Banished Knights-Temporary Title

I jokingly call this my Not-so-Cozy Romantasy RPG

I get that I'm doing the joke of offering a concept without much else. I am a writer, not a Game Dev, I'm not here to offend.

This is less of a job offer and more of a concept I want to see at work someday. If someone wants to work with me to develop this further, great; if not, I totally understand. I understand this is a very costly, time-intensive process. I am not asking for "free work," more like asking for discussions to find out how to make this a reality.

What do I need to do to potentially pitch this or create a Kickstarter for it so that it may become something?

I am already in the process of hiring concept artists to present the style and tone. I know that will help.

Working Title: Banished Knights

Tagline: Farm, fight, and survive in the last valley shielded from a world of beautiful decay.

Concept Overview:

Banished Knights is a genre-fusing RPG that plants the player in a delicate balance between agrarian survival and desperate heroism. It combines the intimate, day-to-day loop of farm and colony management with the high-stakes, tactical combat of classic party-based RPGs. Players must build and sustain a life in a valley of fragile safety, all while a corrupted wilderness festers and encroaches beyond its borders. It is a game about the tension between tending your crops and steeling your nerves for a fight.

Core Gameplay Pillars:

1. The Hearth: Survival & Colony Sim Management
   • Inspired by the resource depth of Oxygen Not Included and the fortification logistics of Stronghold.
   • Players manage a fledgling settlement. It is not just about planting parsnips. It is about ensuring colonists have clean water, enough food to last the bitter season, and the morale to continue.
   • Build and optimize a functioning colony. Construct walls, manage waste, and set up efficient production chains for blacksmithing, cooking, and alchemy. The colony's survival is a puzzle of resource allocation.
   • Skill progression is granular and life-skill focused, similar to Project Zomboid. Your character does not just learn "Farming," they learn "Irrigation," "Soil Composition," and "Composting." Reading the right skill book can mean the difference between a bountiful harvest and a famine.
2. The Soil: Deep Agricultural & Crafting Systems
   • The core farming mechanics take the depth of Coral Island or Stardew Valley and give them a dark fantasy twist.
   • Crops are not just for selling. Some are ingredients for potions of fire resistance, etc.. Others are the only food source for hardy, combat-ready livestock. You might harvest "Gloomroot," a vegetable essential for curing a strange blight affecting your villagers.
   • Seasons are harsh and unpredictable. A summer "Curseed Wind" could wither your crops, forcing you to rely on stored goods and strategic greenhouse or scheduled farm planning.
3. The Sword: Tactical Party-Based Combat
   • When you venture beyond the valley's protective wards, the game shifts. Combat is real-time with pause, strategic, and party-based, drawing directly from the deep tactical well of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2.
   • You are not a lone hero. You recruit other settlers, each with their own fears and combat proficiencies. A quiet beekeeper might be a potent support caster. The grouchy blacksmith is your party's tank.
   • Abilities are earned through use and discovery. A character who spends a season chopping wood will develop a powerful cleave attack. Reading a forbidden tome found in a ruin might unlock a devastating, but costly, spell. Many are potentially similar to D&D or inspired by.

Art Style & Atmosphere:

The visual identity is a purposeful juxtaposition of cozy life-sim aesthetics and grimdark horror.

• The World: The art style is directly inspired by Coral Island with a dark twist. Characters and environments are rendered in a simple, approachable 3D style with an exaggerated, charming quality. This foundational aesthetic makes the world feel immediately familiar and inviting.
• The Tone: This simplistic style is then subverted by the setting's tone. The world is steeped in concepts drawn from grimdark and Lovecraftian fiction.
  • Grimdark Influence: The world is unforgiving and morally complex. The beauty of nature is a thin veneer over a reality of decay and struggle. The architecture of the old world is functional but brutal. The land itself is tired and scarred by ancient, forgotten conflicts.
  • Lovecraftian Influence: The true horror lies in the unknown. The corruption spreading across the land, The Tainted Wilds is not a simple curse but an indifferent, transformative force. Enemies are not just monsters but beings twisted into new and unsettling forms, their designs hinting at a vast and incomprehensible cosmic structure. The sense of dread comes from confronting things humanity was not meant to understand.
• The Valley vs. The Wilds: The contrast between the two areas reinforces this tonal blend. The valley retains some warmth and color, a last bastion of life. The wilds beyond use the same charming assets but filter them through a lens of corruption. Familiar trees are bloated with unnatural growths. Beloved creatures are warped into grotesque versions of themselves. The horror is made more potent by corrupting the familiar and beautiful.

Target Audience:

• Fans of life and farming sims are looking for deeper challenge and meaningful stakes.
• Players who enjoy colony management and resource optimization puzzles.
• RPG enthusiasts who miss the tactical depth of classic cRPGs.
• Gamers seeking a unique blend of relaxing mechanics and grim, atmospheric tension.