Ascension

Inspiration

Our primary inspirations for this project are the classical works of fantasy; principally, the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and adjacent media. We seek to create a depiction of fantasy adventuring centered on the grounded concerns of a leader, in such manner that the characters in a party must be understood as individuals and as a gestalt.

What it does

The project is an RPG oriented towards making the player a leader of an adventuring party, as they and their companion explore the enigmatic Cnaradar Vale. The player must understand the disparate personalities and strengths of the party, in order to assure that they fight at full effectiveness. The player must in turn rely on the party for their skills, acting as a delegator.

How we built it

We built it using using python for everything in a very modular design. We used the genai library for python for all the characters so it feels different every time you play, and doesn't give you leading questions all the time that make it obvious what a character knows and things of that nature.

Challenges we ran into

The wide variety of options in combat combined with a lack of being able to directly control the rest of the party directly was very challenging, as it made it very difficult to allow a lot of options without it feeling too limiting. Another challenge was doors. making doors between different maps was very difficult using tkinter.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Producing a system where characters can infer directions from partial commands. Similarly, characters can act when you don't tell them what they should do or when they don't think that your idea is the best.

What we learned

We learned how to make good use of the genai API to make the AI talk from a particular point of view while giving it certain knowledge. We also learned how to make an extremely modular project that can have parts easily tweaked for future projects. We also learned how to store and use pixel art completely self contained in python.

What's next for Ascension

We seek to develop Ascension with greater aspects of exploration, as the player explores the mysteries of Cnaradar Vale. We intend to place further focus on managing the party by integrating a series of scores that dictate a character’s personality, stress responses, and inclinations. Similarly, we plan to extend the AI assisted interaction with characters into commands in combat, for which the player may be freed to offer more broad commands to the party.

Built With

• genai
• python