Afterlife

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The Afterlife genre (also known as the Human-Scale genre, though this is less common) is one of the three genres that exist within Executor RP games. Categorized by a playstyle where the player plays as an individual rather than an entity (such as a country), it is the second genre of the DiamondFire-Warlords community and appears to be the only genre endemic to this community.

Definition

A game is considered to be under the Afterlife genre if it meets the criterion of an Executor RP as well as the following:

• The player plays as a singular character at any given point.

Games within this genre may have:

• Character customization (letting the player create a character prior to playing);
• An inventory tracking system;
• Statistics to gauge the character's ability in a given field.

The result is typically a game where the player has a character that lives in a larger, lore-dense world. The character is largely subjected to events outside of their control, but has the opportunity to influence this in some way; for instance, a player living in a land full of monsters may go on to exterminate as many as possible, or a player who is a part of the gang may rise up the ranks and become an influential member of the organization. Almost always, the player's objectives are selfish in nature; be it material gain or some other, more arbitrary goal, the character makes decisions on their own that may go on to affect their surroundings, but usually also lack the same influence that a player would normally have in a Loria or Developmental genre game.

Etymology

The term Afterlife is a direct reference to the game Afterlife by clumsycapy (then known as thecoolkid26), which was not the first Afterlife genre game but rather the one that went on to define the genre. The Afterlife genre games prior to Afterlife itself were often very short, sporadic, and poorly recorded, whilst also failing to break into the mainstream, meaning that their influence did not stretch far. The term Human-Scale, meanwhile, was adopted during late 2019 as an alternative to the name Afterlife, as it was believed that the new name was far clearer than the term Afterlife. Nevertheless, the term Afterlife has continued to be the most common term used to this date, and will thus be the one used throughout the article as well as in other articles on the Warlords Wiki.

Subgenres

A diagram of all Afterlife subgenres

The Afterlife genre is subdivided into five accepted subgenres, as well as one "theoretical" subgenre that has yet to be used.

Proto-Afterlife

The Proto-Afterlife subgenre is defined by the following criteria:

• Has a straightforward objective (i.e. if the game is about leaving school, the goal is literally to leave the school);
• Can be played in one sitting.

It usually also has the following characteristics:

• Real-time hosting when the game is multiplayer;
• Builds of low aesthetic value that mostly emphasize showing individual items on the ground which may be useful to the player.

The outcome tends to be a minigame with minimal storytelling and zero immersion. These games tend to be short-term fun games, and a good Proto-Afterlife may even have a good replay value. The name Proto-Afterlife comes from the history of this sub-genre. These games mainly existed in the server DiamondFire in the year 2018, during the Early Boom. These games were made prior to the game Afterlife and even served as the main inspiration for the game's mechanics, and so count as a predecessor to the game. Since the prefix Proto means First, this name is used to establish the fact that these games came first and before the Afterlife game.

Low Afterlife

A Low Afterlife is a sub-genre that meets the following criteria:

• Builds that have little aesthetic value;
• Takes more than one sitting to complete.

It usually also has the following characteristics:

• Good hosting and/or narration that compensates for the subpar builds;
• Limited/no immersion;
• Turn-based hosting when multiplayer.

The outcome tends to be a game where the builds serve a strictly utilitarian purpose (Just so the player gets an idea of where they are, and their surroundings. This may or may not include items on the ground important for the game), and the lackluster builds are compensated for by good narration and storytelling. These games tend to be commonplace amongst hosts who are not confident in their building ability, or hosts who wish to create a game without wasting time on creating builds. The name Low Afterlife comes from the fact that they have low effort builds. Note that this name does not imply that low afterlifes are inferior to higher effort games (which usually fall in either the "Immersive" or "High" Afterlife subgenres) and in fact have some advantages over their counterparts. Low Afterlife games are not only easier for the host, but provide a smoother playing experience for the player by reducing the time in which they must wait for a new area to be built by the host. Moreover, Low Afterlife games can also be critically acclaimed, and the low effort builds detract little from a game with excellent narration and storytelling. Lastly, although highly limited, it is possible through storytelling to create some immersion for the player.

After-lites

An "After-lite" is a subcategory of Low Afterlifes that meets the same criteria as a Low Afterlife, with one additional category:

• A high reliance on pre-made builds by other users, either in the form of other players assisting or using pre-made blueprints from players outside of the server (also called Litematics).

These builds, although high quality, are usually limited in availability and result in the player being forced to make low effort builds at some point or to constrain the game within those settings. When Litematics are used, they may not also fully fit in with the setting that the host envisioned, reducing immersion and possibly detracting from the storyline. The name After-lite is a portmanteau (combination) of the words Afterlife and Litematica. All other parts of the Low Afterlife description more or less apply to After-lites.

Roguelikes

A Roguelike is an Afterlife sub-genre which meets the following criteria:

• A map, narrative, and/or experience that changes as the player replays the game;
• High replay value;

It usually also has the following characteristics:

• A semi-rigid/rigid combat system;
• Real-time hosting when multiplayer;
• Takes one or few sittings to play one iteration of the game.

The outcome tends to be a game where the player navigates through an unfamiliar setting, gaining items, strength and/or knowledge as they progress farther into the game. Death (or losing) tends to be more common in this sub-genre, and it is not nearly as significant as dying or losing in a long-term Afterlife game. The name Roguelike is taken from a term commonly used to describe this genre of games in non-Warlords settings. More specifically, the term is a portmanteau (combination) of Rogue + like. Rogue in this context refers to a 1980 video game that defined the genre. It is also worth noting that the term dungeon crawler, which has a similar origin as the name Roguelike, is also frequently used to describe this sub-genre of games.

Immersive Afterlifes

An Immersive Afterlife is an Afterlife subgenre that meets the following criterion:

• Priority is given toward making the game connect with the player, heightening their mental/emotional response to events within the game.

It usually also has the following characteristics:

• Multiple methods of immersion employed by the host;
• Played in one sitting, so as to avoid a loss of immersion by having breaks in gameplay;
• Non-rigid combat.

The outcome is a game where the player feels the same emotions as their character should feel in the game, to the same degree that a high-quality video game can have. The host may use multiple methods of immersion to achieve this, such as (but not limited to):

• Enclosing the player within a confined space, so as to prevent the outside grassland and horizon from interfering with the experience;
• Creating a resource pack with modified block textures to better fit the host's vision of the game's setting;
• Either a modification of Minecraft audio files or the creation of a curated playlist to fit the game's setting (This may be an original soundtrack or a soundtrack using songs from other musicians);
• The use of high quality builds;
• The use of imagery/descriptive narration, as well as carefully crafted tone to fit the setting;
• The modification of the game's ambient audio files.

The name Immersive Afterlife comes from the fact that the host's priority is to appeal to the player by immersing them in a fictional setting rather than creating an expansive project or entertaining game like other Afterlife sub-genres do.

High Afterlifes

A High Afterlife is an Afterlife subgenre that meets the following criteria:

• High effort put into the game's details, including builds;
• Played in more than one sitting.

It usually also has the following characteristics:

• Turn-based hosting when multiplayer;
• Some level of immersion.

The outcome tends to be a game where a high level of effort is clear in every aspect of the game, whether it be in the quality of builds or the depth of the game's lore. Lots of non-essential detail may also be added. High Afterlifes tend to be the most difficult sub-genre to create, for two reasons:

• The high level of effort and time needed to make the game is a significant burden for the host, and usually results in burnout;
• The high amount of time that it may take for the host to create a new region that the player enters during a turn detracts from the experience and may reduce the game's popularity.

The name High Afterlife comes from the fact that the game has high levels of effort in its builds, and also to emphasize that it is in direct contrast with the Low Afterlife subgenre. This name does not mean that High Afterlifes are in some way better than Low Afterlifes, as each subgenre has their own advantages and disadvantages.

"Shows"

It is theoretically possible for somebody to create a zero-player Afterlife game, where the audience simply watches as the executor creates a storyline with characters and buildings shown in a similar fashion as any Afterlife game's characters would be. This concept has been used in the form of cutscenes of some other games, but no game to date has been created solely using this idea, although the Loria equivalent of AFOWs has been done before.

History

The Afterlife genre originated sometime in early 2018, on the DiamondFire server.

The Early Boom

The concept of Executor RPs exclusively in the form of Developmental genre games had already existed for some time on the DiamondFire server, originating with RP Wars and revitalized through Kingdoms. However, as Kingdoms fell into an extended period of inactivity, clumsycapy created their own version of the concept. The game, known as Lands of Tckia, housed twice the number of players as Kingdoms (doubling from four to eight) and saw considerable success in filling up all 8 spots, as well as garnering spectators. Although the game lived a short life, it served to make the concept of Executor RPs more mainstream, leading to several players not directly affiliated with the Kingdoms community attempting to create their own. This period of time was known as the Early Boom. The Early Boom was a strange time of development for Executor RPs. On one hand, there existed the Developmental remakes such as Apocalypse, which were essentially smaller, lesser known versions of Lands of Tckia and Kingdoms. On the other hand, however, there were the Proto-Afterlife games.

Emergence of Proto-Afterlifes

The first Proto-Afterlife game (see Proto-Afterlife under the Subgenre category) remains lost to time, and the chance to find any other witness of that time period remains essentially zero. In fact, the Proto-Afterlife side of the Early Boom has only one Warlords player (clumsycapy) as its witness. clumsycapy, for their part, first saw a Proto-Afterlife in the form of a school escape game that had garnered at least 4 players. Sometime later, they witnessed another Proto-Afterlife game, created by tylerz_world. Referred to today as the Dungeon Game, this game was an incredibly simple game where the player walked through an overgrown stone brick dungeon and fought monsters. The minimal attempt at a storyline, coupled with the grey theme, would be enough to inspire clumsycapy to create a game of their own.

Afterlife and the Boom

What followed was the game Afterlife, a dystopic medieval game where the player existed in a desolate, unforgiving realm where even the country they lived in worked against them. The name Afterlife had a similarly edgy origin: in the game's introduction, the player would be told that their character could only hope that the Afterlife would be a better world than the land they live in. Although the game was, in retrospect, dark to the point where it was unnecessarily edgy, the storyline and gameplay were highly well received. The game was also the first Low Afterlife, meaning that creating an original, Afterlife-style game was relatively easy. These conditions were sufficient to cause a spike in Afterlife genre games, an event now known as the Afterlife Boom. The Afterlife Boom saw essentially no innovation to the Afterlife genre. All games created during this time period were Low Afterlifes with zero mechanical difference from Afterlife and were solely separated by having a different setting and host. The period was so unremarkable and with such few witnesses that no games from this time period were recorded. The only notable exception to this would be part of the Echo-Ultra bubble, although these games are typically considered separate from overall DiamondFire RP history. Otherwise, consequences of the Afterlife Boom were simply that it continued spreading the Executor RP concept to a larger audience, further setting the stage for Belloria and the subsequent Loria Booms. With this aside, the Afterlife Boom would eventually subside following a minor revival caused by Afterlife 2, a spiritual sequel to the original Afterlife. This game, although fairly unremarkable in DiamondFire history, would expose the Afterlife genre concept to a far larger audience of Warlords players, and help ensure that the concept would live on in the new Warlords server. Following this minor spike, however, the decline of Afterlife games in DiamondFire would never be stopped. At some point, the last Afterlife game on DiamondFire was hosted, marking the end of the Afterlife boom as well as the end of the Afterlife genre on the DiamondFire server.

Warlords

It would not be long after the server's creation that the first Warlords Afterlife game would be created. Two games claim credit for being the first Warlords Afterlife game, as well as being the first game to ever be hosted in Warlords:

• Afterlife 3, a spiritual sequel to Afterlife 2, would be created and hosted by clumsycapy. Taking place inside of a Mexican city in a world where Mexico is virtually dominated by cartels, the player could join the various cartel conflicts that took place across the city or form their own path towards gaining wealth and/or power.
• Mhyria, a game by UltraCraftGames, was a continuation of previous projects in the Echo-Ultra bubble and saw the player placed in an open-world medieval fantasy setting where they could explore, fight, and upgrade their equipment as the game progressed.

Regardless of which game came first, both proved to be influential in bringing other Warlords players into playing and creating their own Afterlife games. What resulted was a spike in Warlords Afterlife games, sometimes referred to as the Warlords Afterlife Boom.

The Warlords Afterlife Boom

The rise of Afterlife games across Warlords proved to be far more significant than any other Afterlife-related boom that preceded it. Landmark games such as Afterlife: Cosmic by UltraCraftGames, Nationalized by TheZipCreator and the Chains-Ascent series by clumsycapy would be created during the year 2019, well within the commonly accepted days of the boom. It would not take long for significant innovation to follow.

New Subgenres

The remainder of the three Warlords subgenres would be created, in the following order:

• It's currently unclear as to which Roguelike subgenre came first, but the Dweller bubble by TheZipCreator proved to be a significant step forward in defining the subgenre and inspiring future projects. Tinted_Air was a significant contributor to games of this genre.
• High Afterlifes were often attempted, but never fully made due to the host burning out on the setup and creation of highly detailed builds. The first truly successful High Afterlife wouldn't come until 2020 with Bloxhead7's Knoria, which went on to become one of the most successful Afterlife games in history.
• Truly immersive Afterlifes would not come until far later, in 2022, when TheZipCreator's Reconstruction set a new, high standard for immersion that had previously never been fully realized.

The new subgenres, alongside pre-existing subgenres in increasingly more experimental settings, would form the bulk of innovation in the Warlords Afterlife scene. Presently, this innovation continues to be realized, and the future of Afterlife games likely has more potential to go.

Prevalence

Interestingly, Afterlife genre games have only been witnessed in the DiamondFire-Warlords community. No other community has anything even remotely close to the genre, and the reason remains unknown; however, one explanation exists. The theory is that since the other RP communities take place inside large creative servers, there is no chance for an Afterlife concept to compete against the Common RPs that typically make up a large chunk of these servers. In other words, why would somebody develop or play an Afterlife game when they could get the same experience from another game, even if they are different in execution?

Examples

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