W​AVVE Card Fighter (Development Title)

During my time as the Narrative Designer at Simple Machine, I worked on Card Fighter, a turn-based combat game for Apple Arcade.

My Role:

Develop the setting/early worldbuilding and lore, working off a few concept illustrations and a gameplay prototype.

Setting:

Card Fighter is set in the sci-fi fantasy world of Moksha.

Moksha is divided into Slices, equivalent to countries. Each Slice is known for its specific resources, cultures, and industries in which they excel. DeepVVar is one such Slice of Moksha, once a holy land known as the birthplace of the Dharmsect religion, as well as an energy source named Dharmode.

Dharmode is a magical energy used to accelerate bodily performance. In some cases, Dharmode can activate dormant special abilities, ‘Secondary Hero Characteristics,’ among those in proximity to its power.

Dharmode​ is finite, and its small pockets are almost all used up in the other ​Slices of Moksha. DeepVVar​ still holds the highest concentration of this magical energy.

The D​harmode scarcity has turned D​eepVVar into a conflict-ridden land. Other Slices want DeepVVar’s D​harmode​ to further their own development, while many individuals seek to activate their ​Secondary Hero Characteristics.

 

‘Dharmode’ concept I made/animated, inspired by Jak & Daxter’s “Eco”/early PS2 Platforming/Adventure orbs.

 

Hero Characteristics:

Primary Hero Characteristics (PHCs)​ are disproportionately strong personality traits informed by a character's willingness to engage in risk and conflict. These traits are not always traditionally positive. Bravery, kindness, pragmatism, inquisitiveness, etc.

Secondary Hero Characteristics (SHCs) are unique powers like heightened speed or control of the elements - the flashy stuff. SHCs can’t activate without a strong enough primary characteristic, and for most of Moksha's population, they never do. Those who possess strong PHCs and have prolonged exposure to Dharmode​ unlock their SHCs and join Card Fighter’s playable roster.

Characters:

I added some basic motion animation/FX to this rad character design by Nao Shimizu.

Feint Richard

Son of Colossal Richard, the dictator of DeepVVar, Colossal was elected into power during the ‘Disruption,’ a moment in history when the Dharmsect-led administration faced a massive backlash for "hoarding" Dharmode. For years, the elected Dharmsect administration treated the Dharmode as a sacred, holy resource, placing a cap on its use. Many resented the cap, believing it limited the growth of DeepVVar.

Colossal was the head of IRIS NOVA, a pharma corporation with ties to almost every drug product across Moksha. Colossal enhanced his mind and scientific output using excessive amounts of Dharmode.

Colossal usurped control by pushing an agenda for the "uncapped use of Dharmode," capitalizing on people's concerns, creating aggravation, and sparking insurrection. Once in power, he dismantles the Dharmsect religion and burns through most of the Dharmode. Colossal begins testing DeepVVar’s newborns to see if any have a unique reaction to Dharmode. One of the babies has an extremely anomalous response. Colossal adopts the child as his successor, naming them Feint.

Feint grows rapidly, gaining supreme control of his SHCs. He journeys and learns about the outside world’s view of his father, Colossal, and DeepVVar. He travels to Gonyo, a slice of Moksha in active combat with DeepVVar. The organic dominates Gonyo's cities, with people working together with the wildlife to prosper. Gonyo is also renowned for its healthcare services, and it is said that deep in Gonyo's Central Temple lays the Fountain of Youth—its properties flow through the surrounding rivers. IRIS NOVA doesn't take kindly to the competition—the last bastion against their healthcare monopolization. Gonyo is a city of natural healers and medics.

While in Gonyo, Feint tries to conceal his identity. He lives with a family and develops a desire to contribute to their well-being using his Dharmode SHCs and is eventually found out. The family is arrested by Gonyo’s police. Feint escapes to ‘The Land Beyond Boundary,’ on the edge of Moksha, a hidden land sustained by Carriers who venture out to the Slices to collect resources.

The Land Beyond Boundary (TLBB) has benefited from its secrecy; however, as the world evolves and resources become scarcer, TLBB may have to pursue a more vocal, allied presence in Moksha to survive. During his time in TLBB, Feint remains low-key and joins a small publication called WAVVE.

WAVVE is a publication started to directly combat propaganda and the media monopolization spread around Moksha by Feint's father, Colossal. WAVVE is a militant, revolutionary publication—with its subscribers also taking part in ground-level protests and covert operations, sneaking into DeepVVar, and building an internal rebel group.

W​AVVE​'s TLBB HQ is where Feint and Riotess first meet.

Riotess

Riotess​ grew up as the daughter of a ​Dharmode mining tycoon​ in ANCHOR, the wealthiest Slice of Moksha, known for towering buildings, intricate architecture, and lavish indoor gardens. A​NCHOR is enclosed in a massive dome, and only members of the government or high-status individuals may travel outside.

Unbeknownst to most, ANCHOR has a network of tunnels connecting it to the neighboring Slice of Tundra.

Tundra​ is a barren Slice of Moksha, home to a family of immortals called Darkness, led by their matriarch, ​Queen Lennon.

Riotess grows up rebellious and disgusted by the conflicts caused by her father’s business. As a child, she sneaks onto one of her father’s mining convoys to DeepVVar. When they arrive, a group of Dharmsects block the perimeter in silent protest to prevent the purge of their Dharmode sacred resource.

Riotess witnesses her father signal to drive one of their large mining trucks through the protesters, injuring innocent ​people.

Once inside, a local child whose mother was just injured attacks Riotess. Her father pulls the child off and signals for his men to take them away. Despite being attacked, Riotess attempts to protect the local child by getting in between them and her father’s men; the scuffle pushes them towards a cliff, the Dharmode mines glowing from below.

‘Queen Lennon’ design by Nao Shimizu, property of Simple Machine, LLC.

In a frantic attempt to push her father’s men away from the child, Riotess accidentally slips into the mines. The Dharmode triggers her SHCs, and she ends up whooshing back up the mine, butt-whoopin’ her father’s men. She blacks out.

When Riotess comes to, she is back in ANCHOR with her travel pass revoked. She learns of her father’s plans to submit her to a testing clinic with the intent to reverse the effects of Dharmode.​ After spending a year tortured at the clinic, her powers become aggravated. She meets Bailey Shaw, a fellow test subject who shares her plans to escape ANCHOR through the tunnels leading to Tundra.

Riotess, Bailey, and some other prisoners make their escape through the tunnels. ANCHOR soldiers and her father’s hired muscle pursue them. They capture Bailey, but Riotess makes it to Tundra.

In Tundra, Riotess meets Q​ueen Lennon and they become fast friends. ​Lennon ​admires Riotess’ power and helps her make her way to The Land Beyond Boundary.

She joins the rebel publication, W​AVVE, and uses her powers to aid their liberation movement. A man named Feint joins the publication some years later, and Riotess shows him the ropes. They develop a bond.

WAVVE plans a recon and extraction mission in DeepVVar. Feint maps out the mission route…