Vitality

It is the dawn of civilization: the fight for survival is fierce, resources plentiful, and empires nothing more than begrimed huts on the brink of collapse. The world is your sandbox and you can choose to rise to the top or fall with the weak. Vitality is a game which places you into a fictional world at the dawn of human civilization, faced with the task of guiding your people through the tests of time. Grow your empire from dirt and sticks to prosperity and greatness. No longer are you limited to the axe over your shoulder or the ground beneath your feet; instead, utilize the worlds most powerful resource as you conquer unknown lands and push the boundaries of civilization: people!

A sandbox at its core, Vitality is a game designed to take you on a journey across human history as you progress in skills and knowledge. On top of its open world, interactive-sandbox foundation, the core mechanic of Vitality is the advancement of knowledge through the completion of NPC quests, world exploration, and the fulfillment of skill progression trees. In Vitality, you will explore four distinct ages through the guidance of a loosely structured narrativeeach providing a unique thematic focus and gameplay objective. Grounded in its atmosphere, Vitality features many familiar mechanics popular to the sandbox genreeach tailored specifically to ensure a unique, fulfilling, and enjoyable experience.

Gameplay Synopsis & Core Mechanics:

Vitality Age Progression

Vitality features four distinct ages, or eras, designed to reflect the pivotal moments in our real historical growth as a civilization. Each age is built upon the progression of the previous, with each featuring distinct gameplay focuses and thematic objectives. Behaving similar to chapters of an overarching narrative, the different ages are designed to guide the player in discovering gameplay mechanics, encountering unique situations, and experiencing an evolving and dynamic world.


Stone Age The Stone Age is the first age you will encounter as you begin your journey in Vitality. Rough, tough, and unforgiving, the Stone Age is designed to depict our earliest struggles as an emergent hunter-gatherer species. With some creative liberties takensuch as the inclusion of dinosaurs and other prehistoric beaststhe Stone Age is designed to test ones abilities to survive. As such, the Stone Age introduces you to the beginnings of the NPC quest and posse systems, the Vitality health & survival meter, and many other supplementary survival-based mechanics such as an interactive temperature system, weather, and unique world events.

Tribal Age As the Stone Age ends, you will transition into the Tribal Age. With advancing technology and the discovery of agriculture, the beginnings of civilizations start to emerge as permanent settlements rise up. The Tribal Age expands the extent of the NPC quest and posse systems, introducing several new mechanics that will allow you more in-depth management of various NPC relations. Moreover, with the emergence of tribes, conflict inevitably follows. Be prepared to manage the favor of your friends and foes!

Medieval Age Given time, the small tribes of the past expand and conquer, spreading their influence throughout the region. With growing numbers, advancing technology, and a thirst for power, empires form and castles scatter the lands. The Medieval Age throws you into an era of royaltyone split by the dynamics of wealth and poverty. Introducing several new building and crafting opportunities, the expansion of settlement politics, and several new item processing modes allowing capabilities such as in-depth cooking and metallurgy, the Medieval Age truly is a time of knights and squires!

Industrial Age Medieval Age technology cannot support the growth of civilization indefinitely, however. As such, it was necessary to invent new ways to create and automate. The Industrial Age puts you in a time of rapid technological advancementthematically designed with a steampunk-esque style in mind. Introducing you to the two new Electricity and Mechanisms mechanics, you will be able to create complex machinery and item processing mechanisms. How far can you take these new modes of automation?

Advanced NPC Mechanics

Quests NPC quests are a pillar of Vitalitys core gameplay. Designed to loosely guide you through a structured narrative, as well as a way to obtain new goods, increase NPC favor, and discover new gameplay mechanics, NPC quests were created to be both expansive and interesting.

Favor Your relation with NPCs is not guaranteed. Instead, their interactions with you are based on a favor value. You can increase NPC favor by completing their quests, supporting the village, or saving their lives. Whilst low favor NPCs will attack you and your tribe if provoked, high favor NPCs offer many perks!

Posse System Outside of quests, NPCs can be useful assets to aid you in your ambitions and adventuresif you can earn it, that is. With high enough favor, you can recruit NPCs to join your party. Whilst in your party, NPCs will follow you around the world, each providing special abilities, benefits, and behaviors based on their specializations. For instance, recruiting hunter NPCs will aid you in exploring untamed wilds, miner NPCs will mine ores with you as you explore complex cave systems, and healers can attempt to revive you if you meet an unfortunate fate. The NPC Posse system is powered by a robust, advanced NPC AI pathfinding architecture we created to ensure that NPCs can always keep up!

Building, Crafting, & Knowledge

Building & Crafting Vitality features standard building & crafting mechanics typical of the genre. Blocks, items, furniture, and utility objects can be collected and crafted as you explore and advance in the game. To expand on building capabilities, Vitality features a micro block Block placement system, allowing you to turn any place-able block or material into different sub-shapes, such as stairs, slabs, slopes, and corners.

Recipe Books Crafting recipes (in the main Story Mode) are segregated through a collection of recipe books that you will acquire as you play the game. Obtained through exploration, quest rewards, and skill tree fulfillment, recipe books create an intuitive way to expand your crafting knowledge and capabilities. Along with providing the ability to craft new sets of items, recipe books also provide comprehensive information about each recipe it contains, allowing quick reference to general item information, uses, and how they can be obtained.

Story & Collection Books Alongside recipe books, Vitality will have a host of story and collectible books that you can discover throughout your playthroughs. These books will contain funny short stories, lore, and general anecdotes to entertain you in your journeys!

Multiplayer

Vitality also features an online multiplayer co-op mode, fully compatible with the main story as described above. Vitality's multiplayer mode is optimized to be be played between groups of friends sized 2-8.

Release Information

Vitality is currently on track for a Q4/Winter 2020 full release. We will post more information about the specific date as we move closer towards completion. Vitality will not be released as an Early Access title.

Community & Contact

If you want to follow the development of the game more closely, or chat with us about the project, join our Discord Server!