In Lieu of a Kickstarter

Ephemerals is an augmented reality iOS game by Rootopia Productions, focused on creature collection, real world exploration and social interaction.

The gamer’s avatar is a neophyte druid, medicine practitioner on their way to mastering the necessary attributes to befriend and evolve the ephemeral spirits new to Earth. Helping you along the way are experienced druids from Serra Cor and a robust economic system that rewards active play.

Tied to google maps, players have the choice of exploring their local neighborhood or travelling to unlock new spirits. Through Geolocation services gamers can also connect with other players in their area to trade ephemerals and gear.

To make this happen Rootopia needs $100,000. This includes $10,000 to license the Google Maps API, employ two programmers and cover the expenses necessary to run a business.


The Story of Ephemerals:







Serra Kor was a spiritual twin to Earth that existed in our closest alternate dimension. When time was new, the two shared a strong link. Travel back and forth was possible. Many mythic creatures in the legends of man were actually stray fauna from Serra Kor.

Calamity befell Serra Kor. Their spiritual leaders, Druids seeking to preserve the essence of the home world, managed to open a portal to earth and a mass migration took place.
Ephemerals, spirit totems, are now scattering over the world in search of a new place to call home. However, the earth isn’t as pristine as it once was and many of the ephemerals are in danger of becoming sick.

You are either a Druid from Serra Kor, struggling to preserve your world’s spiritual legacy through the ephemeral or a native born human with newly awakened powers that the influx of spirit mana triggered in you.

The Noble ephemerals deserve a second chance at survival. It is up to you and others like you to give them that chance.

Okay, the world has changed. Magic is real and spirit animals from Serra Kor are everywhere. You’ve recently discovered that you have the potential to communicate with them. With a little training, you will be a powerful medicine practitioner or Druid. What do you do? When you come across an ephemeral, you have to illustrate your worth to it. Through careful gestures and activation of key powers, you might just convince one to be your spirit totem.

After attuning the ephemeral to you, you are responsible for its upkeep and evolution to fully realize its potential. As your powers grow, you will be able to control more and more ephemerals.
Feeling overwhelmed by your new responsibilities, use Currenz to buy fetishes and special training sessions with powerful Druids from Serra Cor.

1.            Character creation is Dot based with two attributes: influence and Will. First level characters start with 3 dots to split between the two. Every level gained increases dots by 1. Level determines ability to search for ephemerals: level and type.
2.            Fetishes and Training sessions will allow for temporary bonuses to influence and will, and acting level. Certain types of ephemeral require different combinations of attributes. Earth ephemerals require more will, while air and water require more influence. Fire requires balanced attributes. There are more types with different requirements: ice, sewer, city, library, etc.
3.            Base creatures can be evolved beyond their archetype. Unicorn Cat?Add batwings. Flying dog snake? Add dragon breath. There are nearly limitless possibilities.

Economic Principles of Ephemerals

Ephemerals will feature a robust in-game economy that employs traditional in-game economic models of currency production and exchange coupled with an extensive micro-transaction system, which will facilitate the purchasing of regular items and certain exclusive items.  Additionally, the game will be scaled so that while player will not be required to engage in micro-transactions, they will be heavily encouraged to do so in order to refrain from constant grinding and plateauing.

The economics of Ephemerals will deal with the following:

A – Acquisition of Currency

B – Usage of Currency

C – Exchange of Currency

A.      – Acquisition of Currency

Acquiring currency in-game will be done through a variety of methods.

1 – Currency Acquired from Capturing and Training

Capturing and training Ephemerals generates currency on a variable scale.  The amount of currency generated is linked directly to the level of in-game difficulty.  Capturing or defeating lower level Ephemerals generates less currency than capturing or defeating higher level Ephemerals.  Similarly, by completing a higher difficulty level of training, the player is rewarded with more currency.

Currency generated from capturing

Level of Ephemeral	Amount of Currency Received
1-10	1-5,000
11-20	2,500-10,000
21-30	5,000-20,000
31-40	12,500-35,000
41-50	25,000-60,000

Currency generated from training

Level of Ephemeral	Amount of Currency Received
1-10	1-500
11-20	500-2,500
21-30	2,500-7,500
31-40	7,500-15,000
41-50	15,000-30,000

2 – Exploration

Currency can be acquired from engaging in in-game exploration.  Players will randomly come across treasure during their outside exploration.   The amount of currency received in this manner will range from 500-10,000.  The player will also be rewarded with currency based on the number locations visited.  Additionally, the player will receive a daily allowance based on the amount of territory explored that day.  However, excessive amounts of time/exploration will result in diminishing returns.

Number of Locations Visited	Amount of Currency Received
1-2	500-1,000
3-5	1,000-2,500
5-7	2,500-5,000
8-10	5,000-7,500
10+	7,500-10,000

3 – Real World to Virtual World Exchange

           

Players may purchase currency using real world money.  This will be done on a sliding scale. 

           

Dollar Amount	Currency Received	Exchange Rate
1	25,000	1:25,000
5	150,000	1:30,000
20	750,000	1:37,500
50	2,500,000	1:50,000

B. – Usage of Currency

Currency in Ephemerals will be used to purchase items and to complete trades and exchanges with other players.

1 – Purchasable Items

Certain items will only be purchasable, and will not be found during gameplay.

Item	Cost
Quatl Feather	15,000
Jaguar Claw	15,000
Quatl Fang	25,000
Jaguar Fang	25,000
Polished Stone	50,000
Bat Wing	50,000
Bones	60,000
Bone Dice	150,000
Jar of Air	300,000
Sea Water	300,000
Sea Salt	300,000
Divining Rod	2,500,000

2 – Collection of Ephemerals

In order to collect Ephemerals from other locations and to gain access to types not found in the player’s local geography, the player will be required to spend their currency.  The cost of acquiring a single Ephemeral from another player will be 20,000, with the player sending the Ephemeral receiving 10,000. Exchanging Ephemerals will cost each player 10,000, with neither player receiving compensation.

Travelling to other locations to catch Ephemerals will be based on the amount of distance travelled from the player’s location.

Distance (in miles)	Cost
10	25,000
50	50,000
100	75,000
200	100,000
500	150,000
1,000	175,000
2,000	200,000
5,000	375,000
Serra Kor	2,500,000

3 – Training Sessions

Training sessions will allow players to temporarily boost their stats.

Attribute	Time (in hours)	Cost
+1 INF	1	50,000
+1 Will	1	50,000
+1 Attribute	5	100,000
+1 Attribute	10	125,000
+2 Attribute	1	100,000
+2 Attribute	5	200,000
+2 Attribute	10	400,000

C. – The Exchange of Currency

Players will be able to exchange currency with each other.  However, players will be flat taxed on the exchange, at a rate of 10%.

Gameplay

 

Learning Curve

Your avatar searches the world for lost Ephemerals, adding them to their stable. When first encountering them, the player is presented with a startled group. To gather one, the player must calm all of the ephemerals on screen. To do this will require a combination of angled swipes and activated powers. Once all the animals are docile, one will bind itself to the player’s avatar. From there, the player must care for/evolve and help the ephemeral acclimate to its new environment.

Only one animal of any given type will bond to an avatar. To walk new players through this, there will be a series of mentor cut scenes to explain the elements of play. When the player begins the first capture attempt, on screen prompts will guide them through the first encounter. Whenever there is a new element of gameplay, a short tutorial from a mentor reinforced with onscreen prompts will aid the player in mastering the technique/element. Ultimately, the gameplay is simple to allow early proficiency, but mastery will only come through experience.

Chance/Control

Player control begins with the avatar customization and the decision on where to play. Each player will be able to decide what their avatar looks like in a manner similar to the Mii system for the Wii. In addition the player will be given the ability to customize their stable environments for their ephemerals. Early on this will be in an apartment or house, based on real world location. Eventually they will be able to create an extra-dimensional space within these areas.

They can chose to play in a static map of their home town with an occasional trip to Serra Kor, or they can travel through the real world. In the static game mode, character movement will either be based on an arrow/tap interface or through orientation of the game device. In the dynamic mode, character movement will be tracked through the google maps api with connections occurring through wifi/gps/cell service. Though encounters with ephemerals will be somewhat randomly determined, travelling to real world locations opens up access to rare or custom ephemerals. Mountain locations would have mountain ephemerals. Beaches would have surf ephemerals and the like.

In the capture and maintenance modes, the ephemerals will respond to certain swipes and powers favorably and others negatively. Each of the ephemerals on screen will behave in a predetermined manner. However the ephemeral’s location and orientation will be decided randomly. The number of ephemerals present will depend on the proficiency level of the player.

Rewards (how/what)

         Players are rewarded with Ephemerals, items, and in-game currency through their efforts in general play, completing certain tasks/quests, and through socialization.  This provides rewards for both effort, seen by gaining new Ephemerals, and achievements, seen by gaining currency.  Both the Ephemerals and currency will be used to facilitate trading and purchasing in the game and will tie into creating a feedback system of rewards for engaging the social aspects of the game.

Target Audience_Real Audience (who/why)

         The primary target audience would be children ages 8-14.  More specifically, it would target children in that age range who have access to non-traditional mobile gaming, i.e. iOS, Android, etc.  Additionally audiences would include RPG players, casual gamers, social gamers, and ARG players.  Although primarily aimed at the 8-14 demographic, these others would be catered to through specific in-game designs and play options.

Actuality of Work (what)

         Work will be measured in points based on tasks such as capturing or defeating certain creatures.  More points means a higher position, ability to use the games system of items (purchasing or otherwise).  Battles will result in gained or lost experience, skills, or items.  The work will be measured by the difficulty of the task.

Feedback_Metrics (how)

         Each player will have an in-game avatar that will display the Ephemerals in their party, those obtained, in-game currency, and items.  Additionally, there will be feedback metrics similar to trophies and achievements that track when certain goals or challenges have been overcome.  Players will also be able to view how specific Ephemerals are feeling and the status of their training.  There will also be a map displaying statistics such as where players have and have not explored, where they have caught Ephemerals, where additional Ephemerals may be found, and where specific quests and challenges can be found/completed.