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Story:
Ever since you were a child you have marveled at the power and intricacy of magic, yet always it has been the plaything
of the Noble Court and the king's engineers. The scarcity of the mana crystals enforced this, as did the fell beasts that
seemed to guard wherever they lay, but still, you have always held out hope of coming into contact with such marvels in your
lifetime.
A year ago, a rumour came to your attention concerning an ancient crater in the far east, the lands of the Outcast, those
who have peacefully defied the king. It was said that mana crystals existed beneath it in greater quantities than have ever
before been seen. It was also said that the ancient formian civilization's heartlands lie beneath that area, and that demons
infest its lower levels, but you choose to ignore such things in your excitement.
Joining a group of adventurers in exchange for a few weeks of grueling and humiliating servitude, you have made your way
to the crater to discover either your fortune, or your doom.
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Features:
2D Liero-style digging, with some above-ground elements and sandbox/survival/base-building gameplay.
Terrain deformable and mineable, with melting points of different materials and other properties. Mine out large chunks
suspended by a small section of rock and then destroy it to drop it on an enemy. Then dig a chute and a brace for a rolling
boulder trap using the same rock.
Huge single-level randomly generated map, with enemies abstracted until the player gets close to them.
Many kinds of enemies, and a few other sages with established bases as powerful rivals. Powerful demons deep within the
earth, a dragon roosting in the center of the crater, voracious worm-beasts tunneling rapidly through flesh and dirt alike,
mana wraiths attracted to high crystal concentrations, hordes of kobolds in subterranian burrows, mechanical guardians of
a buried city, mindflayers controlling armies of monsters and otherwise peaceful creatures alike (and potentially you, if
you don't guard yourself), eyebeasts that explode violently upon being destroyed, etc
Four skills:
Earth Lore (understanding of the properties of crystals and the methods of enchantment, as well as the patterns in which
they are likely to exist underground)
Engineering (knowledge for more technical small-scale construction using crystals),
Survival (cooking/knowledge of what is safe to eat, finding water, and creating more mundane constructions)
Body (damage done by melee, speed of movement, jump height, health, etc.)
Melee combat is a last resort, although it should be fun enough that players will want to attempt it despite the risk.
Mana crystal field/light based magic. Place a raw mana crystal behind a fire crystal lens and it will create heat at its
focal point. Add more lenses and crystals to focus at the same point to increase the heat generated dramatically. Alternatively,
the same can be done with a raw fire crystal behind a mana crystal lens, and the mana in the lens will drain into the focal
point, temporarily imbuing whatever is there with the same characteristics as a crystal. Or raw fire crystals may be lumped
together to form a permanent source of heat, but be careful not to add too many, or they'll melt and burn through the ground.
Types of crystals:
Mana (purple, octagonal, increase the intensity of nearby crystals)
Fire (red, four-sided wavy spikes, give off heat)
Cold (white, ice-like, sap heat)
Earth (orange, faceted domes, gradually deposit a layer of stone around themselves)
Lightning (yellow, tetrahedrons, shock any creature foolish enough to touch them)
Air (cyan, amorphous, give off flammable gas)
Water (blue, amorphous, very slowly create water)
Mind (shifting colors, honeycombed masses, 'visible' through solid stone, often close together with other types of crystals.
Tends to move when you aren't looking)
Life (green, branching, accelerate the growth/healing rate of things in proximity, including earth/water crystals)
Light (any color, any shape, give off light (or potentially shadow))
Void (black, cubic, darkens and cools surroundings, slows healing and growth, blocks/absorbs any and all mana, may explode
if brought into contact with a Mana crystal of greater power)
Raw crystals constantly give off and replenish their own energy, while lenses and other smoothed crystal artifacts must
be activated by energy and drain out at a less sustainable but more explosive rate. "Dead", imperfect crystals exist
within the crater in greater quantities than raw crystals - these have unknown properties until they are smoothed out by the
player and allowed to recharge, so the player is forced to guess about what the crystal type could be unless they are tested
first by being brought into proximity with their own type.
Involved and ritual-based enchantment system to create powerful arcane artifacts with properties more akin to traditional
fantasy, and engineering to exploit the mechanical nature of the magic - a telescope-like innovation to change the focal length
of two crystals, combined with a sheet of mana-absorbing void crystal to shut it on/off, to create a mana-rifle for instance.
Many feature types: Motherlodes for each type of crystal, with corrosponding environments; oil and gas pockets; lava where
fire crystals have accumulated; lairs for powerful creatures; groves of eerie subterranian mushrooms with pools of water containing
strange cannibal amphibians, etc.
Gorgeous lighting system - the glint of a shimmering white crystal in flickering firelight, or the stale glow of the formian
base's modern lighting. Create a cozy burrow lit by a single glowing-hot stone, or an archmage's crystalline dream with varicolored
light crystals mixing their colors and playing over the cavern walls. Close-in feel when relying on fuel-based lighting to
explore the underworld, and artificially sharp lighting punctuated with crack-like extrusions that bleed into areas you shouldn't
be able to see when using a mind crystal to perceive your surroundings.
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