Rogue’s Quarter

In a realm of great heroes and mighty villains, the average farm-keeping townsfolk has a pretty drab life by comparison. Yet at the end of the day, near every walk of life can be unified in the Rogue’s Quarter, led by the simple desire for a drink, a meal, and a humble tavernkeeper to hear their woes.

Rogue’s Quarter is the answer to the question: what is living in a fantasy world really like? A tavern management game stuffed with cosy minigames in the likeness of Cooking Mama and time-sensitive microgames paying homage to the frenetic panic of Mario Party and WarioWare. Though the aesthetics may hark back to handheld casual games and simple early-generation RPGs, the core of Rogue’s Quarter is a gameplay system that requires players to engage with difficult ethical dilemmas and balance profit against morality. 

The origins of this idea come simply from my being really quite nosy with the lives of my acquaintances. When I’ve worked jobs that kept me in just one place, but had a high volume of customers/visitors/guests moving through, I always wondered what part in their lives I may have played. It’s like chatting absent-mindedly with your taxi driver and suddenly coming to some kind of conclusion with something important in your life. Arguably, it was that taxi driver that caused that change to happen, and I find that a fascinating idea. 

Hence, I’ve been designing a game built off this core idea, the fact that the people you meet have whole entire lives that you never get to see, even if you encounter them regularly. 

Tavern Management

In Rogue’s Quarter the player will take on the humble life of a tavernkeeper. In the morning section of each day, the player attends to ‘condition metres’ reflecting the state of repair, cleanliness, and stock in the tavern; preparing food, cleaning, and repairing any damage to the tavern. These management tasks take the form of quick minigames and use up time from the player’s limited morning.

The evenings are when the patrons arrive, who will have orders to fill and when preparing drinks and meals more of these minigames will play. Some visitors create disruptions that need dealing with. This could be as simple as yelling at them to quiet down, but occasionally they’ll need throwing out entirely. 

The Lives and Trials of Adventurers and Laymen

On some evenings, pre-written patrons will arrive and provide opportunities to engage in conversation where the player’s choices will have an impact on future events. I’ve always been a huge fan of games that put the effort into their characters and make them seem like they have real lives that extend beyond what the player has influence over. Moreover, I love it when a story can provide a broad range of characters experiencing life trials at vastly different stations. 

Consequently, you could find yourself in the Rogue’s Quarter one evening dealing both with a warlock haunted by the things they’ve done to secure power from their otherworldly patron, and a local forester drinking through the pain of losing his son to a hunting accident. 

As the innkeeper, you’re managing your revenue, your overheads, your stock, you’re cooking meals and preparing drinks, keeping the place tidy, bantering with your regulars, and where possible, trying your best to make some people’s lives better. 

Or maybe you’ll just keep giving out drinks and mind your own business, you’ve got your own life to deal with after all…