RMMV Lie of Caelum

[msazako]

"This planet... is a blessing and a curse."


"It has given us the means to evolve significantly and grant us the power to create magic. But why is it here? What created it? Have we become so arrogant that we doubt our own home?

After all, we can only go so far as a species.

But among us, there is one absolute rule:

The planet only seeks those who have ascended beyond knowledge.

And taketh, it shall."



A. G. 3015:

A group of talented individuals take on their ultimate challenge as they enter Kazuri High, an institute for those who are akin to manipulating "Flow Energy", a type of magic energy that is widespread throughout Caelum.

While honing their skills, their lives are about to change as they uncover the mysteries behind their powers, while dealing with political and societal relations throughout the world.

There are more than 10 playable characters, however, the first 4 will be shown to avoid spoilers.

Kyou Tsubasa
An expert martial artist who follows the Kanotian religion. He's contracted to be a Guardian to Miyu as a part of their clans' mutual pact. However, due to circumstances regarding his family's past, he was cursed with a sinister power.

Miyu Regami
A Beastian marksman who wields an extremely large railgun. As a part of the Regami family, she was eventually chosen to be the Regalia of the clan, a burden she must carry until the end of her life.

Hitoshi "Ichiro"
A remarkable swordsman who currently lives by himself. Having unable to use Flow Energy, Hitoshi sought other means of power besides breaking his physical limiter. Eventually, he moved from Helm to Souen in order to pursue this goal.

Aya Mikami
A dangerous gunslinger whose favorite hobby is to collect guns. Aya moved from Aels to Souen due to her parents seeking better job opportunities. She has led a normal life thus far, however, she couldn't help but think there is something more to her life than just being a gun enthusiast.

Lie of Caelum is an episodic Sci-fi/Fantasy RPG set in a fictional universe where magic and technology collide. The game is heavily character-driven and its strongest feature is a very flashy and versatile turn-based combat system. Completing all episodes will net you around 20-30hrs of gameplay.

A fair bit of warning to the audience out there before playing this game: The story will tackle some political, philosophical, religious, and psychological views. In addition, the game will some have suggestive themes and foul language.

Team compositions and a keen mind are keys to this game.

Stance Break:

The core of the game's battle system. With the introduction of "Chaining", techniques with multiple hits have an easier time inflicting this status effect to opponents. In order to achieve this, one must deplete an opponent's "Stance Points" to 0 by successfully hitting them. Be careful, as opponents can use this mechanic against your party as well.

Equipping Techniques:

With the lack of a regular attack command, LoC mitigates this by having a more strategic approach through the use of assigned techniques. With a good number of variations, you can customize your party member in order to fit your playstyle, as well as think of various strategies in order to defeat formidable opponents.

Item Loadouts:

To add on to a strategic gameplay, each character has an item loadout they can use for battle. Since you instantly recover HP and FP after battle, you don't need to micromanage often, especially against regular enemies.

Skip Battle Sequences:

This function has been added for quality of life purposes. Simply hold Z(Accept) or X(Cancel) during attacks in order to fast-forward or skip them. Note that there are certain times this function will be forcefully disabled.





DEMO DOWNLOAD:
https://msazako.itch.io/loc

DEVNOTES:

Spoiler

1.0.11 - Several bugfixes addressed.
1.0.0 - Game Rebranded and DEMO released!

​

 

[msazako]

Just a quick update:
- Bombs were currently nerfed on this version, but they will get a revamp on the next release.
- Demo is updated to v1.33 after some bugfixes.

What to expect in the future:

I'm currently implementing Desperation attacks called "Overdrive Techniques" as the characters' alternate ultimate skill. They are obtainable through challenging an optional boss called a "Trickster". Each "Trickster" will be unique for each characters since they're essentially clones of themselves. These techniques are extremely powerful, but can only be used once per battle. In addition, your character needs to be at 20% or below health, as well as have 100 TP present.

 

[MushroomCake28]

Now that is a what a good game should be like!

 

[Starmage]

The custom-made battle animations in this game are just genius! xD people should check out the game's yt channel (i'm subbed), it has lots of really cool in-game effects. ^_^

 

[msazako]

Devlog update:
Progress is going smoothly. For the most part, I'm designing some bosses for the upcoming Field Map and optional dungeons that are going to be present on CH4. HUGE Spritesheets for mechs are a pain, but worth it.

NEW BOSSES:

GU-70 "Tetra"
This Government Mech is one of the many important Frames that the Underground Bandits stole. Gigarths may have died, but there are some remnants of his war machines left to discover.

Alpha Pike
An apex predator of the Mountain area. Many have died trying to hunt it, but are you up to the task?

Spoiler: OUTSKIRTS OF SOUEN PREVIEW

Whoever said the Government doesn't help? ;D

Souen Water Plant

 

[leenat40]

From reading the title I thought this is a fan game of Final Fantasy 15 as there, the main character is called Noctis Lucis Caelum.

 

[msazako]

@leenat40 Can't say I'm not about to expect some comparisons to Noct due to the name of the game. I actually came up with the name "Caelum" simply because it's the latin word for "Sky" or "Heaven". And well, you can probably tell what the game is probably about once you debunked the title itself haha.

 

[leenat40]

@msazako Yeah. Looks pretty interesting. Might try it out if I find some free time.

 

[msazako]

A small update and some patches involved:

1.3.6 - Deployed some bugfixes and fixed the issue with the music not looping. Casino has also been added in Souen City. Added some dialogue in the prologue chapter.
1.3.5 - Quality assurance for Let's Play Players. Nerfed Drake just a bit. Fixed some Gameplay issues. Compressed a majority of the files to reduce file size.
1.3.4 - Addressed the issue with the bomb nerfs and revamped it to normal damage (they were meant to ignore defense). Encounter rates have also been optimized.

The Casino is designed to feed off your addiction and earn some Casino-exclusive gear/BURST cards.

However, the current version of the Casino is not complete and the only working minigames are the slot machines. In addition, some NPC's appear buggy in the map. These patches were mostly to address the issues in the previous versions.

Also, while it's not listed above, Encounter rates have been optimized once again: Forced encounters now have a 20% chance of happening after you're notified with a red exclamation mark. The previous probability was 33%.

Good news about these patches is that you can use your save files without any problems! So no need to start over again.

Bad news is that compressing the audio files on 1.3.5 prevented all music from looping seamlessly, so I've converted them back to their original file sizes. I know what caused the error and I may just have to manually compress them using audacity.

CASINO PREVIEW:

 

[msazako]

Download link has been updated and I gotta say...
I'VE DONE IT. I've removed that annoying Infinite Loading screen bug after the jet scene! (.................hopefully)

What to expect on this version:
- Some dialogue changes, as well as a game mechanic change--
- "Mods" have been converted from Yanfly's Item slots to Augment Slots. This is to avoid hoarding as much as possible since you're now able to switch inserted mods around instead of relying on one item to remove them.
- Hitoshi's skills have also been changed. He no longer has "Rebound Slash", but instead, has "Sharp Upper". His damage playstyle is now more geared towards alternating between Sharp Upper and Sharp Fall.
- In addition, Sharp Fall has a new animation.
- The game will be distributed with encrypted image files from now on, as some of the resources I have are paid.

And as usual, you can use your save files from before!

 

[msazako]

Major updates: SPRITES, MUSIC, AND POSSIBLY MAPS OVERHAUL
I'm considering on revamping every sprite there is in the game (Both overworld and battle). I kinda figured nobody likes the default generator sprites due to the lack of aesthetic value. The goal is to have EVERY ASSET (besides some purchased maps) customized! That said, here's an overworld example:

And last but not least, I've recently acquired an additional developer to help me make music, story content, and some art, so now I'm also constructing a soundtrack for the game. Here's a playlist to save you some time:


That will be all! Thanks for all of your support as always!​

 

[Starmage]

WOW!!!! Those sprites!!!! OMG!!! Beautiful job!! ^_^

 

[Gamefall Team]

Looks amazing man, I'm in love with the sprites

 

[Fernyfer775]

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude, your action sequencing is A++++! Great work!

 

[msazako]

UPDATE: Character change and updated download link!

First and foremost, thanks to the effort of a playtester, I've successfully exterminated every bug there is up to chapter 3. And so as a result, I've updated the download link to the latest version!

And now to introduce you: Elysion v2!

Elysion beforehand was a rather bland character with no purpose. This re-characterization and gender change is to improve her overall personality and significance in the story. Her moveset has also been revamped to make her playstyle more interesting!

That said, here's a video to commemorate her new version!
​

 

[Starmage]

OMG!! That's so awesome!!! Her sprite is amazing!! Combined with those awesome action sequences!!! ^__^ Props to you so much, msazako!!

 

[msazako]

Long time no post. I've made some significant progress in terms of battlers. Everybody in the playable roster should at least have their own sprites now!

They will also have a wardrobe change later on in the game. Only two will be shown for now:

And lastly, here are some videos in case you missed them:


Once again, the release of Chapter 4 will be fully revamped with new aesthetics, as well as polished content, so stay tuned!​

 

[Starmage]

OMG!! The game will feature alternate outfits like Tales of Zesteria? Wow!

 

[msazako]

Dev progress here:

In a nutshell:

For the most part, development's pretty much focused on polishing the game so subsequent chapter releases are more consistent. The overall aesthetic of the game should feel like it's somewhat of a Playstation 1 game now since I've now eliminated the blur effect RPGMV gives whenever you zoom in on assets/maps.

And speaking of polishing, the game's sprite style has been fully defined and will be used globally within the game and the series itself. Check it out! (Click the image for a full-size version)

Enemies for the most part will be fully-customized static images. However, some bosses and important battles will have animated battlers. This is to make up for time budget.

I've also removed the downloads in almost all of the sites so far in order to prepare for the next release. Feel free to contact me if you want the version of the game before it got removed.

Until then, see you guys next update!

 

[Kemsyn]

The new battlers look amazing in action! You definitely made the right choice switching from default.