Heretics, Our first dev blog is about all the inspirations we took to give life to our game whether in literature, videogames or paintings... And how it gave shape both to the art direction of the game but also its mechanics and core gameplay.

Games that inspired us

We love simple tactical games, like Bad North and Tabs, or even Into the Breach. We always wondered how these games would be by adding in some way a narrative layer integrated with their wonderful mechanics and design; a layer that is not just a bridge between battles but that has an influence on the mechanics. Also, we are fascinated by autobattlers, like Despot's Game: Dystopian Battle Simulator. We like battles in small grids, as in Banner Saga and Into the Breach. So Becoming Saint is inspired by all of this but also with a quite unique touch.

Medieval inspirations

For the content style and characters, Pino -our art director- studied extensively Italys 14th-century iconography and earlier medieval styles, and also the large source that are illustrated manuscripts. For the combination of 2D characters and 3D settings, Bad North was a very cool inspiration. The main references for us are Umberto Ecos wonderful novel The Name Of The Rose, Monty Python's Holy Grail and Life Of Brian.

Goals in Becoming Saint

The main goal of the game is becoming a saint in the shortest period of time after your death, or even during your lifetime - but it is a very hard journey. The more impact you make in your lifetime with your conversion skills, the more likely that youll become a saint quickly.
This is also inspired by the events of St. Francis's life and death, where his very disturbing set of beliefs from the point of view of the Christian Church as an institution (and also the Franciscan abbeys) led to his quick canonization after death and rewriting of his teachings, so to make it compatible with extensive power and richness.
Well the idea is that starting as a destitute heretic preacher, talking to the most poor and marginalized parts of society (poor peasants, lepers, sex workers, persecuted witches, naked hermits) your chances of conquering a large following and not being immediately destroyed by the powers that be (be it the Church, the Emperor or the merchants and banks) are slim. Therefore, this is a game of trial and error, somehow nondeterministic, where a combination of persuasion through whatever it takes, subtle political choices and just luck may get you far.

Themes

The game is unique in several dimensions:

• The union of a political/sociological game of choices that dynamically generates a sort of army of destitute people
• The notion of battle and conquest turned into a confrontation of persuasion and determination
• The tragicomic tone and themes; spiritual belief as a source of rebellion instead of a tool for conservation
• The mix of autobattler features and real-time tactical management.

Becoming Saint is a quite unique kind of career, that lasts after death. Hereticism has historically been linked to class struggle, and playing, mocking, and rebelling to power are often connected attitudes that wed like to encourage!
Stay tuned believers, we will soon come to you with news and holy content! - The Becoming Saint Team -