UPDATE: Here's a screen of the titlescreen I created
Alright, here it is...my brainchild, my challenge to myself and the team of people I hope to assemble.
This game, in reality, shouldn't be TOO hard, in comparison to the hopeful projects that some people start, and never finish. I'm setting realistic goals for this game. The focus is on atmosphere, setting and storyline. Immersing and engrossing the player as if he was reading a novel and watching a movie at the same time.
These are the things that I want to emphasize on, the elements that, I think, will put the game on it's own level..they are in order of importance to me, this of course, like everything, is up for discussion and possibly change:
1. (for a reason) STORYLINE..expect lots of dialogue
2. Music...soulful music that emphasizes the actions and atmosphere of the game.
3. Character depth and interaction
4. Graphical quality, and originality. I like default stuff as much as the next guy..but if it can be helped, I'd like the player to see very little of RMXP (besides tilesets...there just aren't enough good ones around that match up to use anything else.)
Here's the most important aspect of my game. The Story. Remember that it is a work in progress, and changes, additions and subractions (ahh! math..run away!) will be made throughout. I'll keep this post edited, if that's alright, every so often to reflect changes made.
The Setting:
Is medieval/fantasy, not to be mistaken for pure fantasy. The mood is dark. (if you're as in tune with music as I am, listen to David Draiman of Disturbed - Forsaken, from the Queen of the Damned soundtrack..it sets the mood perfectly) It's not at all a humorous game, and it's very adult-themed. Gore, some adult language used sparingly, and adult themes. Think of the Spawn comic book, almost the same attitude. While there are dragons and monsters throughout the world, your main adversaries will be nightstalkers, or vampires, along with other, darker beings such as demons, the undead, spirits and so forth. Expect a lot of religious referances and symbology.
Music:
Heavy Rock, and Metal, for the most part. I'd like there to be little of the traditional fantasy RPG types of music...I love the battle music of Dark Eternal. I want to have mp3's, instead of midi's as the games music will do much to set the tone of the game. If possible, and legal, there are a few artists who's tracks I'd like to include in the game, as their music would frame my story perfectly. Fast and in-your-face for the battles, and slow...creepy and harmonic while your traversing the game's maps.
Graphical Quality:
I think I pretty clearly stated my desires for the games graphics above. Dark. I'll be doing the character's faces, If I can get some help with photoshop and coloring. They'll be all original, to include NPCs. Here's a link to the website that contains samples of my artwork. That stuff is a bit old, and I've become much better since these were created.
http://cryforequanimity.deviantart.com/ (its also in my avatar
)
Lastly, but most importatly - The Story:
I havn't decided on a definite name for the world in which the game will take place. I figured anything cool sounding would work, and I'd leave it open for some of you to contribute if you wish.
(it gets very deep into the story here, you've been warned)
Unlike most RPGs, the world starts out in relative turmoil, and the city you begin your story in is in the midst of a crisis for the ages. The ancient nightwalkers for some reason have returned to the capitol city of the most powerful faction on the continent, and not only are they having their pick of the fattest and healthiest of greasy nobles to feed from, they are decimating the cities powerful military by a system of pefectly exectuted assasinations, leaving town guards slain and put out on display all over the city..but the killings aren't just reserved for sleeping guards and druken gatesmen...the army's strongest general and templar, Kryth the Justifier, was found, crusified on the city's centerpiece, a massive clock-tower, impaled upon the arms of the clock at exactly midnight...leaving a bloody example of the ancient's growing and unrivaled strength and cunning. The city is either being given a sign...a prelude to unbridled, wholesale slaughter, or...they're being toyed with, and are on their way to a slow, bloody eradication.
Characters:
The main charater you play with is not named either, but for storytelling purposes I'll say his name is Calix. This is tentative of course.
Calix:
Age: 24
Sex: Male
Race: Human
Style: Almost like a cleric...Medium plate armors and sheilds, light bladed weapons and some divine magic skills. I was thinking a dual-wield, but balanced between attack and defense.
I picture the Calix as a blonde male, average height and a medium build. He apprentices to his father, a priest, named Father Grath. He had been raised from birth by his father and older brother, Vex. He has never met his mother. When he came of enough age, he asked, and his father simply said that she died in childbirth and not to speak of her. Calix never contested that information until during prayer, he recieved a vision...a beautiful woman, crying streams of blood tears, calling to him..she cried to him in need of repentance...when he came she embraced him, and crying in sorrow she suck her fangs deep into his neck, and then he awoke. The dream disturbed him for months...until he awoke in his chambers one night from the dream, to find the image of the same woman painted in blood upon the wall of his holy shrine, and the holy cross hung upside-down.
Vex:
Age: 29
Sex: Male
Race: Human
Style: Heavy Warrior. He's just plain huge...he wears the heaviest of plate armors and wields the most massive of weapons. He's an iron behemoth. His focus is on defense.
His older brother, Vex. Is quiet almost to the point of complete silence. He is a giant of a man, towering almost a foot over Calix's head, with a solid, powerful body. He has always been fiercly protective of his brother, from the very day he was born. Vex, Calix and Father Roth have lived in the cathedral since either of the brothers can remember. However, Vex left the care of his father for 8 years, and enlisted in the city's militia during the great war in which the city struggled to win. Vex was an outstanding soldier, and was quickly selected to serve as a Royal Templar to the King. Vex returned suddenly from his duty, and refused to speak of what he had taken place to anyone, save his Father Roth. Vex is a heavy warrior, possessing very limited divine magics, but able to wear huge sets of heavy plate armor, and weild weapons with ease that would take two average men to lift. His focus is on defense. (Think of the phalanx from Ogre Battle 64.)
Father Roth
Age: 49
Sex: male
Style: Almost like Vex, but his focus is instead on attack, rather than defense. He weilds mostly two-handed swords. He wears medium to heavy armors, just like Calix.
The Abbot of the Cathedral in which the three of them live, Father Roth is known across the city as being a wise, big-hearted man. The man is almost a legend within the city, as no-one knows where exactly he came from, but the scars, powerful frame and weathered demeanor leave no question as to the many hardships he must have endured. He raised the two brothers from birth on his own, and tought them both strictly by the holy word. He is a peaceful man, with a kind-heartedness that is rare in the chaos of the city. He is a large and strong man, although not as massive as his oldest son. His body is old and weathered, but he consistently trains his sons in armed and unarmed combat, and regularly bests the both of them. He speaks nothing of his past, and for that reason, no one asks him of it.
Thats about all I have for the story...there will be many more characters than this, but these are the three main ones for now.
Sorry it was so long, I should work on summarizing my writing.
I'm looking for people who are more famliar with the RMXP to help me with aspects of the game, even if it's teaching me how to do it myself. I've been using the program for a little while, and I'm coming along very well.
Mainly, I'm looking for a team of people who can share this vision with me, and collaborate on me for the project. Not really any specific jobs, but if you're good at something and think you can contribute to the process, please let me know.
Thank you for reading my looooong plan, i appologize to your eyes.
Discord
Light Style