Dacian, WIP - 15% Options

[literarygoth]

This project will act as a stand alone demo for my main project entitled Cry of The Dead. Story adapted from my novel Cry of The Dead, a dark fantasy.




In a world saturated with superstition, doubt and fear, one man must face his future before he can discern his past.
Unable to harness full control of the elemental power that flows through his being, Dacian emits accidental bursts of magic at inopportune moments. These moments typically arise when he has become enraged. As such, his adoptive parents have sought to hide his abilities; but their efforts have proven to be in vain. It has always been known that humans cannot use magic, as such, Dacian is an oddity; there are many that fear him, but there are those that revere him.
The winds have changed, and danger lurks on the horizon. Something has begun corrupting the minds and bodies of living creatures; and it's spreading rapidly.
In order to discover his true self, Dacian must learn to control and wield his magic properly.


Setting:
Village of Mori located in the world of Valkyr (Val-kay-ear). Mori is a sleepy village tucked into a cove, protected from the ocean by a large barrier reef. It's beaches are a tourist hot spot. The natives that inhabit Mori follow the ways of their ancestors. The village itself does not utilize money but rather a trade and barter system. Due to the high amount of travelers and tradesmen, a few of the local shops accept currency, which is then used to import goods. Otherwise, all food and necessary goods are split evenly between each household.



Common Lore:
"Many ages ago, Valkyir was carved from the cosmos by the Old Gods. Their breath became the air, their bodies became the earth, and their tears became the water. From their gifts, came life. Plants, animals and all sorts of wondrous creatures sprung forth unto the land. Before the Gods began their eternal slumber, they bestowed gifts unto the most precious of their creations.
Humankind were given courage, determination and intellect. Elfkind were given intimate knowledge of divine magics and taught to shepherd the souls of the departed. The Sheikh were bestowed with powerful mastery over the elements.
Once their energy had been fully spent on creation, the Gods slumbered, leaving their children in the hands of Njoror, God of the sea.
It is said, that the people of Mori were born from Njoror. Initially we were as fish, living entirely below the waves. Slowly we began venturing into the land where it was discovered that we could breathe the air. Njoror became enraged at this discovery and cursed his children with the bodies of humans, thus rendering us unable to swim with the skill and ease we once did. Over time we adapted to the land and embraced our new home.
Mother Earth welcomed the new comers and bestowed unto us knowledge of the elements and mana. Although the ocean is not prominently our home, we've retained the ability to breathe underwater.
Regular ceremonies are held to appease Njoror and assure him that we have not forgotten our father."

- Odakota Ravenwind


Elvish lore:
A prophecy was born that spoke of a time of much terror and death, an unspeakable evil that would blanket our world. Many lives would be lost, entire species obliterated; history erased. Two divine races, created by the Old Gods themselves, would turn on each other in a bloody war. One would utterly betray the other, bringing a time of darkness to our realm.
It was said that our only hope would be a divine child. It was our task to find this child, to shelter them; protect them.
We have failed...

***the Elvish Lore references Cry of The Dead***





Dacian (Day-Shan)
Age: 24
Height: 6'4"
Weight: approx 160 lbs
Class: Shadow Mage

Elements: Shadow, Electric, Wind.
"I just want to be myself."

Bio: Adopted by the Blackfoot family. He was found wandering on the outskirts of the Ebon Glade, a cursed forest, when he was just a baby. Uncertain of his exact age or birthdate, the family celebrates his 'adopted day' rather than a birthday. Many villagers believed him to be a bad omen, especially with the powers he possesses; but there are many that feel he's destined for greatness.
Typically keeps to himself. Spent the vast majority of his childhood with his adoptive brother Keith. The two quickly became synonymous with mischief, mainly due to Keith's clumsiness. Unable to breathe underwater like the other natives, he and Keith concocted several ideas and inventions in order to help Dacian breath underwater. Most of their attempts failed miserably; one attempt resulted in Dacian's near drowning and has instilled a deep fear of water that lingers to this day.
The son of the village elder, Mikasi (Mee-kah-see), and his group of friends have always been Dacian's main antagonists. In order to escape from them, when he's not working at the inn, Dacian enjoys visiting a nearby oasis that has always held a unique draw on him.


Keith Blackfoot
Age: 24
Height: 6'2"
Weight: approx 185 lbs
Class: Tribalist

Elements: Physical.
"I will protect her with my life."

Bio: Headstrong and clumsy. Has always been very protective of his family and friends, and is quick to intervene if he sees anyone harassing Dacian. Disapproves of people that make quick judgments of people, based on their outward appearance. Trained as a Tribalist from the time he was 11 and became one of the youngest teachers, mentoring other young Tribalists in the arts of the beast and blade. One of the main creators of the Beastial Aspect training that is now incorporated into Tribalist training.
Has a major weakness for sweets. If he's protective of family and Dacian, he's definitely over protective of his baby sister, Naomi.
Is the only one of the three siblings to have ventured far from Mori, typically on training missions or accompanying travelers safely across open territory. Deeply concerned by the amount of animals that have become increasingly aggressive over the years.


Naomi Blackfoot
Age: 19
Height: 5'9"
Weight: approx 135 lbs
Class: Mana Binder

Elements: Physical
"I don't understand, why all the fuss?"

Bio: Naive, pleasant and outgoing. Shed her youthful shyness in her mid teens, and is attempting to embrace the woman she's becoming. A talented Mana Binder and adept in combat, although there's not been much opportunity for her to prove herself with Keith getting in the way. Spent most of her days lazing around the underwater gardens with friends, or toiling away the evenings on the beach enjoying the sunset and the sound of the waves. Longs for adventure and to prove herself to be a strong and capable fighter in the eyes of her older brother.
Excitedly awaits the Ceremony of Mana which will mark her graduation from an adolescent to a woman, and regarded as an adult by their tribe. She's trained for this day for the last 5 years, working hard to hone her abilities.
Harbors a secret that she's not told a single person; one that she fears could shake the foundations of her family.

[Show/Hide] Tribalists and Mana Binders

Initially I wasn't going to include these two classes in this preview game, but I've decided against that. Instead I'm going to incorporate a 'sneak peak' at both classes - they won't be available immediately however.

Features

PTB (press turn battle) combat system:
~ exploit your enemies' weak spots and earn extra turns in battle
~ put status ailments to work and launch combo abilities **
~ battle unique items to assist during combat

Hidden Items:

~ explore the world and discover hidden items
~question mark indicator to tell you you're close to a hidden item

Skill leveling:
~seek out training from scholars located in schools or libraries to increase the level of certain skills
~purchase scrolls to level up skills when you're unable to find a scholar
~increasing a skills' level will lower costs, increase damage/healing, increase accuracy etc

On-screen enemies:
~no random 'invisible' encounters

Frontview battle system with player and enemy battlers

Custom Sound track

Custom Sprites

[Show/Hide] Table of Elements breakdown

I've decided to include a detailed explanation of the Table of Elements as it's an integral part of the combat system.



This image will be accessible in-game as well, for a quick reference to the elements and their weaknesses. The elements are broken into two main categories; the Major and Minor Arcana. They do not have an affect on each other, so they are neither strong nor weak against each other. For instance; if you were to attack a Shadow enemy with Fire, it would do base damage (whatever the spell is supposed to do) and vice versa.
However, if you're to attack a Fire enemy with Water, it'll do double damage. If you were to attack a Fire enemy with Earth it would deal an extra 50% damage. Forget what you know of pokemon elements (water is strong against fire, for example). In my project, Fire and Water are weak to each other - they will deal double damage. Same with Wind and Earth, they will deal double damage to each other.
Supporting elements - represented by the green bars, will heal their counterpart for 50% of whatever damage would have been done. For example, if you attack a Wind enemy with Fire, and the spell would have done 50 damage - the enemy will be healed for 25.
Physical is the neutral element, it does not take any extra damage from any other element.

To ease possible confusion, all enemies will be colour coordinated to their elemental icon shown on the table.

I mentioned earlier combo abilities.
Each characters' skills is broken down into 3 tiers.
Base skills.
Combo skills.
Rage overdrive skills.

Base skills can be leveled up at schools and libraries or with scrolls. Some of these skills also inflict status ailments against enemies; once an enemy has been inflicted with an ailment, the combo skills will become available.
Generally combo skills hit harder/more often. Most require enemies to be inflicted with a certain ailment (such as paralysis), but some (very few) will not.
Keep in mind however, that your enemy can exploit your weaknesses as well.



***still in graphical development stages, Mori is the only place currently mapped***

[Show/Hide] Mori:

Original soundtrack by: Zackwell
Game logo and topic headers by: Zackwell

Sprites: Literarygoth

Scripts:
~Originalwij
~Yanfly
~KGC
~Omegas
~Synthesize
~BulletXt / Kylock

Sprite Templates:
~The Panda

Tilesets:
~Mack
~Lunarea
~Celianna
~Haisennman
~Enterbrain

Faces:
~Literarygoth & HK Project

***if there's someone that I've not mentioned in the credits, please send me a pm so I can update and credit appropriately***

General Support:
~MarianFrae ^-^
~Zortik
~Ereth
~Harryb412
~Zackwell

Please support Project Dacian! Choose a support bar:







***Still a work in progress***

This post has been edited by literarygoth: Oct 24 2011, 03:21 PM

[Ereth]

I like the concept so far. It's a familiar trope, but I know you'll make it your own.

[Tohsaka]

I like your plans for this, and the mapping is attractive.

I'm wondering, how much of the world are you fleshing out? I know that, in RPGs that I really like, the world is developed to be pre-existing. Even if the game did not take place, stuff already happened, is happened, and will happen. I find a good example of this to be Dragon Age- BioWare's world, Thedas, is very well developed, there are landmasses, nations, and events outside of where the game takes place, and there is a rich history that develops the setting very well.

[literarygoth]

Updated main post with credits for tilesets - forgot those when I first started the thread.

@Cocoa

Something I forgot to mention in the main post: this entire story is an adaptation of a novel I wrote, so I've gone into great detail on the world, the history, people's backgrounds, town history etc. Everything is where it is for a reason and there's history to accompany it. This Lore will be accessible to the player via readable books, conversations with npc's etc.

No other updates on the game just yet, in the process of ripping sprites for enemies/bosses.

This post has been edited by literarygoth: Mar 24 2011, 05:42 PM

[Lunarea]

It looks really great, lit! *cheers*

[Knot]

This really does sound great. I've always maintained that the most important things in an RPG are the characters and gameplay and it seems like you have both in spades. It's cool that you've adapted this from your book, that should hopefully mean that the characters are nice and deep for a change (and it appears that way from the descriptions). So, is the main project going to follow Dacian after he harnesses his powers and this will just lead up to that? Or is the main project going to be about different characters all together?
Also, I love exploring so I'm really looking forward to these hidden items! The nice looking maps don't hurt either.

[literarygoth]

Thank you Knot

You're absolutely correct about the main project. It will continue on from a point close after Dacian has harnessed his abilities - and his combat will be composed of the exact skills he learns from this project as well as a few extras.

The main project has 9 playable characters, each are a different class. Dacian will still be the 'main' character, but there will be much more going on around him. Which is another reason for creating this minor project; it'll give him a proper introduction. It will not be necessary to play this game in order to play and understand the other.

As for exploration - I've personally always been a very curious gamer and love to poke around all over the place so that's something I wish to implement as well.

I'm also open to suggestions for exploration - what you'd like to see etc as well as suggestions on puzzles, or generally other small things that really make the environment come to life for you.

[Knot]

Ah, in that case will you be able to port over things from the first game? Maybe you could give out password rewards at the end of the game that the player can enter to change a few things in the main project! That could be fun and help to personalze it a bit =P

As for exploration, I've always loved the puzzle games like Myst and Zork where you have to work out your environment and then solve obstacles based on it. Basically logic puzzles that make sense in that environment. I'm not to keen on random rocks showing up that you have to push out of your way and I find that if the puzzles are built around the environment it really helps make the place come alive! Also, usualy just making it an unusual environement with new things around every corner makes me want to explore it. So walking in a forest you might chance upon a cerulean lake, a strange shack or maybe the remants of an airship. Of course that requires extra spriting and stuff but I can't help it if that's what I like! xP
So, pretty much interesting, atmospheric environments and sensical puzzles are what does it for me!

[literarygoth]

~bumping for update~

Updates:
Welcome ResourceDragon to my list of credits; he's assisting me with sprite creation.

Character sprite has changed - frankensprite and recolour by me.
Added some new screenshots.
~ Please see main post for updates.

I'll be looking for combat testers in about 2 weeks time - so far have one confirmed. It won't be a technical demo as there won't be much by way of gameplay, it'll be a test of the combat mechanics with just a few maps to wander around on and explore. Combat mechanics are still largely under development.

@Knot
I apologize for the late response. That's an idea I have contemplated, and one that I'll keep in mind as development progresses. Thank you for your suggestions for exploration.

[X-M-O]

Quick thing about the two screenshots of the Character's house: the stairs go up directly into a wall, where it may make better sense to have it offset so that the wall is next to the stairs on the bottom floor rather than blocking them (if you get what I mean). The top floor appears fine, so long as that wall (that the stairs run into as you go up them) is readjusted on the bottom floor. =]
(Just figured you'd like me to say something, since I do anyway, lol.)

[literarygoth]

Quick thing about the two screenshots of the Character's house: the stairs go up directly into a wall, where it may make better sense to have it offset so that the wall is next to the stairs on the bottom floor rather than blocking them (if you get what I mean). The top floor appears fine, so long as that wall (that the stairs run into as you go up them) is readjusted on the bottom floor. =]
(Just figured you'd like me to say something, since I do anyway, lol.)

It's not stairs, it's a ladder - there's no stairs in this tropical village except for the stairs outside.
But thank you for the suggestion.

[Zortik]

The maps look gorgeous and it sounds like you really thought out the culture of the inhabitants. I sincerely look forward to when you have more screen shots to share, or when you have any other updates. Be sure to let me know when you the stage of development where you need someone to run a quick test of the game. I'd be very happy to help out if I can

[literarygoth]

Large update!

Main post has been completely overhauled as much more information has been fleshed out.
Still largely in graphical stages of development but things are progressing nicely. My ultimate aim is for about an hour's gameplay, possibly more.

[Zortik]

Your thread has really come along. The amount of work you put into your opening thread stands as a good reflection as to the amount of work you'll put in your game. I don't know how long it'll take for you to reach a point where your game becomes playable, but I certainly hope that until that time you keep up the exemplary work.

Your element system will be something I am most looking forward to. Having some strategic flare to your battle system will really help bring the player into the action. Do you intend to make skills that are able to affect enemies and allies alike? As in, say you're fighting a fire elemental and it uses an ability that covers the screen in fire. Would it heal him while simultaneously effecting the player party?

The story, as someone previously said, has a familiar ring to it. However, I don't think of it in that way. Instead I view it as you presenting a scenario that might sound generic, but is in fact layered with intrigue and plot twists. While your synopsis might come across as something others have tried, I'm sure that you'll stick it out and show everyone that this game will be anything but typical.

[Zackwell]

Glad I could help bring this thread up to date. :3

Lit, why not include an example of the soundtrack?

[Ratty524]

Why is there a furnace placed outside of the house? The XP trees don't really mix well with the VX graphics.

Other than that, this project appears to be very well-thought. I'm anticipating a demo.

[Sailerius]

Since you're in the process of revising the topic, I thought I'd point out that there are new requirements for topics in GUC: http://www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index....showtopic=51932

[Adrien.]

My fav part is how the xp trees work perfectly on the beach with the vx tiles

[literarygoth]

It's a pottery furnace Ratty, I realize it looks a tad odd but it was the best I could find. I personally think the trees look fine but thanks for your input, I can possibly play around with them a bit more than I have.

And thanks, Sailerius, I'm well aware of the new requirements and my thread more than meets them from what I can tell.

**Edit** - cleaned up the odd symbols that popped up in the main post.

This post has been edited by literarygoth: Aug 10 2011, 07:05 PM

[Ratty524]

It's a pottery furnace Ratty, I realize it looks a tad odd but it was the best I could find. I personally think the trees look fine but thanks for your input, I can possibly play around with them a bit more than I have.

And thanks, Sailerius, I'm well aware of the new requirements and my thread more than meets them from what I can tell.

**Edit** - cleaned up the odd symbols that popped up in the main post.

A trick I recommend is simply to chance the saturation of the XP trees. The reason they look out of place is because the trees look less saturated than the VX RTP, so making a simple color edit would solve the problem.