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I'm Igor from Gamechuck, and we are working on something that you may find interesting; a massive adventure RPG title, Trip the Ark Fantastic
Trip the Ark Fantastic is a story-driven role-playing adventure set in the Animal Kingdom on the verge of both industrial and social revolution. The story follows Charles, a hedgehog scholar on a mission by the lion king to save the monarchy, but his decisions could end up helping reformists or even to bring about anarchy.
The first teaser trailer
[link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxxCXc1ade4)
The story revolves around an ancient myth that forms the basis of the Animal Kingdom’s caste system - the myth of the Ark Fantastic. As the myth goes, the ark was built by lions millennia ago to save all animals from a great flood. The king’s gambit is that, amidst whispers of reform and revolution, a reputable scholar such as Charles proving the existence of the mythical ark might sway animals toward a royalist stance, and thus uphold the monarchy.
Charles is accompanied by the king’s trusted advisor Philippe the Fox and the captain of the royal guard - Andre the Boar. Their task will lead them to the fringes of the Kingdom and beyond, in search of elusive truth.
LINKS
[url=https://discord.gg/pEXKnub]Ark Fantastic on Discord[/url]
[url=https://arkfantastic.com]Ark Fantastic official website[/url]
[url=https://twitter.com/ark_fantastic]Ark Fantastic on Twitter[/url]
[url=https://www.facebook.com/tripthearkfantastic/]Ark Fantastic on Facebook[/url]
[url=https://www.instagram.com/tripthearkfantastic/]Ark Fantastic on Instagram[/url]
FEATURES
- A deep and immersive secondary world set in an Animal Kingdom on the verge of industrial and social revolution, content-rich and filled with intrigue, side-quests and flavor at every step
- Completely original gameplay mechanics based on the scientific method: research, discuss, experiment, and finally publish arguments in the Animal Kingdom's papers
- An exploration of how myths, science, and philosophy can influence society, and how monarchies, democracies, and anarchies view power, authority, and legitimacy of rule
- Gorgeous art including frame-by-frame animation and vibrant landscapes inspired by the golden age of animation, as well as music inspired by the works of R. Wagner[
- A gesamtkunstwerk approach in which the art, music and gameplay all tie closely to the story of scientific discovery and the role of myths in different types of societies
- The entire development completely done in open-source technologies, including Godot Engine, Krita, Ink and MuseScore, among others
GAMEPLAY
The player progresses through the game by solving the Kingdom’s various problems and mysteries, but his method of solving them is a scientific one - he publishes compelling arguments in the Animal Kingdom’s scientific papers to prove his theories and disprove those of others. Only arguments with sound logic and solid evidence will have the power to sway public opinion and change the course of history.
Research
Sifting through the archives of the local library can reveal some important clues as well. Investigating the location of the hidden Parrot Enclave? Maybe check out the logs of the explorer’s guild!
The evidence itself can be found by talking to the local denizens (after learning their language, such as squirrelese), by using scientific equipment (a microscope, or a chemist kit), or, as a true scholar, by “standing on the shoulders of giants” and using evidence from the works of other scholars found in libraries across the Kingdom.
Scientific Equipment
A picture is worth a thousand words, so taking a photograph is often the most compelling evidence. But the camera is just one of many tools at the player’s disposal!
The player’s main challenge will be finding all the relevant evidence and then choosing the right conclusions, which are then published and reviewed by his peers, potentially resulting in a boost to his scholarly reputation.
Languages
Sometimes, the player will need to question other animals for more clues. However, not all animals speak the common tongue, so becoming fluent in the local language goes a long way towards solving the mystery at hand.
Additionally, since Charles’ scientific conclusions can have large-scale consequences on the Animal Kingdom and the monarchy in particular, there is a looming moral dilemma over whether the player should publish a certain argument or not.
THEMES AND INSPIRATIONS
We draw inspiration for the game from modern fables of classic literature, such as Animal Farm or Watership Down, as well as deep story-driven games from the roleplaying and adventure game genres, and games with unique and experimental gameplay mechanics.
Our goal is to use the game to explore various types of society (monarchy, democracy, anarchy) and to tackle questions such as how rule is legitimized, what role myths play in the shaping of society, and so on.
The animation is drawn frame-by-frame to be reminiscent of early animated classics, and the music takes cues from 19th century romanticism with the use of leitmotifs inspired by Wagner and gesamtkunstwerk opera.
The game is developed using open-source software, such as the painting tool Krita and the Godot game engine. Gamechuck studio is also a sponsor to both Krita and Godot Engine and, in the case of Godot Engine, actively contributes to its development.
WHEN IS IT COMING
The game is still in an early phase of development, but our goal is to release Ark Fantastic in 2022 on Linux, PC, Mac and consoles.
Let me know if you have any questions!
I'm not sure what do you mean by "the first two aren't exclusive"? :-)
I mean that, technically, monarchy and democracy aren't various types of society. In fact, one could argue that a monarchy is not a type of society but a specific categorization of a broader type of society. To make it clearer;
A monarchy can coexist with democracy* (Japan, Spain, UK) but also with oligarchies and dictatorships (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain).
*We still should define democracy but let's not go there haha
To be clear, I agree with you. I mean, the Commonwealth countries are technically a part of a monarchy (Canada, Australia, New Zealand as the most obvious ones), although when you scratch under the surface, there is a little resembling an actual monarchy, UK included.
In our game, the Animal Kingdom is a technical monarchy and had several kings in its history. Some were obsessed over finding the mythical Ark, the others were all about growth, while some cared only for power.
E.g., Leopold, also known as The Tyrant King is best compared with some dictators in our own history (Stalin, Kim-Jong Il, etc.). For example, Leopold slowly transformed the royal newspapers into a mouthpiece of the monarchy. In his later years, he also founded a secret spy network that operated throughout the Kingdom.
So... yeah. There were different kind of systems in the Animal Kingdom already.
The current king, King Lav sought to rebuild the kingdom in ideas of enlightenment and freedom. So, he's all about freedom of speech and stuff.
In his 30 years in power, he has already funded massive projects such as public schools and hospitals.
But the problem is, all those reforms may be too late, and that's why the kingdom is in a dire situation right now.
What do animals of the Kingdom eat?
In the real world, carnivores and omnivores all eat other animals. It’s a bit of a “tough sell” when writing sentient animals. Not to imply that it can’t be pulled off – it’s been done a lot in fiction, but it’s just not what we wanted.
For example, Watership Down was filled with creepy scenes. However, in Watership Down it’s obvious that the cat and the rabbits are antagonistic, sworn enemies. This can easily be extrapolated to whole civilisations fighting against each other in a war for dominance, similar to the cat and mouse game Root.
However, our setting (and the atmosphere and story we wish to convey) require a tranquil kingdom (at least on the surface), one where the hierarchies are not accentuated by the beastly behaviour of certain castes, but by the seeming wisdom they exude.
Some food can be seen in the left side of the picture
So we decided that for many many years (as long as written history exists in our world, and beyond), the animals have all been herbivores.
[Check out the rest of our lore dev blog on our official website](https://www.tripthearkfantastic.com/ark-lore-tuesday/do-our-animals-eat-each-other-no-and-heres-an-essay/).
May 6 is a pretty special day for the whole world. The world's first postage stamp was produced. A rather significant thing for remote communication among humans.
Well, in the Kingdom, postage stamps are still not a thing. Letters are sealed, inked, and hand-stamped in the old fashioned way.
And don’t forget it’s not the internet era yet either (D’UH!), so unless you’re royalty with your own carrier service, you need to get your letter all the way to the nearest post office to have it delivered!
The entire game starts with a letter. As Charles receives one from the royal messenger, he is summoned to the capital.
[This is how communication and remote communication (sending letters) work in our game.](https://www.tripthearkfantastic.com/development-blog/dialogues-letters-papers-conversations-in-the-animal-kingdom/)
Even though the game looks really beautiful on those screenshots and artwork, the past of the Animal Kingdom has been rather grim.
[This lore blog](https://www.tripthearkfantastic.com/development-blog/prisons-gulags-and-work-camps-of-the-animal-kingdom/) deals with a dark and disturbing past of Prisons, Gulags, and Work Camps of the Animal Kingdom, where animals (in the most part) worked day and night and died of hunger and agony.
Please let me know your thoughts!
Since we don’t have many art assets for the southern continent yet, this blogpost will be filled with pictures of the step-by-step artwork process for our first artwork ever – the three protagonists exploring the southern jungles.
This artwork was done way back in 2018 when we still had many different ideas on what exactly we want out of the game, and served as one of only a few mock-up pieces we sent to our Creative Europe application in 2019.
In a way, the pictures tell their own, separate narrative from the text, and hopefully, both are equally interesting.
The Mysteries of the Southern Continent
For as long as collective memory serves, the Kingdom has been a large landmass, surrounded by sea on all sides. This is the continent we now call Kingdom Proper. However, a new southern continent was found during the recent times of King Michaël.
This caused major ontological and cosmological troubles for the scholars of the Kingdom – how to fit this new continent into the world we thought was just a single landmass surrounded by sea and nothing else? Many hermeneutical ideas about the Ark myth had to be done away with, and many more had to be re-framed to fit newfound truths – such as the existence of monkeys, crocodiles and various birds found on the southern continent, all of which bear no mention in the Ark myth. At least not in its modern form.
If you like what you see, read [the rest of the lore post on our development blog](https://www.tripthearkfantastic.com/ark-lore-tuesday/the-mysteries-of-the-southern-continent) :)
Even though the environments we publish on our [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/tripthearkfantastic/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ark_fantastic) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/tripthearkfantastic/) are often beautiful, lush, and “friendly”, some of those can be considered rather unhabitable and hostile.
We are talking about the wastelands Charles will explore in Trip the Ark Fantastic. As you may have seen in the “[Mysteries of the Southern Continent](https://www.tripthearkfantastic.com/ark-lore-tuesday/the-mysteries-of-the-southern-continent/)”, Charles looks like he is embarking on an adventure through the jungle with his friends.
Looks pretty neat, right?
Well, this part of the game will require some navigation skills, as you’re going in an uncharted territory which is literally uncharted. There won’t be any maps guiding you to go up or down, right or left. You’re on your own.
The wastelands are a dangerous place. They used to be a lush forest, but have turned into a scorching desert in the last 1000 years. Charles, being a hedgehog, can’t survive in this blazing heat, but we’ll leave this part of the game to you, the player.
There is an interesting lore background for the wastelands.
Over 3000 years ago, the lions tried to usurp the hierarchy and failed which resulted in the usurper family being banished north over the mountains – which is considered a death sentence.
The so-called snowy wastelands. If you end-up there, well, good luck with that.
The usurper’s son Antimocles the Red was the father of Alexander the First who founded the Animal Kingdom. The split (and the harsher climate) made the lion’s rule weaker and in the following millenia they eroded from a powerful force that ruled over everyone in the southern territories to just a lion tribe in the caverns ruling over themselves with Nerva as Emperor.
After a couple of generations in the southern continent they decided to leave because they saw they could not prosper in the monkey civilisation which was thriving and they went over the land bridge to the northern continent and started subjugating the primitive cultures of smaller animals (rodents, birds et cetera).
After a few generations, they had built the Animal Kingdom that spanned the entire continent, subjugating also the great cats. Some animals were still very resistant because they weren’t used to living under the centralised rule and so after many generations, one lion family had invented the Ark myth after a failed bloody rebellion by other animals.
Following the change of the ruling branch, the myth was thought to be true even by the ruling lion family, and the way it was fabricated was lost to history.
By that time, the land bridge to the southern continent had already collapsed after centuries of diminishing because of the rising sea levels. The ice melted, which led to warming in temperature.
The warming in temperature made the barren wasteland Charles will have to pass.
What do you think, with Charles being a hedgehog, how can he pass through the wastelands?