. House Sundark are black wolves. House Sunmoth are similar looking wolves while House Sunmoon pale wolves. All of them practice dark and unwholesome magic.

Conclusion

This is the complete listing of all then nations in the game. As you can see I’ve got my work cut out for me making all of this into a level map. The maps in the Unreal Engine are at their largest 2.5km on a side and square, The Unreal Engine can have any number of them in one project file. So I need to make every city, town, forest, mountain and jungle myself in that set of patterns. This will take some time and planning to do that I am starting next now that I have this typed. There will still be more of these posts along the way. The other thing you might notice is that there are no humans on the continent. There aren’t. I’m working that into how I manage the character and NPC assets. More on that later.

Zed