Regards from the Era: V0

ABOUT THE GAME

             Drawing inspiration from a variety of genres both past and present, Regards from the Era is a tribute to where history may have guided us instead. Enjoy modern quality of life features while roaming free in this top-down party-based RPG that hearkens to the past – where players are predominantly left to their own devices, and the assumption is that each individually is capable of a lot, provided they their sufficient resource.

! EARLY ACCESS NOTICE !

             This game is currently in what may be considered a state of Early Access. While the core gameplay is working, there are still improvements planned for further embellish. Since player save files may (on rare occasion) be affected during these changes, it would be discourteous to claim the game is complete.

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KEY FEATURES

Are these really features?

• No epic story sequences – There is nary a cut-scene nor long dialog sequence to be found. Interactive challenge and exploration it may offer, an expansive narrative it most certainly is not.

• The graphics in some modes look like they’re from an archaic command line terminal – Because that’s exactly what those modes are.

• Typical stats are missing and players start at max level - This is not your typical RPG. Make your adventure as challenging as you like, but don't expect leveling up to be a path beyond a challenge.

• No real time combat - Its not even your typical turn based game, try on for size a system of turn based combat with turns inside your turns.

• Party members don’t act like lemmings – Ally characters generally act independent of the player’s micromanagement, for the better or worse.

• Too rogue-ish to be called a standard RPG, too RPG to be called a rogue-ish – With inspiration from various genres, its hard to even classify this amalgamation.

• There is no hand holding or tutorial - Ever wonder why games don't let you walk around permanently at 1 max-hp? The brave and reckless can try to unravel such mysteries.

• No skill trees or variation within character classes - Customize your character instead by mixing predefined classes, where skills work together to remain relevant. Hopefully the thousands of potential combinations are sufficient.

• As always, pet based classes are heinously unbalanced – For that matter the play-style of each class differs as much as possible from the others by design, abandon all ye hope of class equilibrium here.

• Players have limited inventory of nothing but consumables - Items are strategic resources not so easily replaced, but what the heck is with the weapons having no actual stats or physical inventory requirements?

• Hide and Seek is something we would normally outgrow - One stubborn boss wanders hidden among a potential 1,000+ enemies on the map. Only the occasional hint may be of help.

• Battles can degrade into slug-fests - Combat between 12 allies and 12 enemies can become nothing short of drawn out chaos; such are the rare exceptions to more deliberately paced combat. Combat log filters exist for these scenarios right?

• Enemies are somewhat predictable – Know in advance what an enemy plans to do, how hard it will hit, and who it will target. How? Well without a tutorial you’ll likely need to read the provided manual (if it exists!) or turn to the collaboration of others.

• The auto-battle system is counterproductive - The game can completely play itself in easier encounters but is completely outclassed versus anything worthwhile - it saps the fun by playing itself during the only content safe enough to relax while doing.

• The game itself seems like an endless loop - How long can a player remain entertained when all there is to do is to define the challenge yourself?

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ACCESSIBILITY

Efforts ongoing, results not guaranteed.

MOTOR CONSIDERATIONS

• 4-6 key play – the visual modes of play require very few keys to play effectively
• adjustable input delay – intended to help reduce unintentional key presses
• additional menu input delay – intended to help reduce unintentional key presses
• game-pad one click limit – intended to help reduce unintentional key presses
• remap-able controls – it is possible to customize controls via the editing of script files
• mirror game-pad – two (ideally identical) game-pads may be used to control the same player
• holo-keys – a series of key-presses can imitate another key-press (reduced # keys needed)

AUDITORY CONSIDERATIONS

• non-reliance on sound effects – most sounds are related to map traversal which has visual cues
• descriptive sounds – sounds in non-map segments can show a popup dialog related to the sound
• background music is optional – BGM is non-essential to the game and can be disabled entirely

VISUAL CONSIDERATIONS

• terminal emulator output – attempt to support the widest range of screen readers possible
• web browser output – attempt to support the widest range of screen readers possible
• non-reliance on colors to distinguish objects – the gray-scale version of the game is the core game
• high contrast modes of play –  [experimental] for those who need more distinguishable graphics
• narrative modes of play – for those relying on screen readers
• info pre-sorted on map segments – most pertinent information is arranged first when possible
• info custom-sorted in combat – combat mode allows for choosing what info is most pertinent
• web markup – web based output includes headers for easier information retrieval
• full circle radial scan – player is relayed map tile info one by one in an expanding clockwise circle
• directed radial scan – player is relayed map tile info one by one in a small directed arc
• aerial survey – player may retrieve  a summary of peripheral map information
• narrative cursor default position – cursors are moved to the top of the page for narrative modes
• map cursor default position – cursors are moved to around the player’s position in map modes
• braille display planning – [experimental] allowances have been made with braille displays in mind
• TTS rate/volume control – player can adjust built in TTS rate and volume
• basic TTS controls on game-pad – default game-pad control scheme includes TTS engine controls
• sight point system – allows player to analyze distant map tiles
• tab targeting system – quickly cycle between nearby enemies (from close to far or the inverse)
• auto-glance system – sight point can automatically follow one square ahead of player
• points of interest system – quickly get an overview of nearby points of value
• navmesh system – give directions to nearest major landmark only (dungeons/towns/warp-points)
• recording system – record play-throughs in a textual format with both visual and narrative modes
• backtracking system – player can return tile by tile to reverse the way they recently traveled
• safer mode backtracking system – same as normal backtracking but prevents accidental battles
• plant marker system – used in conjunction with backtracking can mark splits in paths
• optional alert soundscape – additional sounds for easy to miss dangers or points of interest
• optional immersive soundscape – additional sounds for greater immersion when traveling
• custom colors – terminal colors may be altered via script files (does not apply to graphical mode)
• level playing field – night/weather effects mean much of the game involves a limited field of view

GENERAL PACING & DIFFICULTY

• not a monolith executable – modular project structure should make modification tasks easier
• non-linear play – the player may choose their own objectives to work toward
• built-in accomplishment system – provides some guidance to those who need it
• instant travel system – visited towns and markers can be warped to (possibly at cost)
• limited random encounters – players can even set safer engagements to reduce accidental battles
• IDLE system can be toggled – the game can optionally be played as a true turn-based experience
• ward system – some of the game’s difficulty is dynamic based on player actions in-game
• many cheat and difficulty settings – the player is the final say in how hard the game should be
• community support encouraged – strategies and triumphs can be shared via replay files
• relaxing walking sim mode – available for those who need an entirely different experience
• footrace mini-game – because why not?

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DETAILED HARDWARE & SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

Because knowledge is power, or some-such-thing, right?

MINIMAL HARDWARE

• Processor: minimum= Intel Pentium Silver N5030 (for graphical display modes – textual display modes may require less)
• Video Card: minimum= Intel UHD Graphics 605 with 1920 x 1080 display (for graphical display modes - textual display modes may require less)
• Memory: minimum=512MB, recommended=1GB+
• Storage: minimum=1.5GB HDD space, recommended=1.5GB+ SSD space (and ample more if using replay features)

OS SUPPORT

• Windows 10 (64 bit)
• Windows 11 (64 bit)
• Linux Mint MATE (64 bit)
• other operating systems versions/distributions may generally work but are not regularly tested against
• 32 bit systems are not supported

TERMINAL EMULATOR SUPPORT (Windows)

• "CMD.exe" [Windows Console Host] (screen reader users may need to disable some modern “Text Selection” features or use “Legacy” mode)
• “Powershell” is not supported out of the box but may run properly via tweaks

TERMINAL EMULATOR SUPPORT (Linux)

• "MATE Terminal"
• "cool-retro-term"
• "urxvt"
• virtual console (those typically accessed via alt+ctrl+F#) support is limited to ASCII and gray-scale modes
• other terminal emulators may generally work but are not regularly tested against
• certain accessibility features may be best used with specific terminal emulators

KEYBOARD SUPPORT (All Systems)

• QWERTY Keyboard (with functional numpad if relying on accessibility features)

GAMEPAD SUPPORT (Windows)

• "Logitech Gamepad F310"
• "8BitDo Pro 2 Wired Controller"
• unlisted devices may require additional configuration

GAMEPAD SUPPORT (Linux)

• "Logitech Gamepad F310"
• "8BitDo Pro 2 Wired Controller"
• unlisted devices may require additional configuration

MINUTIAE

• Linux version does not support "Battle Animations" system
• Linux version may require additional setup of an external media player in order to play Background Music (BGM)
• Web Browser output modes may require firewall exemptions on certain systems (primarily used for accessibility purposes)
• Linux TTS configuration may require the installation of additional software (primarily used for accessibility purposes)
• Narrative modes will automatically disable IDLE features

BONUSES

• An additional semi-related application is freely available at https://havtraate.itch.io/r-engine