Archolyte
This page has all the basic info about MTC's next game Archolyte and other stuff that's fun to know about it.
Table of Contents
Basic Stuff
Elevator Pitch
The Name
Story
Gameplay
Humor
Sex
Music
Graphics
MTC Universe Lore
Skinks
The Tanuki Brothers
Returning Characters
Slaves
Obtaining Slaves
Dream List
Tools and Libraries Used
The Influence of The Bible
Basic stuff
Platform: PC, available here and probably itch.io
Players: 1
Genre: RPG
Subgenres: turn-based, dungeon-crawler, monster collection, tactics
Current development phase: Preproduction
Estimated development time: Years probably
Elevator Pitch
Archolyte is a dungeon-delving turn-based RPG with enemy-enslaving mechanics.
- Conquer the land in the name of your master
- Enslave girls and fuck them, from elven archers to creepy spider girls
- Build your own castle, summon demons, and make friends with psychopaths
About the Name
Archolyte comes from arch + acolyte, the highest rank you can attain in-game. It is pronounced with a k sound like archangel, so "ark-o-lite".
Story
A new kingdom is rising. The Demon King Ziegfried Van Agren has been charged by his grandfather Satan to conquer the land.
You play as Manny, one of the thirteen acolytes summoned to help him. Manny's life wasn't going so well before the summons. He was broke, fired from his job, broken up with his girlfriend, and about to be kicked out of his apartment.
The story is very much a power fantasy. Through his exploits on the dark side, Manny will amass riches, build his own castle, and enslave a harem of any and all girls he could possibly ever want--and more. If he serves well enough he may even have his own parcel of land to rule over as he sees fit.
However, it won't be so easy. Nearby kingdoms and forces of good won't sit idly by as a supposed Demon King gains power.
Gameplay
Gameplay consists of three major parts: socializing, dungeon diving, and battling.
Socializing: Explore towns and talk with friends and townsfolk to get quests, shop, and more.
Dungeon Diving: Dungeons are multi-floor mazes filled with treasure and monsters. Find your way to the bottom to complete the dungeon.
Battling: Fight with Manny and a team of up to three slaves against the forces of... well, everything.
-Battles are turn-based and use a speed-action-point system. Faster fighters get more turns than slower ones.
-The field is a 10x10 grid. Fighters may move and use skills on the same turn.
-Battling is where the majority of enslaving happens. Manny can attempt to enslave any enemy he encounters.
You can also occasionally team up with other skinks or guest party members. When you have an ally, you will both be limited to two slaves, giving you a total of six party members.
Humor
There will be a lot of shocking and dark humor. Think Zeran's Folly but more extreme but not overdone. I want things to get a little stupid again.
Sex
While not a porn game, sex will be a core theme. Manny is sexually frustrated by his previous life and wants to fuck everything female he sees (mostly). Manny can and should sleep with any female slave he wants between dungeon dives. Sex gives a temporary bonus that varies by girl and if Manny goes too long without it he'll start to get disadvantaged in battle until he gets it again. If Manny sleeps with the same girl too many times in a row he'll get bored of her and not get her buff again until he breaks the monotony with someone else.
Music
The music will be similar to previous MTC games with synth and rock influences. Since you're playing the bad guys there will be a lot more metal. "I want Archolyte to be like a playable metal album."
Common instruments will be making a return too. In Zeran's Folly, some instruments were common in a lot of the tracks or associated with different themes. For example, the cello was common in a lot of tracks and the "New Age" pad was used in the "magical" tracks like Aexolix and the Manastery. I want Archolyte to have a "sound" to it.
Graphics
The game will have pixel graphics and a 640x360 base resolution.
Why pixel art? I'm sick of vector graphics because it's time-consuming. Adding lots of detail to vector art takes a lot longer because after drawing some lines I have to clean them up. Multiply that by dozens of lines and it becomes a boring nightmare. Whereas with pixel art, I can just change a few pixels and bam, more detail fast. I also haven't done any games in pixel art in 20 years so this will be interesting.
The view will be isometric. This way, I only have to make two sets of sprites per character (facing toward and away from the screen) versus three (up, down, left/right) for top-down. I also tried making scenes in both top-down and isometric and the isometric ones just looked better.
The interface has several presets to choose from and there's even a customizer to pick font, frame, and colors.
MTC Universe Lore
Archolyte takes place one year after Johnny Lionface.
Ziegfried Van Agren returns from Leowald along with many other familiar faces (some of which Manny enslaves!).
The game takes place in the Middlelands, east of Leowald Kingdom and northeast of the Tenforks area.
The Middlelands are a new area for the games. They were mentioned by the monsters in Kirkeby in Johnny Lionface. They are separated from the other kingdoms by a gorge.
The Skinks
Thirteen skink acolytes are summoned to help Ziegfried raise an army and conquer the land. Skinks are lizards with stubby limbs. In-universe, skinks are known to be very religious and fervent proselytizers.
Manny: A cook from a small town. Despite his lust and dark affinity, Manny has a good heart.
Victor: A veteran guard captain from a castle town. Victor has no time for nonsense and is quick to action.
Kai: A maniac from swamps unknown. Kai is as dangerous as he is unpredictable.
Todd: A big beefy retard who tries hard despite his handicap.
Lorne: A hidden blade for hire, Lorne is no stranger to secrecy or assassinations.
Gomez: A crime lord who escaped a bad situation to join Ziegfried. He wears platform shoes because he's sensitive about his height.
Frazz: A tenured professor with a love for exploring the unethical side of science.
Pinny: A dominatrix who loves her work. Pinny loves nothing more than making men submit to her.
Bonnie: An empty-headed slut whose positive attitude brightens any room she's in.
Cleo: A mystic who deals in fortune telling and scrying. Her male customers are just there to look at her chest.
Silva: An unmarried daughter of a noble. Silva comes from a rich family and lets everyone know it.
Josie: As easygoing as the day is long, Josie can be summed up in one word: cool. Does not deal well with people who aren't.
Dina: Shy and meek, it almost seems like she doesn't belong.
The Tanuki Brothers
There is a sliding tile puzzle minigame. Arrange a 4x4 grid of picture tiles in order to solve the puzzle and see the full picture.
At first there will only be regular pictures available--things like characters, scenery, stuff like that.
The Tanuki Brothers Ecchi and Hentai will sell you more pictures for your puzzle. As their names imply, Ecchi sells lewd art (such as girls in their underwear) while Hentai sells outright porn. You can find them in one of the explorable towns.
Returning Characters
There will be many returning characters from previous MTC games. Some of these are potential.
Leowald:
Ziegfried Van Agren: Ziegfried's quest provides the basis for the game. Ziegfried's lineage is a mix of vampire, demon, elf, dorf, and naryaat. He is a very powerful sorcerer for his age and experience due to his demonic blood.
Felicia: Ziegfried's half-sister and an adventurer.
Darcy and Terrance: Bunny twins who specialize in fire and ice magic respectively.
Elizabeth and Badge: A huntress and her badger pet.
Billy: An ex-paladin of the White Angel Order.
Kame: A bumbling adventurer who tries his hardest.
Zeran's Folly:
Penelope Van Agren: Ziegfried's mother and a powerful witch.
Lone: Ziegfried's father and an adventurer.
Ogg'sean: A wandering necromancer.
Johnny Lionface:
King Johnny: Warrior King of Tenforks who is soul-chained to a ghost.
Saint Edmond: Living saint of the White Angel Order and the only cleric to have ever become a saint.
Slaves
You can enslave as many creatures as you want.
Slaves level up and some can ascend (evolve) to more powerful forms.
Slaves may be set to use AI in battle but they must be used manually in one dungeon first.
Slaves have innate characteristics (talents) aside from their base stats. These could be things like immunity to fire, higher speed while disabled, etc.
Slaves also have customizable innates called runes. Each slave has a set number of rune slots. All innates have a corresponding rune.
Slaves may be sacrificed (destroyed) for Favor. Favor is used to pray for wishes from Satan. Wishes can include buffs, items, slaves, and more.
Every slave has a Rank from 1 to 7. Rank is a stat multiplier--the higher the rank, the more stats the slave has. Enemies found in the wild have a fixed base rank. Rumor has it there is a way to improve a slave's rank so even a lowly Rank 1 clod could be turned into a Rank 7 clumpy demigod to be feared.
Obtaining Slaves
There are many ways to obtain slaves.
Enslaving: The way you'll get most slaves. In battle, on Manny's turn, use the Enslave option to enslave an enemy target, making them yours. Weakened enemies are easier to enslave. Manny's Slave Chain has different options (such as stronger chains, chains that are more effective at capturing certain enemies, etc) and each option costs MP. If Manny is out of MP, you can't enslave. Almost all creatures can be enslaved.
Slave Trader: The slave trader offers slaves for gelder. You can also sell your slaves to him for money. The slave trader will occasionally have rare slaves you can't get anywhere else. He will also offer common slaves from areas you've conquered if you're too lazy to enslave them yourself.
Summoning: Available early mid-game, you can summon enemies to fight and enslave in your base. To unlock more types to summon, you must find items known as Grimoires. Grimoires may be bought, found in the world, or gotten as a reward from quests. You can summon common enemies as many times as you want. If you have enslaved a unique summon, you can't summon them again. If you fail to enslave a unique, you can always resummon them to try again.
Simulacrums: Available late-game, you can turn common doppelganger slaves into clones of your existing unique slaves or you can even clone creatures from myths and legends. Simulacrums think they are the original and everyone else is an NPC, even when confronted with the original or another copy. They have the personality of the original but none of the memories. Simulacrums also have a disturbing presence and it is immediately obvious to anyone looking at them that they are not the original. In the status screen, simulacrums are marked with a special symbol.
Story Progression: Manny enslaves some people as part of the story.
The orc slave trader:
Namaken, the simulacrum maker:
Dream List
Player Slave Trading: Trade slaves with your friends. Although, there's not much point since there won't be different versions of the game or different paths or anything.
Player Versus Player Battles: Pick a team of four slaves each and duke it out.
Tools and Libraries Used
Programmed in C++ using Visual Studio 2022
SFML (sfml-dev.org): Framework used for engine
SQLite3: Database stuff
Flash: Concept art
LibreSprite: Pixel art
OpenGL Mathematics (GLM): Math
Spine: Sprites
The Influence of The Bible
To better inform my game about devil-worshiping skinks, I read (most of) the Bible. You can't write a counter to something you can't define.
The Old Testament is very boring and repetitive in some parts--it could have used an editor. Oh yes, please tell me in more excruciating detail how each part of God's tent is to be built and exactly how many cubits long each piece should be. That aside, the Old Testament is more of a historical account and it does have some cool parts too. Most of the Bible stories everyone knows came from the Old Testament, like David and Goliath, Noah's Ark, and so on.
If you've watched South Park, they grossly misrepresented the book of Job. First, Satan is an angel at this point and not the devil, "Satan" meaning "accuser", basically meaning an angel who tests people's faith. Satan is also not mentioned again after he inspires Job's second round of suffering--God doesn't gloat to Satan about how faithful Job is. South Park leaves off after Job has his second round of suffering. After that, Job bitches for a few chapters about how much his predicament sucks. In the end, God repays Job for his faith with twice what he had before, so it has a happy ending and lesson.
The book of Esther is worth looking at if you want a playbook of what's happening today with a certain people. It's terrifying. However, I will say the grievances of today are a bit more substantial than Haman's. Not only that but the more you read the Old Testament you realize how these certain people repeat history. Time and time again these people fell away from God to worship Baal. Baal must be fucking awesome or something because God literally talks to these people, saves them from slavery and Egypt (and reminds them about it every time) and they still would rather worship a false god goat dude no matter how many times it happens. You know, the god of the Canaanites who wants child sacrifices and incest and other degenerate things. Sound familiar? They can't help themselves. Even when their dad was literally king of the world who talked to God, nope, they worship Baal because the girl they're fucking said he was cool and ended up incurring God's wrath yet again and losing everything. They suck.
The New Testament is written more like a story, along with some letters Saint Peter wrote to churches on how to be good Christians. It's still slow in some parts but overall it's a lot more enjoyable. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are mostly the same story with minor details added between them. John is pretty good in comparison as it talks about things the others don't. Jesus was a cool guy. For one, he never kills anyone or promises to put his foot on someone's dead head in victory like they did in the Old Testament. I don't have much else to say about it other than the theme of evangelism is pushed pretty hard in it and is never mentioned in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament you were either in or out. Jesus welcomed everyone.
I never realized how deeply the Bible was ingrained in our culture. Lots of references and sayings I thought were contemporary were based in the Bible like "no rest for the wicked" and a bunch of other ones I forgot.
So how will this study be reflected in the game?
The White Angel Order will return as an enemy faction and it will show more of what they believe. I envisioned them as having stereotypical Christian values (chastity, following God, destroying evil, etc) but now that I have more understanding of the values, their values will be more nuanced as well.
There will be many graven images of Satan and other evil things around. God HATES them. Not only is it one of the Ten Commandments but He rants about them in the book of Isaiah, basically calling anyone who worships idols a retard. He also kills a couple of priests for making idols while Moses is up talking to God on the mountain. I didn't know this but Moses actually writes down the Ten Commandments twice. The first time when Moses comes down the mountain with them, he sees the priests with the idols and throws the stone tablets down in fury, breaking them. He writes another set later.
There is also the nuance of "good versus evil". What is good and what is evil? Why, God is good and anything against God is evil. Therefore, "good versus evil" is really a dichotomy of "God and his will versus Against God". It's a small distinction but an important one. Good and Evil have been made to be fuzzy concepts in modern times but this distinction provides a rock-solid definition of what good and evil are. With a definition for evil, there can be good examples of evil things in the game--things against God and his will.
On a side note, I played Disgaea 5 recently, also known as "The Most Evilest SRPG Ever". Aside from some questionable stuff like interrogating captured enemies, sexy outfits, and the antagonist mass-murdering people, the game was barely "evil" at all. The main characters were falling over each other to apologize and spill their feelings and act like girls. "They must have a different concept of evil over there," I thought. And indeed, Shintoism doesn't even have a concept of evil like the Abrahamic religions do. To them, "evil" is caused by demons inhabiting people to make them do bad things. It follows then that since D5 is a game of nothing but those demons, it is indeed the evilest SRPG ever (in Shintoism). As a westerner I wasn't impressed. There wasn't even any blood!
Also before anyone is like, "Oh, old Myroid is a crazy Bible-thumping Christian now," I don't even go to church. Between the two Testaments there's a lot of weird dogma that formed that I have no idea where it came from. How did it go from Sheol to Hell? The devil isn't ever mentioned in the Old Testament as he is and yet here's Jesus telling the devil to get away from him like we're supposed to know who he is. Where did all this pope and church hierarchy come from? It sure isn't in the Bible as far as I know but I'm pretty dumb. "Jesus said Peter is his rock." Okay? I'm missing the leap here. Basically what I'm saying is having read most of the Bible, I have no idea where a lot of the dogma of today comes from. It seems almost alien compared to the source material. Like if you read the Bible then went to church you'd have no idea what they're talking about. But, I haven't been to church so I'm probably wrong.
