[VXA] Exile (Ready to play!)

Society is a comfortable prison that grants you limited free will, only in Excommunication from such structure is anyone truly free.
Brought to life by the fine hands of the CCC.

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It was a fine summers day in my old town, I was embarking on one of my long leisurely strolls around the CBD, the one place I can feel fine about talking to myself to express my thoughts best, pondering on what to do next. Like a bricktruck out of fort knox, it hit me!

This idea, this sick twisted graft of the Invader Zim plot and Butt Ugly Martians was its own beginning of brilliance, at first I thought: "Okay, I need a way to tell all of humanity how terrible it is, but I can't just say it! That never works..." but then, like the folks behind Abe, I had an idea, I had a wonderful awful idea!

A Galaxion who gets Exiled to Earth, and knows it! What was the defining moment of Invader ZIM is that Zim thought of his exile as a secret mission. Lyza is fully aware that this is the best she's getting, and she's complacent with it.

The goal at first was to make it an adventure game, with little to no battles... but it just was too boring! So like Hellcat, it's an Action game with but with no RPG Elements this time, this makes balancing easy and allows me to focus on gameplay. It's utilizing XAS ABS which is an enormous program that I'm still working out, but bear with me!

So, Exile is about an Exile from Galaxia who has to make a living on Earth. I've preplanned elements in games I've made roughly, but Exile is the first time I've ever done story boarding, an effecting practice as it turns out. The game is host to several endearing characters, just to name a few: A couple of goofy scientists who manifest in the form of shapes. An Aussie barbecue bogan and his first mate. Two tyrannical control-seeking megalomaniacs whose currency is ice cream and a Mysterious Wanderer who while seemingly automaton in most regards does show an astounding passion for art and human history.

Unlike in Menagerie which tried to attach itself onto several aggrandizing topics at once, Exile focuses on only one of it's element which allows it to be a lot more fluid and to the point. Freedom and the lack there of are the solo focus are the warring constrictors of Exile's plot.

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Lyza, a mature Galaxion female with enough crimes under her belt to make most of her kind fear or at least respect her-- is exiled by the directorate to a Planet they believe will challenge her whilst also removing her as a threat to Galaxion Society.

She is then sent on an odd series of tasks that don't always go as planned, it's a tale of survival in an Alien world where your only ally is yourself and the only goal is to remain free. Friends perish from your fold as soon as foes are vanquished from crossing it, the game is about feeling lost, lonely and forgotten. For what it's worth Lyza pulls through most struggles competently, perhaps because she'd never had much time for friends to begin with, or purely because Galaxion society may have treated her badly enough that she relishes the chance to be alone, only she knows.

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Galaxion Exile Lyza
Age: 212
Race: Galaxion
Gender: Female
Branding: Exile, previous occupations unknown.
Homeworld: Galaxia
Basic measure of Intelligence: Quick-thinking, calculated and optimistic in most scenarios. Capable of using most devices despite the unfamiliarity they might impose at first glance.
Likes: Things that aren't trying to kill or cage her, snags, Human Art, Hubcaps and freedom.
Dislikes: Things that definitely are out to catch or kill her, chains and anything resembling imprisonment.
Quote: "My time on Galaxia is over, for them I am Lost and Forgotten... I am the only memory of my past that remains."

Lyza's strengths are in her audacity, cunning and mental stability. Her personality when feeling imposed is quickly wrought with visceral nastiness, a cold chilly demeanor and occasionally death threats, though this sort of behaviour is very typical to Galaxions. To those she feels have no intent of threatening her existence, she warms up to very quickly. She's for the most part, fairly controlled and doesn't snap unless given good reason. Though she'll have no problem engaging in silly tomfoolery like violently rummaging through a city's trash or eating sausages at a barbecue.

The Galaxion Wanderer
Age: Unknown
Race: Presumably Galaxion
Gender: Male
Branding: Obscured by a disguise.
Homeworld: Presumably Galaxia
Basic measure of Intelligence: Cunning, manipulative and psychotic.
Likes: Skirmishes, subterfuge and freedom. He also apparently has a gift for art.
Dislikes: Human Conduct, trust and feeling trapped.
Quote: "Trusting anyone is idiotic... I once trusted these Humans and they failed and will continue to do so. Think of them like your cellmates on Galaxia, their only desire is to help themselves."

A mysterious outcast who aids Exiles as they settle into Earth's harsh society. Who he is, or who he was are details of little importance to him, his focus is now on you, the Exile.

His personality is a mix of vaudevillian and automaton, he does seem concerned with Lyza's willingness to trust humans and often cautions that Humans are ever more deceptive than most Galaxions. His brand is never shown but claims to be an Invader prior to Exile. He shows slightly his affection for Human art, most of which he claims to be of Taboo and objectionable to human society.

Ominous Directors
Age:
Race: Galaxion
Gender: Duplicitous male.
Branding: Director and Director
Homeworld: Galaxia
Basic measure of Intelligence: Logical, cold and calculated.
Likes: Nothing revealed.
Dislikes: Outside of their disposition with Lyza, no other hatreds are seen.
Quote: "As you head for the door to both freedom and farlance, it is important to remember that you will not be coming back. Your life here is over... for ever."

Their names are as ambiguous as Lyza's past crimes, they are not Slik and Vind from Menagerie's time... the differences in appearance readily shows that, they seem intent to get rid of Lyza but don't really care what way it's done. The one with square eyes seems more forgiving than his darker swirly eyed counterpart who seems to be in a constant mode of contorted anger or carelessness.

Jon and Smitty
Age: Mid 30s
Race: Human
Gender: Both male.
Branding: NIN (Jon just has a Nine Inch Nail shirt.)
Homeworld: Earth
Basic measure of Intelligence: Bright and boozed.
Likes: Snags, community, sailing and drinks, they also have a dog called "Special Delivery" who they seem to appreciate.
Dislikes: Too Jolly to hate much.
Quotes
Jon: "She catches on quick, this one!"
Smitty: "Heeeh, watch out for them drop bears, vicious creatures... claws as long as their paws and who'll drop on your head from outta trees or high places!"

A couple of Australian Realists who are fairly used to tourists, they are the first of the "voracious inhabitants" Lyza meets, and because of such she is left a good first impression. Jon's demeanor is jolly, mischievous and welcoming whilst Smitty is more snide and silly, but he's still friendly. It is Jon and Smitty who despite knowing her heritage help Lyza find the Wanderer.

Professor Rhombus and Assistant Triangle
Age: Rhombus is Mid 50s while Triangle is much younger, looking mid 20s or even teens.
Race: Human
Gender: Both male.
Branding: None
Homeworld: Earth
Basic measure of Intelligence: Geniuses at their craft, share a good set of communication skills and have adept mastery in science and construction, seemingly running an Unidentified Flying Object pickup service on their own.
Likes: Truth, Knowledge and Power in all fields (Stars included) along with Science, Donuts, ETAs and Eggy Timers.
Dislikes: Uncertainty, the unexplainable or unexplained. Hair dye.
Quotes
Triangle: "So do we know the ETA on this one, before it began uh... cooking?"
Rhombus: "Aheh! I'm a scientist. You'd have to ask my wife."

Two goofy scientists who function more like two close brothers than colleagues. They both really like science and are enthusiastic about learning any mysteries that remain unsolved, they are ecstatic about the discovery of Lyza's pod, which is a fair thing to be excited about, since with all Galaxion Technology it holds many powerful discoveries for one of human ilk.

The two are eccentric, goofy clowns in appearance and prospects, but a closer inspection shows they are incredibly competent, capable of hosting up a Heavy Egg on Aluminum chains in an Underground bunker which is seemingly unstaffed. Beyond their small (though wonderful) introductory intermission at the end of Stage one, though, they aren't seen again in the demo.

Lord Dairy and Regent Yolk
Age: Regent Yolk is mid 30s whilst Lord Dairy is presumably beyond 60.
Race: Human
Gender: Both male.
Branding: None
Homeworld: Earth
Basic measure of Intelligence: Psychotic manipulative geniuses whose cunning is surpassed only by their love for ice cream.
Likes: Ice Cream, power and Control
Dislikes: Ordinarily everything else.
Quotes
Regent Yolk: "Can I go have that seemingly unwanted Ice Cream Pattie, by the way?"
Lord Dairy: "NO! IT'S MINE AND I SHALL EAT IT ONCE MY SHIFT IS OVER!"

So far the only thing the game has in the way of big bad antagonists. Their demeanor is mostly fairly written with angst and edgy evil, they lose all composure and seriousness when Ice Cream is brought to the table though.

Because fuck you it's ice cream.

Agent Noire
Age: Early 20s
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Branding: Serpent (Actually it's just a thing on her shirt that looks like the Guild Wars 2 logo.)
Homeworld: Earth
Basic measure of Intelligence: Inspective, clever and practical.
Likes: Books, sorting out Alien immigration without violence or needless trauma.
Dislikes: How people barge violently into her office.
Quote: "We aren't unused to dealing with Extra-terrestrials. The CIA takes matters of Alien immigration fairly seriously."

Noire is an untempered logical and down to the point Agent working for the Central Intelligence Agency. She seems concerned for Lyza's well being and helps her out by giving her a BOOK OF STUFF to help out with getting settled in.

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The game's plot begins on Earth Year 1212, 800 years pass during Lyza's hypo-thermal odyssey through space and the time of landing is the Year 2012. Her pod crashes into Everton Park on the 14th of March. This game while serving as a close-cut prequel to Intelligence will also explain a few things that I never went into in Intelligence's story. For example... Departure Island (an island that by 2052 no longer has a name) is in fact a small island off the coast off Australia, it would be bigger in 2012 than it is 40 years later due to how the water gradually rises on Earth. The ship will be one Lyza constructed herself but never ends up using.

The area she crash-lands in is a park in Everton Heights, a suburb of Brisbane which is actually not far from where I currently reside.

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Just gonna use an image because it's easier.

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Exile is host to several fun mechanics including but not limited to:
-Grappling
-Gunning
-Spearing
-Combo and Charge Attacks
-Time Bombs that can be placed AND thrown.
-Quick select for easy tool swapping.
-Fully explorable environments.
-Secret stashes hidden around.
-Fluid fast paced action combat.
-Destructible barrels and crates.
-Trash cans you can throw and obliterate.
-Map caching, meaning if you mess up you can exit and enter a map or save and reload to reset everything that isn't static.

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Ingame shots






Early Project Concepting and Storyboarding

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Only one so far.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTKpdtuBD0Y" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTKpdtuBD0Y</a>

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This game is on record for speedy production times, taking barely a month after it's idea conceptualized.

This was the first game in which storyboarding was used, this will continue to be the case for all future productions.

Lyza has more from scratch poses than almost any character so far, Zardari being the only exception.

The Exile's Brand shows up numerous times, it's both on Lyza's chest as well as her antennae formation when turn 90 degrees. It is also heavily used throughout weaponry in the game, her Weapons Relinquished, Daring Deception and the gagdet Fates Thread all have tips that end with the symbolic trident-like E.

Lyza is often misheard and mispronounced as Lisa by humans, the Z is a soft Z. The only two humans who have got it right so far are her captor (probably an expert on her sort) and the Shadowy Emperors.

Lyza last name is never mentioned and her past crimes are ominous and assuredly volatile, but are left ambiguous to both leave an air of suspense whilst also freeing Lyza from player's moral judgement. This was done on purpose.

Chains are featured commonly throughout the game, serving as the iconic symbol of imprisonment.

Lyza seems frail in most situations, though she seems to be able to clean up bullets with ease, this is probably due to how many times she's escaped prisons before.

Lyza is marked as 212 years old, if you wanted to get technical about this, you could say that while in carbonite she still aged through years, which would make here 1212 years old by the games time. It also means she was spawned on exactly Earth Year 1000.

The significance of 3/14 is fairly subtle in this game, outside of landing on Earth on the fourteenth of march, there's not much else to see.

Interestingly, Lyza would have been around to see the arrival of Maw on the 21st of December 2012, her self-made ship has remained in it's spot until 2052. Her whereabouts are known though it's very likely she'd be alive still. Galaxions can live for 400 years and beyond.

Lyza's Exodus would have entirely overshadowed Menagerie's plot which would have happened at the exact halfway point (1612), even if she did return to Galaxia it'd be a stone husk by the time she'd have a chance to return.

Lyza, the Wanderer, Asarath and Zardari are to date the last living Galaxions known, though Jon hints that there are others who landed on Earth.

The demo can be completed in about 16 minutes if you skip dialogue and entirely skip optional things. It can take up to an hour though if you let yourself enjoy it.

I didn't call from as much help for this project, I used mostly already payed for assets and was going to get a HUD built by someone more talented than me, but I ran out of time and decided to go with what I had.

In comparison to the 500+ dollars that was spent on Menagerie, this game had no productions costs outside of time due to most of the assets being already created.

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Q: Anniversary, what why is 3/14 significant? Why do you like Pi so much you fatty?
A: 3/14 or the 14th of March of 2011 was the day Intelligence's first public debut and is the line where success just kept happening. Also on 3/14 of 2013 I formed the CCC from Omega-dev members and some other guys and gals, so it functions as both a first annual celebration for the CCC and a three year Celebration for me.

Also I don't like Pie all that much, unless it's Bavarian or Banana-cream go frack the hell off.

Q: Why Earth again? Geez, can't we go to Tekerlek or Draik or something!
A: Tekerlek is going to be the focus of a game that is in planning, but at this point is incredibly nascent. Draik isn't really much for Game material, it's a generic fiery lava planet with a few dots of land and a Giant 'D' shaped continent, especially when there are far more interesting planets in the Origin Galaxy to look into, Zirkov and Byteopia just some examples among them.

I chose Earth because it's something I know and doesn't require a bunch of concepts to get going, it also allows me to use pop culture references that I feel like I'm cheating by using. Also Earth was the only medium for a game plot of this sort.

Q: So Lyza's Exodus from Galaxia actually shows her entering another galaxy that is the milky way, while in Menagerie it's portrayed as being part of the origin galaxy and the milky way was described as a very native term for it... what did you do?
A: This is an error on my part, I wanted to defy science for some reason in Menagerie and I felt like traveling to another Galaxy would be too much of a strain on the plot. But the Milky Way and Origin Galaxy are seperate.

Q: Will I need to have played Menagerie to understand what's going on?
A: No. I do my best to make games not have a prerequisite playing experience.

Q: Will there be a cost.
A: No. If it's made with RPG Maker, it's free and always will be. I don't believe in charging for games made with a toy that does the majority of the groundwork for me.

Q: So this is sort of like how Valve bundled Portal in with Half Life 2: Episode 2, as a sort of thanks for standing by us?
A: That is what this is, but from what I understand Portal was tacked on as a sort of apology for the wait to release the big game, no other game is being released or updated on 3/14, I just wanted to make something for it that wouldn't take centuries.

Valve also never expected people to like Portal so much.

Q: Are your hopes high for this game?
A: Higher than they were for Menagerie. It's only my fervor with marketing that got Menagerie anywhere. It was like the Duke Nukem Forever of my games, had been in development for too sodding long and was a mess by the time I buckled down and tacked it together.

I'm glad I got it done though, because it means I can work on new projects, like this one.

Q: How long has the development cycle been for this game?
A: It's been an idea since only early February, it will be by far the quickest I've bashed a demo together for public appraisal. Taking only over a little over a month.

Q: I thought you said you were done with RPG maker?
A: I underestimated how efficient it was at doing things quickly. RPG Maker wasn't the problem with Menagerie, it was my lack of interest in all but two of the sodding characters and the execution of the final product showed it, it's actually my lowest scoring success, granted, it's still a success, it's not 2/10 like Terra, but it has some glaring issues.

Q: After this, then what!?
A: A game not in RPG Maker, outside of that I don't know yet, I have several ideas, but I can't choose one on my own, I'm going to utilize my collective to help make a final decision.

Q: So will you finally be charging us to play all your glorious FILTH?
A: Pff, nah. I don't believe in restricting players by way of monetary tax, mostly profits will be managed by way of merchandizing digital products or donations in the future when they may be needed. By introducing an initial payment it paves a barrier that no matter how cheap, some won't have the means to climb over, or they'll use the back door, by relying on donations and merchandizing it also means that I won't have to use DRM of any sort and I can make the game accessible from day one of it's debut.

It's important to realize that I don't make my games to get payed, I make them for the enjoyment of others and my own hobbyist enjoyment in their creation and propagation. It also means it's basically immune to pirates because it's free from day one, just off the side merchandize (likely most of which will be digital at first) will be able to be redistributed (I'd rather you didn't but I won't try to get you in trouble if you do, since I'm guilty of doing the same thing myself), but when I get a marketplace set up on a web mailing site there's essentially big potential for that school of income, but again... that's future-y as frackle.

Q: What inspired this game?
A: Invader Zim is part of it, but it's me going back to my roots a little. Menagerie was... "homestuckian" to a fault and it's not a bad direction, but it's not my direction. The main reason I finished Menagerie was to slap the stupid out of my system.

Q: Will this demo have superb picture cutscenes?
A: It already does. However what it won't have is extraneous amounts of unnecessary unfounded dialogue. Menagerie was far too masturbatory for it's own good, it was a good exercise for my writing, and an even better exercise in what not to do.

Q: How is the gameplay turning out?
A: Pretty good, I'm using XAS and making a lot of custom art, to the point that with a few exceptions I'll be making all of the Icons myself.

Q: Custom tilesets?
A: No, not by me. 8 days isn't enough time for that.

Q: Music sources?
A: Not custom, but fairly niche (though incredibly good), Amkrogh89's library is the majority of the soundtrack, though there'll likely be a couple exceptions for sync tracks. See the credits.

Any other questions? Great! Ask away and I'll respond in due course.

I am bump

I might have gotten the wrong idea from the title, but...

Is this a complete game, or just a demo? =o

It's a Demo. I'm gathering feedback on whether it's worth continuing, as has been my strategy with every game Intelligence and beyond.

Make a demo to give folks an idea of what I'm going for, and then if they are into it I go whole hog on a full release.

It's certainly polished enough to be a full game. But it's far too short to warrant that, there's also bit-time characters in there that only appear once, but who will appear more if I continue adding onto it.

I'll also be doing what I did with Intelligence as far as demo releases, just build onto it until release, giving the public a patch every now and then to see how things are coming along, instead of Menagerie's deal where it was a demo and then a full game.