Ghost Shards: The Stonesinger

[Ace of Spades]

Ending Thoughts:
To be honest, our motivation is kind of slim right now.

Just food for thought, but changing all the graphics is only going to push you guys further from completion, which in my opinion is only going to demotivate your team. If you're trying to keep this from becoming vaporware, perhaps you and the team should put together a formal development document, and decide which direction you guys are planning on taking this. Keep what you have so far, make improvements where you can, but if you plan on changing everything you have coded to script and change all the graphics, it's only going to take more time, effort, and ultimately, will probably keep this from becoming anything completed. I'm not trying to be harsh, perhaps just a voice of reason. This is obviously a very ambitious project, but I might suggest sticking with what you guys have so far, and perhaps cut back on the scale of what you're working on. While custom graphics would be great, it's also something that isn't entirely necessary for production, and can easily be updated after you guys have the skeleton of your project built. Not to mention, the RTP style you guys were working with has a TON of resources available, I'm sure anything you need already exists somewhere, or can easily be pieced together using what's already been created. Good luck on the project, if you guys need any help/suggestions, feel free to ask!

 

[Xhukari]

Ace of Spades, I think you skimmed too quickly or didn't quite grasp what was said; the screenshots (and hence the custom graphics) are from their first original game; Celestial Sphere. I'm presuming the loss of motivation comes form realising how much work they've done, but how much further they've got to go. It probably feels like climbing mt.Everest!

 

[Ace of Spades]

Yeah I know that feeling all too well; it's frustrating putting in a full day of work knowing it's only a single drop in the bucket. I did miss the fact those graphics were from Celestial Sphere (I like the character sprites btw!), but Strawberrii mentioned that they were working on custom graphics for this project, unless I just misinterpreted. Either way, I can understand the desire to go back and revamp things that you've already worked on, especially as you learn through development, but there's a fine line between working with what you have vs scrapping all your hard work. I'm just more-so concerned about this becoming Celestial Sphere part 2. This looks like a promising project, so I'm hoping it'll see completion someday.

 

[Maneo]

Google chrome interpreted the demo as a "malicious file", and made chrome crash after I had downloaded it. No problem when I started the game though.

Gonna try out the demo now.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Um...

Okay.

Have fun? o.o

 

[Maneo]

Yes the game was fun, but it crashed in a cave while I was moving around. I´ll try it again soon and explore other places.

Hope you finish this. :smile:

 

[sunchangping]

Hey, this looks nice! The story seems pretty interesting and I like the custom Diablo 3 Gold you have there with the main characters (did you make them?). Also, the world map, did you make that yourself, if so, how? I've been trying to make a world map for my game, but I never really liked it too much, yours seems really good, though. Did you use a graphics program or something else? Very nice project, though, keep it up :D

The story seems pretty interesting and I like the custom graphics you have there with the main characters (did you make them?).

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Yes, the artwork was made by us (not me, though). I'm glad the story seems interesting. ^^;; I'm glad you had fun, Maneo.

We've been discussing whether or not to keep making this as a game... We still don't know. I think we should make things easier, somehow, but other than that... I don't know. o.o

In other news, I'm writing the book version of the game during NaNoWriMo! It's actually book one of the Ghost Shards series - Stonesinger Aelina. Book two will take place about 20-30 years in the future, with the title Demonslayer Noko. Ooooo, a title pattern! There might be a book three (I think trilogy sounds way cooler than dualogy or that book with a sequel :P).

Not only that, there are loads of potential for spinoffs and the like. ^^ So much fun!

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

We have been dead for awhile, for which I apologize. We all do.

I have been writing the novel-version of Ghost Shards titled "The Stonesinger". I personally have had that urge to create an RPG lately, and what better than developing this game again?

I'm thinking a revival should happen, but in order for us to be successful, we need to not make things less complicated. We should minimize maps, do away with voice acting for now(since keeping the originals seems difficult), and perhaps have the battle system not require as much work.

Although I believe this would do is more good than harm, our fearless lead might disagree. I wish I could convince him, but mayhaps not.

This is what I hope to do, nevertheless, and maybe I can make *something* happen.

 

[Erichermit]

Do be careful about renovations though. I've seen many a game never get finished because the makers simply remake the game over and over. You basically always will be be more skilled at development as you near the end of the game, which is sure to tempt you to remake the beginning. I'm not saying don't do it, but do be careful. If you strive for absolute perfection, your product probably wont see the light of day.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Hello random viewers.

We actually have started working again - big boss is even touching the battle system and scripts again. Yes, he's still sticking with action combat.

Speaking of battles... We are thinking of slightly changing things - maybe you can tell in the below image.

I hope the picture explains things well enough. The changes (apart from a new UI design), includes an extra character in battle, and what inside the pink circle. The decision to add another ally was pretty simple - we will have a total of 8 playable characters, so why not just have the "combat part" be half of that?

It makes sense to me!

As for the "charging ability bar" - it just means that when you, or an ally, is using a skill that takes a while to be used (such as magic) it will show up above user's status. It should be useful. If an ally is healing and you need to protect him or her, then you'll know what they're doing so you can. It's better than nothing knowing, right? XD

The next picture simply shows a different dialogue setup. Nothing too fancy, or new.

I hope I did okay with the message window; I'm not too good with graphic design. I felt the old way was too boring and took too much space. In this format, the portrait is moved to the right side, and is pushed down so it's not "in-your-face".

I'm hoping to do the menu and battle UIs like the message window, but only if it's good enough.

We're also thinking of players the option to choose between starting the game with two characters. Both of the characters are pretty important to the story, technically they would both be main protagonists either way.

Since certain events and characters have been changed and added as well, I just got the urge to maybe start the one side over the first since it allows us to start from scratch and have to re-do everything.

Oh! I'm terribly sorry for rambling too much! I think I need to set a blog-thing for this game, because even if it doesn't make it as a game, it will be made into something!

Have a cute sketch of Poppy!

Thanks for reading!

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

It hurts to see how this project has dropped to pretty much nothingness. Mine and Star's relationship was founded on game-making, so naturally I despise that we keep quitting before finishing even one.

My heart will always pursue making an RPG within its lifetime, for it has felt that way for over ten years. Even now, I try to make one almost begging Star to join me. I feel rather guilty creating something new, however.

When I think of our Saturdays spent with friends work on different aspects of Ghost Shards, I get sad. Some of our friends, still talk of GS as if we haven't given up on it. Perhaps that's our fault for not being blunt.

Will all this work, thought, and brainstorming go to waste? After what, three years?

Star and I still care very much for the story and world of Ghost Shards. Neither of us are skilled enough to make it into a comic, and I've always pictured it being a visual project, so I wouldn't want to write a book based off it.

Maybe this is truly the end of Ghost Shards. Perhaps Star and I continue to talk about it because we are still attached to it, not even sure ourselves what will happen to it.

For those who have helped us out, given us fan art, and supported us, I thank you.

 

[Ellie]

Nothing ever goes to waste, it'll all be there if you ever pick it up again. Don't feel to disheartened, we all drop and pick up projects every now and then. Sometimes a break is what a project needs to continue.

 

[Yin]

I agree with Amy. Take a break. It will always be there when you decide to get back to it.

 

[95enthusiast]

Games never die, they just sleep for a bit.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Hello everyone! It's been a lo-o-o-ng time, hasn't it?

So this year our team participated in the IGMC with an entry taking place in the same universe as Ghost Shards. Perhaps amusingly, that month was the hardest we ever worked and in the end we were able to submit -something- on time. We were quite proud of ourselves.

What happens now?

We try to work on this game again, from scratch and in a new RPG Maker engine.

The past couple of months has been quite hectic however, with my boyfriend's job issues, redoing our floor, everyone being busy, etc. We did manage to sneak in a lesson about RPG Maker for the team (look here). My mother is visiting next week, so now we scramble with housework. We are going to try and start game development after all this is over, and I will attempt to be a better "PR Person".

For fun I’ve accumulated concepts of Stonesinger’s main character Aelina in the form of sketches, in-game portraits, and sprite styles – from oldest to newest. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!