Sin and Punishment is a project I've had my hands in for over nine years now. I'm finally reviving it and doing it solo on RMXP. For some of you, this may be familiar territory (and props to those of you who are old enough to remember,) and for others, it's all new, so enjoy it. These sections will be updated periodically so check back!
Bunnies.Boon has joined the team, making battlers for me. Karasawa is making the sprites, and he also was completely up for the battlers too, but honestly - I've loaded Karasawa down with a SHITLOAD of work, having him do everything would be too much. But then Boon came striding out of the jungle and he actually ended up being pretty good, so HI BOON WELCOME TO THE TEAM!!! Yes, that bunny is an enemy battler/monster/thing. They're so cute, and you get to kill a lot of them too
(PS the team is Zeriab (scriptins), Boon (battlins), Karasawa (spritins), my sister (artins), me (writins, mappins, scriptins, everythins) just in case you wanted to know~)
FURTHERMORE I have finally gotten around to cleaning out the locations section - removed a few redundant locations, and took new screenshots for each one. And good news for you pixelfags -
they're in both filtered and unfiltered! 
Next Update - During my next thread update, I plan to post a few more samples of Boon and Karasawa's work, then prep for a demo release. We're
dangerously close!
Here's a quick rundown of what's left to do before you get to play this sucker!
Battlers - Boon's doing good on the battlers and keeping a decent pace.
Sprites - Karasawa's nearly done the spriting required for the demo, only a couple more to go!
Artwork - There's only one more art piece required for the demo but getting my sister to work is like pulling teeth... But I'm sure she'll get in gear.
Mapping - ALL DONE :O
Writing - ALSO ALL DONE :O
Scripting - There's a few major game-stopping bugs Zeriab and I are trying to hammer out, but we both seem to work pretty fast in this dept!
So there you go! With a bit of luck this won't take any time at all.
Sin and Punishment does not contain one overarching plot, with a group of main characters ultimately joining together to fight a singular evil villain. There are multiple plotlines running alongside each other with multiple antagonists - all of these plots never actually form together by the end to present
one ultimate evil, though characters do occasionally cross between the stories and merge and seperate and so forth. Ultimately, Sin and Punishment is about a group of people, each with their own distinct problems and adversaries, that continue to bump into each other as time goes on. The upcoming demo will have
three characters you are able to choose, each with their own storyline. As the game continues, other stories will appear, and while these characters may bump into each other on the road once in a while, they still continue to work in line with their own motivations - rather than having one single party that constantly grabs new members as soon as it's convienent for them to come along (with the player choosing their favourite 3-5 for constant use letting the others sit off in nowhere land,) there are multiple parties with different people that are constantly gaining and losing members, merging, splitting, etc, and the player's focus shifts between each group and their experiences. The demo's initial three plots are as follows:
- a group of youths undergoing a small port village's coming-of-age ceremony, requiring them to head out into the surrounding wilderness and learn how to hunt wild game.
- a metallurgy team headed by a world-reowned geologist descending into a mining complex owned by a local goverment to investigate a deposit of previously undiscovered ore.
- a wanderer who has spent most of his life in isolation in the mountains, studying herbalism, shamanism, and swordmastery, and his first contact with another person in years.
The three initial characters are described in further detail below.
Note: All the pieces of artwork shown here are drawings done by my artist. They will appear in game as face sets and status screen/equip screen artwork. They were also used by Karasawa to create sprites. Also, the character biographies may refer to certain cultural points or events - these will be expanded on in the 'Location' section further down.
DemianAge: 15
Home: Mide
Relationships: Katarina (mother), Donovan (father), Laina, Will, Elliot, Lewis (friends), two older brothers, one older sister, one younger sister, two older sisters (stillborn), one older brother (stillborn), one younger brother (stillborn).
Story: Demian is one of the youths being sent out during the Festival of the Hunt. He is accompanied by Will, his closest friend. The festival is a coming-of-age celebration for all Hunter-born men and women that have turned fifteen in the past year.
Personality: Demian is an extremely kind individual, with a strong sense of justice. However, he can also at times be naive, ignorant, and close minded. There is usually a cultural clash between him and other people he meets outside of Mide, as he has been raised with a strict sense of right and wrong, which may not be applicable in other societies. He speaks with a slight 'southern drawl'.
RichardAge: 31
Home: Nomadic - born in Yokina
Relationships: Aliénor (mother), Geoffrey (father), Renée (friend), Sinclair (rival), Luther (teacher), one younger brother.
Story: Richard is a traveler, who has left his home city of Yokina to see the world. In doing so, he follows in the steps of his former teacher, Luther, who had taken the same journey while Richard was young.
Personality: Richard is a very private individual. While he's not antisocial, he still prefers the company of the open wild. He is not knowledgeable concerning mechanics or science, preferring to fall back on the older ways of martial arts, herbalism, and shamanistic spirituality.
JescaAge: 27
Home: Tilsvia - born in Sacor City
Relationships: Rachella (mother), Henry (father, deceased), Wolfeye, Bryce (friends), Rhy, Linux (bodyguards), Captain Irvine (colleague)
Story: Jesca is a world-famous metallurgist, currently contracted to work with the government of Tilsvia at a dig site north of the Tilsvian capital city. A large vein of an element that is not normally present in any natural environment was discovered at the bottom of a large cyrocite mine, and Jesca leads a team into the mine to study the ore.
Personality: Growing up in Sacor City, Jesca was raised in a wealthy and technologically advanced society. She is comfortable with (but not an expert at using) computers and electronics. She attended Gaiason University, where she earned a Lord's Degree in Geodynamics. She has only recently underwent firearms training, in accordance with the Tilsvian government's policies on sending non-combat personnel to potentially dangerous areas. Jesca is a playful person, but she also has a short temper. She is extremely devoted to her work, but occasionally babbles random psuedoscience whenever she's too excited about it.
LainaAge: 15
Home: Mide
Relationships: Mari'el (mother), Fanar (father), Demian, Will, Elliot, Lewis (friends).
Story: Laina is another of the youths being sent out during the Festival of the Hunt. She is widely regarded as Mide's most talented and prominent up-and-coming huntress.
Personality: While hunting, Laina is extremely competitive, keeping her sense of humour restrained. Back in Mide, though, she is known to be kind and caring. She's extremely close to Will, another of the Mide locals. In her circle of friends, she is the only one who has any curiosity about the unknown - she frequently asks the few interlopers Mide recieves about what lies beyond Mide Pass.
WolfeyeAge: 25
Home: Tilsvia - born in Kalidon
Relationships: Jayson, Leli (colleagues), Jesca (friend)
Story: Wolfeye was orphaned at birth in the desert city of Kalidon - he was abandoned at an extremely young age and only has short, whispy recollections of his parents. He grew up on the streets of Kalidon, but moved to Tilsvia to look for work during Kalidon's decline.
Personality: Wolfeye learned a lot about life via the 'school of hard knocks' - living on the streets of Kalidon taught him how to scavenge, steal, and survive. Wolfeye is religious, but doesn't feel that faith has to be institutionalized or directed in a specific format to make it legitimate. When he moved to Tilsvia he met Jesca by chance - he was a labourer on a dig site she was sent out to investigate 3 years ago. They have been friends ever since.
MideMide Village:
A small town on the edge of a distant peninsula. It is isolated by a large mountain range that severely limits access to the area. There are three social classes within Mide society - Hunters, Farmers, and Elders. The class' name is indicative of the various jobs one may take on in Mide society - people in the Hunter class may hunt game, or fish, or otherwise provide for the village in that aspect, while Farmers crow crops, make bread, and so forth. While an Elder-class citizen is chosen to be the leader of Mide, other Elder families take on various jobs such as tailoring or construction. People are born into one of the classes and rarely change between them.
Mide Hunting Grounds:
A lush forested area located half a day's walk south of Mide Village. This is where the Hunters come to kill various game for the village. The Festival of the Hunt takes place here, as well. Every year, on The Seed, Blue Moon, Day of the Hunt, everybody within the Hunter caste that has turned fifteen is taken out into the Mide Hunting Grounds and taught to hunt and kill game. Those that return to the village with their own kill become respected hunters, while those that don't are outcast.
Mide Beach:
A long, soft beach that stretches out from the outskirts of Mide Village. There is a large platform set up on the shore only a few minutes from town that is used as a gathering site during celebrations. A large feast is held here after the Festival of the Hunt to celebrate the return of the new hunters. Continuing down the beach past the platform was forbidden several hundred years ago by a previous Elder for an unknown reason.
Mide Pass:
A passageway through the near-impenetrable mountain ridge between Mide and the neighbouring Tilsvian Hegemony. The old path is largely grown over, as Mide hardly ever receives visitors. Despite that, the Tilsvian government decided it best to build a small guardpost in the pass, citing possible security breaches that could happen with leaving a border open - even if the border is with a tiny, backwater area like Mide.
TilsviaTilsvia Mines:
A large system of tunnels located north of Tilsvia's capital. It is one of the largest copper and nickel mines in the world, and the single largest cyrocite mine. After the Tilsvian forestry industry collapsed (primarily due to its clean-cutting practices,) the local economy shifted towards the excavation and exportation of the newly discovered mineral veins buried within the Nykonian mountain range to the north.
Tilsvia Forest:
Tilsvia Forest was once the world's largest forest, surrounding the Tilsvian capital city and stretching as far west as the Kaluk Desert, as far east as Mide, and as far south as Yokina. However, when Tilsvia transitioned into an industrial state, the vast majority of the forest was cut down to fuel the economy and provide extra land. Today, the only remaining section of the Tilsvia Forest is a small patch to the very south, serving as Tilsvia's sourthern border.
YokinaYokina Ridge:
Yokina Ridge is a long path through the Yokina mountain range. The northern access to the ridge is close to Tilsvia's southern border, while the southern entrance is situated near the Kalidon Archipelago, near the planet's equator. The ridge itself is a natural maze of interlocking cliffs and deep gorges. Inside one the deepest of these valleys lies the isolated town of Yokina. Travel between Yokina and other countries used to be fairly common, as thrill-seekers would travel to the gorge for sightseeing and cliffjumping, while other tourists would be interested in the city proper for it's isolation and cultural uniqueness. Due to the current worldwide economic recession, however, the tourism industry of the area has all but disappeared.
Western Winds Inn:
The Western Winds Inn is a small Bed & Breakfast located on the coast of northern Yokina. Its clientele consists of people traveling between Tilsvia and Yokina, as it is situated near the southern Tilsvian border - the Tilsvia Forest. The path between Yokina Ridge and the Tilsvian border is very direct, so speedy travelers will often completely miss this outpost.
Listed here are features that make Sin and Punishment a little more unique in terms of gameplay.
Symbolic Calendar: The game runs on a day/night system and weather system that is controlled by the Symbolic Calendar. The calendar has five seasons, eight weeks, and nine days - in total, 360 possible days. Certain events happen depending not only on the time of day, but the current weather and the date as well. Not only does the day cycle through morning, afternoon, sunset, and night, but the seasons cycle as well, covering some areas of the world with snow in the winter, blossoms in the summer, or leaves in the fall. The weather varies depending on the region, and can be predicted ahead of time via weather reports or almanacs.
Cross Grid Battle System: (The battle system is complete and operational - I'm hoping to be replacing the BOF2/FF6 sprites before demo release, but it's all workin'.) The Cross Grid Battle System, unique to Sin and Punishment, sets both the player's party and the enemy party in a grid. Strategy and formation is important in this style of battle, as certain attacks or abilities will effect various rows/columns differently, and placing party members in different formations unlocks new ability combinations.
HQ2X Filtering: HQ2X is a graphical filter used most famously in zsnes. It doubles the resolution of any graphic while smoothing the pixels out, giving the image a paint-like appearance. I absolutely
hate the RMXP RTP, and regular SNES graphics are too small for RMXP, so to solve the problem of the RTP while giving me (slightly more) unique visuals, I have employed the HQ2X filter in my game. The game will begin with the HQ2X filter on - you will able to turn the filter on and off from the options menu.
Graphics that will be affected by the filter - sprites, maps, battle screens
Graphics that will be the same wether the filter is on or off - windows, facesets, character art, menus
On Screen Encounters: I've recently made the switch from random battles, which most games use, to On Screen Encounters, similar to Chrono Trigger, Lufia 2, etc. The main reason why is because random battles SUCK. In that image, the deer and bunnies are enemy encounters. Different enemies will react differently when you approach them - They may run away, charge at you, or change their movement speeds or patterns. The only place in the game that will keep random encounters is the World Map.
Maps: Included here are a few maps that I feel are representative of the general level of mapping quality you can expect to see in the upcoming demo. If you'd like to critique them in this thread, that's fine, but I'd rather not clog up the thread with too many posts about it - check to see if what you have to say has already been said beforehand, please.
Considering that nearly every single project anywhere (save for the ones with original music) uses Squaresoft music, I think it's time to introduce the base to a wider variety. I can't really name an rpg featured in our community and others ever since the dawn of Don Miguel's RM95+ that didn't use Final Fantasy music or Chrono music or whatever. And I'm no exception too! There's some good stuff from Squaresoft games and I intend to use some of it. Unlike other projects, I'm not going to be FLOODING my title with Square music. Since I can't make music myself and I can't afford to hire somebody to do it for me, I plan to pull music from unorthodox sources - Anime/television OSTs, non-rpg video games, movies, etc. Even if you've heard the music before, hopefully hearing it used within a game brings it some new life.
To that end, I've posted 5 music tracks that I'm using in the game, and it's YOUR job to guess where they're from. I'll give a little bit of a hint for each one, and they go from easy to hard.
Track One - Okay since this one is from a popular JRPG, if you can't get it you're either an anti-weeaboo, underage b&, or hopeless. Go play this goddamn game, it's great!
Track Two - This is a bit harder, but chances are if you got Track One you'll get this. It's from a popular (though slightly aged now) anime series.
Track Three - Heh, gettin' harder now! This one's from a western video game. (It's probably easy to point out what game it's from if you know me well enough, so here's a bonus question - what area in the game is it played?
)
Track Four - This one's tough, though it became a meme a year or so ago so it might be an easy guess if you're internet savvy. It's from a japanese-only top-down shooting game.
Track Five - Here we go, Nightmare Mode. This one's from an indie movie. If you get this you are amazing.
There are many companies and individual people to give credit for - I have documented exactly who did what, but posting that here will be extremely long. I will credit a general list here, and include the detailed version in the demo. Thanks for everybody's help and support.
Companies: Enterbrain, Bandai Namco, Square-Enix, Nintendo, Tokyo TV, Sony, Bethesda Softworks, Activision Blizzard, Capcom, Microsoft, Natsume, Game Arts
People: Inquisitor, Oshan, Sandgolem, Yeyinde, Trihan, guillaume777, RPG Advocate, Dervvulfman, vgvgf, Vash, Selwyn, Bluescope, Raziel, coco, Prexus, khmp, Deltree, Arbiter, Cogwheel, Rataime, NearFantastica, Karasawa, Zaver, Donkey Kong, Cronux
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