Queue #1 · Top-down action RPG
The Quiet Work
A man with no magic and no name arrives at a dying town. Three weapons float around him. He doesn’t explain. He goes to work.
Ward has no magic — the weapons float and nobody knows why, not even him. He registers at the Thornkeep guild as a swordsman because that’s the closest category. Psychokinetic orbit combat (collision is the attack), Diablo-style loot tiers from White through Legendary, and skills that grow by use — not menus. Goblin Slayer tone: methodical, quiet competence, no speeches.
Orbit weapons → loot → guild contracts
Ironveil prequel · Thornkeep hub
Combat
Orbit · no attack button · no mana
Up to three weapons orbit Ward in real time — swords tight and fast, spears thrust on movement direction, hammers stagger wide, scythes pull enemies closer. Slots unlock at levels 7 and 14. No dodge roll: psychokinetic evasion (Drift, Repulse, Surge, or Float) prototyped in M1.
Enemy groups scale by composition not HP inflation — swarms, escorts, pincers, ambushes, boss + adds. Loot tiers White–Red with affix pools; Orange and Red drop unidentified. Skills advance automatically from combat log.
World & scope
Thornkeep → five zones
Town hub, then Hollow Fields (grasslands), Ashwalk (desert ambushes), Deepmaw (darkness radius), Sealed Hold (traps + boss chambers) — guild rank gates each zone. 20–40 min per zone run, 5–8 hours full playthrough.
Ironveil universe: same world as Village Guard — systems built here feed the handheld sequel. Ward’s contract mark appears later; the Sealed One carries a map to a village Ward never names.
320×240 logical · Compatibility renderer · PortMaster + itch.io · GDD v1.1 · 10–14 weeks.
