The Dark Empire (New Screenshots)

The Dark Empire

New website: http://darkempirerpg.tripod.com

Overall Plot:

In a village hidden from the empire, Maxum is raised on the stories of his heroic father, the last resistor to stand valiantly against the empire’s conquest of the world.  He’s finally reached 16 years of age, and is allowed to leave the village on trips to the city.  But thanks to his arrogance, he gets himself caught in a confrontation with Adaes of the Empire’s High Council during his trip.  With no choice but abandon the village and join a group of rebels, lead by Vergo, Maxum must rely on his own strength to survive.  But things might not be as they seem, are the rebels really the good guys?

Maxum must decide who his friends are, and more importantly, who his enemies are.  The rebels put great stock in the elimination of the emperor, Vladimir, and his High Council.  But that would be too simple, and surrounded by bandits, rouges, the empire, and the mysterious Alem, whose is really on Maxum’s side?

Character Descriptions: (incomplete)

Spoiler for Characters:

Note: All done without spoilers, so they’re back-stories may be misleading.

Maxum:

Age: 16

Personality: Arrogant, Egotistical, Kind of a jerk, But good morals.

Brief Back-story: His father and grandfather were heroes in the fight against the empire, but were killed right after his birth.  After their deaths his mother disappeared, leaving Maxum in the care of his grandmother in a small village hidden from the empire.  Because of his father’s legacy, he thought of himself as a great prodigy, thus his arrogance.

Weapon: Sword, Sword and Shield, or Duel Swords

Class: (Choice) - Swordsman, Paladin, Spellsword, Berserker

Physical Description: Long, wild, spiky black hair.  A baggy black outfit and a blue cloak his wear almost like a jacket.  His sword(s) are sheathed at his side.  Piercing blue eyes and an arrogant smile.

Vergo:

Age: 25

Personality: Confident and In-Control

Brief Back-story: As a growing upset against the empire slowly formed around the nation, Vergo stood up as a figure head and took control of these people, forming the rebels.  His amazing strength and natural ability to command people earned him great respect and fear from some empire executives.

Weapon: Sword and Shield

Class: Sword-Command

Physical Description: Long, straight, red hair that flows down into a ponytail.  Confident expression and deep, dark eyes.  A small scar runs horizontally on his left cheek.  He wears the rebel uniform, red lightly armored suit and black gloves and boots.

Father Opal:

Age: 30

Personality: Quietly repressed and tough.

Brief Back-story: Seeing enough evil things done against the Church of Legartha by the empire, Father Opal felt obligated to join the rebels.  He feels his job is a holy one he is divinely promised to win, and the rebels are a mere crutch, aiding him on the way.

Weapon: Staff

Class: Priest

Physical Description: Long, flowing, blue robes of the Church of Legartha.  Strong, stern face and beard stubble.  Neat, short brown hair.

Captain Conroy:

Age: 27

Personality: Cruel and manipulative, will do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

Brief Back-story: A powerful swordsman of the empire, Conroy fast earned the nickname “The Lightning Blade” among people throughout the empire as he took down all manner of opponents.  He quickly rose through the ranks of the army, becoming the highest captain in the military.  He hopes to one day become a member of the High Council, and will do anything to make this a reality.

Weapon: Long, sleek, sword.

Class: N/A

Physical Description: Tall and slender, wearing the uniform of the empire: dark blue and grey military style outfit.  His uniform is covered with badges, signifying his rank.  He has mid-cut light blue hair which falls down in front of his face, covering one of his eyes.  The showing eye is a dim red.  His expression reflects his cruelty.

Vladimir:

Age: 40

Personality: Calm, over-confident, righteous.

Brief Back-story: With noble aspirations, Vladimir created an empire that soon swept over the world.  Over time and war, Vladimir’s noble empire corrupted, but he blinded himself to it.

Weapon: Seal Daggers

Class: Seal-Command Class

Physical Description: Well built, wears a variation on the uniform of the empire, his being full blue.  He wears a long, grey cape with the empire insignia on it which he hides his daggers in.  Neat, somewhat short, dark black hair.  Tired expression and hazel eyes that also show signs of fatigue.

Sammy:

Age: 17

Personality: Flamboyant, Feminine, Energetic, Loves Hitting on Maxum

Brief Back-story: He fights against the empire in hopes of restoring honor to his family name.  His father, a  former nobleman, had been a soldier in the empire who had been disgracefully dismissed from it’s ranks,.  He decides to join Maxum’s group just because he is cute.

Weapon: Fan

Class: Wind-Master

Physical Description: Tall and slender, wears tight clothing and short pants.  He has short, red, barely spiked hair.  Gentle face with hazel eyes and feminine features.

Jasmine:

Age: 19

Personality: Shy and emotional, easily hurt.  Cries a lot.

Brief Back-story: Her father is Riley, a member of the High Council.  Her father encouraged her to join up with the empire’s military.  Being very dependant on her father and not very self sufficient, she joined.  She was very strong, so was quickly accepted, but has a hard time being selected for missions because of he emotional nature.

Weapon: Hammer/Mallet

Class: Knight

Physical Description: Though it’s hard to tell, she’s small and delicate under her armor.  She wears very heavy armor that cover most of her physical features.  She has mid-cut, blonde hair with bangs that fall down over her eyes.  Her eyes are a light blue.  Her face has very delicate features.

Jack Sauffee:

Age: 23

Personality: Arrogant and Hot-Headed.

Brief Back-story: He joined the empire’s military at a young age because he was so confident with his abilities.  After doing many special ops missions with great success, he was selected by Vladimir to become his personal bodyguard.

Weapon: Seal Daggers

Class: Combat Master

Physical Description: Well-built, wearing a special ops - like combat vest, dark blue and grey to match the empire uniform.  His face is masculine and he has a scruffy beard.  He has military-cut black hair and focused brown eyes.

Aurelia:

Age: 18

Personality: Highly feminist with an extreme distrust for men.

Brief Back-story: Her entire life she was betrayed or let down by men (more details would be spoilers).  She viewed the empire as highly sexist towards women and joined the rebels to help bring it down.  She became Vergo’s highest ranked officer.  Vergo was the only man she felt she could trust.

Weapon: Wand

Class: Elemental Summoner

Physical Description: Slender, well shaped, and very attractive.  She wears a magician’s cloak and a witch’s hat.  Her face is beautiful and she has dark blue eyes and long, blond hair that goes down her back.

Grandmother:

Age: 70

Personality: Caring

Brief Back-story: She raised Maxum when his mother disappeared.

Weapon: N/A

Class: N/A

Physical Description: Small, slightly hunched old woman wearing casual clothes.  Wrinkly face, grey hair, caring expression.

Roland:

Age: 35

Personality: Arrogant and  Manipulative

Brief Back-story: He is the leader of a large group of bandits who force travelers to pay tolls to make it through the mountain passes.  His bandits are constantly getting into fights with the empire, so he has a deep hate for the empire.

Weapon: Spear

Class: Spearman

Physical Description: Tall and sleek.  Mid-length, wild red hair.  Thin, stylish glasses and a strong, arrogant face.  Wears cliché bandit clothes.  Hazel eyes.

Paige:

Age: 18

Personality: Lazy and Pacifistic

Brief Back-story: Works as a street performer in the Empire’s capital city of Ferticlan.  She barely makes a living but she doesn’t really care, she’s too lazy to do anything else.  She preaches peace and love in her songs.

Weapon: Guitar

Class: Bard

Physical Description: Somewhat small and petite.  Wears rag-like clothes.  Long, dirty blond hair that hasn’t been combed in a long time.  Attractive face despite the lack of make-up.  Blue eyes.

Keary:

Age: 35

Personality: Creepy

Brief Back-story: His parents did drugs when he was conceived, giving him his powers.  When he used his powers in front of them, they abused him.  After enough abuse, he killed them and turned them into his minions.  A member of the high council.

Weapon: Scythe

Class: N/A

Physical Description: Clean cut, well-shaven, and neat.  Well kept, clean uniform.  His face is very void of any astounding physical traits besides a very cynical smile.  His red eyes allude to his inner darkness.

Maia:

Age: 42

Personality: Mysterious and confident

Brief Back-story: Little is known for a good while.  The leader of the high council.

Weapon: Giant Sword

Class: N/A

Physical Description: Long, flowing, dark robes and a hood that cover most of her features of her face.  A few gentle curves of her body and the lip stick is how the player can tell she is female.

Alem:

Age: ???

Personality: Confident and knowledgeable

Brief Back-story: ??

Weapon: ???

Class: ???

Physical Description: Tall and powerful.  He wears long, white robes.  His face is muscular and bright.  He has long, flowing, black hair.  He has deep, dark eyes.

Dae:

Age: 27

Personality: Calm until he is agitated, then he becomes psychotic.

Brief Back-story: Became a member of the high council after dealing with the last rebel uprising single handily.

Weapon: None

Class: N/A

Physical Description: Spiky, red hair.  Wears a simple, black cloak.  Scar over his left eye.  Blue eyes with a piercing stare.

General Draco:

Age: 41

Personality: Presumptuous and somewhat snotty.  He is a by-the-books guy who will follow his orders to the letter unconditionally.

Brief Back-story: Fought alongside Vladimir in the beginning stages of the revolution.  His extreme loyalty to the empire gave him an easy spot on the high council, but also blinded him to the corruption of it.  He has an eye that can analyze his opponent.

Weapon: Fists

Class: N/A

Physical Description: (TBA)

Adaes:

Age: 28

Personality: Arrogant (as hell).  He only cares about having fun and will betray everyone around him to have it.  Extremely manipulative.

Brief Back-story: During his childhood, he had his parents framed for murder and executed for pissing him off.  Realizing the fun of manipulation, he spent part of his life enjoying manipulating people’s lives.  At some point, he manipulated military records to make it appear he was a general in the empire’s army.  He then arranged it so that Vladimir was put in danger’s way so he could show off and save him, thus proving himself.  It was not long after that he was appointed to the high council.

Weapon: Duel Black Swords

Class: N/A

Physical Description: Black hair, straight combed with bangs, no sideburns.  Black baggy pants, white shoes, black gloves, white undershirt and black vest.  A young complexion, red eyes.  His face is proportioned that it looks skinny.

Girth:

Age: 42

Personality: Despondent and Depressed

Brief Back-story:??

Weapon: Sword and Shield

Class: N/A

Physical Description: TBA

Exodus:

Age:??

Personality: Closed, Mysterious, Serious

Brief Back-story: A young man down on his luck once ran from his home to find his place in the world.  Shortly after he set out, he was attacked by and killed by a group of thugs.  His murder was brutal.  One day, Keary came upon his body and brought it to life to join his undead forces.  The man’s will made him too hard for Keary to completely control, however, and he became the only one of Keary’s forces to have his own free will.  Exodus was born.

Weapon: Staff and Sword

Class: N/A

Physical Description: Short, red hair, and Keary’s undead uniform.  A black blindfold covers his eyes, and his face is covered with horrible scars.

World Backstory:

Spoiler for World Back-story:

116 years ago, Vladimir crushed the last resistance to his new empire.  Now, his power is unquestioned.  He rules as the emperor, and under him is the 5-man High Council.  Maia is the commander of the high council, the other members are Keary, Adaes, Dae, and General Draco.  Vladimir’s armies are directly in the command of Captain Conroy, the Lightning Blade.

Before Vladimir’s uprising, the world was run by technology.  Technology governed how people lived, worked, and fought.  Then, around the time Vladimir appeared, the world flooded with mana.  Vladimir’s armies fought using this mana, giving them a distinct advantage over the armies that fought using technology.  Eventually, the resistances discovered how to use mana as well, but it was too little too late.  In the current day, the use of mana is common knowledge.  Technology still exists, but because mana can do everything technology can but more efficiently, it’s been downplayed since.

Though more religions existed hundred of years ago, now a single religion exists in the world.  The Church of Legarth is a religion based on studying the ways of the prophet Legarth.  Legarth was said to have become so holy that he ascended into a god-like state.  This ascension is the goal of every follower of the Church.

Other notable things: You are able to choose your own class in the beginning of the game.  Though all 4 class choices are sword-using type classes, they allow for a little customization of your character and a little variance in the otherwise straight foward gameplay.

Beserker: The fastest class and uses two swords instead of a sword and shield, making them one of the strongest classes for doing physical damage.  However, they can only wear medium armor and have only a few useful skills.

Swordsman: The most balanced of the classes.  Uses a sword and shield, good speed, agility, defense, and strength.  They have the strongest sword skill attacks in the game.  Can wear heavy armor.

Spellsword: Lacking in most categories other than intelligence (in comparison the the swordsman) this adds a little bit of magic to the normal me-smash tank of the main character.  Allows you to use a variety of elemental based attacks to strike opponent's weak points and deal damage to all enemies at once.  It may also be nice to have a mage who can wear heavy armor.

Paladin: Can wear the heaviest armor no other class can wear and can heal themselves, making them the best for survivability of the classes.  However, they lack for doing damage and would rely on the other party members to kill anything.

After choosing your class, you can visit trainers in different cities who will give you stat boosts based on your class.

Screen shots:


Cool front view battle system.


Blizzard's easy party changer.


Extra Slot equipment and Blizzard's Metal Plate CMS


Also, I need sprite artists to make some character sets, so if anyone is interested please let me know.

This game will be making a switch from 2003 to xp.

I updated the characters list with to match a slightly reworked plot for the upcoming rpg maker xp version of this game.  The plot and world backstory is still a little out of date, but I plan to update it drastically soon.

Also, I recently discovered a need for character sets, so if anyone is interested please let me know.

ok...maybe you should make the story a bit less bland, even though i know youre relying on that one twist.

SECONDLY- 2k3 is NOT outdated. You just arent skilled enough to use it properly (neither am i though)...

ok...maybe you should make the story a bit less bland, even though i know youre relying on that one twist.

SECONDLY- 2k3 is NOT outdated. You just arent skilled enough to use it properly (neither am i though)...

like i said, this plot is OUTDATED.  I recently reworked the plot to make it less bland.  But i'm still typing it up so just bare with me now till I'm done.

And as for 2k3, I realize it's not outdated, but I just wanted to do XP becuase it's prettier.  I wish I could say my reasons were any better than that, but they're not.

oh. yeah, its true. I mean, with rm2k3, you can do quite a bit with graphics, but you can do anything in xp.

Swtich from 2k3 to xp, i thought so seeing the first and second screenie difference.

Ah me and my veriws..

Good though...but everything can be better, even if its teh best.

Swtich from 2k3 to xp, i thought so seeing the first and second screenie difference.

Ah me and my veriws..

Good though...but everything can be better, even if its teh best.

of course, basic rule of life.

So when you coming up with T E H demos?

A new face shot of the main character, Maxum, courtesy of my good friend Core.

Update: More characters put up and an overall plot was breifly described.  Also updated the world backstory.

Edit:
Just an update:

I've gotten most of the demo done.  As a matter of fact, it's just about ready for release.  The only thing I'm waiting on is character sets.  Don't want to release the demo using only RTP character sets.  So...yeah...no estimated date of demo release yet.

can we get maybe 1 more screenshot?  lol, but tell me when the demo's up I will play.

me too cuz it looks friggin good

my paint keeps freezing on my on my laptop so no screenshots until i get home this weekend T_T

if u want the demo to be released faster, u can always contribute to the character set need xp

alright, well thanks to a laptop crash this project will be restarting from the beginning..heh heh...~tries to keep a happy face~  on the bright side, i now have the faces and sprites i needed so it should go a little quicker than last time.

I hope so, good luck, can't wait for the demo.

I put up a few screen shots of some of the system's I'll be using.  I haven't finished the database yet so I haven't started the real game quite yet...yeah...so just a few system shots for now.

Love the screens and the face graphic for Core! Nice job. However I'm real tired, so I've only read a few snippets. Nice work so far!

~Winged

Screenshots look great!, keep up the good work, cant wait to play it!

Well Dark Empire now has a website that I created for practically no reason at all but for the fun of it.  Check it out at darkempirerpg.tripod.com.

Also, I updated a lot of the information on the front page.

So....your using Arshes?

EDIT: I meen 3 Arshes?

lol that would be strange xp

no, they're place holders because I'm having such a difficult time getting the sprites i need.  I eventually gave up on original sprites and grabbed some sprites that just needed some color editing but the guy whose supposed to do the color editing is slow as ... well something real slow.  so i put arshes for now lol

lol that would be strange xp

no, they're place holders because I'm having such a difficult time getting the sprites i need.  I eventually gave up on original sprites and grabbed some sprites that just needed some color editing but the guy whose supposed to do the color editing is slow as ... well something real slow.  so i put arshes for now lol

Oh ok. Just makeing sure, lol

lol, that would be a disaster!

Anyway, this looks even better then before. I noticed your sig, if you need help collecting resources, I'll be willling to help.

What battle system are you using? The sprites are really small compared to the ghosts.

lol, that would be a disaster!

Anyway, this looks even better then before. I noticed your sig, if you need help collecting resources, I'll be willing to help.

well all i need now is for someone to do some sprite editing, changing of colors and stuff.  i have one guy supposedly working on it but i haven't seen hide nor hair of progress

What battle system are you using? The sprites are really small compared to the ghosts.

i'm using a front-view battle system, kinda like breath of fire.  it uses the character sprites for the heroes as opposed to battle pics.