Aelina Rowan


A 20-year old songstress working at the Snowblanket Lodge in the town of Evertear. She is one of the many daughters of the infamed Necromancer, Midlyn Rowan. She continuously has a cheerful and spirited demeanor, but harbors a dark-side that comes out randomly. She uses Scythes and Staffs in combat, and specializes in supporting her allies; although she can be a capable fighter as well.


Narie Tearwyn


A 23-year old Crusader who lost her twin sister, Sarie several years prior to the story. The oldest female of the group, she acts as a motherly figure, with her constant nagging. She prefers one-handed weapons such as swords and maces with her shield during combat. She is an all-rounder during battle - capable of dealing damage, healing, and tanking.


Zarric Bastion


Aelina's 24-year old boyfriend and childhood sweetheart. He was the son of a general, before a twisted plot killed his father. He is very optimistic, and always looks at the bright side of things. He swings his large two-handed axe or hammer in battle heavily, and focuses on dishing out damage during battle.


Demi Carinae


A 29-year old captain of the Crusaders, who is the oldest member of the group. He is a renowned ladies' man and a constant jokester, but can get serious when the time is right. He wields a spear in battle and specializes in taking hits.


Kyran Sage


A mysterious 24-year old man who hides his face. He is cold-hearted and does not seem to care about anyone - despite traveling with a young girl. He uses two curved blades in battle and focuses on taking enemies down quickly.


Poppy


A 15-year old girl who came from an enchanted forest that was burned down. She is very shy and timid, yet has a love for books - making her very intelligent for her age. She travels with Kyran who saved her life. She is the a long-distance fighter, utilizing magic and her longbow in battle.



Reina Rowan


Aelina's 18-year old sister who rivals her in Stonesinging. Favored by their father, Midlyn, she finally get to travel the world with his permission. She is heavily spoiled and very cocky. She can use staffs and curved blades in battle, and serves as the game's main healer.

~+~+~+~+~+~~+~+~+~+~+~+~~+

Sarie Tearwyn


Narie's deceased twin sister who was a Stonesinger before her death. She is seen mostly in flashbacks.


Gwyn Faowind


A friend of Aelina's who is hidden from the rest of the world as she is believed to be dead. She is a tomboy by nature.


Cutscene:


Battle System:


Outskirts of Evertear:



WIP of the battle system (song used is by Fandry - only a placeholder)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T052zgrMYI

Title Theme, by Merlandese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XheI893Gl0

Flashback Cutscenes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySRnP3fICS0


- Action Battle System, featuring three people in battle at a time

- Custom soundtrack

- Enemy "touch" encounters, as opposed to random

- Custom artwork for every important character

A small update.

Here are portraits of other character, that will appear after the demo that Star made anyway. >>

Kyran Fallenrath


Poppy


I also thought I'd share this concept drawing of Tsuki, an angel that once knew Aelina in her past life as a dancer (they were in the same band).



Her concept is inspired by belly dancers. ^^

Heyyy.
Loving your artwork, and the theme you're going for. Tis lovely.
You're going for a Tales Of/Star Ocean battle system? That's quite ambitious. Anxious to see how it shapes up.
Everything looks good so far. Keep it up

Hi hi, Sunflower dood or doodette!

Thanks. At least someone likes our artwork and theme, haha. XD

Ya, our battle system is inspired by Star Ocean/Tales of. Fun battle systems, fun games. ^^ My fiance is confident he can make it work out just nicely. ^^

I've actually started on the events in the beginning of the game (I wrote a script, first). Hopefully it puts us closer to our first demo. XD

Hey! Wow, just one reply. :0 I love the art, especially the map. <3 How did you make it? Looks like a special Photoshop brush for the land? Or..? I try to use ProFantasy but it's such a difficult program to get anything customized. >.>

That piece of art looks amazing! Looks like a promising game, keep up the good work, hope to see it soon!

For the world map, my fiance drew out the world on printer paper, I outlined it in Paint.net, then placed a texture over it and added the markers and numbers, myself. I've been wanting to make a decent map for ages. I'm surprised we only have this many replies. Not because I think the game is good, but because of the lack of feedback. XD

And thanks Essenceblade. ^^

Right now I'm making the opening - after the prologue to the game. Trying to spice it up anyhoo... o.o

Promising is the word indeed, quite an exclusive story you have there, haven't heard many of them , I do have some questions ofcourse, are you already done with the prologue, since you said you are working on the opening, which I would belive was a part of the prologue.

Since I used to work with RMXP, I know good maps when I see them, and you're maps are looking quite promising, but the interior is really REALLY! well done!, the exterior I have to reserve the critics for that haven't seen enough.

The message box is cute ^^, I like music inspired games, makes for a great change sometime, I just hope you and you're fiance can finish atleast a Demo so I can give full opinion on it (just know this, if I finish ur demo, I most likely will love you're game)

The artworks are also a treat for the eye, nice, clean and "exclusive", a new type of art style I haven't seen

The world map is AMAZING!, no kidding, I found you're world map quite amazing at first sight

So to sum it up: You are in the big region here, you're game is quite advanced and has made me look forward to it, if it continues to catch my interest I might just bookmark it hahaha

Good Luck to you two, in everyting; including marriage

We haven't done the prologue yet (though we have the sprites for it) because I'm waiting on my fiance to do the maps for it.

Right now he's been busy, busy, busy doing scripting and all that for the battle system and menus. I hope all his hard work is worth it. ^^;

I agree - I hope we can finish our first demo together, as well. XD

And thanks!

Though, this opening is evented by me, I don't know how good it will be. XD

Wow. This topic has been getting a quite amount of good replies! Personally, I LOVE the art, although the map screenshot is empty, then again it is an action-based battle style, so it should have space. Thumbs up to you! ^^
As for the story, it is a story I have never seen like that, another nice story. I expect more great things to come. ^^

I'm glad you like the artwork!

Yeah, the map is a bit empty, but we probably thought it would be better if you were able to go anywhere on that map. It's only the battle maps that'll be like that. XD I hope. D=

I'm glad you like the story.

I'm surprised no one talked bad about it, actually. O_oa

EDIT:

Some minor updates - I guess.

My fiance finished Gylwen's portrait today.



She's not playable, but she is pretty important. ^^

Also, I did the opening scene's basic eventing, then he went and fixed it up for me. So thus, you could actually start the game, now. XD

Here's a somewhat full-body shot of the main female.


I'd like to ask a question. Maybe I should make a poll, I don't know.

Anyhoo.

Our game - the final version - will have 4 girls and 2 males.

What I want to know is - is that abnormal?

Should there be an equal amount of guys and girls? More girls and guys? More guys than girls?

My fiance says because Aelina, the main lead, is female, she will attract more girls to the party than guys.

Does this matter?

Just a question I want to think about. It won't effect the demo - I don't believe, which only has 2 out of 6 possible characters.

I don't think anything is wrong with it. I mean it is the opposite of the cliche more guys than girls thing. Also...


I would also like to say, if for some reason guys might follow if they just like her LOOKS. Some guys can be like that.

The "rule" stating that you need the same number of males and females is really arbitrary and way too trivial to worry about it. Do what makes the more sense in relation to your story.
Also, don't listen to Star, a charismatic male lead can certainly bring the girls to the barn. He just wants you to design a lot of heroines so he can draw hentai of them later.

Who is star? Did I miss something?

@Zinx That's true, guys would follow her too.

@Kread Hahaha! I laughed at that. Um, anyway. How'd you know Star was my fiance? D=

I asked, because someone said that I should have more guy leads, instead of all these chicks. O_oa Even though he only assumed that, because I showed only 2 of 6 characters joining the party. O_oa

Also, I suddenly thought the ratio was odd. Not sure why. Even though I'm a girl, and would like to see more girls for once. XD

It doesn't bother me, as long as the story is good, otherwise it has a chance of being FFX-2 because of the said "lack of story" or "bad game".
Oh, so that is who star is. He probably knows some other of star's artwork.

Honestly, this is a matter of personal preference and you'll never find a consensus on this. Certain people prefer male leads while other prefer female leads. Certain (like me) don't care at all. You should focus on giving us well-developped characters before bothering with the gender representation. Like I said, it's a personal preference.

Also, I know your fiance is Star because he posted a game named Strawberry Flower once and explained the meaning behind it. I memorized the information because I regularly check out the art thread at HBGames so I remembered the guy.

That's true. Well I guess our chicks can stay and we're try to make them as good as possible. D=

I had the hardest time creating Aelina, trying to make sure she's not like every single other JRPG heroine.

Hopefully it all works out in the end.

And good for you for memorizing my fiance! ^^ He needs to stop me from asking such silly things. He probably would've too, if he wasn't working. O_oa

I actually thought it was a good question. Also, I have high hopes for you making this game great.

Oh dear - I better not disappoint you. D=

Now I must try harder. ^^

This sounds like a pretty heavy project, one that will take a lot of time and thought. The story sounds interesting enough, and the mapping looks well planned. The one area that may need to be fixed is in the first screenshot with the small upper bedroom. The chest looks awkward, as if it should be further up against the wall, and it doesn't seem right that it sits in front of the window like that. My suggestion would be to extend the bedroom to the right a little ways so that the chest can sit against the wall next to the window.

You have some interesting features planned. The day/night cycle seems a bit more refreshed with weather related events. Being that there is a focus emphasized on the seasons, will the seasons gradually change, thus impacting the weather, is it just one season that the game will take place in, or perhaps the seasons are out of wack? Is the weather on a semi-random cycle in rhythm with the day and night? And will the weather impact areas in the game like the day/night cycle probably will? It seems quite interesting, but at the same time seems like a lot for anybody to pay attention to or keep up with.

The sleep bar sounds similar the fatigue system some games are using, but again I'm curious to how this will impact the game. When they fall into this deep sleep, are they in danger of enemies? Is there a way to snap them out of this, or is it just a manner of waiting it out? And is health restored while in deep sleep like it generally is when staying at an inn?

If not already done, you might consider adding some sort of item similar to a caffeine pill that will restore some of the person's ability. That way, for long dungeons where a person may threaten to fall asleep, the player could stock up on these items to help them get through the dungeon with less risk.

Strawberry said she fixed it, I thought it looked silly too.


Well. Weather does affect the story greatly and impacts everything and also will have an impact on the strengths of abilities associated with those elements, but as far as having actual seasons, they don't. This planet doesn't have a tilt, therefore seasons don't occur. But various areas need different environment changes to have crop seasons and such, that's why they awaken divinities. Day/Night cycle has a planned feature where NPCs are doing different things at different times of the day. And certain shops close.


Sleep bar is a pending idea, not certain if I wanna keep it. Especially since it can be rather annoying to people who don't prefer it. Maybe a hardcore mode like Fallout New Vegas could be included, or otherwise this might be scraped due to the impracticability


If it's feature we'll keep, we'll definitely create items like that to prolong your sleep deprivation.



Ack you caught me.

Strawberry Flower eh.. Can't believe I gave up on that game.

Thanks, Star. I actually think the sleep idea would add a sort of challenge that could make the game insteresting if implemented right. For example, if the battles are random, falling asleep on the map would be useless and offer no immediate danger other than to annoy the player for having to wait for them to wake up. But if the it's an active battle system (rather than random and/or turn-based) a sleeping character would create a tense situation if enemies are around.

Another idea is rather than having a person fall asleep, a tired person would just slowly lose stanima for strength, defense, intelligence, and agility. To make it easier, these areas of stamina would drop or raise the same amounts at the same time.

So basically when the sleep bar is full, then strength, defense, intelligence, and agility are 100% of the total character stats. When the bar is 3/4 full they are 90%. At 1/2 full they are 75%. At 1/4 full 60%. And when empty, then strength, defense, intelligence, and agility would be 50% of the characters total stats (the maximum it can drop to).

We are still considering the sleep bar, but if it becomes implemented, it probably won't appear in the demo. XD

It's a simple, small update, but here are some portraits/pixel art of Aelina for speaking scenes.

Nice art.
So wait, does star do the art?

Yes he does - he's much, MUCH better at art than I am. Haha.

I forgot to show what it looks like, in-game. o.o

It looks very nice and charming overall. I'm looking forward to this game.

Hehe, thanks.

Another small update to show we're still kicking.

Full body art of Narie - the second character to join the party:
(My fiance wants to know what everyone thinks of the feathers)


Lastly a userbar to post in your signature!

My gosh I love pixel art so much.
She looks fine(the feathers seem like they have a couple unecessary pixels but they're fine) and... correct me If I'm wrong but is she wearing glasses? Because if she is then <3

Hehe. XD My fiance might take out the feathers, I don't know. O_oa

Yes, she is wearing glasses. ^^ He wanted a girl in glasses and BAM we got one. XD

This isn't really an update, but more for opinions. o.o

1. My fiance wants the player to climb Ashe's Core (which is a frozen, inactive volcano), and descend lower towards the base of the mountain to reach the shrine. Does this make sense to you?

2. I was thinking of slightly altering the default RTP sprites - mainly their eyes. Just to spice things up a bit, because it would take us AGES to do any custom graphics. >< So using the image below, which edit to the sprite is your favorite? Any other suggestions are welcomed!



Feedback is still appreciated!

I would say a mix of the top right and bottom left would be a good combo.

For one line text you should find a way to make the boxes smaller - the text box box is too large and covers people, events and objets. Even though its see through it just looks bad

I could fit the text to each word if I wanted to, but I kind of wanted a consistent text box, rather one that goes goes above every person's head. Let me try keeping it in the same area or shrinking it at least. I'll toy around with it and post the results here and see which one works better. ^^

Also, I've decided not to change the eyes, since I've got too many differing opinions. So just, yeah.

Give me feedback on other things, too. *coughstorycharacterscough*

EDIT:

Are these any better?

Keep it down by the character face.

Okies, I'll be keeping the first one. It's smaller and not as distracting. ^^ Thanks!

Here is a map of the only dungeon playable in demo - Ashe's Core:

the bottom of the "tunnel" or "entrance" near the top. - the bottom corners are far to rounded and thus make it looks like it doesn't belong. You should flatten them out and make them square. - Good map though

No, no they're not. The only problem there is with those "corners", as you call them, is that the one to the right of the statue has a bad transition with the wall. Other than that, they aren't "too rounded".

it doesnt look like it belongs it looks like it was just "put there" or "out on top the wall" it doesnt look natural at all

It came with the map, and since then I changed it to a single doorway like the rest the dungeon will have.

I have to say it looks a lot better now. Previously, it looked like the right end was breaking into a separate path, but you couldn't see it. Now this looks a lot more even. The only thing may be it looks too even, so not sure if you can win either way. Maybe if, while the left side dips to the right and the right side to the left, like you have, but the left side seems a bit jagged, like part of the wall became ubalanced, but the right is a bit more smooth, that may look better.

However, in the end it's a map to a game that people will (hopefully) play and enjoy. It looks far more superior than a lot of maps I've seen, so I wouldn't worry too much about the entrance.

Randomness. ^^



This is a fuller version of Gylwen's body - an important NPC. Keep in mind, we probably won't be fixing any of the artwork until after the demo is done, because we could be spending a lot of time on the portraits/scene_status pics when that time could be used for something else.

Whatever you tell me now, though - I will tell my fiance for later.

Also, this marks the end of the demo portraits (unless we decide to add the prologue) - which means we can continue on with mapping, eventing, the menu, and the battle system.

I would like it if someone would read over or watch the scenes we do for the demo and give us feedback. I'm afraid of having cheesy dialogue. :|

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the advice, Cait!

Hello!

This project is still kicking. XD

We are recruiting Female Voice Actresses specifically for battles.

The following roles are available:

NARIE TEARWYN:
Voice type:Definately like Rita Mordio from Tales of Vesperia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uomWFdckE7I [0:47]

Audition line 1: "If I were a Deity, I'd be the Goddess of Strength and Beauty!"
Audition line 2: "I can't heal stupidity, there's just no cure for it."

SARIE TEARWYN:
Voice type: The same voice as Narie, but more gentle and higher pitched. You can either attempt to do both, or we'll just have you record in Narie's voice and up the pitch in a program. ^^

Audition line 1: "Please, I mean you no harm."
Audition line 2:"Why, why must we keep fighting?"

RECORDING AND CONTACT INFORMATION:
-Save the lines as "charactername_yourname_linenumber.mp3" (ex: narie_strawberry_01.mp3)
-Send your auditions to cherri-blossom@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading! :3

Hello all! I have a simple question to ask of you. Maybe it isn't simple. XD I dunno. Hehe.

Which is better?:

1) Aelina's father is a fearful and powerful Frostsidhe Necromancer inflicted with Vamprism. He treats her horribly and abandoned her as a child in order to continue with his studies of the dead. He lives in the forbidden Northlands with his female assistants, away from civilians and hates to be bothered. He has undead "pets" guarding his laboratory from adventurers. He's scary.

2) Aelina's father is a goofy and comic relief Frostsidhe Necromancer inflicted Vamprism. He merely ignored her as a child and had his current mistress take care of her instead. When she left at the age 16 to travel, something came up and they left for the forbidden Northlands. He talks like a cliche vampire (Count Chocula anyone?).

I've decided to use number 2, but NOT making him talk like Count Chocula. That's just... too silly for my tastes.

Now I have -another- question.... Gah...

How would you prefer to upgrade your equipment?

1. You go from one town to the other and buy new gear for each party member like any old J-RPG.

2. You go from one town to the other and buy new gear for each party member like any old J-RPG OR you can synthesis a piece of an equipment with a special effect (like a weapon that inflicts Poison or a piece of armor that guards against Poison).

3. You go from one town to the other and buy new gear for each party member like any old J-RPG OR you can further upgrade that gear into +1 equipment and give it special effects exclusive to that piece of gear (like a +1 Trident inflicts Water damage now, as oppose to a normal Trident).

Hello, all!

We have an update to show we are alive.

First a quick sketch of one of the playable characters that will show up right after the demo: Demi Carinae.



Now we have several videos showing what we've done so far.

The WIP of the battle system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r870led0wls

Beginning scenes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt2e1P5bdI4

The artwork is amazing. Kudos to your fiancé ^^ The mapping and sprites are great too. I'm really looking forward to playing the demo of this. :3

Noted and fixed. I should check up on these topics more often, I generally let her do all the social work since I barely got time to check this stuff. I would like to clarify though that if I did that map, I would have never made that transition She's still working at it, but she might be able to map like me someday.

What do you guys think of the video? The video program I used made it seem a bit laggy, but I promise the actual game itself runs fast for all the stuff I've put into it.


Thanks friend. Though I've since improved on a lot of the stuff, the more comments like this I get the more it makes me wanna release some kind of demo soon.

Hello!

Some minor, but fun updates!

First a side-view portrait of Aelina, which will be used in menus and such; only.



Such as this wordless mockup of our main menu! Hehe.



Then we added a mini-map to battles, so you can tell where your allies are and where the monsters are:



And finally a question. YAY! Anyhoo. I want to change the way dialogue is played out in scenes and when talking to NPC's. The way we have it now is sort of bad, because it looks silly when an non-important character is talking.

So I found some examples on the internet on how we might be able to remedy this. If you have your own idea, please share! ^^

Example 1:


Example 2:


Thanks for reading!