The sound of footsteps echoed across the cobbles of the old stone castle. The old foyer – built over a century ago after the last barbarians fell to the righteous armies of Lord Ethal – was cavernous and empty, aside from the flickering of candles, and the presence of a shrouded figure, slowly making their way towards the door on the far side of the room.

The smell of blood rose to meet them, and yet they did not flinch. They did not shirk from their duty. They were an Inquisitor of Lord Ethal, freshly graduated perhaps, but still far greater in strength and courage than any other kind  of servant in the land.

They pushed the door open – and their eyes widened.

–

I’m resuming development on the game that I wrote about last back in April of 2024. Obviously development of that game stalled, even from a design perspective – I felt that the game was getting away from me, as well as my exhaustion catching up to me. So I put that one to the side, but now I’m trying to get the idea going again.

The core idea remains the same, as do the major players. You play as an Inquisitor for Lord Ethal, ruler of the known world (a large island). As Inquisitor, you have a level of power that makes the average person in the street quiver to see you – but you also have an immense responsibility to protect the realm from Chaos. Madness and disorder lie everywhere, and these are the enemies of a good and noble Inquisitor. As a player plays through the game, they will have to find their morals and their footing – and sometimes ruthlessness will not cut it. When you report to the few individuals that are higher up the chain than you, they could be displeased to find that the confessions you extracted were done by force – which, they know by experience, could mean a very real agent of Chaos has been allowed to escape, to rebel another day. 

However, the scope is reduced. I’m attempting to design the game in a modular fashion around a single building – the castle in Walden, the City of Cathedrals. Outside, a player might get a glimpse of snow covered streets, or hear hail hammering the rooftop, but it is only the castle that a player shall see and experience. This will hopefully allow me to make the environment much more compelling to explore, and allow me to fit in more detail – whatever that detail may look like.

I plan to use this game to build several foundational prototype systems for use and further refinement in later games. The first and most important is a dialogue system that is flexible and responds to player input. I have about seven important characters in the game that you can talk to, and I want that dialogue to have importance and depth, and also not waffle on for hours at a time. The game won’t be long but I hope it will be rich in every respect, allowing a player immersion within a fantasy world from a position of power. You do not play as an outsider, but as a member of the established hierarchy – and it is your decision to maintain that power structure that keeps you in such a privileged spot. 

If you’re reading this, you surely know my obsession with space as well as good writing. I’m yet to decide the ultimate form the castle will take, and what perspective you will play from, but I’ve got a few ideas bubbling around. It really depends whether I want to try my hand at 3D modelling or 2D sprite work, so I’ll probably muddle around in both for a month or so starting in a couple of weeks, trying to decide what will fit the game best.

I’ve had other ideas for games and stories in the setting I’ve made, but I’m not sure that Ethal’s world can sustain the kinds of stories I remain interested in telling in fantasy. There is only one other idea that I’ve been able to come up with that has actually satisfied me – the idea that I switched to briefly last year after Inquisitor started to overwhelm me – and I would still like to try that one too, one day.

I have found writing Ethal’s world an unusual, welcoming challenge (that I made for myself!), in that normally the tensions I set up in fantasy come from clashes between nations, cultures, or religions. Classic “broad scope” fantasy, which is nonetheless driven by important characters who find themselves in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the right time). I adore doomsdays, world-shaking prophecies, or just simple border conflicts between nation states. But through my patterns I have found I have never before written a world where just one nation, one culture, reigns supreme.

Ethal’s world has at least attempted to homogenize the few cultures that did exist, and there are no nations that stand against Ethal any longer. Nor are there any substantive rebel forces that I can concoct that create a satisfying threat. Agents of Chaos in this world are often lone agents, able to wreak havoc with great power afforded to them by vagaries of the universe, and perhaps through them, small bands of rebels form. But as of yet there is no great movement. So the tensions in the world are different. Perhaps Ethal’s time is a time of peace – but it is also a time of subtle authoritarianism, where bandits are the main problem, and politicking comes tinged with growing corruption. I suppose the two games I plan to make are at a tipping point of the world. A player’s decisions then should be fraught and lined with consequences for the future. This is the game I hope to make into reality – a fantasy game without familiar conflicts, or familiar decisions. A game wherein a player must fight for every scrap of information and be cunning in order to uncover the truth. Lofty ideals, perhaps – but this, I hope.

Long live Lord Ethal.

–

“Walk with me.” He began to trail down the hallway, and I followed him. He began to speak, his voice tremulous. “Do you really suspect my son?”

I nodded. “None other.”

“But…” I could see the look in his eyes, the look of a man trying to command dignity and poise, and finding none. He looked exhausted. I imagined he was thinking about cradling a baby in his arms; letting a child dive into a pile of leaves; bathing them; he was a good man. A good father. This I knew. “But it can’t be.” He managed eventually.

“I’ve ordered my troops to seize him.” I said, breaking the news unceremoniously. It was best this way.

He looked at me, face torn with grief. “Please.” He said. “Lord Ethal took one child away from me. You can’t let him take another.”

I turned away from my father and walked down the hall.