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Steelknight

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Title.png[/IMG]


Story

It is 344 NE, twenty-five years after the destruction of the kingdom of Etainia and the final battles of the Graecian War. The nations of Lucadia, having suffered greatly during the last generation of prolonged war, have rebuilt and move toward a new age of peace.
However, the peaceful illusion is violently shattered on the island of Zuone. A group of mercenaries known as Steelknight, hired to stop a priceless trinket from falling into the hands of a gang of thieves, soon learn that a group known as the Psalms of Shadow is trying to overthrow the nations of Lucadia. Quickly they all become drawn into a secret war between the Princess of Tallairia and the clandestine Psalms of Shadow, whose agents are everywhere. Aided by a man known as "Tallairia's Most Wanted", and an insecure healer, one member of Steelknight will be propelled to the heart of the struggle with the Psalms. Will he become the champion in the fight against them, or will he be defeated like so many before him?

Cast


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Arthur.png[/IMG]
Age 24, Preferred weapons – Swords (Short Swords mainly, but he’ll also use a Broadsword if necessary)
Arthur is a wanderer in search of clues relating to an artefact known as “the light”. To fund his journeys from place to place, he takes work as a mercenary, which is how he happened to be working with Steelknight on that fateful mission in Zuone. He’s a sucker for hard luck cases, and has been known to take in runaways and help them start up a new life in other places. He could probably find the answers he seeks far more easily if he didn’t stop to help hard luck cases along the way, and he’d probably get into a lot less trouble too, but then, he wouldn’t be Arthur Steel.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Esaka.png[/IMG]
Age 21, Preferred weapons – Staves, Spears, Magic
Esaka is a young healer from the village of Lemnia on Zuone. She has an extensive knowledge of herbs and their applications, as well as a genuine concern for people who are suffering, although she dislikes mercenaries and soldiers. She acts tough, but she’s actually extremely jealous of those around her, especially after she joins Arthur on his search for “the light”.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Fyre.png[/IMG]
Age 23, Preferred weapons – Bows, Short Swords
Fyre is also from Lemnia, where his short temper is legendary. Once engaged to Esaka, he broke off the relationship after he met the true love of his life while fighting with Steelknight. Thanks to her, he was posted to the Tallairian Imperial Guard. It all came to a brutal end when Fyre seemingly found himself on the receiving end of a conspiracy that left him labelled as “Tallairia’s Most Wanted”. Fyre fled and is still at large, while his friends work to try and clear his name.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Tallera.png[/IMG]
Age 23, Preferred Weapons - Spears, Magic, her armies
The sole daughter and heir apparent of the Tallairian Empire, Lady Tallera is well known and well liked by her people. Having been taught by the best teachers available, Tallera is incredibly knowledgable and cunning, not to mention ruthless. Even at her young age, she is a major force behind the scenes in Tallairia's politics, as well as the leader of a group dedicated to finding and driving out those Psalms of Shadow who have infiltrated her father's court. To this end, she approaches Arthur Steel, but at the same time, she cannot let go of a grudge she bears toward another member of the Steel family.


New!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Sh2.png[/IMG]
Age 19, Preferred Weapons - Spears, Wind and Thunder Elemental Magic
A swashbuckling young man who is also a member of Princess Tallera's anti-Psalm team. Shin is an easy going guy who is unusually well spoken, considering he is basically a pirate. His mastery of magic is unusually good as well. He loves to showboat, though, often chanting made-up incantations before casting a spell. His overconfidence might one day spell disaster for him.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Val4.png[/IMG]
Age 17, Preferred Weapons - N/A
A runaway that Arthur met while he was travelling. She is currently travelling with Arthur, trying to find her place in the world. She constantly worries about Arthur when he goes out on increasingly dangerous missions. She longs to do something to help her friend, but having no skill in either magic or in weapons, she is forced to watch from the sidelines.


New!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Trev2.png[/IMG]
Age 26, Preferred Weapons - Greatswords
Arthur's older brother, who left Ithaka a year before Arthur. Along with their childhood friend Elisa, the Steel brothers were Ithaka's "Three Muskateers", although Trevor was always the most adventurous one. Perhaps it was only natural that he should leave Ithaka. Arthur has not heard from him since he left Ithaka, and although he never shows it, he is worried about his long lost brother. He hopes that by learning the truth about "the light" he might also find his brother.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Gor2.png[/IMG]
Age 46, Preferred Weapons - Tyrfing, a former treasure of the Etainian Royal Family
An intimidating one-eyed man who is rumoured to be one of the leaders of the Psalms of Shadow, although few who have met him have lived long enough to tell of him. He wields both his demon sword, Tyrfing, and arcane magics with unworldly skill. His personal goals seem to be mostly to further the Psalms' goals, although he has a personal stake in things as well.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Steelknight.png[/IMG]
The mercenary group, Steelknight, has gone through many incarnations since it first came into being twenty five years ago. Currently it i made up of Yala Ashtear (top left), Reese Orkeney (top right), Indigo Darkmoon (bottom left) and Maximus Romanov (bottom right).
They fight to protect the innocent from oppression, for a modest fee. Currently, they are being employed by a wealthy aristocrat in Zuone to ensure that an artefact known as the Ring of Hope does not fall into the hands of the Psalms of Shadow.


Updated!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/Psalms.png[/IMG]
The Psalms of Shadow are a group who are masters of hiding in plain sight. By use of both stories to frighten small children and bandits frequently doomed to failure who bear their name, they have convinced the world at large to be at best sceptical of their existance. They are led by a mysterious figure known as the High Psalm, who wants to bring his own brand of peace to the world, by taking total control of everything. Fearing that his intentions might be uncovered before he is in full control, he uses agents placed in Lucadia's various nations to keep the nations of Lucadia at odds with each other.
Below the High Psalm are his three generals. Gorlois the Phantom Blade (see above) is his strength. The Shadewalker, a sorceress from Etainia, acts as his chief magician. The third is the Masked Psalm, Remus, who has never shown his true face to the others. Remus is rumoured to be the same Remus who led Graecia against Tallairia 20 Years earlier.
They are possibly the greatest threat to peace that Lucadia has seen in the last 200 years.

The World

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Steelknight/WorldMap.png[/IMG]

This is the area where the action takes place, Lucadia. It has a fairly temperate climate, being situated on the northern hemisphere of Althenaia.

1 - Zuone Island, a Province of the Tallairian Empire. It is loyal to House Xala within Tallairia's complicated internal politics, and it is also the place where the first few hours of gameplay take place.
2 - A mostly barren area outside of Tallairia's control, an order of monks have their retreat among the recesses of the frigid Ice Maiden's Peak.
3 - Hesperia, nominally a part of the Tallairian Empire, although in reality it is fairly peaceful and rarely patrolled by the Imperial forces. A local lord known as Bale of the Blue Sword commands an immense amount of power in this region.
4 - Valencia, the heartland of the Tallairian Empire. It is home to Tallairia's most fertile farmlands, as well as the city of Deis and a frontier fortress (now more or less disused because of the formation of the border defence force at Alesia in the mountains forming the border between Hesperia and Valencia)
5 - The Northern Lands, which Tallairia has little interest in controlling.
6 - Tallairia itself. Situated at the head of a mighty lake, the city of Tallairia has been a centre of civilisation for nearly 350 years. It is ruled by a combination of Emperor and a Senate.
7 - These northern badlands are considered to be "cursed" lands by the people of Tallairia. A vast cavern in this region is used as a burial ground for the dishonourable dead.
8 - The Eastern badlands. Mostly swampy area, Tallairia jealously guards it, fearing that an enemy army might take root here and march on Tallairia, as occurred during the reign of Empress Tallera II.
9 - Veneficia, also known as the Nation of the Mages. A centre of learning and education, its sympathies lie with Morvonia, although it is not hostile to Tallairia either, as several children of noble families, including Tallera Princeps III, have received an education in the ways of magic there.
10 - Ithaka, Arthur Steel's homeland.
11 - Deimos Island, an area out of the control of Lucadia's powers. A hotbed of illicit dealings, piracy, and underground pit fighting.
12 - Graecia. 35 years ago, Graecia broke away from Tallairia in favour of Morvonia, and fought a terrible war that left her economically crippled. Nowadays, she is a shadow of her former self, with the Persiad family acting as little more than mouthpieces for Morvonian policy.
13 - The Destroyed Kingdom of Etainia. Many years ago, Etainia was a flourishing land, filled with fertile green fields, a wealth of precious materials, and mystic knowledge to rival Veneficia. Nowadays, it is a burned out husk. Nothing grows in her soil. People who try to explore that place never return. Unravelling the secret of Etainia's sad fate and the events that led up to it will also reveal a threat of unparalleled magnitude to the world at large.
14 - Morvonia. Although geographically her lands are larger than those of Tallairia, much of it is wasteland or lands inhabitted by nomadic tribes. She is ruled by an all-female council known as the "Daughters of Morvona", women who give up their previous existance to serve Morvonia until their deaths, adopting names such as "Piety" and "Chastity", embodying the virtues which the nation's women pride themselves on. Men in Morvonia are a subclass, much like the way that women have been treated in the past at Tallairia, which provides just one more reason for friction to exist between the nations

History / Timeline

A few quick notes here. Athenaia's history is divided up based on the Tallairian calender, which is dated from the time that the city was founded.
OE stands for Old Era. It refers to the time before Tallera the First led her people on a pilgrimage eastwards to find their new homeland in Lucadia.
NE stands for New Era, dated from either the time that Tallera the First arrived in Lucadia and founded the city.
Predated the Old Era by a matter of thousands of years is the Lost Era. Very little survives, or is known, of this time. While important to the overall world of Steelknight, this time period has little actual impact on the main events since it is so far removed from the present day, in addition to other reasons.

5 NE - Tallairia City Founded, following the death of Tallera the First's second husband Lord Phoenix. Lord Phoenix's coat of arms adopted as the Tallairian national logo.
144 NE - a period of general unrest leads to a great upheaval at Tallairia. The man betrothed to the young Empress retreats to a marshy region to Tallairia's east and builds an army which eventually retakes Tallairia. Amongst the forces that accomplished this was the founder of House Xala, whose family would spend the next two hundred years serving Tallairia as tacticians and advisors.
On the eve of the chaos, four individuals, divided up five artefacts responsible for the chaos in a large part, resolving to conceal them with the best of their skill. The intention was that the artefacts would never be used by humanity ever again.
150 NE - Morvonia founded.
316 NE - Graecia, long a province of Tallairia, which Tallairia had grossly mistreated by mining all manner of precious materials with little concern for the local populace, revolted from Tallairia and formed an alliance with Morvonia and Etainia.
317 NE - resolving to recover the mineral wealth she had lost, Tallairia launched a hostile attempt at retaking Graecia. However the invasion escalated into all out war, with Graecia championed by master swordsman and genius tactician Lord Adrian Remus. He called upon his allies for aid, and soon the war had reached Tallairia's port. Tallairia's doom seemed inevitable. Tallairia began to consript all men of fighting age, and poor leadership led to many suicide missions, creating much bitterness among the survivors.
318-9 NE - The alliance between Etainia and Graecia came to an abrupt end with the total destruction of Etainia, causes still unknown as of the start of the story. Morvonia's hand in the destruction was suggested but as nobody ever returned from Etainia, regardless of nation, it could never be proved.
Late 323 NE - the war came to a brutal, bloody end as both Lord Remus and Empress Alexandra of Tallairia are murdered in their bedchambers within days of each other. A young Tallera Princeps, hiding under her mother's dress in fear, witnessed the murder of her mother, and his parting words to her "may the same fate await you if you too should become a tyrant."
Shortly after, the one responsible was captured, executed, and his body hurled into the depths of Evil's Resting Place.
337 NE - Jonathan Fyre leaves his hometown of Lemnia to apprentice with Drushka Krystal of Steelknight.
342 NE - Arthur Steel leaves his home in search of information on an artefact called "The Light". His travels take him to Veneficia and Sceria, and ultimately...
344 NE - The start of the story. The rest unfolds from here.

Features


  • Spirit Force - build up energy as you fight, then unleash it as a variety of Limit Break-style attacks!
  • Equip a wide variety of weapons, each with their own unique Limit Break attacks!
  • Custom Battle Algorithms have been used to make several battle skills more than "damage with X element"
  • Use running, jumping and sneaking to find hidden areas.
  • Gain skills by equipping different personal effects.
  • Acquire magic by equipping yourself with spellbooks!
  • Reforge and improve your weapons and armour as you progress through the game. Up against an enemy who uses a lot of fire magic? Reforge your armour to add fire elemental defence!

Screenshots



Demo


Coming Soon!

Credits and Special Thanks


  • Ccoa
  • KGC
  • Trickster
  • SephirothSpawn
  • Deke
  • Fuso
  • Mac
 
Time for the first of what I hope will be weekly updates! This time, I've got a better look at the World Map for you all (which you've already glimpsed in one of the screenshots) as well as some notes on the different regions of Lucadia. Perfect if you want to plan where to spend your holiday this year!
 
This actualy looks pretty good. The world map looks pretty good. Maybe add some information on the history and what things are for example i can pick out many things in the story. Psalms of Shadows, band of brigands, Graecian War etc.

Overall very nice, will be looking for updates. I too am quite suprised nobody has posted in this thread.
 
I like the story, the characters, the world map and all. Maybe writing a bit more history about what the Psalms of Shadow are and the other groups. The only thing I dislike in your game is the use of converted RPG2k3 graphics. I find it looks really weird and very fuzzy but I guess there aren't enough RMXP graphics yet so...I guess it's ok

Other than that, everything is good. Will be hoping to see more updates.
 
I guess I can add a bit more on the Psalms of Shadow. It's complicated because I want to avoid spoilers. Essentially though they play the part of an Illuminati-esque organisation, hiding in plain sight behind the smokescreen of a reputation of being bogeymen. They frequently use characters like the brigands you fight early on to mask their pressence, and often they have their agents dismiss their actions as things like "the brigands were trying to make themselves sound dangerous by claiming to be the Psalms". In other words, they hide in plain sight.
The brigands themselves are just there for that purpose, and also to give you someone to fight before the Psalms come onto the scene (much like the Raiders in the early episodes of Babylon 5 before the Shadows came onto the scene).

Graphically, the adapted RM2K3 was a little easier to use because certain "styles" of sprites were very hard to come by in the XP styles. By using the RM2K era grahpics I'd already amassed for the old version, I saved myself a bit of time with creating new sprites, so all I had to do was do plenty of edits to make them look acceptable. I've used similar filters on most of the other resources so it all flows, especially on the tilesets.
 
Time for an update. I've added an entry for the Psalms of Shadow under the "Cast" section, it might seem vague as I'm trying to minimise the spoilers with those guys, hence why half the leadership isn't named.

Also, as suggested, I've added a very basic timeline covering the events and dates that get referenced in the part of the game I've made so far. Again I've tried to be careful with spoilers there, so certain bits have been left intentionally vague.

Next update will hopefully follow on a test playthrough of what I have made so far, and you know what that means? New screenshots!
 
It is a nice project. You are using a style of Characters that I like very much...
But I didn't like the faces... Made in FaceMaker, right? It has a mono style, and you put in a place that it is not so good =P

But I liked the history, etc etc.
Keep working ^^
 
One reason that I'm using Facemaker for the faces is the ease of making more of them. I'm trying to make it so the faces reflect the basic expression a character might have when they're saying something, rather than using one face the whole way through the game.
The positioning isn't the best, I agree, but since the UMS didn't resize text windows I couldn't leave a lot of dead space in the message boxes for them. After trying a few different positionings and the like I came up with that, which I'm pretty happy with.

Thanks for the support! I've just today put together the first half of the third dungeon. The second half of it is going to be the first really big challenge of the game, both for me as a creator and (all being well) for the player as well. Not that I'm making those first couple of hours a walk in the park, but at this point, a lot of things start to kick up a gear or two.
I'm quite enjoying making it happen as well :)
 
Okay, following on from your comment, Flaepru, I've played about with the face position some more. You had a good point, actually, it got in the way of the action sometimes. Here's what I've put together with the modification:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/ ... deTest.png[/IMG]

(Panorama needs changing, it's not perfect with the rest of the scene. But the point here is the slight modification to the UMS to change the face position. The whole scene is a work in progress right now)
 
And an update! There's five new screenshots added.
I'm still working my way through the third dungeon. I'm trying to make this one the "main" dungeon for the first portion of the story. It's flowing quite nicely, and should be a fun challenge for anyone playing it. It's not all based around fighting, either, which I hope should appeal to a few people.

Also, you might notice I've completely fixed the face positioning! I feel this works a lot better now. The message window auto corrects its position if a face isn't present, something that was giving me the occasional problem before. Got to give credit to Ccoa, the UMS is much easier to work with than the AMS that I had back when I started on this thing.

New Screenshots 02/18/07

Jade Hunter laying down the law
Jade Hunter telling it like it is
Tallera monologuing
Escaping from the dungeon. The guards will spot you and throw you back in the cells if you end up in their cone of vision
Arthur VS Viscen in a head-to-head battle.
 
Been ages since my last update, but I am still working on this thing!

Since my last post, I've redone all the faces - still Facemaker produced, but instead of using the 96 * 96 output, I've used the maximum output setting and resized them down, which gives them a much smoother look (in my opinion).

Been alternating between playtesting and finishing off the third dungeon. Playtime so far looks to be about 2 - 3 hours, assuming you go directly to all of your goals (which was what I was doing, since I know this thing inside out by now, unfortunately).

While I'm posting here, here's a few screenies:

The Eldritch Forest
Item Forging by Deke. I'm sure there must have been a tidier way of doing this...
Gorlois on a mountain
Scaling the outside of the shrine
Weyland, the excitable blacksmith
In-laws!
Here's something you don't see everyday - requited love!
 
Hmm making out in a sewer; sounds kinky. I like the new screenshots, and it looks as if the quality of the tilesets is improving. I can't put my finger on it but the new ones just look more crisp.
 

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