Natural

(This game is being developed alongside Amica: https://mike-dragon.itch.io/amica Natural has no connections to Amica, and should not reference that game or share any traits with it. Natural also does not take place in the same universe as Amica, nor the same time period in which that game takes place. These two games as as unrelated to one another as I can make them.)

 

Taking place in fantasy modern times, in a world where dragons, other mythical creatures and Earth animals co-exist in society, in a world where humans do not exist, they have jobs, go to school and go about their daily routines just like you and me. This creatures society is no stranger to technology. This is Natural.

 

Natural (most likely the final title, but still subject to change) is a game where you'll play as a male dragon named Edax, though his full name is something that I will keep secret until I believe it is the right time to disclose it. In fact, the entire whole game will be kept mostly under wraps until I think the time is right to make it all known. Until then, only small snippets of what I'm cooking will be shared (via my KoFi, Tumblr, X, YouTube, Deviant Art and updates to this page, maybe) occasionally. This is a much different approach than with Amica (link above) and that's due to its main theme and core game mechanic: [REDACTED] Also unlike Amica, this game will not be free. [REDACTED] is not a thing I like, but I am fully aware there is an audience that is not shy to spending money with [REDACTED] media/content. If I don't like it, then why am I making this game, fully focused around this theme in particular? Because affording a living has become borderline impossible and I need some extra source of income. I don't know if this game will sell at all when ready, but I might as well give it a try, and though I may not like the theme of choice, I'm still going to give my best to make Natural the best game I possibly can. I'm planning to sell it for 5 dollars, but a free demo will be made available. Tier 1 subscribers on my KoFi will get full access to the game at no extra cost, and I might put it on sale at a lower price in August (not necessarily this year, as its unlikely it will be ready before August 2026).

Natural is in very early development and there isn't much other than a handful of basic sprites done, let alone anything playable.

 

Plot (Planned)

In Natural, you'll play as a male dragon named Edax {REDACTED] [REDACTED}, a divorced dragon who lost his hoard in the divorce and now is living in near-poverty conditions, unable to afford his bills, rent and having to face starvation more often than the number of golden coins he has left. Unemployed, Edax is in desperate search for a job so he can afford his survival, when a job opening is posted for the position of security guard for the night shift, at a research and development company, known mostly for being the target of several break-ins than whatever work or products they produce. The job posting is short and doesn't describe the duties of the guard or the pay, only that no previous experience is required, although it would be quite prefered. Edax has no experience in working as a security guard, but he's big and strong and in desperate need for a job, any job, so he applies for the job and much to his surprise, he got a response still on the same day, calling him in for an interview for that same day, too! Even more surprising is the fact that he got the job almost immediately and was set to begin on that very evening.

Though Edax is asked the impossible: To not let anyone is, but if any do, to not let anyone out. If he does, then its back to looking for a job. No prisoners can be taken and absolutely no killings should happen, for the last thing the company needs are bodies or leftovers of bodies drawing in the attention of authorities. And no police should be called to arrest the intruders either. But Edax meets a researcher who offers him a solution, a way to make it work while at the same time solving his hunger issues, allowing his bad pay to be sufficient to afford his bills and rent while saving on food, but Edax is not happy about the solution offered. To accomplish what's expected of him, Edax finds himself forced to [REDACTED] any and all intruders he finds in the building. That will definitely get rid of his starvation, that's for sure, but at the cost of his dignity and morals.

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The plot is not fully fleshed out yet. All that is really settled is that Edax is an underpaid night security guard that cannot lose his awful job and the only way to get it done is by [REDACTED] all intruders he finds. In other words, this is a [REDACTED] game. And that is the part I don't like. I might include some terror/horror elements in this game, perhaps in the form of hallucinations, triggered by Edax's sense of guilty for [REDACTED] his enemies, but that is yet to be decided upon.

Game Mechanics (Planned)

The only way to defeat the enemies will be by [REDACTED] them. To do that the player will first need to knock them out out. Once knocked out, then the player can have Edax [REDACTED] the fallen enemy. Each enemy [REDACTED] will cause Edax's [REDACTED] to [REDACTED]. The larger (and heavier) it is, the slower he can run and jumps will not go as high.

I would like to add a few puzzles, if I can think of them and figure out how to implement them. Some puzzles could/should make use of the main game mechanic and be weight-based, meaning that Edax would have to [REDACTED] a certain amount of enemies or a few in particular so he can use his weight to solve a weight-based puzzles. The size of his [REDACTED] could also play a role in which areas of the facility he can or cannot reach, as well as access cards some [REDACTED] enemies may drop.

Combat/Attacks (Planned)

Unlike with Amica, I don't think I will add fire breathing as a means to attack enemies, despite the fact that Edax is a dragon. I might do that to differentiate this game from Amica some more, and also because the whole game will likely take place indoors, so thinking in-universe, Edax shouldn't breathe fire in order to avoid setting his workplace on fire. This is still to be decided, though. What is decided are melee attacks. Like in Amica, Edax will be able to use his claws and teeth to attack enemies. Slap them with Edax's clawed paws and bite them to knock them out. Once knocked out, then Edax will be able to [REDACTED] them. If he doesn't do it, the knocked out enemy will wake back up.

I still don't know how enemy attacks will work. That is something I am still working on. I want all enemies to be animals/creatures (no anthropomorphic creatures, preferably), so they might have similar ways to attack Edax, be it by clawing and biting, like Edax can do, or by also using some kind of weapon as well.

I also have not figured on how the health system will work. I want to add health-recovery items, but that might depend on how the health system will work. Or I might not add health-recovery items at all! I could make it so Edax's health regenerates automatically, but only if he has [REDACTED] an enemy. If his [REDACTED] is [REDACTED], then no health is regenerated.

Enemies and Friendlies (Planned)

This is yet another element of the game that is still in a very early stage of development. So far I have only thought of three types (species) of enemies to have in the game: A wolf, a horse and a snake. Both the wolf and the horse should be intruders that broke into the building and that Edax needs to [REDACTED] to keep them from escaping. The snake should be a non-sentient animal (unlike the wolf and horse), just some animal that was used to experiment on in the labs and that has somehow managed to escape. It will probably be able to poison Edax with a bite. To defeat it, Edax will also have to knock it out and then [REDACTED] it, like with the regular enemies. I maybe might enable the snake enemy to also [REDACTED] other enemies, if it comes across them.

In terms of friendly encounters, Edax will meet a researcher that prefers to do his work at night. I haven't decided what species this character will be, nor what he will be named yet. All that is decided about him is that he's going to be male and that he will tell Edax how to achieve what is expected of him on his job and help him come to terms with it. 

I want Edax to refuse the suggested method to rid the place of intruders. This researcher will offer him a formula he's been working on to make whoever drinks it more susceptible, more easy to accept things they normally wouldn't and to carry out orders without questioning as much, or at all. So Edax should drink this formula and then accept to [REDACTED] the intruders as the means to carry out his orders. Though Edax would still be aware of what he's doing and this is how I might bring in the scary hallucinations (or nightmares. I might have Edax go home to sleep), which would be triggered by his guilt for [REDACTED] all of those creatures.

Other characters Edax might encounter should include the company owner, who is also unnamed and I don't yet chose a species for him to be. I'll likely have him carry out Edax's job interview. I might also add a few other researchers around the facility during Edax's shift. As to whether or not I'll have Edax be able to [REDACTED] them as well, is still not decided.

Items And Powerups (Planned)

I should add some items, but those aren't planned yet. As for powerups, I currently have no plans to introduce any.

Cutscenes And Level Intros (Planned)

Originally I wanted to have as little dialogue as possible and no cutscenes at all, but I really want to make this game worth your money, so despite the chosen main theme, I have gone back on my original idea and I will put in the extra effort to add more dialogue and cutscenes. However, I do not intend to have cutscenes like the ones Amica should have. Instead, they should all be in-game scenes, where control is taken from the player for a moment and dialogue boxes with the face of the character that is speaking at the moment showing at the bottom of the screen. Might also add some interactivity by having the player choose some options or response/dialogue. As for level intros, I have no plans to add any at this time, and this is unlikely to change.

Levels (Planned)

As of now, the current plan for levels is to technically have none. Currently the idea is to have the entire game take place in one single location, but divided into sectors (and trips to Edax's house occasionally. Maybe have him commute there as well. If I do that, I could add some encounters that will have Edax [REDACTED] them as well in order to keep his work method secret), being some of those sectors only accessible after some time or with the right requirements, such as solving certain puzzles and obtaining specific access cards.

Currently the game has no clear ending planned, but I do have a vague idea of how it could end. Though I currently have no plans for a sequel or any other game themed around [REDACTED] at all for the future, I do want to leave the ending with a hook for a potential sequel. I want to do it that way in the event this game does sell I find myself in a dire financial situation again in the future, bad enough to justify another [REDACTED] game for "easy" money. Either that or if there is enough interest in a sequel or just another game around the same theme, even if completely unrelated to Natural and with a different protagonist. I may not like [REDACTED] (hell, I might as well say I hate it), but I'll still be doing my best to make the game/these games be as good as possible to make your money worth it.

Progress Saving

I want to add the possibility for the player to save their progress so he/she can take a break and come back to the game at a later time and pick it back up right from it was left off. Though this will likely work differently from how I plan to make it work in Amica.

Production (Planned)

Like with Amica, this game should also feature sprites and level assets hand drawn entirely by myself, with 0 AI involved. Assuming I can implement the main game mechanic as it is planned to work, this means that I will be having a LOT of work ahead of me with Edax's sprites in particular. And when I say a "LOT" I do mean a huge LOT of work. This is another reason why I want to charge money for this game. 

All sprites in this game should be much larger than the sprites in Amica, so that will also add a lot of extra work with every single sprite and frame of animation drawn. They need to be larger due to the game's core mechanic. Because Edax should be [REDACTED] other creatures and each one [REDACTED] should [REDACTED] Edax's [REDACTED] more and more, his sprites will require SEVERAL different variations of [REDACTED] sizes.

There is no date of release for this game or even for its demo. I cannot predict one yet. Like with Amica, I am making everything all by myself and learning GDevelop as I go. Soon as I have something playable, I will release a demo for this game and finally revleal what all of those "[REDACTED]" are supposed to be. 

Be forewarned, however! This game is meant to target one specific kind of audience, so it may not be enjoyable for all, unlike Amica. Despite of that, I'll still be doing my best to have an actual game underneath the theme chosen for the game. That way, if [REDACTED] were to not be present at all or if can be ignored, there should still be a fun game to play that should be worthy of those $ 5. If I can make it possible to disable all [REDACTED] elements completely (this could be a setting in the Options menu), that would be even better. The only "issue" with that is that the story and combat is dependent on [REDACTED] being present. But I promise that I will think of a way to make it work. And if I can, I will make it! You can have my word on it. Dragon word!

Also unlike with Amica, and as I mentioned earlier, the development of Natural will have very limited sharing. It will likely never be featured on my art livestreams, and anything I release about it should be only small tidbits of everything that is being made and only occasionally. Maybe after the main theme is revealed I might share more information about what's being worked on behind the curtains, but I'll still not feature it on my streams.

Funding

Like with Amica, I have no plans to ask for any donations to help with the making of this, but I won't refuse any either, if any do come my way. Though I'll share more details about that at a later date. All I'll say for now is that any donation made towards this game will be rewarded with the donor's name in the game's credits.

If you like dragons and [REDACTED], then this project is something you might want to keep an eye on. Even if you don't like [REDACTED], like me, and can ignore it, there still should be a fun game here!