Seeds of Destiny was one of the first major game ideas that I have came up with.  The very first design concept happened in about 4 hours while I was at work, standing in place and moving packages on a conveyor belt.  The story came about from my love for games like Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but I found that people were expressing their displeasure in blog posts or youtube videos about a video game cliche being 'you are the chosen one.'

 

Ironically, I came up with Seeds of Destiny as a means to contradict this notion.  The overall idea is about you only being one of the many destinies that we all have. With that thought process in mind, players would play the game, but their story isn't the only important one, rather there would be events and stories that happen within the game, completely independent of the player. The player is always free to join in these narrative archs, and of course they might affect the current narrative of the player.  

 

I imagined in the player narrative, typically almost the same set of events will occur at various intervals of the game, but the person instigating an event will change- with this methodology, friend could be foe depending on the players' decision.  In addition, all characters would have a notoriety meter, and due to one of the main narrative mechanics- 'the tears' -it will have a big effect on the notoriety of NPCs in that area.  

 

The story is also something close to my heart, because it involves siblings that seem to be tied by destiny but are brought-up in completely different environments, maybe they seek the same thing and maybe they don't.  It's circumstances that make us who we are, and a good guy could become evil just as easily as the next guy- the path to hell is paved with good intentions and all that.  So, I wanted to give players an opportunity to both play someone who was raised in a 'good' environment and one in a 'bad' one and decide how they should grow throughout the narrative.

 

Next is the seed itself, the key to magic as it were. It's more a catalyst in the story, as magic power comes from within us, but we don't recognize it until coming into contact with the seed or rather the jewel of darkness.  Using magic drains a person's spiritual vitality, and this is where the tears and Bane come from.  They originate in the spiritual world and are the rotted souls of people who relied on magic over their own strength all their lives.  think it'd be interesting to see how players decide to keep playing with that knowledge- as certain playable characters in the party can succumb to that fate.

 

Then I thought about the tears being dynamically altering dungeons similar in style to the legend of Zelda series- players wouldn't be given tools in each dungeon so that allows them to seal any tear in any order. As each is sealed, the remaining ones increase in size and difficulty and affect the locals.  In addition to all this there would be a war that begins to break out between the kingdom and certain nations as a misunderstanding in ways to destroy the Bane once and for all. In addition there would be cultist groups that both support and try to hinder the player.

 

Now, as for the gameplay itself, as the keeper of the catalyst I felt that they should not only be able to use all types of magic but join them and create new kinds of elements.  For caster-type gameplay they would utilize a tablet-like controller similar to WiiU and tap elements which would begin the casting event; this freezes gameplay, but it has a cooldown so people can't just abuse it and constantly freeze the game as they progress through it.  Then the player will have the colors chosen(up to 2, maybe 3) appear on screen and they make lines which project the predicted path on the screen and when the cast finishes the spell is used.   Larger spells are weaker, unless used it proper ways, like a fireball that spirals into a point will also expode outward or things like that. I haven't exactly worked out all the ideas for magic combinations yet.

 

Now, for those who don't like casting, they can attune to a particular weapon and transfer magic into the weapon, either using magic offensively or defensively. Offensively being something like your sword or staff would take on the properties of magic and perform certain skills, again, these skills can be combined with 2(or maybe 3) magic elements to perform new types of attacks.  The player will still have to use the tablet controller, and make swipes but instead it's in real-time, rather than freezing the game.  If they use magic defensively, they'll be relying on the weapon on it's own and their form takes on the properties of the magic, like wind / water creating a regenerative effect. Speaking of, players can finish the game solo, or recruit people.   Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out the method I want party members to be able to fight in; depending on that, it might just be a solo game like the Legend of Zelda.