Game Concept
Thesis: {Empire Vampire} is a multiplayer battle arena game in which players assume control of small cooperatives of vampiric paramilitary death squadrons tasked with seizing violent dominion over the globe, slowly building a fanged and blood-soaked empire slaked to rule over the Earth once and for all! Each player’s vampiric warrior leads their armies into the world – and then once those campaigns are completed, success or failure amounted, a vicious, seasonal battle for imperial leadership commences via a clan-wide fighting tournament to determine a new Emperor. Cycling on the fervor of endless battle, players can individuate their ancient apex predator hero or heroine!
Setting: Earth ~ various Eras: Medieval | Enlightenment | Industrial | Modern ~ battlefields in strategic locales ~ in great coastal cities, over rivers and within hills, toward mountainous strongholds ~ As the countries and factions of humanity war for territory and control, a new threat emerges from within its ancient ranks, out of the darkness of the night – Vampires! – who soon coalesce into a global invasion force. All across the globe, small squadrons of powerful vampiric warriors square off against human armies ~ fang and claw versus swords and guns, invading strongholds and aircraft carriers.
Characters & Story: In this world, vampires make up only around 1% of the human population, they are humans turned by an ancient curse that arises and spreads only during rare and turbulent periods throughout the aeons, such as in times of war and revolution and plague and environmental disaster. This secret vampire society, immortal and living in the shadows across the globe, represents the ultimate supernatural manifestation of the apex predator. With a deep-seated warrior culture and internal dominance hierarchy where only the strongest rule, even to the point of devouring their weakest members in ritualized tourney combat, the vampires of this world have finally reached a critical mass of numbers and strength to the point where they take on a conquering spirit against humanity with efficacy. The reason for the timing of this uprising, and the reason for the vampire’s final directive to move against the Earth’s Sun-folk, can only be interpreted…
In your chosen era for the “Vampire Wars” to begin, you and your bloodthirsty brethren take to the battlefield and begin their campaigns against humanity’s military forces. Players take to the battlefield in varying roles of martial and mystical prowess. These character classes include:
Warrior ~ vampiric martial arts masters, light or unarmored, fast, and reliant upon hand-to-hand – and mouth-to-neck – combat
Cleric ~ wise mystics who harness the primordial elemental energies of the earth to deal their death ~ doling out fire, water, earth and wind from their fingertips
Knight ~ armored fighters who, over the years, have taken on fighting styles and technologies of their human counterparts, including: mounts (horses or giant bats), swords, shields, lances, etc., and even more advanced weaponry such as guns and missiles and gunships.
Sangromancer ~ maddened masterminds who have spent the long centuries of their lives dabbling in blood magicks – generally forbidden even among the most feral vampiric denizens – to the point of absolute mastery. Using their own black blood and importantly, the blood from their foe’s bodies, they sow a grotesque and messy violence into the battlefield.
Nosferatu ~ bestial feral vampires that have allowed the primordial apex predator essence within them to completely take over, making them larger but more wild than any of their brethren… The Nosferatu unleashed upon the battlefield is a nightmarish vision, killing with teeth, arms and wings laid bare upon friend and foe alike – they are feared even by their own…
The vampiric forces, led by these superstar fighters, sweep over the land killing unified resistance armies, conquering their lands, assuming control of their strongholds, machines and industry, and then, vitally – determining what the united vampiric empire will choose to do with these lands, resources, and imprisoned humans. This choice is ultimately determined through an Emperor’s edict ~ but first, each Emperor is chosen periodically through a refreshed ritual after the latest round of conquering campaigning by the vampiric armies, in a kind of wayward democracy by fangs – a vampire population-wide tournament, where the strongest among the qualifying leaders (the players), warriors and clerics and sangromancers and all others engage in both battle royales and 1v1 bloody cage matches to choose a winner. This, the strongest vampire in existence, becomes the new Emperor to lead the coming campaign(s) for all of vampiredom.
GAMEPLAY ~
“The Vampire War” – PvE Campaign ~ The basic structure of {Empire Vampire} is divided into two parts, which cycle in a series indefinitely (or when a server’s player base decides to end things) ~ each involving a massive-multiplayer base equal to a limit number set by a given server’s specifications – (100 players, 1,000 players, 100,000 players, etc.) “The Vampire War” makes up the first part, and the beginning of any given instance of the game’s experience, with the player base engaged in a campaign of conquest over {computer-controlled} humanity’s lands and armies. This PvE (player-versus-environment) portion of the game resembles the overland, mission-to-mission or battlefield-to-battlefield, campaign of the Total War series – and the high art action 3rd-person fighting over wide open battlefields of the Dynasty Warriors series. Small groups of the players within the servers take on these battlefields, leading cooperative regiments of vampiric soldiers from the empowered perspective of their chosen classes: Warrior, Cleric, Knight, Sangromancer, Nosferatu. They march over an isometric overland map of the globe, where significant human population and strategic centers are located and can be invaded by your vampire forces.
From the results of this Vampire War campaign, after a series of battles against humanity in varying strategic locales across the world (the players collectively set the custom number of battles at set up of campaign server – such as 5, 10, 20 battles, etc. with randomized elements ~ such as the composition of humanity’s resistance armies and cooperative player choices ~ such as the path through the strategic locales across the globe.), a final score is reached for these players’ campaign. This is based on their collective and individual performance in the battles against humanity. This score, structured as a group and for each individual player, then contributes to their ranking into the Qualifying, Group, and Final bracket for the next section of the game.
“The Tournament of Blood” ~ PvP Tournament ~ The tournament section of a {Empire Vampire} comes after the “The Vampire War” portion, when all of the players within the server instance come together to determine the next Emperor, who will come to influence the next campaign and set of conquests over the globe upon that particular server. This decision process is determined by a grand winner-take-all tourney for the position – “The Tournament of Blood.” Depending upon the size of the server and the democratic choice among the players for the parameters concerning the tournament’s structure – such as using campaign score to Qualify the tournament down to more management brackets – such as 64-man vs. player-wide sized bracket. There can be Group stages wherein unqualifying or lower-scored players fight it out for access to the, for example, 64-man Tournament of Blood.
The tournament gameplay will resemble the PvE gameplay – with 3rd person action combat – just now in PvP format. This will include less open world elements, such as with the PvE campaign gameplay, now with each player in the 1v1 matches squaring off in a small field or limited arena space in order to keep the fight concise and exciting (not unlike in a fighting game). Each fight will be single elimination, generally will take 15-20 minutes of time, depending on the skill of the respective fighters, and as part of the game experience can be viewed by the whole server of players, especially the final match to determine the Emperor themself.
Custom parameters for PvE and PvP ~ As mentioned before, both sections of the game, the parameters for the gameplay – such as the Earth Era chosen, swords vs. guns changing the respective gameplay for the campaign and the tourney – and structure of the campaign length and the tournament style and size can all be customized based on a democractic process within each server’s player base.
Custom parameters PvE: Pre-game = Earth Era / Length of a campaign, # of battles to completion / Vampire battle group sizes/makeup and player invites // In-game = choices on the vampiric warpath over the globe / Choice of each player’s class as leaders of vampire army / Emperor’s political choices before and during a Campaign
Custom parameters PvP: Size of tournament bracket / Style of qualifying rounds, group stages – campaign points or battle royale mode as the entry points into the ‘Big Dance’
Cooperative campaigning and scoring ~ The PvE portions of the game are played cooperatively – with the whole server working together as vampiric army units taking to battlefields across the globe. Once an individual army’s battlefield is chosen, then the players determine how many and which of their heroes they will send to help that army. This is part of the strategy of the overland campaign section – ex: 10-20 separate armies will sweep across the globe in different areas, players can partake in combat on each of these battlefields as groups of ex: 7 leaders to each, depending on their choice and size of the battle. As the players fight battle after battle together, directly or indirectly, their cooperative score is determined, which will play a part at the end of the campaign section for the placements within the tourney section. The initial tournament seeding is determined entirely by point score from the previous campaign.
Bombastic, high-powered violence / Distinct class style and abilities ~ In the PvE campaigns of the game, the gameplay takes after the look, feel and mechanics of the games in the Dynasty Warriors series. Arcade-esque speed and attacks across wide battlefields, where regiments of soldiers clash against one another, led by heroes and champions that stand above the others in size and strength. Superspeedy rushes across the battlefield {Warriors}, grand sweeps of blades into groups of men {Knights}, marvelous magical effects of earth, wind, fire and water over the rabble {Clerics}, and other class-based effects shooting over the fighting swaths are commonplace and part of the dynamic effects of combat. Each battlefield over the course of a campaign features different terrain and enemies, with a few objectives to complete – capture this stronghold, kill this general, hold this bit of land against waves of enemy forces – and the efficiency of a vampire army’s completion of these objectives helps to determine their final scoring after a given battle. Under normal conditions, players cannot die but their heroes can go unconscious and respawn after a short timer – deducting from score by prolonging the battle {Before a server begins, the players can set it to Hardcore mode for perma-death optionality.}
Open field, regiment vs. regiment combat against humanity ~ Each map is custom designed with unique sets of terrain and enemy regiment placement. Each player wills their own regiment(s) into combat against humanity – open world aspects include: choice of pathing across the field of battle / emergent battle sequences between computer-controlled AI of your regiment of forces {small sets of vampiric swordsmen/gunmen} against the human swordsmen/gunmen – with your hero’s intervention into these battles as the primary force determining victory or defeat / style of combat from your class and who you choose to target – bulk of enemy regiments, opposing human heroes, the environment itself or the defensive human structures, etc.
The weakness of vampires & humanity’s elite forces: Helsings ~ In {Empire Vampire}, the vampires you control are subject to the same set of weaknesses that we know of them from mythical sources.
- Vampires are weaker in sunlight, if not killed out right – thusly battles must take place during night, or if during the day certain restrictions and disadvantages occur – slower move and attack speed, less starting health, more susceptible to damage, etc.
- Vampires are more vulnerable fighting near water, which much of humanity’s population centers lie near – the sea or rivers – thus making for difficult combat depending on the player’s pathing over the globe and which strategic centers they will want to strike out at
- Vampires can be repelled with garlic and crucifixes, killed with stakes, and generally more damaged with anything that is holy or solar-powered – as a result, in the final battles of any given campaign, regardless of Earth Era, your vampiric forces will face off against the ‘Helsings’ ~ special forces of humans that are more powerful and better equipped to defeat their undead, nightmarish foes. Armored with holy armor, absorbing and reflective of sunlight, they swing blessed swords / fire blessed bullets and are able to incapacitate and sometimes even permanently kill vampiric heroes through their efficient operations
- Most of all, vampires require blood – regardless of class – and must obtain it as they fight upon the battlefield from their foes … or if that fails, their own allies…
Personalize your vampiric hero ~ In playing your individual hero within the campaign, you can cultivate your vampire into their own personality, including the forging of nickname as chosen by your comrades. These nicknames ~ such as: “Bloodheart”, “Darkfang”, “The Ghostblade” ~ are earned from an individual’s style of violence and their campaign exploits ~ as well as the customizable look of their character model and weaponry used. Within the server, players and their nicknames will eventually be displayed for others, once established, along with their point totals and accomplishments in battle {Ex: *Fought in the vanguard at the Siege of Paris* / *Killed the opposing general in the Invasion of New York* / *Was nearly defeated at The Defense of Prague*}. These monikers will appear alongside player usernames within the server and in the placements for “The Tournament of Blood.”
Reward for victory: Seasonal Imperial Edicts ~ After the PvP tournament is completed and new Emperor is designated for the first time in a server’s history, that Emperor may unilaterally make certain choices about the direction of the vampiric empire’s continuity from there:
- Politics ~ who will preside within the court alongside the Emperor, if any, and what roles will they have?
- Warfare ~ Macro / General structure of the armies, warpath over the globe, style of warfare upon the battlefields – length of the next campaign
- Endgame ~ Will your empire seek to wipe out humanity and reclaim the lands entirely for vampire-kind, keeping a recurring contingent of humanity as livestock for their blood – or will you seek to merely cull and control sects of humanity, ending their industrious polluting and internal bloodletting and political corruptions, seeking to coexist with them and ensure the world’s environments sustain, keeping its biodiversities flourishing under imperial vampiric rule… Or will you choose some other path for your empire of blood to take??
- The only thing beyond the power of an Emperor is the recurrence of future tournaments, in which the Emperor must take on all challengers from across the vampire society once more for a challenge to the Emperorship, the current Emperor’s own seeding determined by their own performance in the latest campaign. Though an empire, the fight for the throne occurs no matter what, campaign after campaign, as an ironbound law.
Concept art: ~ A pair of vampires, a Cleric nicknamed “Necrofem” and a Sangromancer nicknamed “The Aristowrath“, prepare to fight in the final match of the tournament to determine the rulership. ~ art by Winona Nelson and Igor Kieryluk, respectively.
In general, {Empire Vampire} is meant to be a replayable multiplayer battler experience with many emergent properties and chaotic, random events within every instance of the game’s vast campaigns.
Inspired by ~
Dynasty Warriors series
Total War series
Warhammer – Vampire Counts
Endgame: At heart, {Empire Vampire} allows you to build an empire of blood! Take control of your very own vampiric champion, battle your way over the Earth in strategically compelling forever-wars, carving and draining humanity on your way to fight for a chance at the throne of your kin. Join your friends upon the battlefield and fight campaign after campaign, building your world, or swallowing it whole…
Thresholds of Transformation 