Journey To The Lunar Sea

[The Welsh Paddy]

Feel free to move this if this is in the wrong section... >.>

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A boy and girl were sat on a tree stump atop a hill. Behind them lay the village of Ceres, a peaceful town tucked away from the rest of the world. Staring at the night sky, the young ones watched as yet another star blinked out of existence.

"Hey, there goes another one," stated Bowen.

"How many has that been then?" asked his companion, a young girl by the name of Eryn.

"Five..." replied Bowen. "More than last night."

Eryn was silent for a moment, lowering her head in thought. "Do you think this is normal? Do stars always disappear?"

"I guess..."

In fact, Bowen didn't know whether this was normal or not, but he knew Eryn got scared easilly, so he just went along with it. He didn't want his friend to worry. But it was peculiar, he thought. Even before Eryn joined him on his night excursions, Bowen had often come to this spot to look at the stars. It had only been recently that he noticed them simply... switching off. He often thought what stars actually were, and what their purpose was. His school teacher stated that they were all different worlds, too far away for mankind to reach. Bowen wondered what sort of people lived on these worlds. Whether they were like humans, or orcs or goblins, or something entirely alien to this world. He wished he could travel there to find out.

Eryn suddenly pointed to the sky, her eyes widening in shock and awe. "Look, that one is falling!" she gasped.

Bowen snapped back into reality and looked to where Eryn was pointing. A star was indeed falling, and it was growing bigger and bigger. It seemed to be heading straight towards them. "Eryn, run!" Bowen snapped, picking himself up and dragging her to her feet. The earth began to rumble, and a distant howling rapidly grew into a deafening roar. Eryn and Bowen ran as fast as they could back towards the village. They felt a blast of heat and the noise subsided as the star hurtled over their heads, taking an easterly direction before crashing some distance away with a loud 'whump'.

The two friends stopped running and stared towards where the star had landed. They were both utterly shocked and terrified, but also intrigued. "It crashed at Gwynt..." whispered Bowen.

Eryn was overcome with curiosity. "Do you think it's really a star?" she asked.

"Let's find out," said Bowen.

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Right, so this is the opening scene to a game I am working on using a program called RPG Maker VX Ace. The premise is the adventures of two teenagers, Bowen and Eryn, who happen across a fallen star, and discover a shocking and horrific truth as to why they are disappearing. On their journey, they will make both friends and enemies, but it is down to the two of them to prevent the stars disappearing for good.

Characters

Bowen:

Bowen is fifteen years old, but likes to act more responsibly. He is kind, caring and honest and he likes to act like a hero, which sometimes gets him into a lot of trouble. He was born in the village of Ceres and has spent his whole life there without feeling any need to complain. He enjoys going out on 'adventures', often accompanied by his best friend Eryn whom he treats like a younger sister and is very defensive over.

He spends much of his time venturing out in The Cae, making a bit of money running errands for various villagers and helping out at Forest Farm. His parents have retired; his father once being a lumberjack and his mother being a doctor.

Bowen's most treasured possession is the sword which had been passed down from his great, great, great grandfather. The blade is chipped, but Bowen keeps it well sharpened in case he needs to fend off any of the monsters who live on The Cae.

Eryn:

Eryn is thirteen years old. She is still very naive, and ready to believe in anything she is told. She is an anxious young girl who is easilly worried, and is never sure of how to deal with her bouts of anxiety. Also born in Ceres, Eryn became best friends with Bowen, and since then looked up to him like an older brother.

She very rarely left the village until she was twelve years old and went on her first adventure with Bowen. It was both exciting and scary for her, but she had grown more confident upon discovering how useful she can be.

Of her talents, she is good at picking locks, using a knife and seemed to have a good natural instinct when it came to survival skills. On her adventures with Bowen, she gained a vast knowledge of edible plants, what parts of various animals are good for eating, predicting the weather and being able to sense danger. These skills had all come in very handy on her travels. Her most treasured possession is the hunting knife that Bowen gave her; a trophy from their first adventure.

The Undertaker:

The Undertaker is a dark and mysterious individual. No one knows his real name, or much else about him other than that he is a man in his sixties who tends to Blue Eye Cemetery. He mostly keeps to himself, but is always the one to deliver a sermon to aid the passage of the dead into the afterlife. This has been his job for as long as anyone can remember. Most unusually, the only other time he is out and about, is late at night, making his rounds of the cemetery by lantern light.

Living in a hut at Blue Eye Cemetery, it is needless to say that he was the first to notice the graves that were dug up. Roughly around the same day the stars began to fall from the sky, someone had started digging graves and stealing the bones of the deceased. He has since applied himself to unravelling the mystery behind this.

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The World

This is still under a lot of development, as I am developing it as the game progresses. However, I do have a series of locales to help give you an idea of what is in store.

The Village of Ceres

The hometown of Bowen and Eryn. Ceres is a quiet and peaceful village, far removed from war as it serves no military use what so ever. But this does not mean the villagers are push overs. Many traders are harassed by various monsters who dwell on The Cae, such as Imps or Rodents, and so have to learn how to defend themselves. Then you have various other residents who work as lumberjacks, farmers and even crewmen onboard the various airships that fly in supplies from across the land. Many here are firm in their beliefs as to how to live their lives, and don't take kindly to those who try to tell them otherwise. Should push ever come to shove, the villagers will be more than willing to make a stand for themselves.

The village lies to the north of The Cae, and is situated a top a hill overlooking a vast forest lying further north.

The Cae

A vast field upon which dwell many creatures, both docile and vicious. The more aggressive inhabitants are the Imps and Rodents, who harass the many travellers who cross The Cae. North of The Cae is the village of Ceres, and to the North West is Forest Farm. Then to the North East, you have Blue Eye Cemetery, to the East lies Gan Synod Gwynt and to the West you have The Cae Airstrip.

It can be a dangerous place for travellers and merchants, but many keep themselves prepared for such dangers.

Forest Farm

A quite farm to the North West of The Cae, upon which reside farmers Bob and Betty Bramble. The farm is situated in the woods; hence the name Forest Farm. Bob and Betty make their living growing vegetables and rearing livestock. It isn't much, but local demand for meat, dairy and vegetables means they make a hefty profit.

^ The Bramble Residence.

Blue Eye Cemetery

No one knows why they call it Blue Eye Cemetery; it has simply been known as such for as long as anyone can remember. It is a small and quiet cemetery situated to the North East of The Cae. A mysterious man known only as 'The Undertaker' lives in a little shack there and tends to the cemetery. He is friendly enough, but no one really knows anything about him.

The Cae Airstrip

The landing dock for airships that bring in various supplies from across the globe. It is also the berth for the various skypilots and crewmen who go out on voyages in search of treasures or simply to trade with other locales.

Gan Synod Gwynt

A treacherous maze lying East of The Cae where most of the Imps reside. It is the passageway that leads to Gwynt; The Wind Shrine. Those who traverse the maze must battle galeforce winds as the maze contains a looping air current that was set in place to protect the shrine.

Gwynt

The Wind Shrine; a place where those with religious beliefs go to pay their respects to the God of Wind, Gales. The shrine is full of an unusual energy, like that of the eye of a hurricane, or the calm before a storm. The shrine has been there for far longer than the neighbouring village of Ceres.

Credits

Cait of RPGMakerVXAce.net for the RTP edit visible in The Cae Screenshot #3.

Therapie for 'Betty Bramble' sprite in the Bramble Residence Screenshot.

Enterbrain for map tiles and sprites.

Makapri's Blog for more character sprites and facesets.

Windowskin - MrConriszon of http://blutok.blogspot.co.uk

(List will be updated as game progresses.)

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Please note that all this is simply the foundation for my game. Everything I have laid out so far will be developed as I progress in making the game, so expect plenty of updates for this. As far as gameplay mechanics go, it will be your typical run-of-the-mill RPG, but I'm planning on implementing various features to make it a more fun playing experience.

I would very much like some feedback for this, and suggestions are always welcome, but bear in mind this is still very much in its early stages.

The game is progressing rather nicely, so hopefully I will get a demo up for you guys to download really soon!

Edited December 6, 2012 by The Welsh Paddy

[Dark_Angel13]

Hmm, the story seems to have a solid foundation, I'm hoping whatever you choose to do with it suits your characters and doesnt seem too bizarre, although as far as rpgs go the more bizarre the better it seems at times. Your characters are good, I'd like to see a list of sub characters too if you plan on making one that is. Companions, shop keepers, enemies all of those. From what you've described the game as so far and the land the pictures don't really do it justice, I realise this is in its early stages but the game seems to have a darker side to me, that adds to the mystery of the falling star. Just my view on it.

I realise you're using this program to make this game so you may not be able to change this but again the game feels darker to me, like it needs a sort of sense of lingering evil behind everything or just mystery, depending on how you go with the star.

I'd like to see more on the story definitely and thanks for posting this, I actually took time to read this long post lol

[† Emotional Outlet]

Sounds cool! I don't really have anything in the way of critique or suggestions right now, sorry. u-u

As far as the darkness factor, though, I think it's better to start off with things appearing to be relatively normal and light, then as the story progresses, things get spookier and weirder. (And a simple overlay should fix up the darkness pretty easily, so.)

Unless it's supposed to be a horror game from the start, but I like the progression of "oh, things look nice and normal that's a nice bunny and WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING???" See: Eversion. Or FFT--the progression into the supernatural was pretty cool, all things considered.

[Breathless]

It looks really gravy! I don't really have anything to say story-wise, seems like an awesome plot, the world seems pretty snazzy too and even the characters are cool-looking and easy to like!

Your opening scene was written in a third person POV, will the whole game be like that? (is that possible as a classic RPG?)

Anyway please do keep it up, I can't wait to play it! Best of luck!

[The Welsh Paddy]

Thank you very much for the feedback so far, guys!

Hmm, the story seems to have a solid foundation, I'm hoping whatever you choose to do with it suits your characters and doesnt seem too bizarre, although as far as rpgs go the more bizarre the better it seems at times. Your characters are good, I'd like to see a list of sub characters too if you plan on making one that is. Companions, shop keepers, enemies all of those. From what you've described the game as so far and the land the pictures don't really do it justice, I realise this is in its early stages but the game seems to have a darker side to me, that adds to the mystery of the falling star. Just my view on it.

I realise you're using this program to make this game so you may not be able to change this but again the game feels darker to me, like it needs a sort of sense of lingering evil behind everything or just mystery, depending on how you go with the star.

I'd like to see more on the story definitely and thanks for posting this, I actually took time to read this long post lol

Well I definitely want to keep a sense of mystery running throughout the game. Having been messing with the RPG Maker since April, this is actually my first serious attempt at actually getting something finished. I don't plan on aiming too high with this. Just gonna stick with what I'm comfortable with and this will be sort of a 'stepping stone' leading to further projects that I would like to work on set within the same world.

I will be expanding upon the characters. Friends, family, foe... Expect some more updates soon.

As for the screenshots, these are just of the maps in their basic form. I plan on adding in a lot of atmosphere with various light, darkness, fog and weather effects to help bring these places to life. Also, music will be one of the key elements in this. I'm only going to be using midi, but I have some wonderful pieces for use from the likes of Barry Taylor, Bjorn Lynn, Roelf Mik and Theo. (Roelf Mik and Theo are both from RPGMakerVX.net, Barry Taylor is of Laura's Midi Heaven, and Bjorn Lynn has his own webpage full of his midi music.

Sounds cool! I don't really have anything in the way of critique or suggestions right now, sorry. u-u

As far as the darkness factor, though, I think it's better to start off with things appearing to be relatively normal and light, then as the story progresses, things get spookier and weirder. (And a simple overlay should fix up the darkness pretty easily, so.)

Unless it's supposed to be a horror game from the start, but I like the progression of "oh, things look nice and normal that's a nice bunny and WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING???" See: Eversion. Or FFT--the progression into the supernatural was pretty cool, all things considered.

I would like to incorporate such elements to give somewhat of a dark and spooky vibe, but I don't intend to go over the top with it. I guess any spooky elements I do incorporate would be from the sort of horror stories I read back when I was much younger. Expect some influences from the likes of Edgar Alan Poe.

Overall there won't be much horror though. First and foremost this is going to be an adventure, with lots of fantasy. I wish to draw influence from some more fun and light-hearted games and stories and have it full of very interesting, memorable and lovable characters.

It looks really gravy! I don't really have anything to say story-wise, seems like an awesome plot, the world seems pretty snazzy too and even the characters are cool-looking and easy to like!

Your opening scene was written in a third person POV, will the whole game be like that? (is that possible as a classic RPG?)

Anyway please do keep it up, I can't wait to play it! Best of luck!

Well the opening that I wrote is more for the sake of an introduction to the game itself. I'm currently transcribing it all into a sort of cutscene as it were for the actual game opening. Its purpose was to lay down the foundations for this game. I may continue it as a novelisation perhaps... We'll see. But the game will be laid out like most other SNES-era RPGs, like Final Fantasy, Crono series, and so on. I always thought of them as being more of a third-person pov and even though there was a 'main character', it's not like everything was seen from his/her view. You got to experience much of what the other characters did in the process.

Bowen and Eryn will be the main focus of the story, but there will be many other characters that will have some very important roles in this.

[Dark_Angel13]

I look forward to viewing these furthur updates and perhaps even playing a demo of the game, being an alpha tester is always enjoyable =)

[The Welsh Paddy]

Well, I haven't done too much. Been working on some things like level progression and all that jazz. Levelling up will mostly be the same as standard RPs, but it's not gonna be one of those things where grinding is a necessity. I don't really want this to be so focused on battles. But, it's gonna be a case of earning a certain amount of experience points to gain a level, which boosts your stats. And, upon reaching a certain level, you learn new abilities. Since battling isn't gonna be that much of a focus in this, I'm keeping it relatively simple, although with learning abilities, I may implement it so that you have to use certain abilities to enhance it to a more powerful ability.

Take FF games, for example? Don't you hate it when your Magic tab is spammed with weaker spells that you never use? I hated having to go through this big list of magic to find a certain spell. So, rather than having something like Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3, or whatever. I'm thinking of setting it so that the more advanced spells replace the weaker ones.

For example, I've set a Fire-based spell which is called Ember (I've been playing Pokemon recently. But the name is just a placeholder for now, until I think of something better.), and then there's a more powerful Fire spell called Blaze (Again, just a placeholder.). So rather than having both spells at your disposal when you learn them, Ember will be replaced with Blaze.

I personally think that will work for a simple battle system. The system itself will only be a basic side-view. Think along the lines of SNES-era FF games, and you've pretty much got it.

Since there won't be a hell of a lot of battling, I do want these fights to present that little bit more of a challenge. Of course, the standard way to go would be to employ strengths and weaknesses. While that can be effective (It worked really well in FFX), I plan on implementing a system which prevents you from immediately spamming your most powerful attacks. Using a stat called TP, or Technical Points, you are allowed to use Special Abilities. This can be magic, or otherwise. At the start of a battle, you will start with 0 TP, and can only increase it by using commands that aren't Special Abilities. Think of it as a charge. When you've charged your TP up to a certain level, you can start making use of your Special Abilities. However, using Special Abilities also depletes your TP.

What do you guys think of this? Would it be the sort of thing that would prove to be overly frustrating? Bear in mind that I won't be having 'random battles' in this game. Enemies will be visible on map, and there won't be insane amount of them. So it's not like you're constantly gonna be barraged with fights that are too time-consuming and tedious. Some feedback on this would be appreciated. Even if it's just providing examples of games with battle systems that you have enjoyed.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Lower powered spells can be useful if you're trying to weaken something but not kill it, like for hunting and the like. Such tactics are probably not of any real importance in your game though, haha.

It's hard for me to have any real opinion of a battle system without actually trying it myself. From what I can tell, it sounds pretty straightforward and not outrageous.

[Breathless]

Ya, the battle stystem you've explained sounds very standard, I don't think there's anywhere to go wrong with it. Just make sure that your normal attacks aren't used JUST to build up TP, I find games where it's more about 'attack for TP -> TP for Special Ability -> Ability to Win' very tedious. I say that because it doesn't require much thought, but it's just time consuming. That being said, if there's not too much battles it doesn't really matter.

I really like the fact that you're making the enemies visible too, I actually detest random encounters. The skill-learning system sounds good too! Much better than something like, at level 16 - learn ember, at level 32 - learn blaze. So good work!

Also, if you want to make the battles more challenging - I find that giving the enemies high resistance but a certain weakness much better. I don't mean like: fire beats grass, water beats fire, but rather: Enemy beats all elements, enemy is weak against poison, or something. Something not overly obvious, but devestating when you find out how. - more so for a boss or super-creep.

Another thing! status ailments suck, and sometimes force you to play a different style in battles, so maybe you can give certain enemies with high proc chances for those?

I'm just being REALLY picky now and telling you how I like MY fights to be like. But seeing as how the game is more about the story and less the battles, just having a standard system is A-OK!

It sounds like it's coming along swimingly though! Keep it up!

[The Welsh Paddy]

Yeah, I noticed in many games; particularly Final Fantasy, you wind up with all these status inflicting spells/abilities. Using them against standard foes is pretty pointless, as with a bit of grinding you can just kill them with standard attacks, or other spells. I only ever finding myself using elemental spells or summons against them. But then you have these epic boss battles, and they're usually immune to all these status ailments, so there isn't really any point whatsoever in having them. :S

So yeah, I will put much more thought in regards to using strengths and weaknesses when it comes to boss fights. I like the idea of having a boss that can only be damaged when it is inflicted with a certain status ailment, but then it also has the means to heal itself of that ailment, so a bit of strategy would be involved, with having to time your attacks in order to deal the most damage during that opening. I may also apply to it certain monsters of the more standard variety.

I remember in Zelda: OoT, each dungeon was more like a test. Somewhat near the start, you come across a new weapon or something, and then most of the challenges in the dungeon from then on require that you use that new piece of equipment. In a sense, it's kinda like training, as it gets you more familiar with using it. And then at the end of the dungeon, you have the big-bad who is pretty much that final exam; to test how much you've learned in terms of using that weapon. I may try and work something similar into this, like having the enemies in an area have certain attributes that apply to the boss you have to confront afterwards. It will be more like dropping hints as to what to expect when fighting these bosses.

[Breathless]

I'm just tossing out ideas based off of my personal preferences, but I also think story trumps gameplay in the end so don't get too wound up on the little things.

and wooh, now that you mention it Zelda did have those kind of dungeons alot. Well, they were more like a tutorial as you said but done in a much funner way! That sounds awesome if you could implement that!

[The Welsh Paddy]

And on that note, here is another character who will play quite a big role in the story.

The Undertaker:

The Undertaker is a dark and mysterious individual. No one knows his real name, or much else about him other than that he is a man in his sixties who tends to Blue Eye Cemetery. He mostly keeps to himself, but is always the one to deliver a sermon to aid the passage of the dead into the afterlife. This has been his job for as long as anyone can remember. Most unusually, the only other time he is out and about, is late at night, making his rounds of the cemetery by lantern light.

Living in a hut at Blue Eye Cemetery, it is needless to say that he was the first to notice the graves that were dug up. Roughly around the same day the stars began to fall from the sky, someone had started digging graves and stealing the bones of the deceased. He has since applied himself to unravelling the mystery behind this.

*Added to OP

[† Emotional Outlet]

Is night a thing that happens in the game regularly like in Breath of Fire or is it only for cut scenes and special events?

I almost never use status ailments unless I'm just throwing stuff around to see if it sticks.

[The Welsh Paddy]

I'm kinda thinking of implementing a day and night system kinda like Zelda, and having events happen specific to time of day. It's not gonna be a real-time clock or anything. Just basic morning, noon, evening and night. I'm gonna set it so that when you're in towns and so on, time freezes. Also, when it comes to staying at Inns or sleeping in your tent, etc. I'm gonna give the option of how long you rest for to determine how much time passes. It will also determine how much your party recovers as well.

For example, if you rest from morning until noon, you wouldn't recover as much as you would from resting until evening. Other than having certain things happen at certain times of day, time won't have any other significance.

Also, with the whole status ailments thing, I hate it on games where they're just a pointless thing to use. In Journey, I plan on having them actually serve more purpose.

[† Emotional Outlet]

So basically like Breath of Fire, haha. I can't tell if you're familiar with the game, but the progression of day to night and back in the game isn't real time like Animal Crossing. I don't know the exact length, but it couldn't have been more than one or two real minutes of day before it started getting dark. IIRC, time also only progressed while in the overworld, but it's been a while since I played. The hero (this might have been only in BoF II) had the ability to make it change from day to night and vice versa if you were impatient, or needed it to be a certain time before going into a town.