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.=)
i think it looks good
and it sounds cool too