Describe your ideal indie occult game.

[SkullTraill]

Let's imagine that some small indie game dev studio (around 10 employees) contacts you and says they will build your ideal game for free. Keeping in mind that this is an indie studio (so no MMORPGs, huge 3D handcrafted open worlds, or highly polished AAA realistic graphics and cutscenes), what kind of game would you ask for?

What type would it be? Combat (Grim Dawn, Noita)? Turn based? Card game (like Hearthstone or Pokemon Go)? Town management (Stardew Valley)? World building?

If combat, would it be 2D, 3D? First person? Third person?

Would there be a story? Or be purely multiplayer? Will there be any co-op elements?

What interesting mechanics would you have? Drawing spells to cast them? Crafting?

Be as detailed as you can. Perhaps an indie studio will come across this thread and bring your idea to life!

 

[KjEno186]

As a fan of Telltale games, a "choices matter" story is appealing to me. Cartoon style graphics are fine. Consider how good games like The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead look, for example.

The go-to ideas for occult seem to be in the horror genre, but I think a story demonstrating magical practice in a 'real life' situation would be interesting. It doesn't have to involve typical fantasy elements, and it would definitely avoid 'Harry Potter' notions of magic.

Situations arise, and the protagonist can deal with them in the materialist-realist sense or decide to try out rituals with the end goal(s) in mind. The choice of goals could be part of the story progression with branching outcomes based on what the player chooses. The items found in game and people that one meets make a difference as well. As in life, triggering events in the game would make the player deal with what has already been found up to that point, so choices going forward might not turn out for the best. Concepts like luck and synchronicity could surprise the protagonist, but spirit manifestation should be kept to an absolute minimum, perhaps occurring in a very specific set of ritual circumstances that the player wouldn't discover easily.

 

[Amadeus]

Can anybody remember these? Ages ago. I was maybe 7 when I first saw these.

Ancients 1: Death Watch, Ancients II: Approaching Evil, these were some games I played on a dos 486 PC. This was 2d, yes you could walk around but all you saw were images, repeating patterns. Then images of doors, windows, characters who spoke a few lines. It created an illusion of moving around. 4-5 sets of images similar walls/textures, next area, different building, door, whatever.
I'd do something similar. Plan number 1.

In ancients:
You had some freedom to walk around in a basic town, there were random fights, even in town. All fights were turn based. Then you had to go into the sewers, basic maze with 3-4 floors. Randomly while walking down there you ran into fights. After going through the final door you got teleported back in town with your loot and experience. Each time the maze completion awarded more xp, new skills, increased damage. There was a basic general store where you could sell the loot, even a casino with 4 sections roulette, 4 colors.

Game began with character creation, 4 of them, I can't remember everything but there were mages, priests, warriors, each came with some abilities. You could do 4 of the same. There were maybe 30-40 different images to choose from. There were items, you could give them shields, swords, staffs, bows, slingshot (?), everything was very basic.

In 2026 I'm sure a team of 10 could make a better version of something similar. Much more advanced.
Create characters, mage/warrior/priest/rogue/??? more/ choose yourself. Some storyline. Add areas, sewers, forests, maybe a castle?, objectives, goals. Keep it 2d, turn based in fights. Instead of repeating the same sewer thing, add more to the story. Allow basic customization. Simple inventory like in the ancients games. Some bigger fights, a mystery to solve. Maybe gather 4 special stones to open the final door, unlock the final area, fights.

An old-school style adventure game. With some freedom to explore the areas.

Thinking of 2026, I can imagine somebody creating the game, then adding something nobody wants in there. "Your characters are tired, watch this ad or use 10 energy gems", "you're out of gems, would you like to buy 100 for 9.99? Hurry up, just 4.99 if you buy them in the next 30 minutes!"