Book of Travels

Embrace the mystery and legend of Book of Travels, where enchanted lands of Braided Shore invite you to craft your own unique story. Ready your pack, grab your walking stick, and immerse yourself in a serene game that encourages you to set your own goals and forge your own path. Adventure alone or join forces with fellow travelers you meet on the road, as you explore the wonders and secrets of this captivating world. Book of Travels is your ticket to a realm of magic, wonder, and unforgettable stories.

Might and Delight

Gameplay

Book of Travels is is an exploration-focused, point-and-click, tiny multiplayer online role-playing game (TMORPG) for PC developed and published by Might and Delight.

There is no quest log and no compass. Players are provided an in-game journal and map to make notes and mark locations as desired.

The system for communicating with other players is emote-based. The in-game economy is completely barter-based and there is no player-to-player trade. Combat is optional and may involve weapons and magic and there is no player versus player combat. Book of Travels is typically mostly played solo, but it is possible to meet and group with other players.

Character skills are obtained at character creation and through gameplay. Once skills have been learned, they may be memorized. Memorizing skills is mostly limited by a character's level and the rarity or power of the skill. When a skill is memorized, it may be made active or cast if, as applicable, the player has sufficient necessary reagents and all environmental requirements are met. There are five types of skills:

• Abilities - non-magical talents, such as Assemble Fireplace or Fishing
• Knots - magical talents, such as Sprout Fruit Tree or Port of the Deer
• Teas - mystical teas, such as Blend of Vigor or Brew of Two Tongues, apply temporary buffs when consumed
• Passives - effects that remain active while memorized, such as Armour proficiency or Speed of the Clear Nights
• Actions - normal activities, such as Rest or Attack

Character death exists, but is not necessarily permanent.

Setting

Book of Travels begins on the Braided Shore, a large peninsula with a warm, temperate climate. The peninsula is divided into five regions:

• The West
• The North
• Midlands
• The East
• The South

At this time, only The West and limited areas of The South are accessible by players.

Development

Process

In November 2016, the idea to start making an online RPG began to form, and Book of Travels was announced on 2019 September 12.

A successful Kickstarter project for Book of Travels launched on October 24, 2019.

The funding goal was 245,810 Swedish Krona (SEK) and was met within four hours. Within 24 hours, all three earlybird pledge levels were unlocked through the contributions of about one thousand backers. As stretch goals were met, new stretch goals were added to the campaign, and these were eventually met as well. The final pledged amount was SEK 2,516,656 by 7,034 backers.

Throughout development, Might and Delight has provided information to those following the status of Book of Travels through official developer blogs, news, videos, and interactions directly with the community across a variety of platforms, including the following blog mini-series:

• Ask the Devs, featuring interviews such as with a Lead Technical Artist
• Book of Travels - Gameplay Update, featuring articles such as 1: Endeavours
• Creating Book of Travels, featuring articules such as 1: Painting the world by hand

Book of Travels launched as an Early Access game on October 11, 2021.

Game updates have continued to expand and improve the content, stability, and accessibility of the game.

Inspirations

Might and Delight has many inspirations that have affected the setting and style of Book of Travels. Among them are:

• Literary magic realists:
  • Jorge Luis Borges, notably The Library of Babel
  • Judith Schalansky, notably Pocket Atlas of Remote Island
  • Middle Eastern folktales, notably One Thousand and One Nights
• Works that combine light-heartedness and darker themes such as Moomin
• Works that utilize stillness, such as those from Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli:
  • Spirited Away
  • Ponyo
  • My Neighbor Totoro
• The area between good and evil explored in various works, notably A Wizard of Earthsea
• Open world gaming, notably Baldur's Gate and:
  • Journey
  • ICO
  • Knights of the Old Republic
• Czech animation, notably those by Jiri Trnka, who combined 2D and 3D mediums through illustrations and puppets to create strong immersion
• Fine art masters:
  • AJ Casson's Isle of Death invokes the motion of wind while showing the tension between dark and light
  • Orientalists whose figurative art documented everyday life in Middle Eastern cities, notably The Reception of Ambassadors in Damascus
• Horror Vacui, a phenomena in the theory of visual art whereby artists cannot resist the temptation to fill all available space with detail
• Madelaine Miller's approach to spells and magic in the novel Circe

Soundtrack

The Book of Travels soundtrack was composed and produced by Josef Tuulse and Retro Family, comprised of Ulf Wahlgren, Jokke Pettersson, and Alfred Andersson. Instruments featured in the soundtrack include:

• oud
• flute
• darbuka
• saz
• bass with hand percussion

Inspirations for the music of Book of Travels include:

• artists in Egypt, Turkey, and Greece
• classic adventure and RPG games
• classical Ottoman music
• traditional music from Armenia, Greece, Turkey, and Iran

Additional Content

• Book of Travels - Cup of Kindness - purchase does not provide the buyer with a physical or digital good, but provides support to the team creating Book of Travels
• Book of Travels - Soundtrack - purchase provides the buyer with twenty tracks from the official Book of Travels soundtrack as a digital good
• Book of Travels - 1 Year EA Anniversary Digital Goodies - purchase* provides the the buyer with a collection of art, music tracks, wallpapers, and more as a digital good

*This content is available for free

System Requirements

A Book of Travels account is required.

	Microsoft Windows		macOS		SteamOS and Linux
Feature	Minimum Requirements	Recommended Requirements	Minimum Requirements	Recommended Requirements	Minimum Requirements	Recommended Requirements
Operating System	Windows 10		Mac OS X Catalina or newer		Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64-bit or newer
Processor	Intel Core i3 or Ryzen 3	Intel Core i5 or Ryzen 5	Intel Core i3	Intel Core i7	Intel Core i3 or Ryzen 3	Intel Core i5 or Ryzen 5
Memory	8 GB RAM	12 GB RAM	8 GB RAM	12 GB RAM	8 GB RAM	12 GB RAM
Graphics Card	Nvidia GTX 780 or Radeon RX 550	NVIDIA 970 GTX or Radeon RX 580	Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB	Radeon Pro 5500 XT 8GB	Nvidia GTX 780 or Radeon RX 550	NVIDIA 970 GTX or Radeon RX 580
Network Connection	Broadband Internet connection
Storage	6 GB Available Space
DirectX Version	Version 9.0		Not Applicable		Not Applicable
Sound Card	Not Applicable		Not Applicable		OpenAL Compatible Sound Card
Additional Notes	Not Applicable		M Based Processors not supported*		Not Applicable

*A workaround for M based processors is available:

1. Right-click Book of Travels in your Steam library and go to "Properties"
2. Click "Local Files" on the left and then "Browse"
3. Right-click on "BookOfTravels" in the directory and then "Get info"
4. In this window, tick the box "Open using Rosetta" You can now close all windows
5. Launch the game