The Age of Runes - Demo Prototype

The Age of Runes is an RPG inspired by the likes of Bravely Default, Star Renegades, and even Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3. The world uses the JRPG job system that countless games have and takes it to its logical conclusion by integrating it heavily into the story and the world by being something every person has, although without the ability to change their job (called Runes) once obtained.

Barliz desires little more than to acquire the Farmer Rune much like his parents before him. But fate instead gave him the Master Rune, the rarest of all Runes that is capable of acquiring and mastering every other Rune. Despite its power, this Rune is always a herald to some grave crisis to which the bearer must face. Now he must travel throughout the Kingdom to acquire more Runes before this crisis comes to head and he inadvertently becomes the spanner in the works for a conspiracy that seeks to overthrow the monarchy.

This demo represents a technical alpha/prototype for my project. It is only the first chapter of the game, detailing the events leading up to his Rune and the beginning of his pilgrimage to acquire more. I acknowledge that the art is terrible (using only base assets) and the music is from other games (but it does set the mood well). Instead the focus of this is on the initial story, its gameplay, and the user experience. It is my hope that I can use this to get feedback on whether this entire project has actual legs or not as well as to get feedback on how to improve it.
The Demo represents about 2-3 hours of gameplay.

While the demo is not entirely a vertical slice of the game, for it lacks switching Runes/Jobs that starts happening in later chapters, it does showcase nearly every other mechanic I wish to have, if with fewer Runes/Jobs than there will be.

Key Features

• Enemy Intents will telegraph their actions and their targets, allowing you to plan around them or even manipulate them.
• Preview your incoming and outgoing damage. Never guess if your attack will be effective or if it will kill your target.
• A diverse collection of many jobs that you can mix and match. (Although this is limited in the demo)
• Zero grinding where your power comes not from levels or raw stats, but from new equipment and jobs.
• Every battle presents a unique challenge. No more will the game demand that you fight the exact same battle with the exact same conditions. You’ve already proven that you can win a battle against 5 goblins, no need to prove it again.
• Health and items are replenished after each battle. Feel free to give it your all in every battle without worry of attrition.