Batikan - Filipino PC RPG

We know how you feel and we're dying to know the outcomes of these choices too! These are just some of the pivotal decisions you'll need to make in this game. 

BATIKAN is a story-driven tactical fantasy top-down/third person RPG where a player creates a single character and over the course of the game, leads a party of heroes through a richly detailed world shaped by politics, myth, and personal choices. Every starting hero offers a gameplay and environment that is unique to them, essentially creating a deep, immersive and distinct experience for each one. The game will be targeted to mature audiences and will feature strong themes.

Hey guys! We are Dalluyon Studio, and we are a small team of animator, artists, and game developer. We’ve worked in creative industries, but this project is completely personal. We are currently in the early parts, pre-production stage of BATIKAN-- a story-rich, turn-based role-playing game (RPG) set in the 16th century Philippines. This tumultuous and weird time was during our transition from being free people to the opposite. We have always heard our history from our teachers and historians and we were all fascinated at some point in our lives. On the other hand, we also hear outrageous stories of creatures that hides in the darkness and gives you warts when you accidentally kick them. These stories from our relatives and friends blends in very well with our culture and traditions that in a way has shaped us to what and who we are today. These thoughts are what brought us to make this game. We wanted to amalgamate these collective thoughts and give us the chance to live in a fantasy where all these things started and get that rare opportunity to finally say and do something that makes a difference, with a chance of changing it-- yes, your choices in the game will affect how the game will progress.

 Here are a few non-spoiling details we can share!

BATIKAN is a grounded, action-packed and entertaining RPG. There is an ongoing theme of mythic realism where there is grounded politics mixed with supernatural forces. You live in an undocumented era of the colonial transition period of the Philippines based form actual events in history blended with local mythology. Play as different Baganis or local heroes and meet local legends, explore a land of warriors, and discover secrets that lie in the shadows. The game language will primarily be in Filipino so a lot of conventional game terms will be translated to Filipino counterparts, which will be used in these writeups interchangeably.

There are branching storylines, and multiple endings are motivated by moral dilemmas. Turn-based combat systems emphasise positioning, team selection, environment, skill and energy management and synergy. Dialogue choices, faction alliances, and character builds meaningfully affect outcomes. The game will be played in top-down/third-person view with free-flowing camera movement, just like Baldur's Gate 3. Cinematic cut scenes will be spread throughout that will make the gaming experience like living a movie.  The game will feature mechanics like a planting system, a worship system, a tattoo-based skill tree, which also dictates the level of reputation, magic-imbued accessories providing a unique shield system, a summoning system, along with a thirst and hunger system, and repair and crafting unique weapon systems. It also carries along traditional systems like inventory, passive and active skills, spellcasting and health and mana pool.

Players can create a character of their own and advance up to level 20, which is plenty considering the format of gameplay. Players can choose the different tribes that inhabited the archipelago and characters in the world can join your party and fight for and with you. There is a great sense of cultural identity because of the infusion of popular historical and folklore figures and mythological creatures to realistic traditions, and aesthetics that can be seen through clothing patterns, tapestries and just general decorative elements. You will also experience strong themes of tribal unity and colonial resistance—all in the rich soils of the Maharlikas. Beautiful 3d rendered backgrounds and characters allows for a beautiful experience and all these said things are encountered and entried in an in-game journal, and a whole spellbook of spells can be learned that evolve and grow with as your character’s abilities increase.

The game is being developed in the UE5 engine. Concept arts and the 3D character and environment modelling are done by talented Filipino artists who are as passionate as the developers. It will have an old-school feel with modern mechanics. Multiplayer is a possible feature on future upscaling with a separate island for multiplayer. And for that, we will need all of your help-- to build that community.

For the Art Direction, the visual style is semi-realistic 3D with textures. This style is used in both in-game and cinematic cutscenes for key moments.

We are working with talented Southeast Asian artists to create beautiful orchestral music fused with indigenous instruments (kulintang, agong, jaw harp, bamboo flutes) and original soundtracks with and without lyrics to help build up key moments and important cutscenes and support the narrative and storytelling. This will make the overall vibe cinematic and movie-like.

Fully voiced companions, enemies and other protagonists are partially voiced (dialogue choices). And hand-picked sound effects with emphasis on environmental immersion (ambience, weather, time, and mood) will be there too to help build the mood.

The legendary stories start on a historically divergent precolonial Philippines during the time when a volcanic eruption happened around the 16th century. Those who grasped the nature of these forces became powerful babaylans, while the fearful masses surrendered control to Datus and outsiders who promised protection. The outsiders, still entrenched in power, unleashed the Inquisition: a zealous force that hunts rogue babaylans and magical creatures, inspiring both reverence and terror. Magic remains a source of awe and suspicion, dividing communities and fueling endless Tribal Wars. The Philippines is now a fractured land of enchanted jungles, spectral lands, and whispered legends and divided by warring tribes, foreign invaders, and ancient spirits. —where survival means navigating the volatile balance between ancestral power, colonial rule, and the monstrous unknown.

The Thalassocrat lands of the Katutubo, comprised of Lusong, Kabisay-an and Maguindanao, is connected by water and divided by mountains. If two islands are separated by water, they are more unified. Currently, at its weakened state, there is an ongoing war with pirates from the Champa Sea. Merciless invaders are trying to take advantage of this great rich archipelago, trying to claim an island for themselves.

Examples of thematic ideas are unity vs. division, heritage vs. colonization, destiny vs. free will. Respect for nature; Locales believe that gods and spirits guarded natural features such as mountains, rivers, and forests. Sacrifices would regularly be offered to these entities to appease them. Every village or town had baylans (shamans and priests) who were believed to wield power over the supernatural world.

The heroes will traverse the virgin and lush forests and lakes of the olden days and meet different people along the way. It will be naturally perilous but at the same time exciting to discover and meet people and sometimes creatures along the way! Some key places to be featured in the game:

Lusong is the northern part of the Philippines where the biggest kingdom during the time was situated.

Cainta(Lusong) is a thriving barangay where there are at least a thousand inhabitants, and it is surrounded by very tall and very dense bamboo thickets and fortified with a wall and a few small culverins. The same river as that of Manila circles around the village, and a branch of it passes through the middle, dividing it into two sections.

Ipugo(Cordillera Mountains) means earth people or mortal beings from the word Pugaw(earthworld). It is a beautiful place with majestic sunrises, but it is almost stuck in a tribal war that has lasted for generations. This is where the story of Dakila Starts.

Kafagway is in the Cordillera Mountains. The name means stem/grassy clearing and is the gateway of the people from the lowlands to the highlands.

Mandaya(now in modern-day Davao Oriental) is primarily located in the eastern portion of the island of Mindanao. This community celebrates the wonderful traditions of our early ancestors, where the Babaylans commune freely with the Gods. This is where Bulan have trained on the ways of the Babaylans and where her story starts.

Minondoc(Lusong), the oldest Chinatown in the world which was established in 1594. Now, Binondo, and a district of the City of Manila, it was once the centre of Filipino-Chinese trade, business, and culture, and is famous for its Filipino-Chinese and authentic Chinese cuisine. The name means mountainous or hilly, referring to the area’s original terrain.

One of the main characters is Lam-ang of the Ilokano Epic, Biag ni Lam-ang who is in search of the murderer of his father. We will get to follow a cast of characters who are all on their own journeys to find something, but somewhat their fates are intertwined. The game will feature people like: Babaylans, Datus, Maharlikas and the tribes that thrived during this time.

LAM-ANG represents the Mangangaso/Hunter type, and is from the Samtoy tribe. He is a strong hero from the northern part of Lusong. Before he was born, a renegade pack of Igorots killed his father. Right after he was born, Lama-ang decided to incite vengeance in the name of his late father.

LAM-ANG is a good fisherman and a hunter. He loves animals and can somewhat understand them. He has been favoured by the Diwatas and was given the ability to use an Agimat. He has defended his people from all types of danger and has become their champion.

Did you know that pre-colonial Filipinos have long been using guns called bedil and arquebus? They also used cannons like the lantaka and rudimentary grenades made of both soft and brittle rocks to defend themselves, for raiding expeditions and sometimes to fight wars for other kingdoms, mainly for glory, wealth and reputation.

BULAN represents the Babaylan/Priestess class and the Mandaya tribe. She is a mystic-scholar reluctantly seeking for a forbidden knowledge that will help her in her personal quest. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She is very sympathetic to her people and always tries to do what's just and lawful-- and the only law is the law of nature. 

Babaylans have access to only the lightest of armour. The tribal artefacts she wields allow her to freely channel the arcane energies that fuel their magic, performing the complex incantations and hand signs with ease. Without spells, she still packs a punch because she knows how to use an arquebus and is well-versed in the art of Bunuan or wrestling.  

There is 1 more main character in development, which is DAKILA. He represents the Mangubat/Assassin type and the Ifugao tribe. Agila’s style of combat is stealth and quick damage. He will have his own unique animations. Instant kill on common enemies and 50% on leaders, only staggers bosses. He has been afflicted by a SUMPA which is a permanent debuff (BARANG) that makes him rage when he kills one creature. 

 There are a few more characters we're thinking of implementing, like Wen and Urduja. They will be recruitable, and we'll slowly add them to this list as they come along.

Combat Mechanics follows the turn-based system, but we're trying to implement an option to do a Real-time with Pause system at the beginning of the game after you select a character. This new system has been introduced by games like Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire. By doing so, players with lesser patience with the turn-based style, can quickly get through fight scenes and get on with the story. At its peak, the active members you can control will be 4, not including companions and summons with their own AI. Like any turn-based system, there will be an initiative system that will determine the first one to move, and action points(AP)determine how much you can move and do in a turn. AP is influenced by dexterity. 1 turn is equal to 10 seconds in real time, and 1 action point in a turn is equal to 1 meter of movement

Some of the Standard Turn Options will be, Bira(Attack), Kumubling Bira(Sneak Attack), Pasangalang(Defend/Parry), Itulak (Push), and so on. 

You can poison your weapon, can cast a plethora of spells that fit within the lore of the game, with Babaylan characters like Bulan. You can set a weapon on fire and use a shield or use another weapon for that 2-handed fighting action that everyone loves. All will be in the GDD within the press kit (if it isn't available now, it will be soon).

Combat styles will feature southeast asian martial arts like Kali (bladed and stick fighting), our very own, Buno (grappling and wrestling), and Panantukan (Filipino dirty boxing). Some of the population in the period also practised a localised Chinese fighting style known as Kuntaw.

A Character like Dakila will completely have a different gameplay. You will need to do a stealthy kind of approach, similar to games with assassination mechanics. 

Conflict is always a main motivator for games, whether it is from within, with the unknown, or with change. This game will not be short of that. In BATIKAN, there will be multiple and sometimes, these will happen at the same time. The game will feature the infamous Wokou pirates who raided around the Champa sea during that time. 

The Fleet of Lin Feng/Limahong: Around the time this world exists, Chinese warlord Limahong sets out for Maynilad. He had just been expelled from China by the imperial fleet in a battle in Guangdong. He was looking to move his headquarters to the lands of the Maharlikas, where he could obtain more significant gains with less difficulty-- or so he thought.

Limahong's fleet of 62–70 ships had about 3000 pirates, including 400 Japanese soldiers. The Asian pirates carried long-tipped pikes (described as being "enough by themselves to undo the thickest hauberks"(likely guangdaos) and several kinds of dao/sabres, katana, and scimitars. Among protective equipment were steel armour, mail, and cloth gambesons, especially worn by the Asians. The pirates also use a great quantity of weapons, guns and hand grenades and incendiary artefacts (molotov in earthware if you will).

Along with these invading pirates, there are some creatures that lurk in the shadows. Some of them mean no harm as long as you don't push your luck, but currently, most of them seem to be agitated and follow a certain voice from somewhere. What could be that stirs these creatures to be aggressive? Nevertheless, nature spirits like Tikbalangs and Kapres have roamed the archipelago even before the rise of these great kingdoms. All they want is to live in peace and have a smoke like everyone else-- you know what I mean?

Will you be able to stop evil for good or defer its coming on to the next centuries until a new generation of heroes emerges?

There is a lot to explore and a lot of much more ambitious things we want to incorporate, but firstly, we'll need your help to make this even set a foot in the light.

 

The game will be primarily done in Unreal Engine. With the advent of really powerful tools and software that are accessible to developers these days, there is no better time to start doing it. With your support, we can gain access to tech like motion capture and face capture to create a more immersive experience. At the moment, we are looking at a PC requirement of: Windows 10 (64-bit), an Intel Core i3-2100T processor or equivalent, 4 GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon HD 6250 or equivalent graphics card, and 45 GB of SSD storage. The recommended requirements are Windows 10 (64-bit), an Intel Core i5-2400 processor or better, 8 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or equivalent, and 45 GB of SSD storage. We always try to optimise performance, and use more efficient rendering methods so lower spec units can still play the game-- we all know that not all computer shops are created the same.

This is an in-game test. We want to implement the most CPU efficient fluid/water system because there will be a lot of water in-game. The Fluid Flux 3.0 tops the list but we'll need your support to make that happen.Haythem and Binoy are working closely on the coding and development aspect of the game. Our artists: Charls, Vik, and AJ are working hard to bring characters and creatures to life. JS helps out with all the marketing stuff and Binoy does the 3D work on character modelling and environment design, along with the character development, animation and story. But we are all generalists in the team, so we tend to work closely throughout and help everyone out.

We are trying to rethink what an RPG would look like for us, and we are doing our best to infuse features and stories that are unique and strong and we are proud to feature a Batik System that would be the main Skill and Level Progression of the characters. The levelling up process will include gaining Batik points to distribute to the skill of your choosing, whether active or passive. Helping certain characters and doing special quests will also gain you Batik points. The Batikan System is something that early Filipinos have lived where body painting or tattoos is a societal norm that dictates your achievements, class and reputation-- and in this game will also affect your dialogue options and merchant trade prices.

We'll be adding more interesting stuff as we go along. We want to implement the best features like custom animations, CPU-efficient water system(since there will be a lot of water in-game, carry system, fog and haze system for night time and creatures can sneak up on you, and many more.

Among other things, more ambitious features are on the horizon with your help. Features like: The Mangayaw system, where you can protect a Barangay from being raided every now and then, similar to a battle system used by Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War franchises. These barangays and alliances are gained through the Sanduguan System, where you can only gain by doing major quests and the Day and Night system that will completely change everything in the game and turn it upside down. Dark creatures will be all around, so be careful when trying to find a bush to pee on. A Bungisngis might be watching you do your business-- that or just another cheeky Bayok.

The really grounded designs of our mythological creatures are versions of our talented artist AJ Nobleza Ig: "amieljn https://www.artstation.com/ajn5. The attention to detail is amazing. Check his other work out and say hello for us!

We'll be posting a link to a Game Design Document at some point but these are just some of the features we are trying to work on.

"ARTIKULO II: Sumunod ka. Bayaran ang lahat ng iyong mga utang sa pinuno sa tamang oras. Ang hindi susunod ay tatanggap sa unang pagkakataon ng isang daang palo. Kung malaki ang utang, hahatulan siyang isawsaw ang kanyang kamay sa kumukulong tubig nang tatlong beses. Sa pangalawang pagkakataon, siya ay paluin hanggang mamatay"- Article II of the Code of Kalantiaw

There are a few notable inspirations for BATIKAN, all of which are known for their deep storytelling and gritty undertone. We have been inspired by games like Anito, Baldur's Gate 3, the early Fallout series, Nox, Lionheart, Diablo 2, Path of Exile, and Pillars of Eternity. We thought this was the best way to feature interactions with people, tribes, creatures and a good way to tell stories. Some people might have second thoughts on these games being turn-based, as the combat tends to be lengthy, but that's the fun of it! Nevertheless, we're working on implementing a Real-time with Pause System that would speed up combat a bit. This will make the combat continuous by initially choosing a skill that your character keeps repeating and only stopping the action when you have to change a tactic, use an item or change the default skill being used--think of it like an auto-combat algorithm. This way, people who enjoy more storytelling can still go straight to it.

Doing this is basically a call to the dreamers of the 90s. 

In 2003, a groundbreaking RPG emerged from the Philippines: Anito: Defend a Land Enraged. It wasn’t just a game—it was a cultural milestone. For many kids of the 90s, it was the first time we saw our own myths, landscapes, and struggles reflected in a serious role-playing adventure.

It’s been around 23 years since that launch. While the world has moved on, the legacy of Anito has never left us, and the kids who played it are now creators, dreamers, and leaders. The time is right to honour that legacy and introduce it to a new generation.

Now, a small but passionate team of creators is trying to answer that call. And we need your help. No one can do it for us but one of us. Our vision is to build a game that features the rich history of the Philippines. A very long tapestry that showcases not only stories but the people-- their traditions, clothing, art and lifestyle. 

This is more than making a game. It’s about preserving cultural memory, inspiring pride, and proving that Filipino stories belong on the global stage.Another amazing environment created by Laya Design, and will be featured in the game.

Now, this is our first Kickstarter Campaign, so we'll try to learn as we go and give you updates as often as we can. Creating a game of this scale requires resources beyond what three people can manage alone. With your support, we can fund art, animation, and sound design that bring the world to life. We could also hire voice actors and musicians to capture the soul of the story. We could cover development tools and production costs to ensure a polished release. And lastly, we can build a community of backers who will shape the journey with us.

So you have the option to help. 

By backing this game, with your help, we can turn that spark into a flame that burns brighter than ever. Let us defend our land once more. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this page. We hope you are as excited as us about the potential of this project.❤️And remember, you don’t have to back the project to support us! Just sharing it with a friend who would love it means the world to us.

If you do want to take part in this journey,  then we are now down to the part where we have to sell the rewards to you. We have prepared some Reward Tiers for every kind of backer, so be sure to check them out! 

If you want to check out just the add-ons without paying extra, you could get the Panday Tier to gain access to the other rewards.

Get up close with BATIKAN through our physical rewards! 

The Collector’s Pack includes the Batikan: DIGMAAN playing card deck, a signed Artbook, a physical OST CD, and exclusive stickers. Immerse yourself in the world of BATIKAN and enjoy all previous digital rewards. Perfect for collectors who want the full physical set!

Also, you can get the Piloncito exclusive keychain for your BATIKAN collection that are only available on higher tiers, giving you the ultimate hands-on experience along with all previous digital rewards. Don’t miss out on these limited-edition collectables! Available only on Kickstarter!

If you want to take it a step further, you can leave your mark on the world of BATIKAN! Become a part of the story by adding your own easter eggs and/or collaborating with us on a feature that you strongly feel like it needs to be in the game.

 

Let's get together on Discord! Create a buzz so more people can know that we need this to happen. We have a lot of stories to tell, and we can't just let the world forget about it. We ought to remember these in honour of our Anitos-- a game like this could make all the difference.

We're Dalluyon Studio, a small team that each lives in different places around the world. We are all generalists who do animation, game development, and digital art. Despite being a tiny team, we currently have a network of Filipino freelancers, and we are all making sure we do our best to make this game happen-- making little waves at a time.

Developing a game, especially with almost no budget, is a complex and unpredictable process. We have been working for months with limited resources to bring this project to life, overcoming many difficulties with only our passion and devotion. We believe we can overcome any remaining obstacles in our way and successfully complete our game with the support of this campaign. Unexpected technical issues or delays may happen during development; however, our determination to release a high-quality game will always stay the same! Throughout our development process, our tenacity has been our biggest strength by working day and night to get everything right from lore, to references and technical aspects. I personally might have skipped a few gym sessions for this as well! Within these updates, we'll try to share every milestone of progress, plans for alpha and beta tests, animation video content, and many lore pieces. We hope to create a community so we can all contribute to making the game better. This journey will be shaped by transparency, patience, and our love for the worlds we create, and we will continue this journey together with you! -Binoy