I'll start the first ever devblog (how exciting!) by discussing how a new player starts their adventure in Absolute Territory.
When you first make your account and hit that play button, you aren't just dropped off to wander menus and figure things out for yourself. That would be insanity, though it would certainly be good for the YouTube tutorials industrial complex.
Thankfully, you have Shop Girl, your first believer, to show you the ropes:
Players are greeted with a short lesson in classic VN format, teaching them about the world they've entered and their new life as a deity.
Perhaps most importantly, this scene also introduces Shop Girl, who — despite her best arguments to the contrary — is not the main character.
In this world, epic battles among mortal followers are fun card games to the deities they worship, and your own duels will hardly differ! They can be as high or low stakes as you'd like, and some may even carry special stakes agreed upon between deities... but more on that in a later blog.
While Absolute Territory is a card game first, I've always enjoyed visual novels, so I admittedly added this part as a guilty little nod to some of the games I love. I wanted the opening to feel less like being handed a pile of mechanics, and more like being personally welcomed into this divine card-battling world.
Following the presentation, players are thrust into their first tutorial duel, which I'll be sure to write about next week!
For now, if you'd like to see a glimpse into Shop Girl's lesson, you can watch it embedded below. She might claim she doesn't care if you learn anything, but she doesn't mean it.
Oh, and I almost forgot: playtest signups are now open! Head over to the playtest tab and enter your info if you're interested in being part of the closed beta and helping shape the game prior to release.