A first look at the gameplay and game design of Guild of Guardians
** N.b: This article is designed to provide the community some insights into the overall game vision and goals of Guild of Guardians. Not all features listed here will be ready at alpha, and naturally, they are subject to change**
We are excited to be able to share with you a first discussion and overview of the gameplay and game design of Guild of Guardians as it currently stands.
A look at the bigger picture — what is our vision?
We want Guild of Guardians to be the first AAA mobile blockchain RPG. We want millions of players to enjoy playing it, and we want to grow and nurture the community that exists in our ecosystem. Importantly, we also want to provide a world where players can turn their passion for gaming and RPGs into valuable and rare digital assets which hold real value.
Overview!
Guild of Guardians is a mobile RPG where players take teams of heroes through challenging dungeons to collect resources. These resources are used to create valuable items and heroes which can be sold for real money. Players will work together to create the best squad of Guardians, contribute to their Guild, and strategise to complete the most challenging content in the game.
The game is set in a familiar, fantasy RPG world where players can play as mages, warriors, elves, orcs and more!
Something for everyone
Importantly, Guild of Guardians will be developed with Guardians of all desires and motivations in mind. There is no right way to play the game.
Use your skill and strategy to overcome the most challenging bosses and earn digital assets. Strategise, scheme and socialise with your guild members as you work together to craft items and compete in guild events for prizes.
Collect your favourite heroes and try to own it all? Or, put your merchant hat on and work to acquire items to trade and exchange on the marketplace (gas-free on Immutable X).
There will be something for everyone.
The game itself — first insights
The following is a list of overall game design principles that will be followed in the development of the game over the coming year.
- Player ownership of content: Players actually own content within the game, meaning instead of it being a sunk cost (beware of greedy game developers…) players retain and may even increase the value of their in-game assets.
- Social co-operation required: Players have to work together in order to maximize progression and profits. Specialisation is part of the game and players will need to work together to progress. Trading with each other is a core component of Guild of Guardians (just like the real world economy!).
- Multiple avenues of satisfaction: Like other RPGs, players get satisfaction from progressing through game content and building their DREAM TEAM. They can also progress the ‘value’ of their account.
- A truly authentic and sustainable player driven economy: Large amounts of content in the game will be player generated. Players can bypass the traditional gacha system mechanics and get exactly what they need from our public marketplace. We also want some blockchain assets to only be made by players — which is one of the underlying reasons as to why we do not sell items.
High level gameplay elements
Heroes — how they work, and how they play
- Heroes are unique characters that players will take into Dungeons to defeat monsters and collect rewards. Heroes are defined by a few characteristics, Faction, Class, and Element. Each of these directly affects how they play in combat and the rewards a player will receive from completing a Dungeon. Each Hero has a unique ultimate ability that could clear a room, heal an entire team, taunt a boss, or deal massive damage.
Equipment
- We have hundreds of weapons and pieces of armor ready for players to find, create, and trade. Each one can have unique buffs that provide stat bonuses to heroes that they are equipped onto. Note — WE DO NOT SELL ITEMS! Players can rest assured that we will never sell equipment and that these elements of the game will be entirely player driven. This is vitally important to us.
Combat
- Players will bring a team of heroes into dungeons to fight. Team strategy here is as important as skill. Your team composition and synergies matter, as does your skill usage and ability to dodge!
- Currently we are looking at Factional, Class, and Elemental synergies in combat. For example teams of all Horde could have their raw attack boost buffed, teams of all Fire Element could have a higher chance to inflict a damage over time effect (as an example only).
- We are currently considering a combo system that would allow for skilled players who dodge and time attacks correctly to rack up mammoth damage numbers.
- We want traditional RPG roles like Tank, Healer, DPS, and Support to be valuable in Guild of Guardians. Player skill in agro management, healing output, and damage output will be put to the test in our most challenging content.
Dungeons, and the Guild of Guardians core loop
- Players venture into dungeons to complete challenges. Guild of Guardians is not an open world environment, although we may look into it post launch.
- Players earn rewards such as resources, currency, and equipment.
- Players spend these rewards to recruit and upgrade heroes, and to create equipment.
- Players use newly acquired heroes and equipment to complete progressively harder dungeons.
- It is worth noting again; dungeons in Guild of Guardians are level based and not open world. Each one is unique and filled with monsters, bosses, and traps that players must overcome to complete.
Play-to-earn
There are various ways for players to earn when playing Guild of Guardians. We will also have systems in place to avoid bad faith actors from flooding the market, so as to ensure that legitimate players and their assets maintain their value over time.
Summoning & Merging
- Players can play for free to earn common heroes (which aren’t tradeable). Players can then merge multiple heroes into ones of a higher (tradeable) rarity, meaning players can play for free and eventually work their way up to owning legendary heroes!
Ascension
- Once a hero is at the max level a player can ‘ascend’ it which will increase its level cap. This unlocks the heroes potential power!
Crafting
- Crafting materials will be a drop from dungeons. Players can contribute crafting materials to their guild to craft blockchain items, which will automatically be sent to the market to be sold and the profits split based on each player’s contribution.
Other
- There will be additional ways to earn as well which we are exploring such as rare drops from Guild-based game modes
Guild modes — the social heartbeat
- We want Guild of Guardians to be a multiplayer game at heart.
Players who want to earn big, collect everything, and complete the game will want to join a guild. Guilds will allow players to group up and attempt the hardest and most rewarding content in the game, craft items for sale on the marketplace, and more. - We also want to ensure that guild members of all levels are able to be valuable contributors, not just those with the highest level heroes.
Other plans in the pipeline
In addition to everything we’ve mentioned above, we’re currently looking into a bunch of other features. These include:
- Additional Guild modes like Guild PvP
- Additional solo modes like a Challenge Tower
- Pets and drop tokens
- Equipment merging and native marketplace integration
Note — most of these won’t be ready for the initial alpha release but they are on our development roadmap
In summary!
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We are so damn excited for what’s happening here. This is an industry defining project, and we’re grateful for those already on board and part of the journey.
On that note, we always seek out and appreciate the feedback of our community, and people directly interested in the project. If you have thoughts or ideas, don’t be a stranger — reach out and make your voice heard!
As always, until next time!
Guild of Guardians team
How to get involved?
Join more than 120,000 (!) other Guardians who have pre-registered:
- Drop your email on our website to get early access to the presale (look out for our new website coming soon!)
- Join our Discord channel to find out more about what we are up to!
- Follow our Twitter for spicy leaks and memes!
We are excited to share this journey with you.
#WeAreGuardians
