"Melolune" (formerly "The Blue Star") [*New Demo and Video*]

[miss matcha]

Update November 15, 2009:The Blue Star has been through a lot of changes lately... the biggest one being its name. After months of hard work, I've finally completed a new demo which showcases a new introduction, musical dungeon mechanic, battle system, menu, and maps. Although I'm about 80-90% finished with the linear gameplay, this demo leaves off about where the 2nd demo did since I don't have everything connected together yet in the latter parts of the game. But there's plenty of new stuff going on, so I'd love for you to check it out. There's also a new theme song and a gameplay footage video:

*Melolune New Gameplay Video*
*New Demo*
*New theme song*

Spoiler: The Music of Melolune

For those of you whom I've not talked with before, I'm predominantly a musician.  I work for a variety of video game companies in California and Japan as a composer and sound effects designer.  So naturally I devote a lot of care to my game's music.  Unlike what I do at work, the music for "The Blue Star" materialized concurrently with the story and art, so it has a very special audio feel to it.

Laura Shigihara - Traces (Liele's Theme version with words)

Laura Shigihara - 60 second orchestral sampling of 3 different Blue Star themes (Premonition, Battle theme, and Dominic's theme)

Laura Shigihara - Carya de Mio

Laura Shigihara - The Great World (main theme)

Laura Shigihara - Transformation (Aero's theme)

Laura Shigihara - Ultimate Battle!

2008 Copyright Laura Shigihara. All rights reserved.

Spoiler: Characters

Achaius is the kind and enthusiastic protagonist of the story. Young and full of life, Achaius always seeks to be helpful, and cares deeply for those close to him. Achaius now resides in the Leeble Forest; the only human to live within these lands with the exception of his friend Dominic. Because Achaius lost his parents at a young age, and was separated from his twin brother and older sister for reasons even he cannot remember, Achaius considers the Leebles his family and the village his home. His best friend is another Leeble named Aero; the two are inseparable. Despite having an overall good temperment, Achaius’ youth can cause him to behave irrationally at times.

Aero is a Leeble; a small cat-like creature with wings and a long tail that can speak and walk upright. Aero is thoughtful and mature. She is a good listener and knows how to sort out even the most difficult of situations. As a result, Achaius and the other Leebles often rely on her advice when things get tough. Aero is a good hunter, despite her small size. Though not originally from the Leeble Forest, she has become a welcome member of this particular tribe. Throughout the story, Aero deals with insecurities about being the only Leeble in a world full of humans and creatures much larger than her. Aero often worries that she is too weak or insignificant to be important to others.

Dominic arrived at the Leeble Village several years ago. On a journey to escape the hectic pace of the Ciro Order, and his life as a high-ranked soldier in the Ciro army, Dominic felt at peace in this quiet village and decided to stay. Dominic is friendly, dependable, and loves to joke around. But those who know him understand that his light-hearted exterior is his way of suppressing painful memories from the past. He feels the need to protect those around him, and bears extreme guilt when he believes that he’s failed them. Dominic’s height has been both a blessing and a curse during his time here, allowing him to help the Leebles with tasks that are just out of reach, but causing him to bump his head on the ceiling of their tiny huts far too often for his own good.

Spoiler: The Story

You are Achaius, an enthusiastic and kind human boy. At one time, you lived peacefully with your mother, father, older sister, and twin brother Caleigh in a world where people were classified primarily by their inborn professions. After a catastrophic event takes your parents’ lives, you become separated from your twin due to various circumstances. “The Blue Star” focuses on the life of Achaius several years after his separation from Caleigh.

Time has brought you to a village filled with small cat-like creatures with wings and long tails known as Leebles. These creatures have essentially adopted you into their tribe, and you consider them your family. Your two best friends are a Leeble named Aero, and the only other human in the village, Dominic. The three of you work hard to protect the village, and help with everything from gathering food to watching over the young Leebles. Recently, soldiers from the “Ciro Order,” a large faction from the world’s central continent of Ciro have set up camp near the forest. Their presence has been increasingly stressful for the village due to safety concerns and strained resources. After a Leeble child has been critically wounded by a Ciro Soldier, the village chief realizes they will inevitably lose their lives if they don’t relocate. After confessing about his former life as a Ciro soldier, Dominic volunteers to travel back to Ciro’s lands to ask the military council not to hurt the Leeble Village. Achaius and Aero also agree to go.

Together, Achaius, Aero, and Dominic begin their journey to the continent of Ciro with the purpose of saving the village. All the while, Achaius’ desire to find his twin and understand the meaning behind their mysterious separation has been growing stronger. Throughout their travels the group will join up with characters whose lives have also been affected by the Ciro Order, discover conflicts that are affecting their world, and attempt to untangle secrets about their pasts.

Spoiler: Screenshots

Spoiler: Concept Art

"Mirror" is the idea behind the title screen...

             
Aero (I like drawing Leebles if you can't tell).

Spoiler: Credits

• Ccoa's UMS, Overworld mini-sprites script
• Noodlebear's active time battle system, menu
• Additional art resources: Noodlebear, Rye, Euphony, Tana

Spoiler: Fan Media

Reives made me some really lovely fan arrangements of "Traces" (thank-you so much, I really like these!):
Orchestral version
Piano solo
A wonderful drawing from Avadan (this is so awesome, thank-you!):

Yet another reason I think Professor Yoshi rocks (thank-you!):

Spoiler: But of course... the Demo!

Melolune IGF Demo

You no longer need to have the RTP installed in order to play the game.

Visit my dev blog at http://leebleforest.wordpress.com/

 

[Peaches]

Wow, your music is beautiful!  I especially liked "Transformation."  Are you a full time composer?  I can't wait to play this!

 

[miss matcha]

Hahaha... May, I know that's you, you used my computer to type that (you didn't log out dork).  But thank-you anyway, hahaha...

 

[Arcanum]

Wow, I'm blown away by some of the music here... Did you do the vocal performance on that fourth one?

Anyway, I think the music alone is going to make me have to play this. I just finished downloading it. I'll tell you what I think after a little ways in. I definitely respect someone who composes all their own music for a game though(hehe, well, I'm doing it myself actually... but it's always awesome to see someone else doing the same).

EDIT: California, eh? It's always cool to see other musicians from the same area of the world as me pop up on websites like this.

 

[Reives]

Just getting the bad things out of the way first: The graphic styles clash quite noticeably at parts. The mapping seems a little dull at parts, but certainly not a bad start.

Now that being said, kudos on doing the face pics and all. A lot of them were pretty adorable, one that comes to mind was the Leeble in flight-goggles.

And most importantly, as Arcanum said, the music is certainly nothing short of spectacular; especially Liele's theme (you should put it at the top of those track list). It's certainly great to see a pro musician around here - those tracks earned my respect alone. :>

 

[miss matcha]

Thank-you for listening to the music and downloading the game!  It's cool knowing there are other game designers out there who enjoy the music-side of things, too.  Since my job is making music for other's games, it's fun to be able to make music for my own story for a change.

Arcanum:  Yup, I did the vocal part on the 4th track   What part of CA are you from?

Reives: I agree about the graphic styles.  My hope is to eventually find an artist that I can work with to help me with tilesets and such.  As for the mapping, I tried to keep it simple (and somewhat linear) so that my mom could play it :P  (oddly enough, she's used to the 3D environment in WoW, but she has trouble navigating in 2D games, hehe).  Although yes, I would like for the maps to ramp up in complexity later on.  I'm glad you like the goggles, hehe...

 

[Arcanum]

Then I must say, you have an amazing voice.

I just started playing through this, and I like the way it plays so far, though as Reives said, the graphical styles clash quite a bit. The mapping in some areas is pretty bland too, especially the forest area to the east of Leeble Village... but other than that, it seems like a pretty enjoyable experience so far. The music fits the scenarios very nicely in most cases, and it really enhances the experience. Though some of the sound effects are a little loud, like the opening of chests in some places.

Anyway, I'll definitely play through to the end of the demo... so far I've gotten to the point where it's star night, and I'm walking around. How long is the demo, would you say?

And I'm from Santa Cruz, in the Monterey bay area. I'm going to hazard a guess and say you probably live in southern California, just because of the fact that you work for video game companies and such, though I could be completely wrong.

 

[miss matcha]

Well thank-you *^ ^* 
Oh cool, you got to Star Night!  When I get further into the game I might go back and try to add some more mini-games for that part.  There are still things I need to change here and there (for example, if you win a goldfish, the icon is a rock, haha... and there's one piece of music in the demo that's from the RTP which I need to replace still, too).  Thanks for pointing out the loud SFX, I will make sure to turn those down.  Yeah, I tried to keep the maps in the beginning of the game really simple and linear because I didn't want new players to get lost early on.  But the complexity ramps up later on.  My biggest hope is that the player will be able to get drawn into the story... it gets really interesting!

The demo is anywhere from 1 to 3.5 hours long depending on how much you like to explore, fight, etc. 

Oh nice, Santa Cruz!  I still remember camping out near Sunset Beach when I was 12, haha.  I'm actually from the bay area, too.  There's lots of VG companies between Redwood City and San Francisco; I feel like I'm in the heart of techie land because I live by EA and Oracle

 

[BlackWings]

   First of all I have to say this ... I LOVE the humor you have in the game.

   I just got my debonet pass & so far the dialogue has been great & you really made those characters come to life with the different personalities.

   The only thing that needs improvement is the mapping ... well maybe the battle system needs to be more engaging.

   All in all i'm looking forward to this project's completion & best of luck to you.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that your music is great ... loved all the songs & ofcourse i must agree with Reives; you should put Liele's theme at the top of the track list.

 

[miss matcha]

I'm so glad you like the humor!  I enjoy throwing subtle things in there when I'm working late at night and feeling goofy, like clockwatcher-Mike.  My biggest goal is that the player come away immersed in the story and feeling for the characters, so that makes me really happy.

I do agree about the battle system.  My friend and I are working on a Chrono Trigger style battle system (because I have always loved that game), but unfortunately it probably won't be implemented for a while.  Also, about the mapping, I tried to make the areas around Leeble Village especially linear and simple for people (like moms) who haven't played much of this style of game before.  But the maps ramp up in complexity later on.  I would love to be able to replace some of the tilesets however. 

Thank-you for listening to the music, too.  Perhaps I will move Liele's theme to the top

 

[Posmic]

this was very adorable! while there are some inconsistency in graphics as people already said, the custom Leebles are still very nice to look at. oh,  and the original soundtrack is just gorgeous.

 

[hima]

I love all of your musics. And your voice is just so beautiful XD  If you're going to sell the game original soundtrack, I'll definitely buy it

What's even cooler is your mother playing WoW...The only game my mother play is Monopoly
( -  - ;

I don't have time to test your demo yet, but I can't wait to tell you what I think about the music. After final exams and a big trip, I'll give this a go and come back with feedbacks.

 

[miss matcha]

@Posmic: I'm happy you like the Leebles, they have been my mascot since the beginning of the project   I hope I'll be able to find a good artist to help me with the treehouses.  And thank-you for listening to the music!

@Hima: Aw, thanks so much   I might do an OST because there will be tons of music by the time I'm finished.  Also, thank-you for offering to test the demo later; I really hope people can get into the storyline (I promise it's quite interesting)!

My mom is so funny, she really likes WoW even though she's still getting used to 3d controls.  She leaves me voicemails like, "I had the best experience yesterday... I went to a place called Shadowfang Keep!  I died so many times, but I feel stronger now!"  Hahaha...

 

[sharksweetheart]

Haha, I love the humour too, especially the signs and the zombies. This game has a really nice atmosphere to it, achieved only by the dialogue and music which is impressive (like others, I also think the visuals are lacking; I could lend a hand touching up the Leeble sprites if you wanted, so they're more fitting with the RTP)!

Are you going to use Liele's theme in the game at all?

 

[miss matcha]

I love when people get the game's humor   Thank-you for taking the time to play the demo!  As for the Leebles, I would totally appreciate help with touching up the sprites (I'm an artist but not a spriter, so I wasn't sure how to make them animate smoothly). 

Yes, Liele's theme will be in the game... Liele is a character that you encounter much later, but I must be careful not to say anything about her so I don't accidentally spoil the story :P

EDIT: I went to check out the sprites on your site (they look cool) and I saw that we have the same birthday! 

 

[sharksweetheart]

Thanks, and yaaaay, twinz~

I finished the Leeble sprites, I figure you're capable of adding any nessacary accessories. They should mesh with the RTP, especially since I stole Alex's eyes, haha. Enjoy:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg24 ... leeble.png[/img]

I played some more of the demo, and have some criticism for ya; that whole detour-into-the-mountains thing is really poorly executed.

Spoiler

It just seems weird that they would completely blow off seeking aid in the city in favour of a strangers advice, it's rather "convenient" and quite obviously an empty-gameplay-extender. Maybe you should have them attempt to get help closer by first, THEN discover nothing works and head off to the mountains as a last resort, either leaving Achaius behind or dragging him along but not having him fight. I can't imagine he'd really be fit for that sort of thing!

 

[miss matcha]

Thank-you for taking the time to do this.  I like how the colors and shading match with the RTP.  There are a few slight changes I'd like to make (I imagine Aero's eyes to be round and black like my old dog, and her profile is a bit sharper).  But like you said, I can probably take care of that.  But overall, I think you matched the colors pretty well.

Concerning the mountain detour: Thanks for giving me your feedback on this.  I actually didn't mean for this to be a gameplay extender; there are specific reasons both in the demo, and in the broader scope that they have to visit the Melolune Mountains. 

Spoiler

First of all, there's a particular reason Dominic (not a stranger) advocates seeking out Dolby's aid.  Liam (the stranger) is the one that advocates going to the city.  But the basic thing you learn from the dialogue is that Achaius was struck with a Ciro poison.  Dominic, being a former soldier in the Ciro Order, knows that the only way to heal someone who has been struck with Ciro poison is to seek out someone who would have an antidote: Dolby.  In the dialogue, when Liam asks why they can't get aid in the city, Dominic explains that it's Ciro poison and that if a specific antidote isn't given, Achaius will die within a day.  As for the broader scope: there's a really interesting reason why Dolby is in a mountain range in Nidon, and how Dolby and Dominic know eachother.  But if I reveal that, I'll spoil the plot   One thing I can say though, is that shortly after the end of the demo, Dolby will join your party (after giving you some more information about the Ciro Order). 

But as for Achaius fighting during this time, I think you're right.  I plan to go back and make him unusable while he's sick.

 

[Reives]

That new sprite's very nice. :> Actually sort of reminds me of http://guidesarchive.ign.com/guides/120 ... es/mew.gif now that I look at it again, not too blatantly though.

 

[miss matcha]

It does remind me a bit of Mew!  But I think what I'm going to do is keep the eyes mostly black, like this:

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:tBB ... om/stuffed[/img]

and make the profile slightly sharper like the original one.

 

[sharksweetheart]

Oh lol, I think I got Domonic and Liam mixed up, that makes much more sense. :x

I actually agree with you on the eyes, I think your original ones (black ones) are much cuter, I was just trying to get them to match the RTP. Glad to help, anyway~