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Merchants of RosewallMerchants of Rosewall is a single-player tycoon game with visual novel narrative sequences, made by Big Blue Sky Games. |
Merchants of Rosewall is a single-player tycoon game with visual novel narrative sequences. It was made in the Godot engine and released on Steam in March 2025. I worked on it for about two years, from pre-production until launch, at Big Blue Sky Games (now defunct).
Originally conceived as an MMO, Merchants went through many shakeups in direction, resources, and timeline, making it a challenging project.
I originally joined the project as a UI Designer, but due to the project's shifting needs, I took on additional responsibilities of programming and game/system design. I worked on the design and programming implementation of every screen shown here.
Super Menu
This menu displays information that is not related to a specific scene's context. This includes the player's inventory, their quest log, a list of their employees ("Companions"), the recipes they've learned, and a calendar showing upcoming world events.
Marketplace
The player can travel to the Marketplace to purchase raw materials for crafting.
Shop Management (Sales Floor)
The player must manage their own shop to make money. They can assign their Companions to different roles based on their skills, providing bonuses to the shop. They must also stock the store's shelves with items to sell. The player can upgrade parts of their shop to activate more bonuses.
When the player is finished preparing their shop, they can open for the day to let customers in. At the end of the day, the player can review the results of the sales day by looking at popular items and customer sentiments.
Shop Management (Workshops)
The player's shop must be stocked with items that they crafted in their store's workshops. The player can assign Companions to different workshops, where their crafting skill stats can lead to better crafting outcomes. The player can select recipes and quantities to assign to the workers.
Dialogue
The game's story is delivered through visual novel sequences. The dialogue uses scrolling panels so that the player can see the previous dialogue box. It also supports fast-forwarding, autoplay, and dialogue history.
In any scene, the player can open a full dialogue history overlay to review all dialogue sequences they've played through during the session.
Settings
A UI designer's bread and butter.
End of Week Results
At the end of an in-game week, the player can review their performance for the week. Then, they must liquidate most of their remaining stock at a low price. They can keep just a few items for the next week; as they level up, they are able to save more items from liquidation.
Other Screens
Other screens include a world map, a loading screen, and more.
