[UPDATE 02/24/10 | NEW PICS!] Max Dynamo: Horizon of Fire

[Sparx-1]

~UPDATE! 02/24/10~
Added 4 new entries to Category: Concept Art
I know I haven't posted anything in a long, long time, but as you can see, I'm planning on changing that... ^^;

In case anyone's wondering, no, I haven't abandonned Axel, I just got kinda bored with the project, so it's sort of...paused, so to speak...

Also, if you remember a post similar to this one involving my Max Dynamo character, I took that one down to make room for this one. I had several ideas for stories to put these characters in at the time, and ultimately realized that this one, which takes place first chronologically, is the best one to start with instead of making "prequels" like in Star Wars...

Without further ado...



.:Introduction to the world of Tera:.

Spoiler

Welcome to the world of Tera, where all living things generate a highly maliable energy from their bodies called Meikia energy. Like all civilizations, they use their unique abilities to beat the living snot out of each other. Meikia atoms can change into any other type of substance atoms the person emitting it wants it to, making it possible to blast fire, create tidal waves, call forth storms (although they'd have to throw a lot of energy into the air first) and even animate inanimate objects! (Rocks, trees etc) Basically, if you've done it with magic, chances are you can do it with meikia.

Those who practice meikia manipulation are known as Vangaras (Men of the Vanguard). The Supreme Arch-Vangaras' Guild has become the richest, most powerful guild on Tera. They are devoted to uncovering the full extent of the capabilities of Meikia, and have been working toward that goal for thousands of years.

The world of Tera was once ruled by powerful, seemingly immortal shapeshifters known as Varians. Made of pure Meikia energy, it seemed that nothing could ever threaten their rulership. Until some really crafty hominids came up with a substance called Nixdar, which causes Varians to melt like salted slugs. A war broke out, and surprisingly, the Varians lost. Doomed to seek shelter on a chunk of land hovering in the air, the amazing creatures now face extinction...

Before the invention of Nixdar, though, killing a varian was considered nearly impossible, so when criminals among them faced what would be the "death penalty" for hominids, they sealed the malevolent beings in various forms of suspended animation. Pocket dimensions, specially designed containment pods, the works.


But in the year 2045, none of that matters anymore...

Now this world is much like our world... That is, if our world were filled with, in addition to normal humans, beautiful blue-skinned humanoids who find the cold almost orgasmic, Giant green brutes with unparalelled strength, and pointy-eared guys and gals who can run at superhuman speeds. Not to mention the fact that meikia is used in everyday life. ...Also, you might wanna overlook that huge treasure-hunting industry that's sweeping Tera... Nevertheless, it's like ours in the sense that everyone wants the same things we strive for - A good job, a loving family complete with a flying dog-like pet,(okay, that's just Tera...) and money... Lots and lots of money....

~:The Story So Far:~

Maxwell Evercrest (AKA "Max Dynamo"), a hard-working engineer and mechanic in the Kingdom of Trimithia, finds himself in the middle of a scramble for 3 somewhat unrelated, yet powerful items that started with a man carrying the prototype of the Psychograph, a machine that can read thoughts, runs into his shop and is shot in the doorway. After fighting off the army that chased after the man, Max learns that Valkar, a fanatic visionary, had stolen the Psychograph from Vela Corp earlier, and will now stop at nothing to get it back...

Furthermore, some data from Valkar's mind left inside the machine shows that he does not plan on just stopping there with Vela Corp, as he is next planning on stealing another one of their innovations; The Omnicell, which was created a few years prior to the events of the story as an unlimited source of Meikia energy. As both of these items, especially when used together, in the wrong hands could cause tremendous damage to the world, Zander, an engineer and Max's former mentor, calls his old student and a team of other people dedicated to stopping Valkar to his aid in putting an end to his plans, which reveal their true danger when the third item on Valkar's list is discovered...

~:Characters:~

Spoiler

* Name: Max Dynamo
* Age: 26
* Appearance: Blonde hair, often wears a gold scarf around his neck and a red leather trench which he wears open. Underneath the coat he wears a tight black shirt and leather black pants.
* Weapon of choice: Battle Wrench (Think Ratchet & Clank meets Cloud's Buster Sword)
* Talents/Hobbies: He is a very skilled engineer and mechanic, who also happens to happen to have the power to create metals out of meikia energy and form them into any shape he needs.
* Occupation: Mechanic
* Hometown: Zerxei, a town in the kingdom of Trimithia
* Social Class: Citizen
* History/backstory: Maxwell Evercrest (more likely known by his nickname 'Max Dynamo') has been obsessed with engineering since childhood. His dream is to become a famous inventor, but with the lack of new things to invent in his day and age, this is proving to be quite a daunting goal...
* Current story: Max was thrust into an unexpected adventure when a man was shot in the doorway of his shop, which was later burned in a battle with the attackers. Since then, he has been determined to get to the bottom of this chain of events, which he and many others agree could spell disaster for the world...

* Name: Aryl
* Age: 19
* Appearance: *undecided*
* Weapon of choice: Meikia Staff
* Talents/Hobbies: Streetwise and tough, airship pilot
* Occupation: Vangara
* Hometown: Zerxei
* History/backstory: Aryl is an old 'friend' of Max's who often gets on his nerves with her stubbornness and 'bad' puns.
* Current story: Aryl joins Max's party soon after the incident at his shop. Although the relationship between her and Max has never been a romantic one, she quickly develops ill feelings toward Lola for trying to seduce him, and starts to develop an affection for Max after observing some of his 'attractive' qualities during their adventure.

* Name: Darius
* Age: 28
* Appearance: *undecided*
* Weapon of choice: Hammers, maces, blunt force weapons
* Talents/Hobbies: A master strategist due to his experience from war. He weilds melee weapons with such deadliness that weilders of firearms have lost to him.
* Occupation: Knight
* Hometown: Avgardae, the royal city
* History/backstory: Darius is a knight in the King of Trimithia's army. He has quite a temper, but tries to be on his best behavior in the King's presence.
* Current story: Darius joins Max's party after Zander asks the King for his backing on an operation to prevent a global threat. He has a very militaristic and straight-forward composure, putting his orders above all else. However, Lola has the ability to soften him up some...


* Name: Lola
* Age: 24
* Appearance: Sandy, golden-brown hair often pulled into a high, long ponytail. Glasses, and a stylish red and black outfit made of leather.
* Weapon of choice: Metallic, meikia-empowered whip. [Looks a lot like Gundam Epyon's weapon]
* Talents/Hobbies: Very acrobatic and flexible. She has great skill at (a certain gambling minigame that will be included...I just haven't named it yet ^^.
* Occupation: "Darkslayer"
* Hometown: Syricha (A bustling, New York-like modern-type city located in Trimithia)
* Social Class: Citizen
* History/backstory: Lola is the "Darkslayer" of Trimithia, a title that is given to the warrior in a kingdom that is the most skilled at destroying Dark Varians. Much of her past is unknown, and she often flirts with and teases men to manipulate them.
* Current story: Lola joins Zander's crew after a run-in with Max and Darius, the former of which showing a rather uncommon reaction to Lola's flirting: disgust. Because of this, Lola has taken it upon herself to get Max to 'break', continually playing up her sexuality in his presence... Will Max succumb to her provocative wiles? Only time will tell...

* Name: Bridget
* Age: 19
* Appearance: Long, bright, golden-blonde hair, wears a long white robe with golden accents.
* Weapon of choice: Meikia Staff
* Talents/Hobbies: She is an amazing cook, and is a prodigy at meikia manipulation.
* Occupation: Light Vangara of Medicine in-training
* Hometown: Haiya, on the campus of Virecho Academy of Meikia
* Social Class: Citizen
* History/backstory: Bridget is a soft-spoken, calm and caring student at Virecho Academy, one of the top meikia academies in Trimithia.
* Current story: Bridget joins the party after an incident in Haiya Academy in which one of the students turns out to be a spy for Valkar. She soon proves to be an integral part of keeping the party alive...

* Name: Zander
* Age: Unknown
* Appearance: Tall, with a muscular upper body. Wears brown and black armor over a brown and gold tunic with a golden belt at the waist, black pants, red cornrows braided in an elaborate and artistic style.
* Weapon of choice: Mega Battle Wrench (Like Max's, but more epic)
* Talents/Hobbies: Genius engineering skills.
* Occupation: Master Engineer
* Hometown: *undecided*
* History/backstory: Zander is a world-renowned engineer from Trimithia who taught Max everything he knows about the profession. He seems rather eccentric at times, but is a very focused individual who is obviously very determined towards stopping Valkar.
* Current story: Zander is the de facto leader of Max's party. He is not a playable character, but sometimes acts as an automatic character in a few battle scenes.

* Name: Valkar Inferno
* Age: *undecided*
* Appearance: *undecided*
* Weapon of choice: Flaming spear
* Talents/Hobbies: He seems to be very proficient at theft and military strategy, but then again, as a guy who's running around destroying everything, there aren't that many other talents or hobbies to display...
* Occupation: Theif, terrorist
* Hometown: Unknown
* History/backstory: Valkar is a visionary whos past is shrouded in mystery... However, he seems to feel that what he's doing is right...
* Current story: Valkar has recently set out on an endeavor that involves the theft of several potentially dangerous devices. The violent manner in which he's been doing this only proves that whatever he's up to, it can't be good.

~:Concept Art:~

Spoiler: Lookit!

Max Dynamo


Lola


Aryl


Darius


Bridget


Zander

~Features~
-Uses Enu's sideview battle system
-Max can use the Psychograph to unlock secrets in the minds of civilians. However, in order to scan those thoughts, a code may need to be cracked.
-Uses (most) of the latest graphical scripts
-Will use custom graphics for some characters and logos
-May use custom tilesets, backgrounds etc.
-Will feature some custom music.
-Will feature a house/base system for rebuilding Max's damaged mechanic shop
-Will feature a wealth of side-quests
-Max can access any area he's visited in the game with the use of his 'Dynamo Chamber', a huge, subterrainean base with paths and tunnels that extend all around the world. His master key has been missing for years, so unfortunately he'll have to battle through his own security robots to get to certain hidden goodies he's locked down there.
-There will be some interesting way of learning skills (Help me on this! I need some good skill systems...)

More to come!

 

[dadevvtsvre]

I am confused about the "Meikia" energy. You mention that all living things generate the Meikia energy. If this is true, would that not mean all humans can generate this, therefore meaning all humans could use magic? Is it only the Vangaras that can actually use the energy? Or am I misinterpreting? And if so, what makes the Vangaras able to use the energy instead of everyone else?

The names seem very unrelated and don't sound too well together, if you know what I mean? (For example, Nixdar is a very modern sounding name, while names such as Vangaras and Varian seem of a different origin. Or maybe this is just me being nitpicky? idk :crazy: )

I do like the plot, and I'm not sure what makes me like it so much. This has a very futuristic/sci-fi vibe about it, not sure if you intended it like that, but it feels like that to me and this is a good thing. I would definitely want to hear more about it-do you have a general idea of where you want to take it? (conclusion? main events?) This is Concept Dev, after all, so lay on the spoilers for critique.

Custom graphics and custom music is very ambitious-I've seen it done but most of the time the projects are not complete and developers give up. I'm not doubting you, but it is very tough to do, even with a team of a couple of people. If you feel you are prepared, then by all means, do this. We could use some custom stuff around legions of RTP-dominated games.

 

[Sparx-1]

I am confused about the "Meikia" energy. You mention that all living things generate the Meikia energy. If this is true, would that not mean all humans can generate this, therefore meaning all humans could use magic? Is it only the Vangaras that can actually use the energy? Or am I misinterpreting? And if so, what makes the Vangaras able to use the energy instead of everyone else?

I mentioned all humans CAN use it, however, in order to use it to produce into attacks and whatnot, they must train, and train hard. Much like Ki in most martial arts anime. It will be evident, though, that everyone in the game has at least /some/ meikia manipulating capabilities, for example, many normal citizens learn to use simple barrier meikia techniques to protect themselves from sudden peril.

The names seem very unrelated and don't sound too well together, if you know what I mean? (For example, Nixdar is a very modern sounding name, while names such as Vangaras and Varian seem of a different origin. Or maybe this is just me being nitpicky? idk :crazy: )

Heheh... ^^; That's sort of my fault... I forgot to add in the part about how nixdar was originally formulated as a means to keep Dark Varians (Commonly refered to as Da'rai, short for "Dark Varaian") from randomly harrassing the humans just for fun like they did. It's called nixdar because it's a portmonteau of "nix", the Latin word for "no", and "-da'rai".

I do like the plot, and I'm not sure what makes me like it so much. This has a very futuristic/sci-fi vibe about it, not sure if you intended it like that, but it feels like that to me and this is a good thing. I would definitely want to hear more about it-do you have a general idea of where you want to take it? (conclusion? main events?) This is Concept Dev, after all, so lay on the spoilers for critique.

Alright, you asked for it...

Spoiler: Epic Spoilage!

The "third item" on Valkar's list is an ancient scroll that speaks of a certain meikia technique called "Infernal Horizon", which was proposed by a philosopher vangara back in the medieval era of Tera. However, although he theorized it was possible, there was no way to obtain enough energy back then to actually pull the thing off, and that's where Valkar's Omnicell theft comes in... (Note: Valkar often mentions that his "benefactor" made his plans all possible, and makes reference to him in a few of his appearances)

After finding out about this, Zander charges the team with the task of helping him build a device to make sure that, in case this does actually happen, there will be a way to remedy the problem: A Power Fusion Engine, which can absorb massive amounts of energy and inject it into a small, concentrated energy ball core inside of a specially designed deposit bay. The next few missions in the game will be based on getting the things nessescaery to construct the machine.

By the time they finish building the machine, Valkar locates the place where the scroll is hidden, which is actually an ancient ruins that was kept secret by Vela corp. They had the place locked down because *they* planned on experimenting with it one day, but the people from the company eventually lost interest and moved on to other things. Max and the party chase Valkar there, but Valkar gets the scroll before they can and runs off, claiming that his benefactor once again tipped him off on the fact that Vela Corp was the only entity that had a map to the location of the ruins.

One more mission is issued by Zander for the final part of his machine. All in due time, as well, since Valkar has begun to light the sky ablaze with the technique, which is revealed to be a literal sheet of fire that is to be spread across the sky, giving the user the power to rain down blazing death from anywhere, anytime. Max follows Valkar to the top of a building, where he finally reveals why he did all of this: Valkar's goal is, in his words; to "forge the perfect world, born out of fire". He realizes that the world is discontented with its own way of life, and since everyone constantly complains about the "daily grind" and whatnot, he feels that humanity can come up with a better system. After proposing his ideas to the governments of the world, they find his concepts ridiculous and even childish, so therefore he decides to create a new system by force. By using the psychograph, which he snatches from Max's hands, he will see who will be willing to accept this change, and who will be against it, and then destroy the opposers and preserve the willing. Max tells Valkar that if he does this, all of his power might drive him insane, and he will make the world a worse place than it already is. Valkar, however, is so commited that he considers such a thing impossible, and then sends a bolt of fire down toward Max. One of the party members (I haven't decided who yet) pushes Max out of the way and takes the hit, dying there. Max challenges Valkar to a duel, and is nearly defeated...

...Zander comes to the rescue with his Fusion Engine, absorbing all of the fire out of the sky. Max continues to fight with Valkar, and wins this time. However, as Valkar is left on the ground, weakened, he looks up at Zander and says something along the lines of; "YOU!? But...why? Why would you...betray me?"

Zander Takes the Psychograph, puts it in the engine, and does the same with the omnicell. Leaping into the fusion core, he claims that now that Valkar is dead, his plan can come to fruition. Zander was Valkar's "benefactor", and was using him all along to get the nescesary materials for his plan. He wants to fuse the Psychograph with his mind for omniscience, the omnicell with his body for omnipotence, and the fire from the Infernal Horizon with his very being for omnipresence...

In this attempt to deify himself, he attempts to take over the world and have all of Tera serve him. Max, feeling betrayed, hurt and angry, sets off to defeat his former mentor and put an end to his evil scheme in the final battle...

Custom graphics and custom music is very ambitious-I've seen it done but most of the time the projects are not complete and developers give up. I'm not doubting you, but it is very tough to do, even with a team of a couple of people. If you feel you are prepared, then by all means, do this. We could use some custom stuff around legions of RTP-dominated games.

Well, yeah, I'm planning on having something to set this game apart from others visually... In order to ensure completion of the project, I'm thinking of using filler graphics from around the net as placeholders as I build the game, and then just swapping all the graphics (that can be swapped) in the end...

^^ Thanks for showing interest!

 

[Sparx-1]

Added some concept sketches of two of the main characters... What do you guys think?

Spoiler: C&C plz^^;!

Max Dynamo


Lola

 

[Sparx-1]

*sigh* Just bumping this thread so that it doesn't become "dead".

 

[Sparx-1]

Update! I've added art of the other members of the main party.

...Took me long enough... I'll probably start making sprites soon.

Spoiler: C&C plz^^;!

Aryl


Darius


Bridget


Zander