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Under the Twilight

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Great TownieTownie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Under the Twilight

This is just a "first look" at my new project. Nothing overly spectacular yet, I'm still filling in the graphics as you'll see. The coding comes first afterall. I'll start off with a boring title screen and one of the battle system in progress.


Obviously the pic is missing two more character portraits at the bottom. The pic on the upper left is Rain, the main character, the pic to the right is Malik... who's picture is also shown on the bottom right since it's his turn. The pic on the upper right is the enemy, which is also shown directly to the left getting blasted by some spell (animation is temp). The empty space beside the enemy portrait is reserved for multiple enemy parties.

So, onto some info about the game:

Background story:

The game revolves around the rivalry between two of the most powerful families in the underground world. Think of them as guilds of sorts. There are several of them, but House Serafiin and House DeSilva are the strongest. Consequently, they are rivals. However, their rivalry doesn't stem from their desire for power as most would think. It is rooted in a blood feud as old as time.

In the middle of this is caught a woman named Rain Serafiin. You could say she was born with a knife in her hands. Rain is basically your "no one stands in my way" kind of girl. Think combination between the main character of the movie Underworld, and Achilles from the movie Troy... both somewhat served as inspirations for Rain's personality. She's a scythe-wielding freak of a fighter... the kind that if you meet, you'd better start praying. Needless to say, if she wants you dead, you're as good as dead.

Because of this, Rain serves as the "Deathbringer" for the House Serafiin... obviously her family. The head said family, is her sister, Magdalena Serafiin. With Rain by her side, House Serafiin would eventually overpower House DeSilva. But there's one problem...

Through reasons to be revealed later on, Rain went and joined the convent. Yep, this hard rockin' chick is also a Priest! There's also another problem. Dantes, Rain's lover (before she joined the convent), is the head of House DeSilva... their sworn enemy. But Rain's sister does not know this.

That's basically your "dilemma" around which the story revolves. The three above mentioned characters are the main drivers of the plot.

Now, you can probably guess that there is a lot more to the story than what I've given... but that will have to wait until you play the game.

There won't be a lot of playable characters... only 4 to be exact. In fact, I might even cut it down to 3.

Features:

-Battle Formation-
The old Formation concept from "Until My Finest Hour" is back, but I've modified it quite a bit. As with before, there are skills that can only be used depending on what Formation your party is in. However, it is also affected by what formation the enemy part is in. If the enemy adapts a formation that overpowers yours, you skills (called Assault skills) will become inactive, and the enemy's will be able to use theirs.

The game will rely heavily on skills as you can tell... so as to avoid the button mashing bit. There are 4 types of formations: Drive, Breach, Phalanx, and Column.

-Assault Tactics-
This works hand in hand with Battle Formations. Each character will have a good list of Assaults they can perform (depending on their chosen class path). Each Assault can only be used based on the current Battle Formation. For example, if you assign Rain the Assault called "Battlecry", she won't be able to use it if you are in Breach formation since it is a Drive tactic. If you switch to Drive formation, Rain can then use Battlecry... but other members may not be able to use their skills if you have assigned them with Assaults that are not Drive tactics.

As you can see, although there aren't a lot of character to play as, you will be busy managing and assigning tactics to your party. But the problem remains, as with UMFH... how useful will these actually be? Read on...

-Intelligence Factor-
Heh, that's just a fancy name I made up so I can name my variables properly. This is basically an entirely separate system I devised to manage enemy intelligence. The enemy intel level will dictate what actions they will perform in battle. The code has a ton of conditional branches as you might expect, and it will actually check how your party is doing to determine the best action to take to make sure you lose.

For example, the enemy actually checks every round to see what formation you are using and will attempt to counter it. The enemy party will assume a formation to render your skills useless, and also assign Assaults to their party based on their current formation (providing they have appropriate Assaults available).

-Weapon Skill Progression-
You never have to buy, equip, or upgrade weapons. That's right, you start the game with one type of weapon, and you will have that weapon until the end of the game. Your skill with that weapon gets better as you gain levels. Your attacks change, and you start to do more damage... plain and simple... or is it?

-Class Advancement-
At the beginning of the game, you will start out as a specific class. That class comes with a certain set of attributes that will get stronger with levels. However, you don't have to stay with that class. As you gain levels, you will be allowed to "branch off" to different classes. Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as non-battle related benefits. In addition, certain classes have a "cap" on how good they can get with a certain weapon.

Let's make an example. Rain starts the game off as a Battlepriest, her favored weapon is the Scythe. She begins with some minor healing spells and attribute boosting abilities being of the Priest caste. Eventually, however, her skills with the Scythe will max out, and it would be a good idea to branch off to another, more -fighter-based class... such as the Champion or the Death Knight. Or if you want to be able to have the chance to kill your enemies instantly... you can also add in some Assassin levels to spice things up. Maybe you want to want to be able to hurl lightning bolts at your enemy? Then take some Mystic levels.

Each character can max out at three class types, you can have only 2, or even go pure if you want... pure characters often make powerful warriors but not as versatile.

*This system is partly inspired by AD&D and Neverwinter Nights.

Well, that's about it for now, hope you liked what you read.=)

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Townie
Joined: 13 Nov 2004

i think it looks good Smile
and it sounds cool too Laugh

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Super TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 29 Nov 2004

Flippin' 'eck, BloodRose, you have been busy Smile. It all sounds and looks good so far. What kind of an environment will this game be based in? Kinda sounds like it'd work in a city environment, with the two houses battling for control. I can clearly see that you've been inspired by Underworld (Rain's character, blood feud, two warring houses) Wink.

A sig should be here, but the oppressive tyranny that has its iron fist clenched around our liberty has denied me my god-given (I have not capitalised the word 'god' because let's be realistic: he doesn't exist!) free speech.

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Great TownieTownie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004

Yeah, hehe.

As for the environment...

I'm trying to stay away from any of the mainstream settings like fantasy, modern, and present settings. I'm trying to create a unique experience. Expect the whole game to be somewhat "dark" in mood.

The setting is in a time and place where the sun never shines, it is always twilight... but always on the darker side, and no one has any concept of what "daylight" is like... since no one has ever seen it. Hence the title of game.

Another note on the battle system, it is only parltly turn-based. You issue commands, and you let your characters go and think for themselves. If you hit a specific key, however, it will allow you the opportunity to re-issue commands at the end of the current round.

EDIT: Although it's inspired by Underworld, I should state that this game has nothing to do with vampires and werewolves. Sticking Out Tongue

WIP
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Joined: 5 Sep 2004

Your CBS design is FAR from perfect. Even from good.

First of all, the font colors look almost as saturated as possible. People get seizures from things like that. PLUS you don't have any sort of stroke on them, which is a must when you're dealing with changing background.

Second, there is no organization to it. Just by taking a look at it, the information is unpresentable and confusing. Nothing is labelled or sectioned off.

Third, you are wasting valuable screen space with the bloatingly large graphics. The character info is taking 1/4 of the entire screen. That's way too much. I can only imagine what it would look like with a full encounter.

I think your story is drab. Bloodfeuds are so boring to me. Underworld was especially bleh, as the werewolves were OBVIOUSLY stronger than the vampires, but were somehow the minority?

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Super TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 20 Jul 2004

I feel a hint of Romeo and Juliet going on here.
I bet the plot will go like this:

The girl and the guy fall in love. Girl finds out she's sworn enemy of Guy. Standard Crap Ensues. Guy and Girl leave families to engage in love and become fugitives or try to make peace between families to defeat the ominous evil.

However, Romeo and Juliet was good because of how well formulated it was. From the very beginning you know what's going on and what's going to happen. By doing this, we pay more attention to the characters of the story rather than the story itself. The strangest thing is, this approach works.

I've played a few of your games, Bloodrose, long before I quit playing RM2K games. From that experience, I know that you could pull it off with great ease. You kind of have an eye for making semi-likable characters, even if they are common archetypes.

Good luck!

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Über TownieUltra TownieMega TownieSuper TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 14 Jul 2004

Well I think it's obvious, WIP, that when its a different character's turn then a differnt graphic is seen.
Everything seems interesting so far.

Descartes is sitting in a bar, having a drink. The bartender asks him if he would like another. "I think not," he says, and vanishes in a puff of logic.

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Mega TownieSuper TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Quote:

Your CBS design is FAR from perfect. Even from good.

First of all, the font colors look almost as saturated as possible. People get seizures from things like that. PLUS you don't have any sort of stroke on them, which is a must when you're dealing with changing background.....

Nice first post WIP Smile.
Perhaps we can look at the positive side:

The story, however cliché, wasn't put together in about 5 seconds, which is what the community, is normally used to. Although it's based on Underworld (a film I have never seen) I hope to see some politics and generally sneaky underhand tactics a la Dune.

The battle system however does need some work graphically and everything looks disorganized. Perhaps you could look at reducing the sizes sorting out those numbers and moving everything to just make a little more sense, can't be faulting the concept!

this still looks in early development and I'd like to see the battle system display a little more polish. Good luck!

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Great TownieTownie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004

Heh Fred.

Yeah, the graphics do need some more work. I think I'll work on that after I fix the enemy AI.

The pictures are a bit big, I actually started off making them small... but I dunno' something made do otherwise. I guess it's all dependent on how the battles are supposed to go. Anywho, things should eventually "mold" together once the finishing touches are done. Laugh

EDIT: Devilmaycare, I love Romeo and Juliet. Best love story ever. Maybe I'll throw some of that in too. :lol:

EDIT 2: O, and I always though vampires were stronger than werewolves... someone lied to meh!
No really, yeah, I think I've been watching too many vampire flicks. Laugh

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Super TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 29 Nov 2004
Quote:

Originally posted by WIP@Feb 12 2005, 07:22 PM
Your CBS design is FAR from perfect. Even from good.

First of all, the font colors look almost as saturated as possible. People get seizures from things like that. PLUS you don't have any sort of stroke on them, which is a must when you're dealing with changing background.

Second, there is no organization to it. Just by taking a look at it, the information is unpresentable and confusing. Nothing is labelled or sectioned off.

Third, you are wasting valuable screen space with the bloatingly large graphics. The character info is taking 1/4 of the entire screen. That's way too much. I can only imagine what it would look like with a full encounter.
I think your story is drab. Bloodfeuds are so boring to me. Underworld was especially bleh, as the werewolves were OBVIOUSLY stronger than the vampires, but were somehow the minority?

[post=162823]Quoted post[/post]

As soon as we see something from you that clearly surpasses this, WIP, then I'll acknowledge your criticism Smile. That said, the CBS does look fairly clustered; try and even it out a little.

As for the setting: it may require a lot of work, graphically, depending on how you're gonna approach this (Custom, 3D, rips, etc...). If you're going for an original style and setting then graphics may be hard to come by.

I like the way that you're taking inspiration from movies and literature. These days most game creators model their games on commercial or classic RPG titles. Keep those creative juices flowing, BloodRose Wink.

A sig should be here, but the oppressive tyranny that has its iron fist clenched around our liberty has denied me my god-given (I have not capitalised the word 'god' because let's be realistic: he doesn't exist!) free speech.

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Mega TownieSuper TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Quote:

As soon as we see something from you that clearly surpasses this, WIP, then I'll acknowledge your criticism

I think your being harsh NPX, WIP has created some very good-looking screens.

I think we should all be open to criticism whether its from "LOLDBZRULZ11996GOKU"
or "RPG Advocate"(I'm not suggesting we really start listening to RPG Advocate but you get the point!)

For the advancement of the topic I have a question: You seem to be focusing on a very tight knit group of characters but they don't seem to be anything we haven't really seen before in film e.t.c. How will you be keeping the little guys fresh?

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Great TownieTownie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004

I understand why the CBS looks cluttered. Hmm, let me see if I can explain this better...

Both parties (enemy and player) selects who they want to attack. One by one, they will "fly" or "jump" in and out of the screen and do battle with their chosen foe... so there's really no point in showing all the characters at once. This takes place a lot faster than you would think though.

Ever played the game called Brigandine? It's a little bit like that.

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Ultra TownieMega TownieSuper TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 14 Jul 2004

While I agree with WIP's points, I also disagree. I have played a bit of Brigandine, so I know where you're coming from. The comments about the colors is slightly true, but an obvious hyperbole. Go for a little more coodination in that area. The comment about the CBS not making any sense is a gimme. I mean, are we expecting diagrams saying what it stands for? It will proably take all of 2 seconds to figure it out in the game itself. As for the werewolf comment, I should point out that strength has nothing to do with being a minority. Strength can eventually be overcome by numbers (although if we've learned anything from video games the numbers sometimes have to be quite large).

Good, bad, I'm the mod with the gun.

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Great TownieTownie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004

I know there quite a few reservations about the design and/or concept of the CBS, and all I can say to that is... "Aww, have a little faith". Laugh

And sorry Fred, I completely missed your post, I got cross-eyed I guess. To answer your question...

You can take the traditional Romeo and Juliet story, and have literally a hundred different variations of it. You can always twist things around.

Besides, isn't that the beauty of it? Making a player think he knows what's going to happen next, and then BAM! Sticking Out Tongue

In any case, I'll try to keep things interesting as best I can. Don't worry about the CBS as I have a back up plan. If it doesn't fly as I want it to, I'll turn it into a "boss-only" option, where the normal battles take place on the DBS... although I kinda' want to make it standard. But I will have to make it flow smoothly first. My goal is to NOT have a cumbersome CBS, but a fast-moving one.

As for the design of the CBS, there's really no arguing with WIP, as I know the graphics are currently sub-par. But that's because the finishing touches aren't quite there yet.

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Ultra TownieMega TownieSuper TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 14 Jul 2004

Well, from what I hear, you've been pretty busy going at this game.I'm supriesd that you really haven't gone crazy. But seriously, I likeyour battle system

Your idea on making the enemy attempting to counter the partyformation is someting I haven't seen. However, I would hope that the enemies aren't too smart or else the human player will be completely helpless. But of course, that would be highly improbable. Your battle system is something I'm not used too (as I've said before). I know that you got your ideas from professional games so I think that your idea on the battle system should go very well. Oh, just a bit of a suggestion here, but I would personally like to see character
movement.

What I would also note is the good idea on keeping the weapon you start off with. I like that. Because it's never the weapons but how you use them. It adds a touch a realism. I would recommend something like it rusting and needing to get it polished. It would be hard but it would
add a bit of realism to the game.

And on the note of graphics. They could be better. But you seem to know that so graphics wouldn't seem to be much of a problem in the finished product. I also think that the second screen is quite cluttered. I originally thought it was a menu system. You should make it clearer?

Good luck with your game. I'll download it and play as soon as possible.

???????????

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Great TownieTownie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004

Yeah, I will clean it up some.

And I like that rusting idea you've got, I may make some variation of it hmm...

As for it being cluttered, you're probably right. I guess I didn't pay much attention to it, for good reason I guess. I wanted it to be have an "in-your-face" style system. I wanted to make them large because you'll have to pay attention to your numbers a lot, because the battles are going to flow pretty fast. With that said, I also considered that most players will know that the upper numbers are life points and the lower numbers are magic points... then again hmm.

Maybe I'll make a system view option where it gives you a choice if you want the numbers to appear smaller so you can have HP and MP labels, not sure yet.

As for character movement, I tried it and it slowed the battles down too much. I opted for battle animations and the "illusion" of the characters moving. Basically, the characters "fly" from the right of the screen along with a battle animation to show it, and then they do battle... also shown with strings of battle animations.

EDIT: I'll post some newer screens later on after I've modified it a bit.

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Joined: 11 Feb 2005

looks different, good, kinda.

Well I dunno if this game is in development now, then It will probably look much better later, btw I love the title screen!

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Super TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Quote:

Originally posted by Bloodrose@Feb 13 2005, 01:06 PM
You can take the traditional Romeo and Juliet story, and have literally a hundred different variations of it. You can always twist things around.

[post=162948]Quoted post[/post]

"I am fortune's fool!"

I think that's one of the greatest things about Romeo and Juliet. Some people may look at it as theyd o FF6, they see something like it so often now that they think it's cliche. Both are cliche because they set the standard for something. Who knows how many stories have taken Romeo and Juliet as a template for what was going to happen.

Anyway, I hope your game is great! Good luck!

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Ultra TownieMega TownieSuper TownieGreat TownieTownie
Joined: 16 Jul 2004

I had a nice long reply to this but the computer wiped it.

It sounds good.

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Townie
Joined: 26 Feb 2005

If I could make titlescreens like you, I'd be set.
.....But I can't. Anyway the story is one that interests
the likes of me.


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