1. Zone Mandate
Emberwood Pass is the first complete REALMFRONT zone and the production proving ground for every foundational system. It must feel like a real region, but remain small enough to finish and polish before expanding the world.
Primary Fantasy
Enter a living faction warfront, choose where to fight, and visibly affect territorial control.
Gameplay Density
A meaningful encounter, objective, discovery, or decision every 30–60 seconds of travel.
Camera Standard
Fixed top-down isometric view with readable lanes, obstruction rules, and uncluttered silhouettes.
Target Traversal
10–15 minutes edge-to-edge once complete; first playable slice is approximately 3–5 minutes wide.
2. Schematic Zone Layout
This is a production blockout diagram rather than final art. It defines spatial relationships, travel routes, objectives, and faction pressure.
3. Subregions & Landmarks
Emberwood Watch
Central watchtower, palisade, capture ring, changing faction banners, guard spawns, and primary regional benefit.
Emberwood Crossroads
Neutral service hub, fast travel, quest handoff, repair/vendor functions, and social staging area.
Brightgrove
Wildbound forest sanctuary with ranger paths, corrupted wildlife, herbal resources, and restoration quests.
Ashen March
Ember Crown military road, supply wagons, training yard, smithing resources, and fortified patrols.
Shrouded Hollow
Veil ruins, arcane hazards, underground chambers, portals, magical enemies, and the zone dungeon entrance.
Stonebreak Vale
Rocky boss-event arena, mining nodes, unstable ground, and the Ironbound Colossus world event.
4. Territorial Objectives
| Objective | Purpose | Ownership Benefit | Reset Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emberwood Watch | Main capture point and regional anchor. | Forward respawn, guard patrols, faction score gain, local vendor access. | Persists until another faction captures it. |
| Western Signal Fire | Minor capture point overlooking Brightgrove road. | Reveals nearby enemies/events and strengthens Watch capture speed. | Fast recapture; low guard density. |
| Eastern Supply Post | Minor objective on Ashen March route. | Improves faction guard strength and grants periodic supply chest. | Fast recapture; supply timer pauses while contested. |
| Veil Relay Stone | Arcane objective inside Shrouded Hollow. | Temporary portal access and event-warning advantage. | Deactivates after timed control window. |
5. Initial Quest Package
Bright in the Grove
Defeat Mirestalkers near the corrupted grove, cleanse three root clusters, and return to the Wildbound keeper.
Hold the Line
Reinforce Emberwood Watch, defeat an enemy patrol, and remain inside the capture area through one contest cycle.
Missing Supply Detail
Track a destroyed Ember Crown wagon, recover manifests, and choose whether to return or sabotage the supplies.
Whispers Below
Investigate Veil runes, close two unstable tears, and discover the entrance to Shrouded Hollow’s dungeon.
A Flag in the Soil
Tutorial for the T-slot Territory Flag and faction contribution rules.
The Pass Remembers
Exploration chain leading players to six historical landmarks and the first lore codex entries.
6. Dynamic & World Events
The Ironbound Colossus
Zone headline event. The colossus awakens in Stonebreak Vale, moves through destructible barricades, and drops faction-neutral and contribution-based rewards.
Outpost Under Attack
NPC assault wave targets the controlling faction at Emberwood Watch, creating PvE pressure during possible PvP interference.
Corrupted Grove Bloom
Mire corruption spreads across Brightgrove, replacing wildlife, opening temporary gathering nodes, and culminating in an elite.
Veil Incursion
Arcane portals open along a route, spawning casters and hazards until players destroy relay crystals.
7. Enemy & NPC Roster
| Family | Examples | Combat Role | Primary Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mire Beasts | Mirestalker, Frostbark Warg, Rootmaw | Fast melee, pounce, rooting pools. | Brightgrove |
| Ember Deserters | Spearman, Shieldbearer, Firebrand | Formation combat and defensive pressure. | Ashen March |
| Veil Constructs | Watcher, Arcane Husk, Rift Binder | Ranged control, beams, teleports. | Shrouded Hollow |
| Stoneborn | Shardling, Quarry Brute, Ironbound Colossus | Slow impacts, ground hazards, armor breaks. | Stonebreak Vale |
| Faction Guards | Vanguard, Ranger, Arcanist guard variants | Objective defense and faction identity. | Owned objectives |
8. Resources, Loot & Rewards
Gathering
Ironwood, ember ore, veil crystal, medicinal herbs, and common hide.
World Loot
Strongboxes, patrol caches, event chests, elite drops, and faction supply rewards.
Progress Rewards
Experience, class mastery, faction reputation, crafting materials, cosmetics, and regional currency.
Loot Rule
Rewards should encourage participation without making the strongest faction permanently stronger. Territory benefits improve access and convenience more than raw permanent combat power.
9. Travel, Safety & Respawn
- Emberwood Crossroads: neutral sanctuary and default respawn.
- Faction Approaches: protected entry lanes that prevent immediate spawn camping.
- Emberwood Watch: forward respawn only for the controlling faction.
- Hidden Ranger Paths: narrow alternate routes with lower visibility but no mounts.
- Veil Portals: temporary travel shortcuts unlocked through event or objective control.
- Road Clarity: main roads remain obvious from the locked camera and connect all primary POIs.
10. Production Phases
Terrain boundaries, road, watchtower footprint, palisade, capture circle, spawn points, camera, collisions, and basic navigation.
Ranger versus Vanguard combat, target selection, health/resource states, abilities, guards, death, and respawn.
Contest detection, progress logic, ownership swap, banners, guard replacement, faction score, and UI messaging.
Mirestalkers, Frostbark Warg, one quest chain, loot, interaction prompts, and objective tracker.
Reduced-realism trees, rocks, roads, props, watchtower kit, lighting, VFX, and minimap art.
Add Crossroads, Brightgrove, Ashen March, Shrouded Hollow, Stonebreak Vale, and minor objectives.
Ironbound Colossus encounter, contribution scoring, event UI, reward chest, and reset cycle.
Performance, readability, onboarding, combat balance, spawn safety, navigation, and multiplayer stress tests.
11. First-Slice Asset Checklist
- Ground plane and road material
- Evergreen tree variants
- Rock cluster variants
- Grass and low foliage set
- Watchtower modular kit
- Wooden palisade kit
- Gate and capture platform
- Ember Crown banner
- Wildbound banner
- Veil banner
- Crates, barrels, carts, tents
- Torches and campfire
- Capture-ring VFX
- Ownership-change VFX
- Human Vanguard model
- Wood Elf Ranger model
- Faction guard variants
- Mirestalker enemy
- Frostbark Warg enemy
- Ability VFX starter set
- Player frame component
- Compact target frame
- Action bar slots
- Minimap and objective panel
- Chat and system notifications
- Audio ambience and combat cues
12. Vertical-Slice Acceptance Criteria
Definition of Done
The slice is complete when it is fun enough to replay, visually representative of the current canon, stable enough for external testing, and reusable as the technical foundation for the rest of Emberwood Pass.