Game Info
Start Date: 4/27/2011
End Date: TBA
Game Genre: Tactical Action/Adventure
Development Team Name: Vision Studios
Profit/Non-Profit?: Non-Profit Game
”Teaser Demo” Release Date: 06/13/12





The game takes place on the super continent of Gai. Due to the connection of all land there is a World Order and therefore one political government. In the game, this government is referred to simply as “The Government” and is headed by six prominent figures. Their politically correct name, however, is the UGC which stands for the United Government of the Coasts. Gai is divided into twelve Districts, each containing its own central town and other sites within it. Each District is grouped into an imaginary social sect. There are four sects in total with three districts belonging to one sect. The smaller numbered Districts (District 1 for example) belong to smaller numbered Sects (Sect 1). Those Districts belonging to Sect 1 or 2 receive more attention from The Government and generally live in better conditions versus that of the higher Sects. Due to this, in Sects 3 and mainly 4, there is a lot of Hunter Group activity. The main character resides in the Tenth District and lives in Rockdale Town. Most of everything outside the central storyline takes place in this town where the character can talk to people, take missions from the pub, recruit people, and more.








868 years before the start of the story, a World Order had just formed. It was lead by six prominent figures known as The Council. 20 years after this government was formed, a powerful man created an energy and released it into the world. This energy was known as Bane. This mysterious energy entered into all the people on the planet, and as time went on, people learned to control this energy and use it to their benefit. With the energy, the man had also created a powerful weapon and gave clues to finding it by putting codes in five scattered stone tablets that were immovable and indestructible due to being infused with Bane. However, the man was killed by this World Order for unknown reasons before he could release to the public that he had given clues to finding the great weapon. The unstable World Order thought it best to keep this all hidden. Later on, a revolutionary man told the public that there were five scattered tablets, which the government was hiding. The rewards were a great weapon. The government quickly assassinated him. During this time, the World Order was still lacking powerful leadership and their control was still wavering. They took this opportunity and claimed that they found and decoded all the stone tablets and were able to find the Weapon. They used their claim of having this destructive weapon to instill fear into all the citizens of the super continent. They grew in power due their ability to control over all people. From then on out, they were referred to as “The Government”.

Several decades later, people began to doubt. Intellects of the time realized that The Government finding The Weapon was an absurd lie just to grow in power. As the realization took hold of vast numbers of people, citizens of Gai began to look for The Tablets and The Weapon, themselves. The Government quickly outlawed looking for The Tablets and problems began to rise. Citizens that didn’t participate in the illegal search for The Tablets believed that the Government was corrupt and that the people searching for the tablets only wanted power. Most people looking for The Tablets simply did it to obtain the position of great power. These people were known as Hunters and The Government labeled all such people as criminals. Hunters usually grouped themselves together and battled against other Hunter Groups. The hunt for the “Forbidden Tablets” was on.





21 year old Damien Levy is ready to start his life as an independent adult. He’s finally graduated from boarding school and has learned a lot, including manipulating Bane, the ancient energy that has lurked around since ancient times. After Damien misses the Bane-powered train from his boarding school in the outskirts of the Tenth District going to the central town: Rockdale Town, Damien has to walk the whole way there, a three to four day long trek. Before he can reach his destination though, he runs into trouble, consisting of a band of Hunters that aren’t looking for friendship. Damien, ready to take on the weakling group of Hunters by himself; is backed up by another group of Hunters, despite Damien insisting he could handle it himself. After disposing of the Hunters, the new group of Hunters formally introduce themselves to Damien; eventually persuading him to join their small group of Hunters. Damien and his new friends now search for the Tablets with similar objectives. On their journey they’ll need to fight off other Hunter groups, Government Officials, and get acquainted with Rockdale Town if they want to become a bigger group. And eventually, the truth will be revealed about the tablets, the secret weapon, and the motives of the man who created Bane…


 


Main Characters

(From left to right: Damien, Heather, Anito, Bryce)

Damien Levy
The main character of the story. Damien was raised by his mother in a small village called Bern in the Tenth District. His mother home schooled him until she had enough money to send him to a ten-year program at a local boarding school when Damien turned ten. One summer while Damien was on summer vacation at home, he and his mother were attacked by a group of Government Agents lead by Agent B who had been searching for them for the past 12 years. They kill Damien’s mother and capture Damien, but before they can inform The Council of their success they are all attacked and killed by two masked men. Damien is set free and the masked men depart. Soon after the incident, Damien was found and forced to live in the bounds of the boarding school he attended because he had no adult watching over him. At that boarding school, Damien’s want for revenge only grew the more he thought of his mother’s murder, thus creating his hatred for The Government. He’s determined to find the Tablets to show the Government’s corruption and get his revenge. He’s dark humored, hot-headed, and arrogant.

Bryce Gordon
The first person Damien meets on his journey to find the Forbidden Tablets. Bryce grew up in a small apartment in Damp City of the Eleventh District. He lived with his older brother, Seth, and his uncle on his mom’s side. His mother was one of the greatest Hunters of that time and rarely had time to visit her two sons. On the other hand, her brother, who was supposed to look after the two, always stayed up late at the Pub getting drunk. Bryce and his brother basically fended for themselves. When Bryce was around ten, however, news came in that his mother was executed by The Government. From then on out, Bryce and his brother, Seth, abandoned their house and uncle and went to train in the Whinide Rainforest where they also stayed to live. This was in order to become strong Hunters to get revenge on The Government. Five years later, they started their own separate lives and moved off onto different paths. Bryce headed to the Hollow Woods of the Tenth District to train even further. It is here that he eventually met Anito, Heather, and their grandparents. Bryce carries a calm demeanor and can be sarcastic at times. He’s also very wise and secretive.

Heather Stone
One of the two members under Bryce before Damien joins. She grew up with her mother until the age of five in the slums of the Twelfth District. The area became too unsafe so they decided to move to Rockdale Town of the Tenth District. However, they took a wrong turn on the way there and found themselves in the dangerous Hollow Woods. Immediately in, they were attacked by one of the inhabiting monsters within the area. Heather became completely immobilized with fear and watched in horror as her mother died trying to protect her. Before the monster could attack her too, Mr. and Mrs. Stone, who were nearby at the time, came and saved her. From then on out, Heather becomes adopted by them and becomes the step sister to Anito. She also knew Damien for a short period time after that. Additionally, she vows to never again allow herself to watch a loved one die while doing nothing. This contributes to Heather’s personality, being a caring, protective, and strong-minded person.

Anito
The other member under Bryce before Damien joins. Anito lived all his life, before the start of the story, with his grandparents in a little house at the edge of Bern. There he was trained and home schooled by his experienced grandparents. His grandparents were retired Hunters who had found one Forbidden Tablet. Due to this, Anito wanted to be a Hunter from day one. When he was eight, his grandparents adopted Heather after finding her getting attacked by a monster. Anito and Heather eventually became really close, like that of a true brother and sister. When Anito was thirteen, his friendship with Damien, who he knew since he was five years old, ceased due to Damien being forced to live in his boarding school after his mother’s murder. Additionally, Anito’s father, Jonathan Stone, was a Hunter acting as a Government Official. Unfortunately, his actions were found out and he was executed when Anito was fourteen. When Anito learned of this, his true hatred of The Government grew out and he wanted to become a Hunter no matter what. Heather followed his lead. Anito is outgoing, friendly, loving, but quick-tempered.


Support Characters

Mr. and Mrs. Stone
The grandparents of Anito and Heather. They know a lot about Bane and Hunters as they, themselves, were former Hunters. They had found one Forbidden Tablet during their time as Hunters. However, when they tried finding a Forbidden Tablet in Mount Gai of the First District, their whole Hunter Group got killed while they narrowly escaped. They help the main group in the beginning of the story by letting them meet a geologist who would ultimately help them in studying some old artifacts.

Noah
A historian, researcher, and scientist. The group meets him while in the Twelfth District which is where his main base of operations is located. He soon becomes a great help to the team from providing information on helpful people to giving them useful items to even upgrading their vehicle. He also knew Damien’s father as they apparently traveled a lot of Gai together researching the origins of Bane and other things.

Jasmine Brown
Holds the fifth largest Hunter bounty and is an expert at using Guns, the newest technology created in Gai. At first, she’s an enemy to Damien and his friends, but their forced to cooperate later on due to circumstances that occur within Act Three. She’s extremely powerful, but listens to no one except for herself. Her job is the Hunter Class and her Hunter Group’s name is The Assassins.





The Government

The Government is a major enemy within the game. There are specific characters that will consistently battle with you from The Government, but as a whole, The Government is after you. The Government is branched into three different parts each containing their own responsibilities. As a whole, they are referred to as The Government. The specific names of these branches, however, are the Agency Division, the Guard Division, and the Council.


Agency Division: This division is made up of 99 Agents and seven Special Agents. Agents are responsibly for specifically assassinating criminals that pose threats. Special Agents are responsible for completing certain difficult tasks. For example, Agent C is responsible for tracking mad scientists who are trying to recreate Bane.

Guard Division: The main bulk of The Government. This division is divided into four rankings: Junior, Captain, Major, and General, Junior being the weakest and General being the strongest. The Guard Division is responsible for basic internal security within Gai. The leader of this division is General Major Dane Faymord.

The Council: The six most important members of Gai. Each one of them is a Spellbladist, the strongest Job Class in Gai. They are responsible for governing Gai, and if need be, eliminate a Hunter Group that has become too powerful. The leader of The Council is referred to as The High Leader.

Agent G: One of the seven Special Agents of the Government’s Agency Division. His responsibility as a Special Agent is unclear, but it seems to revolve around Bryce and other people with the Gordon last name. He encounters the group a few times and proves to be a formidable threat.

Matthew James: A cocky Government Official who thinks he’s the best. He constantly tries to take down Damien and his friends in hopes of raising his rank in the Guard Division.


Hunters

There are several Hunter Groups that you will encounter and battle throughout Gai, however the most prominent and recurring characters are as follows:

Cain Noron: The main recurring antagonist throughout the story. He has the second highest bounty and leads the largest clan out of the Super Six. He’s a dangerous enemy, being both extremely powerful and very smart. His job is the Rogue Class and his Hunter Group’s name is The Predators.

Don Mays: The Hunter with the highest bounty in all of Gai. Since he has the highest bounty, that naturally makes him a part of the Super Six, which is a term used by the Government for the top six Hunter bounties in Gai. At the start of the story, he’s already found three Forbidden Tablets. However, where he excels in massive strength and power, he isn’t too smart and can make unwise decisions. His job is the Tumbler Class which is why his Hunter Group is named The Wrestlers.


Monsters

Monster is the term used for animals that reacted significantly to the release of Bane. Over the years after Bane was released, these animals continued to mutate and turn hostile. Currently, there are six well known dangerous Monster races or species: Goblins, Rodents, Fairies, Ogres, Mammoths, and Dragons. Each race has its own inner variations as some portions of each race were affected differently.

Goblin: The weakest of the well known Monster races. They are humanoid creatures with a grey skin tone. They usually try to steal items and deal small damage. There are four variations of the Goblin race. From weakest to strongest: Goblin, Blue Goblin, Giant Goblin, and Gobbler.

Rodent: Generally a weak monster race, only stronger than that of the Goblin race on most occasions. They’re big furry monsters that deal most of their damage with their powerful jaws. There are three variations of the Rodent race: Mouse, Rat, and Black Rat.

Fairy: Monsters of the Fairy race specialize in using various magical attacks. They’re very frail when it comes to physical attacks so they try their best to keep their distance and fight from long range. Fairies have four small wings and have blue skin. There are only two variations of the Fairy race: Blue Fairy and Red Fairy.

Ogre: Monsters of the Ogre race are big green beasts and have sharp horns protruding from the tops of their heads. They use an iron club to smack down their foes. There are three variations of the Ogre race: Ogre, Troll, and Stalker.

Mammoth: Enormous beasts that can trample down their foes with their large tree-trunk sized legs. Their covered in thick fur and have a long and powerful tail with a pointed edge. There are two variations of the Mammoth race: Mammoth and White Mammoth.

Dragon: The most powerful monster race as well as the rarest race. They attack by breathing out different elemental attacks. There are four variations of the Dragon race: Blue Dragon, Red Dragon, Yellow Dragon, and Pearl Dragon.













(21)Swords – Swords are physical weapons that excel prominently in attack. They can only be equipped by physical Job Classes.
(9)Sabres – Sabres are wielded with great elegance and aren’t thrashed around like swords. Due to this, the pool of available Job Classes that can equip this weapon set is small: Vagrants, Soldiers, Fencers, Dragoons, and Spellbladists.
(7)Axes – Axes require strength, but are lethal weapons. They reveal the wielder’s brute strength in combat. Vagrants, Soldiers, Fighters, Swordsmen, Knights, and Spellbladists may equip this weapon set.
(14)Knuckles – Knuckles grant the user great strength bonuses. They also allow the user much flexibility in their fighting style. This weapon set, however, may only be used by Vagrants, Soldiers, Monks, and Tumblers.
(20)Staffs – Staffs are basic magical tools used by the majority of the magically competent Job Classes.
(23)Rods – Rods are the counterparts to staffs, and may also be used by a large portion of the magical Job Classes.
(16)Bows – Bows are long range deadly weapons that can only be equipped by sniper-type Job Classes.
(18)Knives – Knives are the trademark weapons of Trappers and Mechanics. They grant the user great agility and a decent amount of attack.
(12)Guns – Guns are the most recently developed weapons made by the weapon specialists in High Machine City of the Third District. The Marksman Job Class and Mechanics work well with this weapon set.
(16)Lances – Lances are the weapons of Dragoons. Using these long spears, they fly high in the air to strike down their foes. Lances greatly enhance the user’s dexterity.
(10)Katanas – Katanas are the main weapons of Ninja. They bestow upon the user superior agility and magical potency.

(15) Helms – Helms are one of the three types of headgear. The physical Job Classes usually equip Helms.
(15) Hats/Veils – Hats and Veils are the other two types of headgear. All the non-physical Job Classes use these types of headgear.
(15)Shields – Shields are defensive equipment used by the physical Job Classes.
(20)Armors – Armor is one of the three types of Body Armor. It is used by the physical Job Classes.
(20)Robes – Robes are the second type of Body Armor and are used primarily by the magical Job Classes.
(20)Clothes – Clothes are the last type of Body Armor and are utilized by all the non-physical Job Classes.
(20)Accessories – Accessories grant various positive effects on the user. They can be equipped by all Job Classes.














Ability System– In this game, a different outlook is taken into learning skills. By buying new weapons, you will be able to able to learn the skill or skills attached to them. However, you can only permanently learn the skill by getting enough Ability Points (AP). Ability Points are recieved based on the mission that was completed. Additionally, you are not completely restricted to your current class' skill set. You will be allowed to set a "Secondary Skill Slot' in the abilities portion of the Custom Menu System. This will transfer over to battle in which you will now of the skills of this secondary skill slot available to your disposal. However, the max number of skill slots is only two, your class skill slot and the skill slot of your choice. Just be sure that you've learned some skills of your secondary skill slot!

Job System – There several different jobs within the game. Additionally, other jobs can only be reached or "unlocked" if you’ve had some experience in other jobs (learning enough skills). Finally, players need to be careful with what jobs they choose, as staying with one job for a while will affect the stats of that character to either the player’s liking or disliking.

FFT Shop – For one, you have the buying section where you can buy armors, weapons, and items and they are all separated into categories. Your relationship with the shopkeeper can allow lower prices. Additionally, based on how powerful you are, the more available items there will be. Finally, there will be a pop up window of the available skills that the weapons/armors can teach you. There is a shop in each major city or town.

Recruitment and Relationship System (RRS) – Within Rockdale Town there is a unique system in building a relationship with an interactable NPC which will ultimately affect your chances of getting them to join your Hunter Group. When you talk to someone, you'll have the option of interacting with them where a new scene will appear allowing you to talk to them, give them an item, or recruit them. When you affect the relationship at all, an animation will appear over the relationship value similar to that in battle when you lose health, damage will pop out. However not every civilian in Rockdale Town is interactable, only those that are actually Hunters.

Clan Style Custom Menu – A clan style menu that is based off of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is implemented. The menu has three main sections: equipping items, setting/viewing abilities, and changing jobs. In the equipment section, there is new interface for equipping items. Not only is it more graphically appealing by adding face graphics and having the numbers values be red or green when changing equipment, but also a small animated window will appear showing the abilities attached to the piece of equipment. You can easily toggle ON and OFF this window. Next, in the Abilities Window, you can view the current skill(s) you are learning, you also have to option to view all permanently learned skills, and finally, you can set a secondary skill slot to use in battle. For the job changing scene, you can choose between unlocked jobs to change to that class. This window will also show how your stats will be affected by the change. Finally, one last feature within the menu system is the ability you have to boot off clan members. However, you are not allowed to kick off main characters.

Tactical Battle System - There will also be a tactical battle system which was engineered by gubiD and heavily edited by me. In this battle system exp is gained in a way that grinding is pointless, and leveling up is not a burden due to a formula that allows exp to be gained by any action as long as it makes contact, and all levels only require 100 experience points to move on. I’ve added in a part that makes it so that EXP does not go over to the next level as well, to not make it so simple to level up. Next, I've designed "Special Enemies" or enemies that have levels, jobs, dynamic stats, skills, and equipment. All these attributes correlate to the strength of the actor's party. There are nearly 200 unique skills, over 160 weapons, and over 125 pieces of armor all that provide plenty of variety in battle

Quest System – In the pub of Rockdale Town there will be a quest board where all missions will be taken. Storyline missions will be accepted here as well. There are several quests that don’t follow the storyline, but some may only be available after beating certain story quests.

Original Sound Track An original soundtrack is being produced by the musician of the team (Turkwise), several tracks have already been produced. (http://soundcloud.com/turkwise/sets/gais-hunters/)





Leader – The Law G14/TheScripter: Responsible for scripting the systems needed for the game or editing pre-existing systems to fit the needs of the game. Mapping every “Battle Map” where the player can battle enemies as well as mapping all of Rockdale Town. Finally, eventing every cut scene and every recruitable NPC in which you could hold a conversation with. Developing the plot and fleshing out characters.

Musician - Turkwise. Responsible for creating an Original Soundtrack specifically for this game.

Artist - Mahomagic: Responsible for creating semi-realistic face graphics and main character portraits.

Character Spriter - silverskystrike. Responsible for creating unique characters and battlers as well as a few icons.

Graphical Artist – Xach-Crisis: Responsible with aesthetical design of the game, like the battle HUDs, Quest Screen Interface, etc.


Usebar – Show Your Support!





”Teaser Demo”—THE DEMO IS FINALLY HERE, PICK UP YOUR COPY NOW!
http://www.mediafire.com/?qf41qm0z9d4qjca





Inspirations


Graphics Credits


Script Credits


Music Credits
Turkwise

(Please forgive me if I forgot anyone, this is still a WIP)

Too bad you posted your project at the same time as Strawberry, 2 nice projects at once will take away eachother's spotlight :p

I like how you thought through the battle system/enhancement system/classes. Though many games promise these things, your system really looks fun + realistic

Background story and characters etc. look god but we can't really say unless there's a demo.

I'm a bit confused by the mix of rtp and RO graphics. You are going for RO right? Because those screens and chars look so much better.

Lastly, get rid of Cloud in your "Main Characters" banner. What is he even doing there? :p

Thanks for the comments Gravija, means a lot to me :)

As for the mix of RTP and RO graphics, what I'm planning to do is for the "Battle Maps" which is where the player will be able to battle other enemies (this mainly just excludes Rockdale Town), that's where I wanted to use the RO graphics. For the RTP, I'm having someone make an RTP style charset for each job so that you can talk to them in town where you recruit them.

lol as for Cloud, he was just a symbol for main characters. I thought he would be a pretty good fit as a Main Character symbol or whatever, but if it really doesn't look right then I'll change it lol :D Thanks again for the comments!

I'm not sure if using two different graphical styles will work, to be honest.

Hm, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I would get the Ragnarok sprites to walk around if you use the directional keys, (unless you're talking about the screenshot where there are ragnarok sprites and the one RTP character are together, if so, that won't be happening, that was just a test). The thing is everything outside Rockdale Town will use the Ragnarok sprites, it's just that I don't have the tiles (I've been trying to rip some) or the right spritesheet to have them animated and walking around in Rockdale Town. Would that still be problematic or do you think everything, even in the town, should be the same?

Consistency is important. It would be very confusing to the player. I'd prefer the Ragnarok Online sprites, but i think it's better to use rtp only than to mix different styles.

Since you're a scripter, wouldn't it be possible to change the walking animation to RO's animation? And how did you manage to rip the tileset in that screenshot? :)

Yea, I was just discussing with the person that does sprites for me whether we should stick solely with Ragnarok or go to something similar to that of RTP. Basically we are trying to go straight for consistency like you mentioned. However, if we don’t do Ragnarok we’ll try to go for custom good looking sprites and they will be easier to manage as I’m trying to get for each skill, a different pose for the actor so that Battle Animations have a better effect. That wouldn’t be as easy to do with Ragnarok and with Ragnarok I would have to rip a lot of tilesets and the very little ripping that I’ve already done took a while already. Also, you're right, I could script it however, the tileset issue would still be a problem. And the way I did that ripping was use a program Juan showed me called BrowEdit (Borf’s Ragnarok Online World Editor). I copied some graphics from there into Photoshop CS3 where I worked from there :)

I think you should go with RTP for now and try to do custom graphics later. My fiance and I tried a game with custom graphics, and we didn't get anything done as everything was just custom this, custom that.

I've been seeing an increasing amount of Ragnorak sprites being used myself in RM games, so it's nothing new to me.

You're game will be using a tactical battle system, like Tactics Ogre/Disgaea/FFT, right? That would be so cool! That's my favorite battle type. ^^

Thanks for the comments! And I think that would be a good idea, just have placeholders in for now, and then when I'm ready, get the custom graphics in place. And yea, I'll be having a tactical battle system (my favorite game that has this type of battle system being FFT). And Gubid's battle system is really flexible and it's working perfectly :)

FFT-Style battle system eh... another game I've never played. =/
I love the concept of the secret weapon and tablets even if it is a bit clichéd, there's so many possible paths you can take the story. I think you've set the stage nicely for the adventure, I hope to see more about this project in the future. :)

Thank you very much :D And yes, I've planned out the story very well (hopefully) so that the weapon and tablet theme can have a suprising ending. Thanks again for the comments :)

hey bro this looks p interesting i'll give you my thoughts.



this makes sense (sounds like the hunters are like some bad gang or something yeah?). i like the idea of the—well—the GHETTO areas, if that makes sense that lie farthest from the capitol. it's realistic and logical and sounds like it would make for a great setting.

one thing that might be offputting is having all the numbered districts and sects and expecting the player to keep track of them. i mean if it is arranged like I think it would be (with the highest-numbered ones farthest from the capitol like it radiates away) then it wouldn't be too bad. hopefully your map is clearly labeled or something.



this i have to wonder about. rockdale is a random town in the tenth district—which is pretty much out int he boonies, if i am understanding your district system correctly. why would rockdale town be the hub of activity? imo the central capitol in district one should serve this purpose.



honestly dude I wanted to stop reading after this sentence. why does every single rpg plot have this same backstory? drive the plot with your characters, not some forced quest to scour the world for a number of mythical artifacts.



now this is starting to get a little better. sure, you have the shitty cliche rpg opening, but you take it to the next logical level and games very rarely do this. the idea of the hunters as outlaws is one that i like, and there is potential in there, but this could be dangerous because it can either be done right or it can be done horribly horribly wrong.



this seems waaay too clean to me. but i guess your game is more of a tactics game and i don't want to bog you down into storywriting intricacies. ultimately your story seems like it's steeply routed in rpgmaker cliches, so make sure that your presentation and gameplay is very polished.



I hope that you aren't using any images of cloud in your game itself dude.

anyway the focus of this game is clearly on the tactics and groups and all of that kind of rpg stuff, and unfortunately i really don't have too much of an interest in that kind of gameplay. for what you have written in your topic, it seems well-structured, but i'm afraid that i'm not the right guy for too much criticism on that kind of thing. at least until you have a demo or something ready to be played. :)

i hope i brought up some crits that help you out. good luck man

Woah, thanks a bunch Noise, I really appreciate the criticism!



Yes that's exactly so, the Districts farther from the capital are more stricken with poverty and are teeming with Hunter Groups. I also have a reason in the actaul plot for this. As for the numbering of Distrcits and Sects, yea, I've noticed that to and have just been waititng for someone to point that out. I think I going to name the Districts and the Social Sects, but they'll still be numbered in a sort of way. I'm also going to have a World Map which will hopefully make things clearer.




Well each District has one "Town". The reason I picked District 10's Town (Rockdale Town) has the town where most activity occurs in-game, is that it would make the most realisitic effect. Because, if I focused the game in District 1 (Where the capital is), then the player wouldn't be able to recruit because 1.There are generally less Hunters there and 2. The lowered numbered Distrcts are more closely watched which also contributes to their higher social status. Since recruitment is a big thing in my game, I need the player to realistically be in an environment where there are a lot of poeple willing to join and where the Government won't shoot them down. Of course I'll integrate into the story District 1 (That's actually very important), but in terms of recruiting people, it has to be District 10.




Yea, I'm aware of the huge RPG cliche going on here lol :D And this was actually the effect I was looking for in a sense, the REAL history is revealed to the player gradually throghout the story until they get the whole picture. I know it might seem a little "scavenger hunting" but I think I've really thought out how this will develop and it definetly won't end with something like that.




Thanks! And yes, they're all going to be outlaws, but the main characters are one of the few who are looking for the Tablets soley to disprove The Government and prove their corruption, not to gain power. I don't know if that's cliche or not, but I needed some way to have the Main Characters unique lol As it being done horribly or correctly, well I have it all planned out and hopefully it is done correctly, but how can it be done horribly wrong? (So I know if I did it or not lol)




Lol, it does seem to clean, you're right about that, I do have a reason in the plot (towards the end), why this actually happened, but I don't want to make everything look wrong just because I have something planned in the plot.




lol, of course not man, these are just lame attempts at me trying to make banners for each section. When I get a graphic artist on the team, I'll make sure to have a logo and make this thread look a lot better (including getting rid of Cloud lol)




That's cool, everyone has their own opinion on what type of RPG games they like, but I really appreciate the critcism, man and I'll try to get a demo in probably in two or three months from now (crossing my fingers). But yea, thanks a bunch for all your feedback :)

UPDATE ONE (07/14/2011)
(This update is a day late, it supposed to be given out yesterday which is when I put it out on rpgrevolution)

Hey, everybody, this post contains the first update of the project thread. I’ll be posting an update either every week or every other week, depends :/


Scripting
There have been a few major updates in terms of scripting. First of all, I’m trying to finish scripting all the features I promised in the Features Section by the end of the week. Firstly I completely finished the Shop Scene. The window skins are all the same now and the layout is exactly how I wanted it:




Next, in the past two days I’ve been working my but off in making the Recruitment and Relationship System. It should be finished, I just need to do some editing:



Finally, the last update in terms of features/scripting is that I’m nearly done with all the configurations needed for the tactical battle system, I’ve also got a pretty good understanding now of how the whole thing works.



Database
The database is nearly finished. I also want this completed by the end of this week or early next week. Weapons and Armors have been done totaling to nearly 300. Enemies, I’ve been working on also, are going to be different from the normal enemies. They will be equipped with weapons and armor, and they will have levels. This is because most of your enemies will be the jobs that you can become. For example, in one battle you might battle against three Soldiers and two Fencers. How I will make each battle different in terms of difficulty is have these enemies at certain levels and the higher the levels, the stronger they will be. I’m also planning on making it so that their levels are around the average level of your clan so that each battle will be tough. Skills still need some work though. I’ve finished most of them, but some need to be scripted and all of them still need an animation. So basically, for the database, I just need to get the enemies right and finish the skills. After that I might test everything to make sure there is a proper balance and then the database will be essentially done.



Artwork
Holder showed me the new graphic style we’ll be using that will fit both battlers and characters so that everything will be consistent. I don’t want to show any pictures yet, but this is just to say that the consistency issue is being worked on and the Ragnarok charsets will likely be dropped.



Music
Turkwise has been working really hard and he’s nearly done with his second piece, which is the “Basic Music” for the game. Or just generarl music (I/he will try to post it if possible).


Thread
The thread has finally been updated! I had someone do it for me (Xach-Crisis/Sicon) and they did a great job in my opinion.


Recruitment Status
A new musician has joined the team (Setsu) and a Graphic Artist/Helper has also joined (Xach-Crisis/Sicon)! We're still in dire need of an Artist
Recruitment topic link: viewtopic.php?f=220&t=75042


That's all for now!

UPDATE TWO (07/21/2011)

Scripting
A lot has happened over the past week in the scripting department. The Custom Menu System is near completion and the Job System is finally working how I want it to. How it works is that you need a specific amount of skills from any number of other Jobs to “unlock” a new Job. This ties in perfectly with the other system we’re using (Equipment Skills). This is because you need a certain amount of AP (Ability Points) to permanently learn a skill while a weapon is equipped. It’s only these permanently learned skills that determine if you can unlock other Jobs. The last system that needs to completed is just the Quest System.
Screenshot of Job System:


Additionally, here is the new Job List and a temporary Job Tree. Holder is working on the design of the character sets:







Music
Turkwise has made two songs for the Original Sound Track so far and he’s given me the link to show you guys how they sound! Both songs are untitled as of now, but they will be soon enough. The first song is the Title Screen Song, and the next song is the basic game music. Hope you guys like them!

http://soundcloud.com/turkwise/sets/gais-hunters/


Pixel Art
Holder has been doing a lot of work in terms of the design of the jobs. He told me that he plans on making the parts he’ll need for all the jobs, and then after that, he’ll put them all together. This will make things a lot faster. Also, a while back, Holder showed me some experimenting on the tile set style. This is what he showed me:




Just so you all know the type of graphical style we’ll be implementing in the game.

Also, our new Artist and part-time Pixel Artist has started work on our full custom icon group. Here is a sample of his work for a few of the basic icons:




Artwork
Ghalleon, our new Artist (and part-time Pixel Artist), has also started working on concept art for the Main Characters. He will also be making custom face graphics for each character set, and finally, he’ll be making revamped World Map, which you’ll be able to travel on (Much like that of Final Fantasy Tactics).

Database
The Database is nearly complete. I have a Target Animation for each skill except for the skills of the Mechanic (but it will likely not be included within the upcoming Teaser Demo). All that’s left to be complete in The Database is simply configuration of the enemies and me scripting them so that they can equip weapons/armors, have classes, and have levels.


Last Notes

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I’ll be out for the following two weeks for a trip, so I won’t be able to work on the project during that time. Holder will also be mostly busy during this time as well. Turkwise however, will be working on a bunch of songs while I’m away and Ghalleon might be working on completing the custom icon database. So the project will still be running, just much slower.

Also, feedback is appreciated! I’d really like to know other peoples thoughts on this :) Thanks for reading and see you all later in two weeks!

I really like the new tileset style you've got there. One thing that you might reconsider is how green the grass is, maybe a bit too bright for my tastes.
But otter then that, keep up the great work!

Thanks for the comments! I'll tell our spriter about that and see what he says and how thinks he should adjust it :)

Just wanted to say that I’m back from my 2-week trip so the project will be back on full steam. However, I was able to work on the project while I was out lol :D I wrote everything in a notebook I brang, copied it into a computer when I had access to one, and then emailed it to myself. The things I wrote down included: A completely planned out plot including how many story missions there will be, making a timeline, adding depth to character descriptions, making all the map locations (45 in total), adding all the characters that will be present in-game, figuring out the structure of The Government (the different parts, main characters of The Government, etc.), and making all the Monster races and an explanation behind them. I’ve added all of this to the main thread and Sicon was grateful enough to add more thread headers for me to make this thread look nicer.

Also, Ghalleon was still making icons while I was gone and Turkwise was making the intro music. It sounds amazing so far, but it’s not fully complete yet, but when it is, I’ll post it up.

Finally, I really need feedback for this project! Anything you like? Anything you don’t like? I’d really appreciate some comments on it, thanks!

Quick Update. Firstly, Here's the nearly completed CMS. I put it in a video instead to truly show all the features it offers (The captions didn't appear for some reason but you get the idea):





Next, the new awesome looking team logo made by Axerax:




That's all for now. Oh, actually, one last thing. I REALLY need some feedback, partly because it drives me to continue making this and also because I really want the community's honest opinion on this. Thanks everyone :)

Small update to show the completion of the Abilities System.

Quote from thread: "In this game, a different outlook is taken into learning skills. By buying new weapons, you will be able to able to learn the skill or skills attached to them. However, you can only permanently learn the skill by getting enough Ability Points (AP). Ability Points are recieved based on the mission that was completed. Additionally, you are not completely restricted to your current class' skill set. You will be allowed to set a "Secondary Skill Slot' in the abilities portion of the Custom Menu System. This will transfer over to battle in which you will now of the skills of this secondary skill slot available to your disposal. However, the max number of skill slots is only two, your class skill slot and the skill slot of your choice. Just be sure that you've learned some skills of your secondary skill slot!"

Essentially, you'll be allowed to "equip" a second job's skill as long as you've learned those skills. For exmple, let's say you learned "Throw Potion" as a Chemist and then decided to switch to the White Mage class. You'd then be able to equip the Chemist's skills from the abilities menu and then you'd have the option of using "Throw Potion" in battle.


Also, if you'd like to see how tileset is going, Holder made a thread for the WIP of it and he'd greatly appreciate and constructive criticism. Thread: http://www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=52342


Finally, I think I'm begging now lol, I really need some feedback (actually, I've been recieving a nice amount of feedback here, though not as much from RRR). The next major update will be held next thursday, which will be the last major update before school starts for me. I'm working on a custom quest system right now which is the last major thing I need to script. I want to finish it before school starts. When school starts, progress might go a little slower as I'll need to keep my grades up and stuff, but obviosuly I'll fit in time to work on this. A teaser demo is slated for around the end of the year. But until now and next week, I'd really appreciate just one peice of feedback. That'd make my day :) Thanks!

Update Three(09/18/2011)


Introduction
Hey, it’s definitely been a while everyone since the last update on this thread. Well anyway, this is Major Update #3. We have to talk about today including, awesome new music, a developed quest system, interactive world maps and more. Hope you like it :)


Music
The music for the menu has been decided on and this is what will be used while in the menu (changing jobs, abilities, etc.)

The intro for the game has been synced with the customized intro music. All the graphics in the intro, however, are placeholder (except for the credits). Once we get some custom sprites and tiles into the game, the intro will be updated accordingly. However, for now, we have awesome music made by our musician to go along with the introduction for our game. Hope you like it (I couldn’t make a video because it lags a lot with my screen recorder).

Both songs can be found here:
http://soundcloud.com/turkwise/sets/gais-hunters/


Plot Structure Complete
The plot has finally been completely planned out. All plot holes have been taken care of and story is ready to be evented into actual gameplay.


Map Descriptions
Each Map has already been planned out and I’ve now just added information in the “Setting” subtitle that gives a brief description on each location. There are over 40 locations in total. Here’s an example of one of the descriptions:

“Mount Gai Temple – A temple located at the base of Mount Gai. This location has the tightest security in all of Gai. The reason for this is due to it being the only place where it is a well known fact that a Forbidden Tablet resides within. No Hunter has ever been able to read the Tablet and get out alive.”


Quest System
I’ve essentially finished coding the quest system. All I need to do is add quests to the Quest Database and then find a way to add the quests at specific times during gameplay. Here’s a video of how the quest interface looks like and how everything runs, I’d really like opinions on this:




Interactive World Map
Finally, we have the last feature I’m still trying to implement. Traveling will take place on an interactive world map where you go from location to location. I’m still trying to get someone to make a map for me and I still need to code in paths for the map.


Conclusion
From here on out, progress will be much slower as I’ll focus on school work starting Monday. I don’t want to make a mistake and prioritize this over school, so I won’t be working on this during the weekdays unless I really have free time to do so. I’ll only be working on this during the weekends. That’s all for now!

Hey everyone, it has definitely been a while since an update. I wouldn'€™t call this a major update, it'€™s actually a pretty small one. Firstly, I'€™d like to say I€'m really sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I've been busy with school and I have a really tough schedule this year so I'm trying to focus on school so I can keep my grades high.

But anyway, I think I've figured out a way to work on this project while also keeping school as my first priority. This update is to mainly show what I’ve been working on for a little while which has been reorganizing, cleaning up, and enhancing all the code in the project. Not only has this helped me in terms of understanding all the scripts being used, but it'€™s also made things a lot cleaner in the script editor. Adding new features will become much easier if need be. I still have to clean up all the battle-related scripts, but besides that, it's nearly done. Here'€™s some before and after screenshots (The before picture is actually pretty recent, I wasn’t able to get an older version which was even more messy xD):







After this reorganization of all the code is complete, I'€™ll work with Holder on making all the Job Classes more balanced and realistic.

Also, Ghalleon has told me that he's worked out fitting in working for this project while doing other things he needs to do so that's good :)

That’s all for now!

Sorry for the lack of updates people :(
Anyway, here’s a pretty quick one to summarize what’s been going on of late. First of all, to be honest, progress has definitely been slow due to me spending a lot of time towards school, and the rest of the team members busy in their own rights. I haven’t heard from Ghalleon (our artist) for a while so that’s also been a problem.
So what’s been done is that I’ve reorganized all the code in the project. Just to give some stats or whatever, there will be ten scripted systems in use for the game, and only ten. I’m not planning on adding any more as I don’t want to keep going back to this. There are 15 separate script sections in the script editor due to the battle system being separated into four parts and a script section dedicated to a methods and class library. Next, nearly all the scripts have been properly documented with comments and have been ordered properly in logical sequence. After I finish one last part to the documentation of the battle scene script, I’ll easily be able to add any feature or change anything to fit what I need.

Next, the database is pretty much finished on my side. All I need are the custom icons and portraits being made by our artist and later on the custom sprites being made by Holder.

I’ve also changed “Black Mage” to Wizard and “White Mage” to Healer to not copy directly from Final Fantasy. I’m still looking for a better name of “The Government”, but what I’m thinking is that the improper name (what common people refer to it as) will remain as “The Government”, but a specific and proper name will be developed soon.

Finally, the plot has been completely planned out and all plot holes have been taken care of. From this I’ll begin planning and writing all the dialogue. This will be in order to prevent grammar mistakes as well as have the story even more planned out.

Thanks for your time :)

I prefer Ragnarok Wizard, but I think it is best to use a different style than the mixed RTP only.

Hey! Well we're not using mixed RTP our spriter is developing character sets that will match with the custom tileset :)

MAJOR UPDATE

Haven’t had one of these in a while but quite a lot has changed recently, largely because I became involved with the National Game Development Month event so I’ve been spending more time with this game over the past month.

Battle Aesthetics
Battle aesthetics have been completed a Little while ago. I was able make background images for all the windows in battle and everything looks pretty nice now.

Organized Game Folders
Game folders have been organized so that I’ll be able to fit my resources in the appropriate places and also allow them to fit the directories I had set in my scripts. I will also be writing up a document with all the resources I’ll need for the game so I don’t waste my time.

Scripts Cleaned
This also happened a while back during this month, I was able to finish cleaning all my scripts, including battle scripts. So now I’ll be able to add features a lot more easily. Right, in fact, I’m working on implementing a battle result screen that will fit the battle system.

New Government Name
I had a critique a while back for this game that the name “The Government” was to plain. So with some careful consideration I found an appropriate name and the thread has been updated with it. The politically correct name for “The Government” is the UGC or the United Government of the Coasts. This has a direct meaning with the past of Gai which will be revealed later on in the game. Additionally, commoners just refer to the Government as “The Government”.

Biographies and Story
I changed the biographies around a little bit. Most notably the fact that Damien knew Anito and Heather when he was a kid. Also, since I’ve been dialogue writing lately, I’ve been doing slight changes to the story, nothing major though. There are still a couple things I need to tweak though to make sure the whole story makes sense.

That’s all for now!

Just wanted to say that we have a new artist on board! Her name is Mahomagic and she's very enthusiastic about helping the team fulfill it's face-graphic and character portraits void. She's also really great at drawing and will be drawing Gai's Hunters face graphics and portraits in a semi-realism format, similar to the sample she drew for me in this picture:

http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h46 ... AMPLES.jpg

Also, we have a new pixel artist: bamboo123 who will be doing icons for us.

That's all for now :)

Promising! But the link is not working.

Ah, sorry, this should be working:

http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h46 ... AMPLES.jpg

Hey everybody!

A couple new things. First of all, someone has been able to work on the World Map for the game. The World Map is an essential part of the game’s construction as it is the way you travel from place to place. Meanwhile, Vergessen from HBGames is helping me finish up the scripting for the Interactive World Map system. By the way here is very early work-in-progress of the World Map (All the little dots are location markings):



Next thing is, since the team has grown since before, we should be moving faster from now. I’ve set goals for the team this month so by the end of the month, most of rest of things that need to be scripted will be done, the main character face graphics should be done, several icons should be done, and a couple new pieces to the OST will be added. Those are the major goals for January. When January is over, I’ll post a major update to show all our progress through the month.

That’s all for now!