Onamel
Character and Game Design
Concept & Situation Summary
Mysteries await to be solved where adventure exists on a faraway land called Onamel. This RPG is based in a fantasy world full of beasts and magic. It is a free-to-roam game with basic battling mechanisms. The main focus is on the plot and gathering key items to complete quests and tasks.
There exists three kingdoms and a total of three main species that share the same level of intellect. The three kingdoms each have their own ruler or king. Humans, ethereals, and beasts are the three species that inhabit Onamel. Humans and ethereals can use magic, but not all humans have the ability. Although beasts can not use magic, they have immense strength and are a very large species. In this timeline, tension between ethereals and humans has been growing by the day which has put strain on the trust between these two races in almost all communities. Two out of three kingdoms are already on the verge of a war, but there has not been a spark just yet. This issue has not gotten out of hand yet, for those who live in small villages and towns do not notice too much of a change in communal life.
The three kings have planned to negotiate with each other, but they are too busy with looking after their own people. Because of this negligence, without their knowing, there seems to be another power working against them all.
Character Design
Amelie Dewide – main character
A child of endless curiosity. Amelie has a rash nature and an extremely great affinity for magic. The Dewide family is known for housing strong magic wielders, and Amelie has to prove her abilities as a Dewide in order to succeed her grandfather who is the current family head. Due to her apathetic behaviour towards others and lack of leadership skills, most do not think well of Amelie once they see how incapable she is compared to her siblings. After conjuring up one too many of her elaborate pranks, Amelie is banished and forced to embark on a certain quest to reclaim her position as the next Dewide heir.
Almost immediately, Amelie unintentionally causes mishaps wherever she goes—creating trouble for anyone who approaches her. To her dismay, problems continuously pile up on herself and her personal servant, Dime. Mishap after mishap after mishap. Eventually rumours develop among townsfolk and Amelie earns a name for herself: The Mime, who is notorious for their ability to discreetly wipe out anything in their way. Around the same time, people are going missing around the next town over. Yan Younghelm learns of the rumours and sets out to eradicate The Mime.
Amelie’s design was originally going to be a younger character, but making her older emphasizes her irrational and childish personality.
Yan Youngelm – main character
A young man with few needs, and a son of a shepherd and a milkmaid. Yan is the second eldest son of four, and life is simple in their small village. Yan appears hardheaded because he tries to act mature for his age, but his family believes he is a kind, bashful boy with a bold nature. Yan enjoys his day-to-day activities of looking after his family, helping out his parents with miscellaneous tasks, and chatting with the locals.
Peace is disrupted when villagers begin to go missing by the outskirts of the village. One night Yan’s younger brother, Clovis, disappears. The village chief takes action to ensure the safety of the people by training all the young men to fight and to defend their families. Shortly after, a search party consisting of several men, including Yan’s father, Duncan, is formed. The party is sent out to find the missing persons. Only half of the party returns. Although shaken, the few who returned seem to be unharmed, but confused. Yan is relieved his father made it back.
A few days later Yan notices the eldest son, Mika, sneaking out of the house at night on several occasions. This suspicious behaviour triggers Yan to tail his brother. Mika appears to have just taken a night stroll. As they both return home, the village is completely deserted without any sign of life. Horrified Yan, still trailing behind Mika, witnesses his brother conversing with a someone. Yan overhears the dark figure cloaked by shadows mutter out, “The Mime,” as they deal a finishing blow to end Mika. In his last efforts, Mika signals for Yan to flee. Shocked that Mika knew he was there, Yan could tell his brother was serious, so he fled. Without having anywhere to go, Yan was desperate to find his remaining family, Clovis. Yan became extremely determined and decided to solve the disappearance of the villagers and to avenge his family.
Dime – side character
Servant belonging to the Dewide family. Dime is a very able sidekick and has been the personal servant of Amelie Dewide since she was a very young girl. Dime’s whole life revolves around caring for Amelie and they would do almost anything for her. To Amelie, Dime is an older sibling figure who is very caring, clever, and a little too naive.
This character is a Primal Beast which are more closely related to normal animals in the wild than a full fledged beast. Primal Beasts possess the physical abilities of beasts and the magical abilities of Ethereals. They commonly have two physical forms to shift back and forth from to optimize one strength. The drawback to having these abilities is they require an immense amount of energy to function in their advanced form. Primal Beasts revert back into primal-form to recover and conserve energy. Magic users can channel energy to their personal servants to maximize their abilities.
Ideas for primal-form Dime. These are simple and lanky.
Machinery Puzzle
This puzzle is solved in dungeons before fighting the boss to reveal the true fear of whichever king is being held captive in the dungeon. Each of the kings of the three kingdoms in Onamel can be saved once the boss that guards their dungeon is defeated. In all three dungeons, the user’s party will need to unlock the boss room first by solving a puzzle. To do this the user must first collect three crystals found in the dungeon which serve the purpose of keys. These can be obtained through the minibosses that can also be found in the dungeon. The main purpose of the puzzle is to reveal a an extremely relevant piece of information to the player about the plot. This puzzle is reusable at all dungeons in the game and it mainly opens doors that lead to impending danger.
The theme of the dungeons are influenced by the fears of whichever king is a hostage at that specific dungeon. The strongest mobs and beasts will be a hint to what the ruler’s true fear is. By the time the player reaches the puzzle, they should have a good idea of what it is. The mosaic behind the pillar must be solved first by answering questions about the hostage king. Hints will be given throughout the game and will be stored in a journal kept by the player. If the player answers incorrectly to any of the questions, the boss fight will become a notch more difficult. Although there will also be a higher chance of rarer items being dropped by the boss.
Environment Sketches and Inspiration
The homestead is the area that the user will return back to when handling various tasks. Such as crafting, farming, cooking, checking mail, and resting. The overall feeling for the atmosphere is supposed to be peaceful, comfortable, and homely.
