Features


 * VQ is a roguelike, tactical, turn-based, voxel-based, isometric RPG with strong emphasis on emergent gameplay and AI. It also features a sandbox mode for emulating your favorite tabletop games or just tinkering with the world. Lastly, it features a casual mode without permadeath.
 * For now, it will feature synchronous (turn-based) multiplayer - if modders want to attempt realtime multiplayer, they may (full source access available). This multiplayer is mostly intended for running D&D style campaigns with remote friends in sandbox mode.
 * It is loosely inspired by games like Spelunky, Desktop Dungeons, Fallout, the Ultima Series, Dungeon Master, various collectible card games (like Magic the Gathering) and board games (like Settlers of Catan), tactical games like FFT, Tactics Ogre, X-Com, etc.
 * A dynamic, persistent world with few constraints on construction/destruction.
 * A fully functional ecosystem, government, economy, etc.
 * AI / NPCs that can interact and respond with any of the systems in the world, each with their own motivations and behaviors.
 * Emergent stories/plots/quests. The world is a complex set of systems that interacts to create the most convincing interactive storyline possible. No story trees, no prefabricated stories -- everything is created by circumstance.
 * It is fantasy-based (Tolkienesque, like Warcraft or AD&D), nothing very original here. I want players to be immediately familiar with the game's universe.
 * Combat is turn based, for now. Realtime left as exercise for modders.
 * The game will probably be very challenging, but not unfair.
 * In roguelike mode, the game is designed for relatively quick playthroughs: level fast, die fast, no grinding. Seemingly, the best games change your circumstances and push you out of your comfort zone via different permutations of a familiar set of rules (Chess, for example, has very few rules, but each board arrangement is kind of its own mini puzzle, and there are countless permutations for any given game).
 * Every single game mechanic is deterministic - there are no dice rolls or random chance (which makes my company name a bit ironic I guess). I made this choice because I wanted a game in which any scenario was based purely on skill, rather than depending on chance rolls like critical hits. It also makes the AI a bit easier to implement as there is less need for fuzzy logic or probability calculations. The one area that is ruled by random chance is world creation - you might get a world that is generated in your favor or not, but either way there is a deterministic path to cope with whatever you are up against.
 * There is a unified skill and trait system that functions not only across combat but professions, dialogue, and more. This system loosely inspired by common card game mechanics like drawing from a pool of common mini rules to produce new and unique items, stats, etc (think like "Taunt" and "Death Rattle" in Hearthstone).
 * There will be no artificial constraints (although much of the world will be confined to certain abstractions so that the AI can easily process it). The AI can (and will) do everything that you can do, including pursuing artifacts, carrying out quests/tasks, etc.
 * The AI will do more than try to kill you. AI has full emotional profile and temperament, and every character has their own set of motivations. NPCs will lie to you, betray you, fall in love with you, try to steal from you, defend you, and many other things. That might sound like a recipe for an overly-complicated pipe-dream but everything is abstracted in terms that is easy for a computer AI to comprehend (everything functions based on an expert system with a relatively simple core engine).