Harmonia

Harmonia
Alpha Project
Developer	Baroque Creations
Theme	Fantasy
Influences	Shining Force III, Nethack, MUDs
Released	August 11th, 2012
Updated	August 17th, 2012
Licensing	Closed Source, Moddable
P. Language	C, SDL, Custom Scripting
Platforms	Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Interface	ASCII, 3D
Game Length	N/A
Official site of Harmonia

Harmonia is an online Tactical RPG with an ASCII interface influenced by Nethack and MUDs. The game is currently transitioning into a 3D environment inspired by the game Shining Force III for Sega Saturn. Gameplay is active-turn based, and there is no permanent death. Once the interface transition is complete, players will control multiple characters with an RTS-style interface.

The Harmonia server will be shipped with the game upon release. All of the games content, which includes the world, character classes, and abilities, is open to the public and modifiable via the Harmonious scripting language written for the engine. Upon running the Harmonia client, players will see third-party servers run by other players in the game's lobby screen, opening up mods or total conversions for sharing among the community.

Gameplay

The game casts you as leader of a band of heroes fighting alongside other players' forces. Your battalion explores the world, traverses large dungeons, completes quests, and engages in strategic combat against other armies on the battlefield. As you complete areas of the game, you unlock new classes, races, flair, and abilities for your characters and your account.

Scripting

Behind the game, Harmonia is also a platform for players and developers to create their own games hosted on their own servers. The Harmonia engine allows all of the game's assets, including zones, character classes, and abilities, to be modified using a lightweight, flexible scripting language. These scripts are open for anyone to edit, and can be modified and recompiled while the server is running, allowing designers to tweak their creations even while playing them. In this way Harmonia provides an infinitely moddable tactical RPG engine.

Sample Script

The following is an entity definition for a shopkeeper in the Rebel Camp zone. He contains a custom conversation menu [entity_showcase_old_man_menu], which provides a shop and quest dialogue. The full script is available here.

# the shopkeeper will help you get to the rebel base.
[entity_showcase_old_man]
   entity_base ()
   entity_shopkeeper ()
   set (title, "an old shopkeeper")
   effect (entity_showcase_old_man_menu, 20, talk_player)
   memory_once (quest_new_passphrase, 1)

   # define his shop.
   set (menu_text,
      "'`WAlright, take a look around.  Hopefully some of these things will "
      "help you on your mission.`w'")
   set (menu_items, 'armor_showcase_gem item_medical_herb item_antidote '
                    'item_angel_feather item_torch item_large_torch')

Potential for Modding Community

The scripting engine create an online gaming experience with potentially limitless possibilities. Once a player completes all of the content on the official Harmonia servers, they have the option to either create their own content and run their own server, or join one of many unofficial servers hosted by the community and explore player-made content. This opens the game up for endless expansion as we, the developers, take notice of top-quality player-made content and integrate it into our official servers if the creator so desires.

Resources

• www.harmonia-online.net, official website.
• www.harmonia-online.net/forum, official Harmonia forums.
• www.indiedb.com/games/harmonia, Harmonia on IndieDB.
• www.youtube.com/synival, YouTube channel.
• www.facebook.com/TalesOfHarmonia, Harmonia on Facebook.