The Firgof's Legacy [Updated 3-16-2009] Prologue at 80%~

[Firgof Umbra]

Began work on sprite replacement last night. Captain Uzra's sprite package is nearing completion. I just have to finish up his Field Plate set and he'll be in-game today.

After him, it'll be [Farhymn] Asterai Uzra getting the custom treatment as I'm getting really agitated by how weird the closest-sprite-to-him looks. :| And I definitely want my screenshots to look less 'amateur' so he's also a priority anyway. I might have him ingame today, clothed at least. I doubt I'll be able to apply his 'bloodied/ruined/manly/armored' sets all in one day. Captain Uzra was a tall enough order, considering that I haven't ever sprited a character sheet. :S

He still needs to be shaded and lit after being armored properly but once that's done I'm all for throwing him into the game and trying him out.

(Captain Uzra: Row 1 Field Plate, Row 2 Clothed, Row 3 Bloodied, Row 4 Manly)

I'll also be replacing the title background with the new one based off the poster above (but without the green 'rune' and subtext) and swapping out the current windowskin for a custom one that I sketched out last night.

Once those changes are ingame then I'll probably start working on the mainquest again and get the prologue fully scripted and written. That should take me less than a month to do from where I currently stand (within two weeks if I'm lucky and don't run into a mess of bugs). Once -all- of this is completed then I'll release a new demo to show off all the new stuff. Heck, I might host the old game just to show how significantly it's evolved since I last posted a demo. :P

Oh, right, and I switched over to the Enu SBS Tankentai XP CBS because I don't want to draw everything from the front and also because it takes me one step closer to properly doing the combo-system I'm wanting to put into the game. Also, animated battlers are 1000% better than static 'staring off into space with mouth open' battlers which never react to anything that happens to them. :P

 

[Firgof Umbra]

Last night I broke 50 minutes of gameplay from start to finish while actively attempting to not do everything possible and following a logical linear progression. :D

 

[Firgof Umbra]

Captain Uzra is clashing really badly with the surroundings, both in scale and coloration, so I'll be redoing him sometime soon to fit in more with the sets.

I also integrated Atoa's CBS into this latest revision, fixed numerous bugs, added about 5-10 more minutes of gameplay, and pushed the prologue just about to the endpoint. After the next two or three 'scenes' I have to bring up the 'Finale' of the prologue and move the story to Chapter 1, when I can really get the gears going.

 

[MukanshinBlack]

I don't know about everyone else, but it's harder for me to understand what the game is really about then when I last posted. What I think I'm understanding though is that you're depending more on story then gameplay? People like games for how they're like when played, not how the story is laid out while playing.

 

[Firgof Umbra]

No, I'm not depending on the story to act as a crutch for the game. The game is a vehicle for the story, yes, but it's not hijacked or anything for it. If I wanted to write a book, I'd just write a book (I've done so before).

Stuff such as the combat system, leveling system, world map, encounters, items, upgrades, character class trees, and et cetera have not been forgotten. They play an important role in the game and are in the Game Design Document but 23 pages is a bit much to post up here, I thought.

The simplest way to put the game is: It's an RPG with a(n to certain limits) morphable storyline, explorable world, and the usual trimmings of many RPGs. Largely, the game will consist of the player being introduced to events which are sources of great conflict and is forced to solve them by means the player sees fit or 'just', all of which weave into a larger cloth that attempts to tells a bigger story happening behind the scenes of the world (what you learn being determined by how you act in the world). In their journeys the player will encounter the consequences of their past choices and be led to make choices on how (or not) to deal with them. At the culmination of this series of events the player will make a final choice which will irrevocably alter the entire course of history. After this choice the player lives in the shadow of their choice for a short time during the Epilogue Act and at the finish of the game it is explained what your choices' impact have had on history and the people you will encounter in your journeys, and finally who you become, what people will remember you for, and what you live on (or don't) to do.


I apologize that I haven't put that up in the Overview just yet but my GDD is still not finalized so it still could change in a few areas. Over Spring Break I'll have the GDD to the point that I can call it 'ready to run off of' and once that's done I'll provide a more concise and to-the-point explanation of the main draws and features of the game which will no doubt look very similar to the above explanation but may have minor changes here and there as I go through my TDD and make sure I have the resources for what I have planned out so far.

 

[Firgof Umbra]

Tonight all of the raw work for the main storyline in the prologue is finally in. All that needs to be done now is tightening up what's already there, fixing spriting errors, implementing the combat engine, and waterproofing the tonality system at the end of the prologue. I did two complete runthroughs to get a rough estimate on how long the Prologue is.

With some sidequests, some training, and a slightly above-average reading speed, the total playtime of the Prologue is roughly one hour.

Speeding through the prologue with noclip, no sidequests, no random encounters, button-mashed text, and no training clocked in at about 12 minutes.

I'll be adding back in some sidequests I earlier scrapped for time, opening some areas back up for player exploration, and truly start focusing on presentation now that gameplay is almost ready-to-beta.

I look forward to opening up the public beta of the Prologue to RMXP.org. It should be coming along this month or next.

 

[Firgof Umbra]

Alright, I'm just about ready to start distributing an internal release to a select group of people who feel like they're ready to put the system to the test. Apply through PM if you'd like to be part of the initial test group to find showstoppers and questkillers before the Prologue's release.

Applicants must be willing to not only try to break the game as hard as they can but to also provide constructive criticism. If you would like to participate, PM me indicating as such and I'll put you 'on the list'. If anyone has questions about anything, I will be on for all of today to answer questions.

Internal release will probably happen sometime this coming week or next week.

 

[Firgof Umbra]

Still working on the game, albeit slowly due to exams being very close.

Will have more progress once two weeks have passed and I'm out of school for a month.