AN EXTINGUISHED STAR
A WORLD IN PERIL

You are Seraph; a powerful immaterial entity at the service of the Cosmos, responsible for monitoring the balance of celestial bodies. The sudden extinction of a star's light forces you to leave your waking hours and come explore an endangered material plane: Klimt's Lands.

A DEEP DIVE THROUGH...
DAGGERKLIMT

Freely inspired by the work of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, "Klimt's Lands" are designed as a living canvas that it is up to you to explore. Discover this astonishing mix between the echo of the master's creations and a fantasy atmosphere, inspired by the Italian Renaissance, and which especially integrates elements of Sardinian culture. Like for example the gigantic nuraghe, which will serve as your base of operations.

The ambition is to offer you a detailed and lively world, flirting between the dreamlike and the cardboard.

The ambition, always, is to simulate a fantasy world evolving over 30 days. Without a main quest, the action will take place through the lives of the characters. Each and every one of them will follow their own purpose in this clockwork universe, and it will be up to you to observe, hinder or help them as you investigate the mystery of the Star. Four large cities with different characters are planned.

And in the surrounding countries, you will have your share of intrigues, hamlets, madmen, lost forests,

of magical cities buried in floating water lilies and mist.

Alas, despite their beauty, the Lands of Klimt are currently devastated by war. A civil war.

Following the sudden death of the Popess - the woman who ruled the mercantile theocracy - a conflict broke out between the supporters of the Pope and those of the Hermit, each claiming to be the rightful heir to the temporal and spiritual order. The Pope had been chosen by the Popess, and this seemed to establish his authority, but the Hermit now accuses the Pope of perversion and corruption, and indirectly of having assassinated the Popess.

The two camps clash more and more violently, including over possession of his remains.

The ancient holy city has become a killing field.

In the meantime, no one seems to have noticed the disappearance of the big Star in the sky...

But could it be that all these events, celestial and terrestrial, are connected?

Only your investigation will give us the answer.

EXPLORE. INVESTIGATE.
CHOOSE.

The missing Star was not only a star, but a living and conscious force. The soul of the planet.

One that protects the integrity and life experiences of its inhabitants.

This is why it is vital for the Lands of Klimt and other peoples to find the link with this missing goddess, otherwise they risk being swallowed up by all kinds of hungry creatures. It's your job.

In your quest, you will initially only be able to count on yourself. Your transcendental powers will be reduced to nothing as soon as you touch the sacred water of the Lands, because of the absence of the Star.

By no longer being either spirit or flesh, you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation: too dense to pass through walls or to fly through the air, but too light to be visible or to grasp an object;

you will therefore have to spend energy from your Breathto accomplish simple physical tasks, childish for an incarnated being. Open a door, lift a crate, consume food, light a torch, etc.

In return, through your nature as Seraph (although diminished), it will be possible for you to read the minds of characters and animals, to fall from all heights without hurting yourself, and to avoid mortal dangers for humans. , and finally to influence all living beings throughseeds of emotions ; whether in order to help them evolve or with the aim of profiting from their actions, by pushing them to commit this or that act.

All living beings do not have the same perceptions. If your immateriality weighs on you during the adventure, it will also be possible to form links with the few inhabitants of the Lands of Klimt capable of seeing superior spirits. If you can gain their trust, they will let you use their bodies so that you can walk around the world with greater ease, and take advantage of their unique skills (such as swordsmanship, increased physical strength). , knowledge of alchemy, thief skills, etc...).

That said, be careful!

You will act on their behalf. You will be responsible for their reputation and their lives. Death is not reversible for incarnates. If you kill your avatar, you will revert to your Seraph form, but he will remain dead, and the rest of the world will react accordingly.

EROS vs AGAPÉ
IMMERSIVE SIM AND WALKING SIM
THE INSPIRATIONS

This whole section of gameplay, mentioned above, finds its source in the cinema, and draws in particular

In Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders, as well as in the Ghost by Jerry Zucker.

Furthermore, Wenders' masterpiece was central to the thematic design of the project.

The humanization of the angel, of the benevolent but detached watchman, suddenly transformed by the human desire for love, is a fascinating subject which lends itself well to meta-ludic interactions around the notion of avatar.

Because if the player embodies an "angelic", "ghostly" or even "divine" being, there is precisely an interesting tension around the word: "incarnate". The player is a human, whose ego is necessarily present and shines through in all his actions, including his leisure activities (= playing a video game). We often believe we are neutral, while at any moment we make a series of small choices, which arise directly from our needs, our desires and our personality. One of the great pleasures of video games is simulating an experience within the confines of a canvas; and the more choices we can make within this web, the more we can experiment. And if on top of that the game validates our experiences, we feel more and more satisfied, and we feel grateful towards the game which respected us as egos with a will.

Daggerklimt will explore these aspects implicitly.

To what extent will your Seraph be humanized?

To what extent will you intervene in the lives of NPCs?

Will you be more comfortable in the shoes of a spirit than in the shoes of an avatar?

Will you manage to stay in the "role play",

Or will you break the “role” to recreate your own?

In short,

In short;

What will you express?

And to conclude, a word on playful references!

Daggerklimt is inspired (as its name - still a working title - may have suggested to you) very distantly from

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. At least when it comes to retro aesthetics. A 3D world with characters, and certain decorative elements, represented in 2D. This mix makes it possible to design a vast game world, at relatively high speed, even for a team of one person.

That said, the inspiration sought fromThe Elder Scrollscomes especially from the third episode, the belovedMorrowind. A vast, compact but dense island, with marked and striking interior regions, a depth of universe that we feel behind each building, each book, each fork that we can pocket in our inventory and pass on to the local merchant. Daggerklimt is eyeing the giant mushrooms of Morrowind: it's a fact and it's said!

But in truth Daggerklimt will not be an RPG. Here little or no combat, no stats, no levels or inventories to optimize. You could say it's Morrowind just for the ride, just for the change of scenery. Horror: it would therefore be..."AN WALKING SIM???"

Hey yes... and no.

No. Daggerklimt is above all an adventure game; an exploration game focused on the intelligence and intuition of the player. The heart of the gameplay will be inspired as much as possible by the Immersive Sims, those of the great era:Thief, ofDeus Ex, ofDishonored, ofSystem Shock. And a little from the series Hitman also.

Unfortunately, given the technical limitations of the software and the - er - frankly small team of the project, it would be premature to say that it will be possible to keep such a promise, filled with illustrious names. Hence the possibility that the final product is closer to a simple "walking simulator" than to a "real video GAME";

Nevertheless, the attempt will be made. And the emphasis will be placed on great freedom of action offered to players.

The design will be based on an environment simulation, which gamers will then have the leisure to manipulate as they wish through a range of actions (admittedly limited) but which will have the merit of existing. The keystone of the experience will always be to solicit the creativity of the players, to give them a way to understand the rules of the virtual world around them, so that they can move forward by employing the logic of these rules as they wish.