1. Core Vision
REALMFRONT is a top-down faction MMORPG with MOBA-like combat readability, persistent territory conflict, social faction identity, and a premium stylized heroic-fantasy presentation.
Player Fantasy
Choose a faction and class, fight for territory, grow in power, and help shape an ongoing war.
Game Feel
Responsive, readable, deliberate combat with meaningful positioning and compact ability kits.
2. Design Pillars
Faction Identity
Colors, symbols, locations, objectives, and rewards reinforce allegiance.
Readable Combat
Top-down clarity outranks realism in silhouettes, VFX, UI, and terrain.
Persistent Conflict
Outposts, regions, and world events make the war continue beyond isolated fights.
Accessible Depth
Simple-to-read systems gain mastery through timing, positioning, and teamwork.
3. World & Structure
- Fixed top-down isometric camera.
- Contested regions, settlements, wilderness routes, faction strongholds, and strategic outposts.
- Regional control percentages and faction-wide world events.
- Readable paths, hazards, objectives, and blocked space.
Gameplay Benchmark
Emberwood Pass establishes camera, scale, HUD, and faction-combat readability.
4. Emberwood Pass — First Production Zone
Emberwood Pass is REALMFRONT’s first fully developed playable zone and vertical slice. It proves the camera, combat, faction warfare, questing, world events, traversal, loot, UI, and reduced-realism environment language in one contained region.
Zone Role
Contested three-faction frontier built around Emberwood Watch, a central capturable outpost.
Target Scale
Roughly 10–15 minutes of traversal across the full production zone, released through smaller playable slices.
Primary Loop
Explore, complete objectives, capture outposts, fight players and guards, trigger events, earn loot, and shift region control.
First Slice
Emberwood Watch: one road, forest clearing, palisade, tower, capture ring, faction guards, combat, and complete HUD.
13. Factions
Ember Crown
Humans. Honor, duty, conquest. Heavy armor, disciplined armies, fortified holdings, red-and-gold heraldry.
Wildbound
Wood Elves. Nature, freedom, balance. Agile movement, bows, forests, green-and-gold identity.
The Veil
Dark Elves. Mystery, knowledge, power. Arcane manipulation, purple-black silhouettes, forbidden magic.
13. Starting Classes
Human Vanguard
Spear-and-shield frontline tank using Resolve.
Spear StrikeShield RushIron GuardGroundbreakerUnbrokenTerritory Flag
Wood Elf Ranger
Mobile ranged damage dealer using Energy; built around kiting, pursuit, and bow pressure.
Dark Elf Arcanist
Arcane ranged pressure, battlefield manipulation, and magical control.
Kit Rule
Four core abilities, one ultimate on R, and one faction/world utility on T.
13. Combat
- Action-oriented combat with readable windups, impacts, and ground telegraphs.
- Positioning matters more than excessive button quantity.
- VFX use strong shapes, limited particles, and faction colors.
- Cooldowns animate directly on icons with dark wipes, greying, and countdown text.
13. Faction Warfare
Region Control
Faction performance changes control percentages and realm-wide pressure.
Outpost Capture
Players contest zones, defend positions, and convert strategic locations.
World Events
Large threats create spontaneous cooperation and cross-faction competition.
Territory Flag
The T-slot ensures every class participates in the territorial layer.
13. Progression & Social
Class growth, equipment, talents, faction reputation, groups, social tools, and persistent identity should support long-term play without sacrificing readable PvP balance.
CharacterInventoryTalentsSocialMapFaction Progress
13. UI & Camera
- Player frame and smaller target frame at upper left.
- Minimap and objectives at upper right.
- Standalone square action slots at bottom center with key labels underneath.
- Chat lower left; navigation lower right.
- Modular, faction-themed, scalable components.
Player Frame Benchmark
Current hierarchy, class-resource treatment, portrait scale, and status-icon stack.
13. Art Direction
Canon: premium stylized heroic fantasy with Albion-like readability, mature proportions, strong faction identity, and simplified materials.
Characters
Broad armor plates, readable weapons, controlled detail, and bold faction colors.
Environments
Chunkier rocks, broader trees, cleaner paths, and less foliage noise.
VFX
Graphic telegraphs, limited particles, and strong impact shapes.
UI & Icons
Compact bronze/gold structure, modern stylized icons, no oversized slabs.
Reduced Realism Pass
The active reference for characters, UI, insignias, icons, and material simplification.
13. Production Rules
- Compare visual changes against the gameplay benchmark.
- Every asset must work at actual gameplay scale.
- Build UI as reusable components, not flattened full-screen art.
- Keep insignias, colors, resources, and names consistent across game and website.
- Update this bible whenever canon changes.