Overview of the project

Welcome to Dark Garden

Command guardian angels in WW2 Nazi-occupied Belgium to defeat rising darkness by bringing those on the edge of death to life as Spiritkind.
Dark Garden is a video game designed and produced by Joel Balyeat in association with Geoff Young, based on the book by Geoff Young. The Guardian Universe
Dark Garden is an open-world RPG with turn-based tactical combat and strategic simulation elements interwoven throughout.
In Dark Garden, the player commands and acts as guardian angels in an open-world RPG mode, engaging in dramatic tactical turn-based spiritual warfare battles with demons, as well as taking the role of God in a "god mode" strategy layer. Dark Garden combines the strategic and tactical gameplay of XCOM 2 with the social-behavioral AI of Sims, and weaves within it a story that will make Disco Elysium nod with approval.
Dark Garden is envisioned to be an AAA-quality game rendered in 3D, state-of-the-art detail and style using Unreal 5, with fantastic visual art and incredibly compelling, procedurally generated storylines. In early development, Dark Garden is being developed and designed, including the prototyping of mechanics in Unreal 5, by a growing team of volunteers who are passionate about the project.

The Purpose

Dark Garden, following on from The Guardian Universe, seeks to paint an unexpected picture of how both the immortal and mortal hemispheres are interwoven. Players experience through immersion the ancient story of God and salvation, ultimately gaining an eternal perspective on their own lives.
A unique, multi-layered game approach will be used to accurately depict the coexistence and constant interplay of the seen and unseen worlds. This approach will draw on the strengths of each genre to tell aspects of the truth in the way that is most impactful. The goal is to use an engaging and very challenging user experience to subconsciously inject the answer to this question into the player's mind: “What is the nature of God and his relationship with humans?”
Dark Garden, when complete, will be the first AAA game ever made that is grounded in biblical concepts.

Audience

16–50-year-old men and women. The game will have a broad appeal to different age groups for different reasons. Entry points of interest will focus on relationship observation and influence (young women), combat, tactics, and abstract formal systems mastery (young men), RPG development (all), exploration and adventure (young), meaningful choice (more mature), and supernatural elements (all.)

What makes Dark Garden different

• Butterfly-effect, state-based NPC AI behavior and changes

• An intensive spiritual warfare theme

• Blending of three successful game modes to achieve different perceptions of time, action, and certainty as they relate to the supernatural

• Learning the value of a human soul to God through player experience

• Exploring the idea that ideas and words are weapons, and they are being constantly used against us by a sinister destroyer

• Fantastic visuals with a purpose: display the vast chasm between the will and power of God and the will and existence of humankind

The Story

God deploys guardian angels to Nazi-occupied Belgium to battle the darkest of all evils, on a nearly impossible mission, to not just protect humans from irreversible destruction, but to see them transformed into Spiritkind. In a procedurally generated story-driven war like none you have ever seen, the forces of Heaven and Hell seek to influence the minds of relatable human characters, with the very soul of humanity hanging in the balance.

The Game

The underlying theory is that all people are in fact dead in spirit, and to remain dead dooms them to damnation, a bad thing. A person who comes to life becomes a living spirit, Spiritkind, and this is a good thing. Nothing else matters.
Dark Garden's unique previously unseen edge is its butterfly-effect game world. Each NPC has a complex behavioral AI and responds and changes based on the player's actions. A changed NPC will develop for better or worse over time, and have an effect on every other NPC they interact with, creating a continual ripple effect.
The player acts as the will of God, able to see the spiritual war below and deploying angels at critical points to try to not just protect vulnerable souls, but to against all odds lead them to transformation, emergence as Spiritikind. Sorrow and great evil are constant companions, all decisions entail a moral dilemma, and the valuable souls gravitate toward their own destruction at every turn. But with carefully considered choices, the player can set in motion fantastic, long-arcing rescue efforts that see a doomed soul transcend mortality and become powerful weapons for good.
To read more about Spiritkind see the article Spiritkind.

Core Mechanics

The core mechanics are delineated by three modes of player activity, each quite different but all interconnected through meaningful choices that effect a shared element called Nephesh. The Nephesh comprises the game state of each NPC, which is the battlefield the player effects, and bringing them to life as Spiritkind is the path to winning the game.

Nephesh

All NPCs possess a collection of characteristics, collectively called the Nephesh, a supernatural expression of human existence. The component characteristics define the intentions and strength of effort of each NPC, and determine how their AI behavior functions. The player seeks to nurture each NPC's Nephesh to life, adding them to the supernatural resistance effort and turning them into Spiritkind, a positive, powerful force in a dark world. The Fallen seek to corrupt every NPC's Nephesh, preventing them from becoming Spiritkind and damning them forever as children of death, prisoners of the Dark Garden.
For more information see the article Nephesh

Butterfly Effect

Behavioral AI does not just change in response to player input, but also in response to NPC interaction. Each NPC will have an effect on those it comes into contact with, with the potential to spread hope, foster fear, build courage, engender hate, and promote peace, among many other effects. A living, breathing world, the human terrain is ever-changing, and the ripples the player makes in the pond will have a profound effect on the trajectory of everyone's lives.

Game Modes

RPG

Explore a minutely detailed, open-world RPG village teeming with interactive NPCs, each with their own unique, context-driven story arcs. Discover every NPC's motivations, behavior tendencies, weaknesses, and potential to join your resistance as Spiritkind. Influence their thoughts and environment, engaging their potential and permanently shifting their behavior. Direct Guardians to protect promising recruits and your pivotal team of Spiritkind, and observe the results of your efforts, as their individual stories weave together to create a procedurally generated story with life-and-death stakes and never-ending variation.

Turn-Based-Tactical

When humans come under attack from the twisted Fallen, you direct a Guardian angel to defend them. In a turn-based battle, you command the Guardian and influence the human, using powerful authority skills, and making key decisions to both protect the human from immediate danger and mitigate permanent damage to their psyche.

Strategic

Examine the war zone from a strategic perspective at critical intervals, prioritizing efforts that will strengthen the resistance and choosing specific actions to influence the human landscape. Direct Guardians to where they are needed most and command Spiritkind to rally to the cause in a way that may just turn the tide.

The Team

Dark Garden is currently in prototype development by a global team of passionate volunteers. To find out more about the team, click the flags below.

Team Map

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This map shows the global distribution of team members working on the Guardian Universe.
A team of passionate volunteers, each with a particular set of skills, each member pours their creativity and experience into the project to make it a success.
Interested in being a part of this ground-breaking video game? Email [email protected] with a short description of yourself and your skill set, and we'll get back to you

What's Next

If you'd like to explore the game design in full, the best place to start is the world codex, with a full list of articles on gameplay, mechanics, storylines, characters, and much more. World codex.

If you would like to see the ongoing work involving AI mechanic development in Unreal, check out these Blueprints.
If you're interested in checking out the compelling influences behind the game design, see Influences.
If you'd like to learn about the hooks, check out Why Dark Garden must be made.
If you'd like to see a sample of the storytelling, check out the flash fiction Soaring.
Want to join our pool of playtesters and get early looks at the game development? Send us a message, and we'll add you to the official list.
Or, if you'd like to explore the biblical research that underpins supernatural elements, check out chapters of The Guardian Universe here.