A thought of Redwall: more video games based in this amazing world

[NovaNocturne]

Redwall's stories often seem to take place in the most eventful, and dramatized times experienced by the abbey, but we always hear how Redwall is supposedly a place of peace. Between the books, there is plenty of evidence that points to extended periods of peace, where the woodlanders of the area grow farm plots, and the Abbey is a gathering place for feasts, celebrations, and so on. It stands to reason that these down times between warlords and raiders would make for a pretty boring tale right? I'm not so sure! There's a lot of aspects to explore in the world of Redwall. Let's take a look at a particularly successful franchise of relatively peaceful, slower paced video games. Harvest Moon.

In the Harvest Moon games, players are tasked with an RPG style set up, but incorporated into farm life instead of grinding through endless battles. You get to meet people and build, or break, relationships with them. You go through the stages of your life, often building a family, working hard and enjoying festivals. These are all traits I could see being stewed into something amazing in the Redwall universe. Picture this.

You could choose from a number of species to be your character, and you are born, raised, and live at or near Redwall Abbey. That's when your game picks up. Say for the moment, you chose the default of mouse. Your character could learn all sorts of skills from other woodlanders and Abbey mice alike:

Fishing with the otters
Harvesting trees with the squirrels
Farming crops with the moles
Brewing drinks with the hedgehogs
Cooking with the mice
Tool forging with the badgers
Foraging with the hares
Exploring with sparra
Haggling with passing traders
And so on!

These skills, and tools, could be earned, traded for, or gifted for free as you develop friendships with the various characters throughout the woodlands and Abbey. I'd like to add, it would be amazing if say the recipes for food and drinks in the game, which you could learn or earn, could be REAL recipes, that you can try making in real life as well. Unlike Harvest Moon, because of the community and hard work of other woodlanders and such, the player could have the option of being entirely responsible for one of these aspects, or they could share the responsibility with NPCs at the Abbey. And we all know festivals and celebrations are absolutely loved by everyone in Mossflower:

Travelling circuses
Mid-Summer and Mid-Winter feasts
Season Namedays
Celebrations of accomplishments, births, weddings, etc
and so forth.

There could be small events related to defending the Abbey or local farm lands, but combat wouldn't be the focus of the game. Perhaps an injury could incapacitate you for a season, creating a penalty for you being unable to work and build your relationships, by skipping forward in the year. Otherwise, it wouldn't do much else to stop gameplay. It does make it tough to find a special somebody though if you do miss out on spending time with them.

Building relationships would be important, particularly in matters of love. One loved features of the Harvest Moon games is to be able to woo and wed the companion of your romantic dreams. Given how many Woodlanders are around, it would be fun to make a variety available for each species so you can find who is just right for you and the character you chose. Eventually, you could build a family with them, having a child perhaps. And if you don't wed, there could be other outcomes, perhaps if you work hard enough and focus on certain tasks, you could even become prominent head of roles in the Abbey:

Gatekeeper
Infirmary Healer
Head Chef
Groundskeeper
Abbey Defender
Recorder
Cellarkeeper
And so on.

Accomplishments are all well and good, but as many good times as there are, sad times do occur as well. Events such as characters passing away, creatures leaving the abbey for good, famines, sicknesses and so on, are all the more poignant for the time you spent with them. These things allow you to treasure the happy times and memories all the more.

All of these things could be set in almost any age of Redwall between the books. But it might be cool to incorporate some historical goings on as well. Imagine if you set a game like this around the time when Redwall is being built. As you age and years go by, you could see the Abbey go from started to complete by the time you are ready to pass. I think giving players the opportunity to play as though they contributed to the creation of the Abbey would be a beautiful thing.

Or perhaps a prequel, set in a general time, could take place in Noonvale. A place like Noonvale would make a beautiful and quaint setting for players to explore and to feel a part of. As a prequel you could limit the species choice to mouse in Noonvale, as they are the general species in that village. It would make for easier coding, and a simpler build, which could then lead to a sequel that takes place at Redwall.

Who can say if this sort of idea would ever come to fruition, but I can say I would love to play this sort of game, just experiencing the world of Redwall, leisurely and relaxing. I would love to hear other's thoughts on it as well!

[Ashleg]

So, what: The Sims with Redwall?

Could be fun.

I do think task-based games get kind of boring, though. There has to be a way to go totally wild and screw things up...

[NovaNocturne]

I've never played Sims but I think Harvest Moon is more personable and individual than Sims.

And I agree, without events added it would be boring. Ideas for stuff like that to make it interesting would be totally welcome. Perhaps if you try cooking and aren't skilled enough you might set the kitchen on fire. Or perhaps some sort of questions could send you off to visit Salamandastron. Maybe a bunch of lizards raid your farm and you either have to fight them off, or run for help. Any number of things could happen as instead of a single story, it's the tales of life in Mossflower

[Matthias720]

Or perhaps more along the lines of Stardew Valley. I'd be down for that.

[NovaNocturne]

Even if a version of this was done in that pixel art style like Stardew Valley, I would love it!

[LordTBT]

You can do a lot of this in AbbeyCraft.

[NovaNocturne]

Unfortunately with abbeycraft I've found that without NPCs and the ability to have actual coded events or growth systems, a lot of these things would have to be implemented via made up role play. Abbeycraft is a blank slate and would be good for experimenting, but lacks the integral build of a Harvest Moon like game.

[Wylder Treejumper]

This is an excellent idea. There is so much potential in the Redwall world for a character/environment based RPG. The sort of open-world game you describe sounds like it would be amazing if it could be implemented. Nor need it be fancy, the Stardew Valley style would look rather nice for Redwall, I think. Another option would be a story-driven mystery-exploration game, where your character is tasked with solving a riddle about the Abbey (perhaps from the infamous Geminya Tome). This way, characters could explore the Abbey (and Mossflower), discover hidden places, interact with characters, and, by solving clues, slowly reveal a story from Redwall's past. It would be particularly impressive if the different choices you made when playing the game led to different game outcomes for your character, similar perhaps to the type of relationship-building you were talking about earlier. With its Redwall basis, story-book style art animation would fit the bill well (see Child of Light for a good example of the style). If done correctly, I think it would make a very compelling game.

[Madison]

It's not around anymore but the really quite great Project Slagar had some fangames that were good, including the Haunted Abbey and Vermin Invaders. I'll have a look went I've got time and see if I can dig them up for everyone.

[Ashleg]

Project Slagar?

[Madison]

A person helpfully archived it. http://redlea.net/pslagar/view.php?page=games

[Ashleg]

Well, before I download anything:

What are they like? Do they actually have graphics an' stuff?

[Krantor the Brutal]

I was thinking about a smilar game idea, but Long Patrol style. You start as a youngster in training, and as you gain more experience, you become the brigadeer.

[Captain Tammo]

You can do a lot of this in AbbeyCraft.

Is AbbeyCraft still up and running? I'd forgotten about it!

Even if a version of this was done in that pixel art style like Stardew Valley, I would love it!

You know, there are softwares available for making your own RPG. It could be a cool hobby to develop a primitive game on the side, pretty similar to your idea, Nova, and share it with the people on the forum! I mean, one can't just make a game for a copyrighted series, etc. etc... but something personal or not-quite Redwall-related could be really really fun!

[Ashleg]

Somebody should answer that question I asked twice.