Temporal Guardians FAQ

FAQ

What is Temporal Guardians?
Temporal Guardians is a story driven rogue-like RPG for PC, MacOS, and Linux.
Who is making Temporal Guardians?
Temporal Guardians is written and directed by James Kellie IV. Music tracks were contributed by Varun Nori and James Kellie III. Some art assets included in the demo are from asset packs, paid for through commision work, or generated by AI.
What makes Temporal Guardians different?
Temporal Guardians is being built story first. It's crafted with the intention of delivering a specific message through narrative rather than creating a world or characters to fit some specific gameplay loop. Every facet of design goes into accomplishing that goal. The game is grid-based, it's turn-based, it's methodical, it was designed to remind you of games you may have played as a child. This was done because nostalgia, and that feeling of longing for the past, are dominant themes throughout the story of Temporal Guardians. The gameplay is used as a tool of expression to nurture the story.
What additional features are planned for the full release of Temporal Guardians?
The RPG aspects of the game will be significantly more intricate. Currently in the demo you gain conviction through completing levels and reflecting on your progress during the night. Conviction will play a much deeper role in the full release. Conviction and the notion of mental fortitude will allow you to acquire devastating power levels. The game is going to be designed to scale quite harshly and fights are not going to be fair by nature. It's up to you to train your character outside of levels through various minigames, and prepare for levels by buying the right items for the location and enemy types you plan to encounter. As such, items will play a prominent role in combat as well. I mentioned minigames, the first you will unlock is the gym. In Temporal Guardians, levels and experience are not gained through defeating enemies. Instead, you will need to train your strength at the gym. Cooking the right food to promote growth and completing the right exercises is how you will get stronger. The cycle of gameplay will be vast and much of your focus will be outside of the combat levels.

There will be more towns to explore than just Willow. Each will have their own quirks and activities. Different towns will feature different modes of transport. For example, Twosocks will have a metro system rather than a bus stop. You will need to travel from town to town in sequence, taking trains, boats, buses, and hikes to reach your destination. Say for example you want to visit a town on an island, you may first need to take the bus from Willow, then the train from Twosocks, then a cruise from the coast, all to reach that island. The primary motivator to embark on such a journey will be the unique goods and services found in each town. For example, Twosocks will have a casino and greenhouse, both of which containing various minigames. You might grow an ingredient in the greenhouse that you can use in cooking that will improve your workouts at the gym. You might have won the seed for that ingredient at the casino. There is a constant connection and sense of intent in every activity you partake in. They all contribute to the same end goal and you can picture that a lot of your time in the game will be spent strategising how to best maximise the value of your time in-between the story driven levels.

The combat system will be supplemented to be more skill-based. Since the idea is that abilities can be used regardless of having been learnt, there will be skill checks to ensure you cannot lookup the strongest abilities online and use them straight away in a new save file, unless of course you're a very cool guy. I want combat to be a concoction of preparation and dexterity. Incorrectly using an ability, such as being too slow or inputting the incorrect combo could open up counterplay or cause the ability to backfire. The average player, who does not overtrain, will be consistently treading a thin line between having enough conviction to use strong abilities, and having the mastery to actually execute them. The harder you train, the more conviction you will have, the more leaninency abilities will have when executed, the more abilities you will be able to execute, the more powerful the abilities you can try to learn.
"Ultimate abilities" will feature a cutscene and minigame which determines how much damage it will inflict. This will take place after the standard skill check/combo input. Each boss will use their own unique ultimate ability, and these extremely potent abilities can be obtained upon revisiting previously defeated bosses and learning the technique from them as a newfound ally.

The full game will have an expanded story in which each character introduced will have their own tale to tell and messages to take home. Twists, turns, distinguishing right from wrong, the narrative is laced in morals and ethics. There is no inherent good and evil, just interesting characters you'll engage with along your journey that are all living their own, complicated lives.

The randomised level generation will be greatly expanded to feature many more layout variants, as well as be packed with diverse enemies and items that have intricate abilities and effects. Much like the gemstones in Eldermist Mine requiring a pickaxe to gather, there will many more level specific interactables and sinuous ways to engage with the world around you to make it feel lived-in.
When will Temporal Guardians be finished?
The full release will arrive when it's ready. It will take many years.
Does Temporal Guardians have controller support?
Yes, the game has full controller support. Try it out in the demo!
What platforms does Temporal Guardians support?
As with the demo, Windows, MacOS, and Linux are guaranteed. I will try to work with publishers to get the game onto consoles and various other platforms where possible. I care about creating good software. If a platform can be supported on a technical level, I will try to support it.
Will Temporal Guardians support multiple languages?
Only if the game is profitable enough to warrant spending the money on translations after all the other facets of the game have been funded.
Can I use Cormorant?
Cormorant is closed source for now. However, if you'd like to work with Kellie Industries and utilise its technologies for your own projects, reach out and enquire.
What is Jacob?
Jacob is a short story written by James Kellie IV, included onto this website to help give you a stronger picture of the style of writing you can expect from Temporal Guardians.