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Black Sands: Legends of Kemet [Mythology/Scifi] Major Update


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Genre:Adventure, Investigative, Management, and psychological Visual Novel
 
Platforms:PC, Mac, Linux, PS4
 
Languages:English (Fully Voiced), English (Text)
 
Visual Style: DreamWorks style graphics mixed with dark and mythological themes.
 
Progress:~20% of the game completed. (20 hour game)
 
Estimated release:~Summer 2017
 
“Whether friend or tyrant, I will become a King!"
 
Welcome to the Rift, a dimensional tear located in Canaan where the ancient gods were created and where you must prove your worthiness to lead the world of men. You have allies and the training needed to fight, but nothing will prepare you for the wonders and horrors of the unstable plains in the Rift.
 
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  • Manage Respect, Relationships, and Mental will when making decisions.
  • Assigning team members to missions best suited for them.
  • Discovering weaknesses to epic enemies through investigations.
  • Collecting real world lore and in game lore by discovering hidden items.
  • Unlocking secrets of the past by collecting memory gems.
  • Making timed decisions and avoiding damage in high intensity situations.
  • Leveling up your characters to specialize in unique skills.
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Time
 
In the game, everything will cost time to complete and characters may be away, unable to do a task available. Time is managed by the player and he has 6 months to prepare to face Nun. Special events will happen at certain times such as full moon cycles, changing of season, etc. This will give the player a level of management that makes them feel immersed.
 
Leveling
 
Each character has core stats which helps them succeed in feats. Completing certain missions and training will gain you very limited talent points to specialize your character in lore friendly ways.
 
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Respect
 
You are a leader. You must earn the respect of your soldiers! Decisions you make and the success of those decisions will affect the confidence your allies have in you. If you fail a lot, they will lose confidence and go rogue during critical decisions. You may even lose command. A true Pharaoh never loses command…
 
 
 
Kinship
 
While how successful you are in decision making and your sense in the field affects the way they see you, it does not help one bit on how they think of you as a person. In order to get on their good side, you must appeal to their innate personalities. One cannot please everyone so make your choices wisely. It is worth noting that Kinship affects how allies act when not around you or when not commanded.
 
 
Stability
 
You are the strongest. Unfortunately, you are also the most flawed… You have an issue with Dementia and you must suppress these voices throughout your time in the Rift. The tradeoff is considerable though because when you were young, and you let the voices run wild, you could do things others could only dream of. In these dark days, will you allow your mind to slip in order to wield more power or will you avoid such pleasures and rely on knowledge of self?
 
 
The rift has stood for thousands of years, since the day Nun arrived from the planet Nibiru. Located in the barren lands of Canaan, this void was created to keep the outside world uncontaminated while Nun worked on his creations. He spent centuries studying the humans and when he figured out this world, he created ancients similar to the life found on his home planet. They warred with each other inside the Rift until only 3 families remained. When they left the Rift, Nun used a stability gem to alter reality and hide the incomprehensible damage done. But now, thousands of years since the great sundering, Nun has created another race of beings to combat his creations from ions past. In order for them to prove themselves, they must survive the Rift, as it were during the time of the ancients. Stability is no more! Can the mortals survive the Trials of the Rift?
 
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There are many different types of quests in Black Sands. We will briefly go through some of them to better understand the gameplay mechanics involved in each. In Black Sands, time, health, and deployment all work against you as you stride to prepare yourself for the final battle with Nun.
 
Scouting - designed to seek new quests exclusively. Minimal danger
 
Investigation - A quest that requires discipline and perception. Player must decipher material and decide what is important and not. Proper investigation rewards secrets.
 
Tracking - This is an extremely heavy skill check category that requires quick decision making and a little luck. These missions are available only once before they go back into the quest pool.
 
Social - This is a quest where you develop relationships with the other characters and learn more about them.
 
Instant Events - Automatically happen when certain criteria are met. May have nothing to do with prior tasks.
 
Group Events - The entire group must participate. Nun will go over your notes and inspect your facility whenever this happens.
 
Epic Events - Storyline Events that are either triggered by actions or chose by the player. These tend to have more decision making then other events.
 
Exploration - A quest designed to explore unknown locations. These quests have no prior knowledge so player must use their wits to move forward. The farther you get, the better the rewards. These missions can be ended at any time but there is no guarantee you can return.
 
 
This game is directly inspired by Dragon Age and Telltale. Their strong narratives and crucial game changing decisions inspired me to design a visual novel unlike any before it.
 
Additional motivation was found in the way Hollywood depicts middle eastern and Saharan people. We do a lot of research and use annotations in game to teach the actual history behind the fantasy of our world.
 
Future
 
We will be converting all sprites to Live2d and making them look a bit more realistic and 20x more brutal. The goal is to make this like Conan while having the art leveling of pixar, dreamworks.
 
 
How can I help?
 
Follow us on facebook, Cosplay our characters, Share the hell out of this, and Pay homage to the gods by buying some of our merchandise.
 
Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter and remember, Nun sees all.
 
We have these posters and more. You can support us while getting something tangible that will uplift both you and your families.
 
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When do you think we'll have a demo?  Progress seems to be coming nicely, concept-wise it's certainly unique, that said we don't have much to base the writing quality off of, or at the very least something to give feedback off so the final product is stronger.  Is it somewhere on the priority list or are there other things to be taken care of first?

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I am currently working on a very short demo that is the beginning of a combat scene. It is the anticipation + beginning of a chase sequence. I should have it ready in a week BUT I don't have alternative expressions for the main characters due to losing my original artist. We will most likely have to redo them at a later date.

There is also a much larger demo I might release depending on my secondary artist's progress. It would be roughly 20 minutes and cover some character development and power awakenings.

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news scenes coming by the end of the week. here is a preview

 

 

In the meantime, here is an interview with the developer.

 

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO CREATE BLACK SANDS?

I have long been the center of every conversation regarding history and mythology. Since I was a young boy my obsession with mythology has always been overbearing. I watch for years Hollywood butcher myth after myth trying to put a modern spin on things without making much sense at all. This is why I started writing Black Sands.

I developed my story the last three years. First I wrote of Horus but decided I should start chronologically with Rah, the Dark Pharaoh. There were many holes and similarities shared in ancient mythologies that I thought needed to be addressed and Black Sands is how I decided to do it.

 

WHY CHOOSE TO MAKE IT A VISUAL NOVEL?

I am a big believer in character development. Budget constraints and unpopular ideas make visual novels a more appealing median. It’s hard to pitch “Black and Middle Eastern ethnic gods create empires which to this day, shape our world.”

 

Hollywood always wants to recreate your story to their likings and I would not allow it. With the Visual Novel genre I have freedom to fully develop the characters and make villains heroes in the right situation. Take for instance the main character of this saga Rah. He is an alien hybrid who resembles a light skinned man with an obsession for Onyx that fights with absolute brutality and suffers from dementia. Good luck fleshing that out in another median.

 

WHAT MAKES BLACK SANDS UNIQUE COMPARED TO OTHER VNs?

To not sound too cliché, it is basically like game of thrones. The Origins chapter allows players to connect with the major characters in the world before they attempt to conquer it but once they leave the rift, there are many event going on around the world that are told in the story at the same time. Much like in a game of thrones episode, we jump from place to place to watch characters do their own thing.

Additionally, we use q specific set of rules that govern our world so we can make as much sense as possible while incorporating the many and various mythologies of the third millennium BCE.

·         A God (Alien) must not kill humans directly.

·         A God must never lay with a human.

·         A Fallen God must never interfere with the living world.

 

How we enforce these laws is fun. First, if an ancient god (pure blood aliens) kills a human directly, they lose some of their power. Ancients are immortal but are also elementals so they rely heavily on their reserve power. Hybrids are not as fortunate. They were created with the intention of defeating the Ancients while building empires for humanity. So if they directly kill humans, their lives are literally shortened. Since hybrids are more human than alien, they are mortal.

The second rule is not necessarily enforced, but it is a cautionary rule. The Titans broke this law and created Nephilim. The Nephilim we know of re the giants in Canaan. They raped and enslaved all the women in Canaan while killing every man they could find. This all happened because of foolish desires.

The third rule applies to hybrid gods. They are mortal but when they die, they do not go to dust. Instead, their soul stays as a guardian spirit. These guardians are forbidden to interfere with the mortal world but can still interact with other hybrids as advisors or protectors.

 

There are also 6 major species in the world.

·         Ancients – Aliens that share the same extreme power and longevity that Nun the watcher has.

·         Humans – Tribal societies scattered across the earth with organizational skills uncommon in alien culture.

·         Nephilim – Human/Ancient hybrids with incredible power and human like reproduction qualities.

·         Alien Beasts – Creatures that roam the alien home planet but are recreated here by the ancients.

·         Beasts –Earth formed animals that are commonly found here but can have useful talents.

·         Hybrids – Mortal gods that create empires and lead the forces of man against the tyranny of the Ancients.

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December Update Full Production begins Monday December 7th. What we plan to do in order is make the Rah and Nun sprites, Nun's Facility BG, Impossible Challenge CG, World Map, and the implementation of the first section of the demo/game. 

We also will be simultaneously adding an encyclopedia in game as well as Rah's personal Journal which updates with every decision you make, creating your own personal story which is unique from other players.
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