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One of the initial design bits for Tormishire was that players will be able to alter the outcome of the games events, both short and long term, through minor decision making. I’d like to go through a couple just to give an idea of what this entails.

At a certain point in the game a fork appears in the path. The default direction is to head left and I’ve thrown a few design bits in there to encourage this route. On the left route the first enemy encounters are all static, low level monsters. By taking the shorter left route you encounter a village early and receive an item, you also face off against the first boss after a few minutes.

The right route has enemies that will attack, but rewards this with a more useful item, though it doesn’t deal any damage. This route skips out the first boss for quite some time allowing you to level up and find a key character and health packs. But because of the increased time the first boss will be stronger too. This route also lets the player fix a broken power station, fixing this will increase the strength of all electricity-related bosses, but rewards the player with a powerful weapon and a transport method (which couldn’t previously run because of the lack of power).

It’s in the first village that the player can play Cupid and is given the opportunity to befriend a villager who needs a way to help pay for his wedding. You can skip him out altogether but by helping him and choosing 1 of 3 options you can help him get married sooner. But this affects if the couple stay together and later have kids, who in turn will help the player out when they later return.

Just stuff like that. Innit.

Just thought I’d go over a few of the more used items in Tormi. The player can use 1 item at a time, selected via the menu, pressing Q or E on the keyboard or using the Xbox 360′s shoulder buttons (either bumper or trigger). There are many items to get in the game, most of them found via subquests.

Torch

Probably the most useful item in Tormishire, the torch lights up the surrounding area which makes it a necessity for unlit caverns.

Oh no! But a quick press of the next item button and…

Ta da! But look closely, flies and insects are attracted to any lights. Even your torch! As you move further from a light source the background will start to fade to darkness and the players view will diminish.

But that’s not all the torch does. When approaching a secret area it will switch from a yellow flame to red! So it might be useful to keep the torch on even in well lit areas. And of course it won’t work under water, you’ll have to rely on other light sources there…

Bombs

All self-respecting adventure games need explosives. Tormi has a couple but the first you’ll get (provided you visit a certain thermal power station). They’re fuelled by a certain fruit that’s quite common in one area of the game. Bombs go boom and send enemies and other stuff flying. I posted a video over this way.

Bomb fizzing away.

Bomb seeing off several enemies. Bombs and anything else that triggers an explosion also light up the area for the player, much like the torch only it soon gets dark again.

Radio

The radio lets you listen to Tormi’s own radio station, nothing more than that! Just keep it away from enemies with sensitive ears, the volume dial is stuck on 11. Like most radios it can be thrown around-

Sending sweet sweet music anywhere you want. Just be sure to pick it back up again!