Derivia: Royal Academy (radio silence until 4th week May)

NOTE: Progress is slow right now because I'm studying for the IB Exams I'm taking throughout May, so I won't be posting updates till the end of May so I can reveal a lot at once. Hoepfully by then there'll be some sort of demo as well.

Though I'd create a thread here early on in development to keep me motivated to work and to act as sort of a developer blog.

Title: Derivia Royal Academy

I'm making this game for two reasons: The first is to learn the ropes of RPG Maker XP (this is my first project) and the second is to act as a prologue to the main story I'm working on. It's made in all RTP so far and for consistency this and the next will probably stay that way, with a few custom sprites and whatnot thrown in as well. I chose the title Derivia because the whole game is derived from the stock RTP (I'm such a wordsmith  )

Story overview

Spoiler for:

The Kingdom of Derivia is set in a typical medieval fantasy world. It is a place where the main operations of the many kingdoms of the world are run by Platoons. Platoons are groups of specialized people (read: different classes) that are trained in the Derivia Royal Academy (for comparison, it's similar to the way Konoha in Naruto gives missions and errands to groups of ninjas). Run by Baron Drex, the Royal Academy of Derivia is renowned for being one of the best in the whole world, and Drex is highly esteemed by his contemporaries in Derivia and beyond its borders. Captain Bree of the Aqua Platoon however, is suspicious of his abrupt disappearances for long periods of time, and plans to investigate for herself what's really going on...

Characters

Spoiler for:

Hayden [main character, can be renamed]: Hayden comes from a small blacksmithing village in the farmlands of Derivia. His skill with the sword and his knack for leadership caught the eye of Captain Bree, and became one of the privileged few of the lower classes to be admitted into the Royal Academy. His goal is to lead and teach a platoon of his own like Captain Bree.

Leeto: Leeto comes from a family of mages that are renowned for their advances in using magic for finding ways to improve the lives of Derivians. Leeto's interests however, are different. He decided he wanted to adventure and serve Derivia in a way different from his parents. So at 18, he joined the Royal Academy instead of the Institute of Magic. His goal is to make a name for himself apart from the legacy of his family. He is assigned under Aqua Platoon along with Hayden, and the two have grown to be good friends.

Captain Bree: The leader of Aqua Platoon, Captain Bree is respected for her leadership, sense of humor, and skill as a tactician. She has turned down many a promotion so that she can continue to work in the field. Her current focus is on training her two latest recruits, Leeto and Hayden, while the rest of Aqua Platoon are out on a support mission in a neighboring kingdom. 

4/17/2009
Quick Update [no bump]: So I'm beginning to work my way around the RPG Maker system, and I'm starting to get the hang of it. Right now I'm creating a few forest maps of the area outside of the Royal Academy. I'm trying to play around with non-square shapes for these maps (these are the first true natural maps I'm making) so I've been reading up on tips on how to do that. Once I get these mapped up I'll probably post a few screenshots of these maps and some maps of the academy for feedback.

Sounds like a promising project. Just be careful with your main character (his description makes him sound trite), but as long as you give him personality, it'll turn out fine.

Oh, and make sure when you update your project it's with something big. People want to hear about "I've done a lot of mapping, check these out: (Pictures)" or "I got this CMS working. Your thoughts?: (Youtube video of your system)," and not things like "I've been thinking of a plot twist, but I'll get back to you on that."