Currently I haven't completed the first level enough for screenshots or demos, but I figured I may as well post the concept for this project of mine here.
The game's title is Soul Code Core. It uses a side-on battle system and will have highly animated battlers with large sprites. The game is set in a futuristic world inhabited by 'anidroids', living machines that resemble antrhopomorphic animals. Society in the anidroid world is highly developed, but due to race and species differences there is often complications and prejudices. Still, they have established a variously strong peace with each other, and the ruling powers are split between four main countries to the north, south, east and west. Technology has become so saturated that it has even fused with nature, creating a science fantasy scenario where even the plants are organic mecha, allowing the player to explore an alien yet familliar world. The anidroids themselves survive on energies such as plasma, solar, crystal, heat and kinetic generated power sources. Different anidroids have different 'cores' (batteries/souls), and this makes up a substitute for elemental alignments in this game. Plasma based anidroids will be able to learn electrical style techniques for example. The anidroids have come to rely on technology in order to survive, and identify each other though ID tags that are attributed to each anidroid by birth. ID's are internal and can be sensed by other anidroids much like the way animals identify each other by scent.
The protagonist of the story is a young squirrel anidroid named Ginnigan. His core type is plasma, and he enjoys the ability to move at high speeds for very short periods of time.
Despite being the son of the president of one of the four major countries, he is a modest and quiet-tempered person. Even with his sheltered upbringing, he was trendy and well-liked, and enjoys mingling with the lower classes. Shortly after his 17th birthday, Ginnigan is kidnapped by a mysterious armed group. He wakes up in a holding cell inside an airship, feeling hungry and confused. His captors won't tell him anything other than he's being used as ransom and that they've surgically removed his ID. They treat him well though, and he's allowed out of his cell to stretch his legs. Ginnigan's appointed supervisor soon catches up to him and attempts to put him at ease. Just as the name of the group and their goal is about to be revealed, the ship is attacked by an unknown assailant.
Ginnigan follows the guard to the ship's bridge, where a powerful military anidroid has badly damaged the aircraft. Seemingly bent on revenge, the mystery man confuses Ginnigan with one of the group and attacks him, but he's saved by the guard. Ginnigan is forced to jump from the damaged ship and falls a fatal distance to the forest floor below, but when he wakes up, he's mysteriously unharmed.
Ginnigan now finds himself an unknown distance away from home with no ID tag and no way to contact his parents. Many questions float through his mind as he wearily sets off to try to find civillisation and a way to solve his problem. But will it be so easy when nobody can recognise him or even believe what he says?
Eventually, the situation gets much worse as Ginnigan's dissapearance threatens to start a major war between the four countries. The race to get his Soul Code back becomes much more urgent.
The game explores the themes of trust and scepticism, racism/acceptance and political deception, beurocratic over-complexity and the importance of considering the situations of other people as well as more common themes such as friendship and courage. It focuses on Ginnigan's situation as he battles homesickness, fear and stress as well as enemies who either want him dead or captured. He has to seek answers to the mysteries of his situation and soon comes to rely on the few people who choose to believe and sympathise with him.
Throughout his travels, Ginnigan teams up with various allies. There are four members to a party, but teammates can be swapped in and out before the battle, allowing you to customise your party based on which characters you manage to aquire. The battle system will be similar to a Mario RPG where button inputs will have some effect on the attacks. The player will pick up weapons and clothing. Weapon types are exclusive to each character, but clothing is not. Certain characters will have better effects with different clothing types though, or may even obtain bonuses from certain combinations.
Skills or special moves in this game are called 'martial techs'. In battle they take Core Points to perform. Characters learn martial techs as they level up, but these are always the most basic. Visiting mechanics or learning from experts will allow you to upgrade these core skills into far more powerful techniques, but only if you're at the level or have the correct item to do so. Many of these skills can be used outside the battlefield too. So the process for learning a martial tech goes like this:
Ginnigan reaches level 5 = Ginnigan learns the basic plasma tech 'hi-speed'
Ginnigan saves up money and takes himself to a mechanic, or meets a certain NPC
The NPC/mechanic offers a list of things that 'hi-speed' can be changed to.
Ginnigan chooses 'Rapid Punch' which is a bit more powerful and offers a chance of stun.
Ginnigan reaches level 10 = Ginnigan learns the basic plasma tech 'blinding flash'
Ginnigan uses the same process to change 'blinding flash' into 'daze bomb'.
etc. etc. etc.
Weapons and items can be combined to create new weapons or items. Some martial techs will require you to have a certain weapon in order to learn it, after which you will have that technique every time you equip that particular weapon. Some weapons break after use, too, but these are considered items. It's possible to get these breakable weapons configured into normal weapons by customising them, but they usually won't be as powerful.
Besides martial techs there are also Inspired Techs, which are pretty much overdrives. These are the most damaging attacks a character can learn and they usually make the most of whatever status effect is featured by that character's core type. They can't be customised. Most characters will learn one inspired tech that's good for damage, one that's good for inflicting status, and one ultimate that is very potent but takes a lot of power to perform.
Enemies in this game don't appear randomly, but can be seen on the screen. They'll run to
attack the player and start a battle. Only sentient enemies such as bandits or rebel soldiers will drop weapons and money (the currency used in this RPG is 'Bytes'). 'beast' type enemies drop things that can be sold for money or used to customise weapons or clothes. Many beast enemies will commonly drop raw energy which is a common ingrediant in most mixtures.
Throughout the course of the game, the player is taken via a series of events on a tour across the four major countries, each of which has a few different cities and areas to explore. Since I'm the only person who's working on this game, I'm keeping it low-key for now, but with room for expansion. Eventually I hope to have the environments large and involving.
Lastly, the game will be lighthearted and quirky due to the protagonists's often optimistic outlook, but will always take itself seriously in a similar style to the Mother games.
Currently I've got the first stage programmed (from the start until Ginnigan falls into the forest). and am working on original sprites and tilesets. Lastly, the battle system will be added before I move on to scenario 2. Then I'll release a demo for testing.
I haven't yet fleshed out the details of the story yet, nor designed all of the characters, but I've got a general idea of where it will be going.
As far as music goes, I'll also be composing it myself. The music in this game has a techno feel to it but also uses many more traditional instrument sounds too. Primarily it will be upbeat and fast paced especially during the battle segments. I'm also considering making a powerup system that allows characters to change the music in battle to give themselves a boost. (different characters prefer different kinds of music)
The game's title is Soul Code Core. It uses a side-on battle system and will have highly animated battlers with large sprites. The game is set in a futuristic world inhabited by 'anidroids', living machines that resemble antrhopomorphic animals. Society in the anidroid world is highly developed, but due to race and species differences there is often complications and prejudices. Still, they have established a variously strong peace with each other, and the ruling powers are split between four main countries to the north, south, east and west. Technology has become so saturated that it has even fused with nature, creating a science fantasy scenario where even the plants are organic mecha, allowing the player to explore an alien yet familliar world. The anidroids themselves survive on energies such as plasma, solar, crystal, heat and kinetic generated power sources. Different anidroids have different 'cores' (batteries/souls), and this makes up a substitute for elemental alignments in this game. Plasma based anidroids will be able to learn electrical style techniques for example. The anidroids have come to rely on technology in order to survive, and identify each other though ID tags that are attributed to each anidroid by birth. ID's are internal and can be sensed by other anidroids much like the way animals identify each other by scent.
The protagonist of the story is a young squirrel anidroid named Ginnigan. His core type is plasma, and he enjoys the ability to move at high speeds for very short periods of time.
Despite being the son of the president of one of the four major countries, he is a modest and quiet-tempered person. Even with his sheltered upbringing, he was trendy and well-liked, and enjoys mingling with the lower classes. Shortly after his 17th birthday, Ginnigan is kidnapped by a mysterious armed group. He wakes up in a holding cell inside an airship, feeling hungry and confused. His captors won't tell him anything other than he's being used as ransom and that they've surgically removed his ID. They treat him well though, and he's allowed out of his cell to stretch his legs. Ginnigan's appointed supervisor soon catches up to him and attempts to put him at ease. Just as the name of the group and their goal is about to be revealed, the ship is attacked by an unknown assailant.
Ginnigan follows the guard to the ship's bridge, where a powerful military anidroid has badly damaged the aircraft. Seemingly bent on revenge, the mystery man confuses Ginnigan with one of the group and attacks him, but he's saved by the guard. Ginnigan is forced to jump from the damaged ship and falls a fatal distance to the forest floor below, but when he wakes up, he's mysteriously unharmed.
Ginnigan now finds himself an unknown distance away from home with no ID tag and no way to contact his parents. Many questions float through his mind as he wearily sets off to try to find civillisation and a way to solve his problem. But will it be so easy when nobody can recognise him or even believe what he says?
Eventually, the situation gets much worse as Ginnigan's dissapearance threatens to start a major war between the four countries. The race to get his Soul Code back becomes much more urgent.
The game explores the themes of trust and scepticism, racism/acceptance and political deception, beurocratic over-complexity and the importance of considering the situations of other people as well as more common themes such as friendship and courage. It focuses on Ginnigan's situation as he battles homesickness, fear and stress as well as enemies who either want him dead or captured. He has to seek answers to the mysteries of his situation and soon comes to rely on the few people who choose to believe and sympathise with him.
Throughout his travels, Ginnigan teams up with various allies. There are four members to a party, but teammates can be swapped in and out before the battle, allowing you to customise your party based on which characters you manage to aquire. The battle system will be similar to a Mario RPG where button inputs will have some effect on the attacks. The player will pick up weapons and clothing. Weapon types are exclusive to each character, but clothing is not. Certain characters will have better effects with different clothing types though, or may even obtain bonuses from certain combinations.
Skills or special moves in this game are called 'martial techs'. In battle they take Core Points to perform. Characters learn martial techs as they level up, but these are always the most basic. Visiting mechanics or learning from experts will allow you to upgrade these core skills into far more powerful techniques, but only if you're at the level or have the correct item to do so. Many of these skills can be used outside the battlefield too. So the process for learning a martial tech goes like this:
Ginnigan reaches level 5 = Ginnigan learns the basic plasma tech 'hi-speed'
Ginnigan saves up money and takes himself to a mechanic, or meets a certain NPC
The NPC/mechanic offers a list of things that 'hi-speed' can be changed to.
Ginnigan chooses 'Rapid Punch' which is a bit more powerful and offers a chance of stun.
Ginnigan reaches level 10 = Ginnigan learns the basic plasma tech 'blinding flash'
Ginnigan uses the same process to change 'blinding flash' into 'daze bomb'.
etc. etc. etc.
Weapons and items can be combined to create new weapons or items. Some martial techs will require you to have a certain weapon in order to learn it, after which you will have that technique every time you equip that particular weapon. Some weapons break after use, too, but these are considered items. It's possible to get these breakable weapons configured into normal weapons by customising them, but they usually won't be as powerful.
Besides martial techs there are also Inspired Techs, which are pretty much overdrives. These are the most damaging attacks a character can learn and they usually make the most of whatever status effect is featured by that character's core type. They can't be customised. Most characters will learn one inspired tech that's good for damage, one that's good for inflicting status, and one ultimate that is very potent but takes a lot of power to perform.
Enemies in this game don't appear randomly, but can be seen on the screen. They'll run to
attack the player and start a battle. Only sentient enemies such as bandits or rebel soldiers will drop weapons and money (the currency used in this RPG is 'Bytes'). 'beast' type enemies drop things that can be sold for money or used to customise weapons or clothes. Many beast enemies will commonly drop raw energy which is a common ingrediant in most mixtures.
Throughout the course of the game, the player is taken via a series of events on a tour across the four major countries, each of which has a few different cities and areas to explore. Since I'm the only person who's working on this game, I'm keeping it low-key for now, but with room for expansion. Eventually I hope to have the environments large and involving.
Lastly, the game will be lighthearted and quirky due to the protagonists's often optimistic outlook, but will always take itself seriously in a similar style to the Mother games.
Currently I've got the first stage programmed (from the start until Ginnigan falls into the forest). and am working on original sprites and tilesets. Lastly, the battle system will be added before I move on to scenario 2. Then I'll release a demo for testing.
I haven't yet fleshed out the details of the story yet, nor designed all of the characters, but I've got a general idea of where it will be going.
As far as music goes, I'll also be composing it myself. The music in this game has a techno feel to it but also uses many more traditional instrument sounds too. Primarily it will be upbeat and fast paced especially during the battle segments. I'm also considering making a powerup system that allows characters to change the music in battle to give themselves a boost. (different characters prefer different kinds of music)