Solstice

Solstice
Beta Project
Developer	Brigand
Theme	Fantasy
Influences	NetHack Dwarf_Fortress
Released	2008
Updated	2014 July 30 (0.0.37)
Licensing	Freeware
P. Language	Visual Basic 6
Platforms	Windows
Interface	ASCII
Game Length	Unknown
Official site of Solstice

The Story

Far to the east, beyond the reaches of the Throne of the Jade Dragon, beyond the imperial ambitions of the Empire of Imar, lie the Sunrise Islands. For many years, these islands were inhabited by a scrappy lot, content to fish, forest, and live off the natural resources of the volcanic islands, with limited trade with the mainland. However, 100 years ago, a strange phenomenon arose - the Barrier - a persistent, deadly wall of raging storms that no one could penetrate, isolating the islands completely from the west...until now. The Barrier has suddenly dropped - both the Jade Dragon and the Empire scramble to send expedition, along with the lesser nations. Why did the Barrier arise so many years ago, and why did it suddenly drop? What has happened to the original inhabitants of the Sunrise Isles? It is your mission to find out...

The Game

A non-graphical successor to the basic hack n' slash roguelike Lords_of_DarkHall, Solstice has a much larger scope, attempting to simulate a massive amount of completely randomized, persistent terrain. A large world is generated each playthrough, and allows for exploration through many biomes, from sailing the oceans to climbing the mountains. Many different features exist to be explored, including villages, caves, dungeons, towers, ruined castles, volcanic peaks, misty graveyards, strange pyramids, and isolated huts. ANY location can be explored, from the most complex castle to the most featureless isolated coast.

Currently there are several classes to play with tightly coupled skillsets, including the Imarrian Centurion - a strong warrior and leader, Monks of the Jade Fist - mystical martial artists tied closely to nature, the Alchemist of Zin - shunned constructors of black powder devices and strange potions, Priestesses of the Veil - the secretive and fear-inducing sect of female priestesses who control the very shadows themselves, Mindblades - warrior kin to the Monk who eschew the power of nature for the focused power of the trained mind, and the wild-haired Storm Mage - magic users employed by the great empire to control the very winds but feared by even the Emperor himself. It should be noted that while skill sets are initially locked by class selection, there is nothing stopping a player from finding someone to train him in a different skill, allowing for unique play-styles.

Players may establish and build their own town, and a planned future feature is the inclusion of full scale sieges on the players town.

In addition to the main game, there is a bonus mode - the Infinite Dungeon - which acts exactly as the name suggests. The primary focus here is to survive and earn a high score.

The game has been in development on and off over the years, with a notable hiatus while the author attended grad school. Development has recently recommenced, and much work has been completed, but there is still a large list of features that have not been implemented. The game is currently completely playable and explorable, although the story line quests have not been implemented yet.