Fairytale

[JoRu]

This project started out as an experiment to try out my skills for making cut-scenes and making fun and entertaining gameplay, and I almost instantly got hooked on my results and decided on making an actual game out of it. I haven't got all that much completed but it's starting to shape up. Go ahead and click the "spoilers" to view some information and watch some media in forms of screenshots and videos from my progress so far. I hope you will enjoy what you see and read!

Screenshots:
[spoiler]
CHAPTER ONE:












CHAPTER TWO:
[/spoiler]

Videos:
[spoiler]
Gameplay Debut (June 15)
Opening Credits (July 23)
Test of Navigation (August 22)
Beville/Mapping Contest (September 5)[/spoiler]


Concept:
[spoiler]
Fairytale is designed to be a dark-themed RPG with main focus on gameplay, while maintaining contact with the storyline all the time. Inspirated alot by the latter part of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time when it comes to gameplay design and mood. To create a certain atmosphere and feel is very important to me as it makes the game feel so much more original even though I'm using graphics that many others are using (Mack).

Another inspiration is The Lord of the Rings but in the way that I've done the complete opposite of how that story is built up. In The Lord of the Rings the story starts out in a very innocent manner, where everything seems possible and no one's getting seriously hurt before slowly turning into a mission that seems to be impossible to complete. In Fairytale, the game starts out in darkness in the forest. Everyone who has attempted what you're going to attempt has failed and along the forest paths you find a unidentified dead body on the ground, for example. At this point everything should feel very hopeless, but as the story progresses you gain new allies that can help you along the way, and everthing gets brighter overall. Here's a good example to explain: In The Lord of the Rings, you travel from the Shire to Mount Doom. In Fairytale, you travel from Mount Doom to the Shire.

When it comes to story I've gone for progression rather than backstory. While there is some backstory, some of what you can read in this presentation, the game doesn't leave much more details than the ones important to make you understand what you're trying to do and why you're going to do it. The game might appear to be very story-driven, especially in the first chapter, but as you progress you'll realize that most segments in the game are made to have fun and clever gameplay-elements rather than to have a fancy, engaging storyline. Perhaps you'll get that as well depending on who you are, but if you think too much about story while ignoring how the gameplay is built up you're probably missing the point of the game.[/spoiler]

Storyline:
[spoiler]
Fairytale follows the story of a young woman named Violet as she attempts to escape from the grasp of her wicked granduncle. When her parents mysteriously disappeared one night when she was only a child her granduncle took over the custody of Violet and her three sisters. Her granduncle had been living in his small house in his own, private woods his entire life and never had any real connection with the outside-world. This had made him very unaware of what you can and can't do, and immediately tried to take control over the young girls to his own winning.

They had to work for him all day without anything in return, and was senselessly beaten if done wrong in any way. One after one they had tried to escape, with devastating results, until only Violet remained of the four sisters. Even though she was aware of the past results she had to try. She would die from all the work and punishments anyway, at least she had a chance of survival.

Violet has already succeeded with one part of the escape. You've already escaped from your uncle's house, and now
you're the one who's going to lead Violet further until she's finally free. Perhaps you'll even uncover the
unsolved mysteries of your missing parents. Are they alive, or are they lost forever?[/spoiler]

Character Bios:
[spoiler]

Violet (age 27):
Our young protagonist who has been striving for true happiness for her whole life. She hasn't
experienced much true happiness in her life, but deep within she feels the joy from her early childhood and
realizes that there's more to life than the work she has endured for so long. Violet is a very shy person, and
never speaks unless she feels entirely safe. She must be absolutely sure that no one can harm her before she
decides to express herself.

"The Uncle" (unknown age):
A very old man who has lived in his small house in Fairytale Forest for his whole life. For every year away from society his mind has become more and more twisted, and that in turn lead to unwanted consequences that affected the few around him. He had only had access to information through a few, old books in his house, most of them were fairytales about witches for example. Uneducated as he is he started to think that his very own relatives also were witches which very soon ended in disaster for Violet and her three sisters.


The Three Sisters:
Violet's three older sisters (Petal, Daisy and Clover) have also been enduring the tyranny of their granduncle, even to the death. However, as Violet begins her escape they can communicate with her through her dreams and sometimes even appear as ghosts in the real world to aid her. They see Violet as a last resort to finally defeat their wicked granduncle and take him down before doing even more harm to other people.


Harry (age 54):
An inn-keeper in the small village Beville. He was once a close friend of Violet's father but lost contact a few years before he and Violet's mother disappeared mysteriously. He's a friendly type, and knows alot about the neighborhoods around Beville. However, he forgets stuff very easily and gets very uncomfortable at places he hasn't been to before. He's a good fighter though, and is one of the best close-combat warriors in Beville. He joins you quite early in the game, mostly because he wants to know what happened to his former best friend.[/spoiler]

Features:
[spoiler]
- Chapter-based linear story with 4-5 chapters planned and perhaps some kind of epilogue in the end. Each chapter will be at least one hour long.
- Many puzzles and mini-games to make the experience as interesting as possible at all times.
- Uses Mr. Anonymous' fantastic RGSS2+ system (which means 640x480 resolution, different menu-system and more).
- A special evented battle-system for my game (in development).
- 5 different skills (equivalent to classes) to choose from, with different pros and cons to them. Every skill has a few special features as well.
- A mixing system called Alchemy that lets you mix different kinds of flower nectar into new items and valuables.
- Special evented battle-system with a secondary "battle-currency" that you can buy battle upgrades & equipment with.
- Challenge Mode. After each chapter you'll unlock a new challenge which features a puzzle from the chapter you've just completed in a different form, with three levels/difficulties.[/spoiler]

Note that everything here is in early development and that lots of the information here might get changed or removed from the game. Of course I'm open to suggestions for improvement. After all, the reason I'm making this game is to be able to make even better games later on from the experience I've got from this. As of now I have about 20 minutes of gameplay, and hopefully I'll be able to release a full demo of Chapter One before the end of the year. Can't promise anything, though.

Thanks for your attention!

[modern algebra]

I think it looks pretty nice. I don't like the World Map though, it seems fuzzy and lacks detail.

[Lazer Ki]

I will try this game out since it looks impressive.

[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

The story is very different and it is good. I like how you made the uncle such a vile man. Good luck with your project!

[Jules]

Um.. I'm no gamemaker but...

I read it all and watched all of the videos, sounds really interesting.  I like the story line,there isn't anything I don't like...

However your link for Test of Navigation (August 22) needs to be changed.  It is taking me to the Opening Credits

I found the Test of Navigation on your Youtube page and watched it though, really like the look of this so far. 

Also .. and again, not a game maker here so forgive me.  I read the concept, storyline, and character bios before I watched the videos.  I was a little confused.  I assume the character that you were playing was Violet.  However when she spoke the name I saw was Theresa.  Maybe this was a different char?  I didn't see a bio on Theresa... so I am a little confused about how she fits into the story.   

Specifically I am talking about the Gameplay Debut video.  At 3:19 I assume the ghost of one of the sister pops up. 

Ok, that's all I have, once again, looks great and interesting.. can't wait *_*

Edit: linked the Test of Navigation video.. hope you don't mind  
Ps.. and the music made me

[Grafikal]

I fixed the links again. It should navigate to the correct video, thanks for the heads up LadyJ

[EvilM00s]

Looks neat, brother. Can't wait to play it.

I will say I have some misgivings about the plot, but I have been wrong before.... I guess I'll see.

[JoRu]

@LadyJules: Thanks for the comment! Theresa is actually Violet, I changed her name a few weeks ago. Violet and all of her sisters are supposed to have names taken from flowers, you see. Might sound a bit cheesy, but I like her new name more than her old.

[Legion6115]

Game looks very intriguing, and from the concept down to the screenshots, it is something I'm looking forward to playing. Glad to see a Demo might be in store by the end of the year, hopefully it is polished and enjoyable.

[thechromeninja]

Light/Puzzle thing...very sick...

[JoRu]

Light/Puzzle thing...very sick...

I take that as a compliment, since I was aiming for making something weird and different with that one.

UPDATE: I got a new video up. It was actually a video for a Mapping Contest on YouTube, so it doesn't give any new information about the game that might be of interest. Still, it's footage that will be used in the game so I might as well post a link (it's in the video-section of the first post along with the rest of the videos).

[JoRu]

NEW UPDATES:

- Two new screenshots!




- One feature removed, but at the same time one more added. It's all about the battle-system, which will not be GubiD's TBS but instead an evented one. It's not that I don't like it, but I had a bit of trouble implementing the battle-system with my higher resolution so I've gone with an evented battle-system that will be much more difficult to make for me, but much more original for you players. To start off, I have a new evented secondary currency, apart from the regular money. It's used to buy battle upgrades and such things from my evented battle shop from the menu. You can convert regular money into the new currency, or gain it by finding it in the game world, exploring or doing other things away from the main story.

- Two music examples added, all by Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com

- I might have some sort of gameplay demo up soon. It's not a full-fledged demo, simply a short 5 minute puzzle to get some response on. I'm not sure whether I'll do that, or simply continue waiting with a demo until I've got Chapter One completed but we'll see.

[EvilM00s]

I dig the visual style. It's dark, yet inviting, in a wierd way. I really like the top screenshot!
Hurry up, will,ya? 

[Grafikal]

I really like the cliff screenshot you posted with the panorama. It's awesome. I just recently did some searching and found some really epic high resolution scenery photos that i plan to use ingame myself.

[firerain]

[/spoiler]

Wow, that's beautiful.

[JoRu]

I'm glad and positively surprised by the fact that you all seem to like that cliff screenshot! It took more effort than you might think to make everything work (after all, it's supposed to work to play in and not only look good ).

[Irock]

You're doing an amazing job on this game. You get the mood of the areas/maps across very well- I feel like I'm actually there. The mapping, dialogue, and music is great as well.

Keep working on this, you'll make a lot of people happy. ;_;

[JoRu]

@Irock: Thank you very much for those kind words, I'll do my best to make this game really good!

UPDATE:

New Feature: Yes, that's right, I've got another feature up my sleeve that could lengthen the game quite a bit actually. This one is called Challenge Mode and this is how it works: After each chapter of the game you'll gain access to a new challenge. These challenges are based on one of the puzzles you have encountered in that particular chapter (they'll be chosen depending on how good I think they are and how well they would fit). The Challenge Mode is always available through the menu-screen. The challenge here is not only actually completing the puzzle but also doing it fast enough. Depending on how much time that's left once you hit the finish line you'll get medals, ranging from bronze to gold. These medals actually earns you some money for you to use in the main game.

October Break: During October 1st - October 25th there is a contest on another RPG Maker community that's about making a horror game. I'll be making my very own horror game in that timeframe and I'd like to fully focus on that. That means that I won't work anything on Fairytale, except for some small stuff perhaps (maybe I'll work a little on my Evented Battle System and update the game on the script front). That could possibly mean that my demo won't be out until 2010 since I definately don't want to rush anything. We'll see how fast I'll work in November and December and then I might be able to be a little more clear on the subject.

Thanks!

[Miss Nile]

This is actually one of the very rare RMVX games that get my attention. I am usually attracted to RMXP games but this is simply beautiful. The maps are pretty, the atmosphere is very nice and the story is lovable. I will actually play this once it comes out. Good luck! ^^

[EvilM00s]

I'm holding my breath!

[strike]

looks cool!

[Palsa]

Looks nice. ^_^

[Jonesy]

This slipped past me when it was posted, and now I look it seems like a pretty incredible project. The dude's youtube channel has a recent video (2 days ago) so I guess it's still happening.

So uh, thanks for the necro Palsa.

[jyoji]

Stupid question but where is the button to download the demo/game?

[modern algebra]

This project has been nominated for Project of the Season: Autumn 2010! Congratulations and good luck!