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

[miss matcha]

Hi Delphinus, thank-you for your comment... I'm glad you enjoyed Traces and Carya de Mio. To answer your question, Carya de Mio is sung in the language of the ancient Ciroans in my game (so it's not a real language) :P But the song's meaning is about having hope even during really dark times. And yes, Sophie and Liele will both join your party eventually

I'm really excited about the next areas of the game... I'm just about done with this one section where Achaius has to navigate through a really eerie dungeon by himself. Reives was really cool and helped me brainstorm some ideas for this area, and thus far it seems pretty cool... although I won't really be able to evaluate it for sure until I get the music and BGS in there. What kinds of things do you guys find "creepy" in games?

 

[Axerax]

Hmm, well creepy... I think of Silent Hill sort of music first. Dead Space, Doom, and a few others did a good job with this musical theory. Try looking up their musical scores, maybe it will give you a better idea on what to go about it for sounds and background music.

AS for "trippy" or creepy stuff to be scene, stuff out of the ordinary. Bodies with under and over exaggerated body parts, fast moving twitching creatures, random dark events, blood explosions from nothing, dead bodies all over the place, mannequins... yea, just a few.

 

[seven]

Suspense is key. It doesn't necessarily have an overly gorey climax, but having tension gradually build up with false starts, objects moving around outside of the player's vision, and cheap shots in the musical score work best for this.

 

[miss matcha]

Thank-you guys for the suggestions! I think it's about time for another update... for those who I haven't talked to recently, I'm nearing the end of production for my game. It's about 80% complete, and a lot of changes have been made to the first part of the game. Most importantly, there is a new introduction that better reflects the core part of the story, and the earleir dungeons have been redesigned to fit a music-related mechanic that was being used in the later areas.

-The battle system has finally been redesigned!
-You finally find out all about Aero's past... I have to say, this was probably my favorite cutscene and took me around 2 days to finish because it was so pivotal.
-7 news areas, 4 new dungeons, and redesigned areas in the beginning
-new sidequests

I've been spending so much time on this lately that I actually had to take a break because I messed up my wrist >_< But I'm just thankful that I've had the time to be able to work on something like this. Anyways, I'm looking for a few folks who would be interested in testing a special build at the end of the month. It won't be the full game (probably about 80%), but I really want to test the flow of the story and the new dungeons. If you're interested, please reply in this thread or email me at supershigi@yahoo.com.

Hope you're all having a great October!

 

[SoulReaperGod]

Aww it's coming to an end well it's been a very awesome game I must say you are excellent with doing games. Also I would be glad to test something out for you.

 

[miss matcha]

Thank-you to SoulReaperGod and everyone who has emailed me about playing the demo! This demo features a new introduction and the musical dungeon mechanic I've been developing. Although I'm actually about 80-90% finished with the linear gameplay, it's not all connected yet so this demo ends around where the last one did... but it's worth playing to check out the new content (battle system, menu, music mechanic, intro, new maps). I hope you like it ^_^ Oh and one more thing... I changed the game's name to "Melolune" to better reflect the central story.

New video!

The new game demo

The new theme song

 

[Skyla Doragono]

First off, I'll say that I don't play through many RM games. Very few are able to hold my interest long enough. This is one of the games that has.

I played through your new demo, and I like it a lot. It has a very professional RPG look, your maps are very well designed (and also possess the frustrating ARGH I HAVE TO BACKTRACK quality. That's a good thing), and most importantly the story is engaging. My only complaints are rather cosmetic; in the last city of the demo (who's name escapes me at the moment), there's a crowd of dancers that you can walk right under. I suggest putting blank, impassible events around where the dancers are so you can't go under them. Also, and probably more importantly, your face sets don't seem to match the quality of the game that you're going for; they look rather rough and it's jarring when you first see it.

Either way, good job. I look forward to more updates from you.

 

[miss matcha]

Thank-you Asch for checking out the demo... I appreciate your kind words Also, thanks for the feedback, I should probably do something about those dancers. As for the faces, in the future I'm hoping to color them properly while still maintaining their overall style... hopefully I'll have that in before the final version ^_^

And for anyone who has played the demo, I was wondering, if it's not too much trouble... do you think you could post a bit of information for me about your party members' status at the end of the demo (right before you're on the boat going to Ciro)? I'm trying to balance the equipment and monster levels for the next areas. If you could let me know your party members' levels, what equipment they were wearing, and how much gold you had... I'd really appreciate it!

 

[glorious caesar]

i remember playing the old demo a long time ago and giving some feedback on this game

from everything i've seen recently this looks like it's shaping up real nicely. keep up the nice work

 

[Xilef]

This is still going? Brilliant!
I'm downloading latest demo now

 

[moxie]

This looks extremely charming. I'mma download it later today and give you my impressions.

The only criticism I have just from looking at the topic would be the facesets look inconsistent. Achaius looks as though he were colored and scanned in, Aero's looks pixeled, and Dominic looks digitally colored. Also, Dom looks kinda young for his "ex-soldier" past.

 

[miss matcha]

@noise: Thank-you for your comment; I remember you left me a lot of detailed feedback which was appreciated ^_^

@Xilef: Yup, still going! (I can't believe it, haha) Please let me know what you think of the latest demo!

@my.opium.eyes: That's a cool username, very unique. Thanks for downloading the demo, I hope you enjoy it ^_^ I think I probably mentioned at some point on the thread that I'm planning on recoloring the facesets in the future, probably after the linear gameplay is complete so I can do them all at the same time for consistency. I hope to keep the same style though, just with a more polished look.

I also thought I'd post a link to the piano theme that plays during some of the opening scenes. It's called "Eclipse and Starlight" and it was actually inspired by a really lovely drawing that Professor Yoshi made.

Eclipse and Starlight

 

[moxie]

Okay, I've had a couple hours to play, so first impressions...

oh my god the music. What can I say that hasn't been said before? It's simply wonderful.

The atmosphere is very cute. It's basically a serious game, but you have so many cute, humorous touches. It reminds me of the Lunar series.

The RTP is used very well, with the use (but not abuse) of fogs and lighting. The cave with the glowy fruit thingies is really neat and atmospheric.

 

[miss matcha]

I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far! I love it when people appreciate the little details in the world or dialogue ^_^

So this past week I finally got around to working on the 2nd to last area in my game: the Saphine Kingdom. This location was inspired by places like the Kingdom of Zeal, and Tenku no Shiro Laputa in that it is a floating island in the sky. Although there's kind of an interesting reason though why these people are existing up there. Also, this is the area where you'll finally meet Liele; who in my opinion, has a very touching story.

I've spent several hours putting together this new tileset, and I threw together a map just to make sure all the tiles fit together. There are little things here and there that I didn't bother doing yet (like the grass edges by the stone path), but for the most part this image should give you a good idea of what it will look like.

Spoiler: the Saphine Kingdom

 

[Nolund]

I love it! It's a beautiful map. Great work Laura!

Once I get Windows back, I'll be sure to redownload this. Last time I had it was just a week before you released this new demo, and of course, I got a virus

 

[miss matcha]

Yay, only one more tileset to go! I think I might take a break from the graphical aspect of the game and work on balancing enemies and connecting the areas together tonight. Home stretch... I really hope I can finish all of this before I go crazy, haha.

@Nolund: Thanks Nolund! I'm sorry to hear about your computer... that sort of thing can be so frustrating. When I first started working on my game, my laptop completely died and I lost years worth of music arrangements >_< I hope you were able to restore everything!

 

[BlackIris]

Played the beautifully crafted game demo..~Melolune~..

I have to say this game demo took me by surprise.. The mystery behind the main characters, gives me the hype wanting to know more about them.
The story-telling, and dialogue was very well put together. It created a well thought cinematic point of view. (as if I was watching a movie). ^^

The concept works put into this... ~Breathtaking~.. The layering system you've done here, is something to admire.
The climate conditions, suited the areas within the there theme sections. (nothing seemed out of place, involving the Melolune's location designs).
The lighting, and shadow effects has a soft base to it,.. And yet inviting at the same time.. You know how to blend a feeling within the atmosphere.

When I started playing, I didn't want to stop. I was caught within the illusion, of being part of the story-line. (a players point of view). ^^;;

As for the sounds, and Music.... O.O.....What can I say, I'm shocked!...^O^ You composed some musical scores within this game.
Looked up your site, and read a bit more about you. Your talented in creating emotion involving story events.
It brings soul, and personality to the Melolune Universe..
I'm mesmerized by your theme song used in the game. (you sang the main theme, it's very melodic and soft)
It brings light into the starting of this story. ^___~

I'm pleased with background sounds, and song theme added into the game..
It has a unique edge to it, story/design/ & music scores. Plus the introduction, of new character races added into the story.. ~Leebles~
They're so Cute!!! Every fantasy should have different races. ^___^
The Leebles are so innocent, as they show forms of compassion towards others. Even to strangers who aren't of they're race.
But they're existence, does know some of the dangers of the world. So they aren't totally un-aware, of some events outside their forest.
You've created solid characters, it has realism.

As for the humor...Hehe.. Did get a kick at the swamp Zom's. ^O^
And also the sign boards.. Imagine a talking directional crossroad pole..Maybe it's enchanted wood?, or it being part of a tree with personality?
Or a spell was casted onto the object.. Either the sign, or path pole made out of wood or stone. Awesome idea to use. ^^

Miss Matcha.. I truly enjoyed playing your demo. This game is defiantly worth playing.
I hope your having a lovely week, and take care of yourself.
Seasons greetings! and a happy new year.. ^^

~BlackIris~

 

[albert02]

Hi this is my first post, I used to play alot of rpg in early PSx era but my first played RPG is Guardian Crusade.
Thats why I like RPGs w/ lots of collectibles and secrets
like:
suikoden's (characters,ending,large explorable map, no long cut scenes, ultimate secrets like weapons and magics)

im looking forward the completion of this project

Question on miss matcha
are u the one who sang "theres are zombies in your lawn" in Plants & Zombie end MV credit

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Yeah, she's the one who sang that song. It says so in her blog. :3

I love that song, and this game was pretty good. XD

 

[xXSpiritKeeperXx]

Oh my glob! miss matcha, are you supershigi?! \(oAO)/ < Before I read comments

I could fangirl all over the place here... -tearsofjoy- YOU ARE SUPERSHIGI! OWO

Did you really work on Minecraft, or was it just Cube Land?

Posts this post two years after previous person