- Joined
- Jul 28, 2013
- Messages
- 775
- Reaction score
- 278
- First Language
- English
- Primarily Uses
- RMMV
Engine: RPG Maker MV version 1.6.1
The story follows the young adult Merric, heir to the prestigious role of Archmage of Falter, son of Klaus and E’Claire Solarus.
Having much to learn to fulfill his eventual role as Archmage, Merric has spend the majority of his life in preparation for the title. Things have not been calm in the world, though. Unexplainable, magical phenomenons have been sprouting up all across the globe, putting extensive pressure on the magical leaders of the world to find the cause. However, while out on a research mission, disaster strikes. By the time Merric is able to make it back to this home, there is nothing left of the city. Everything and everyone having been sucked into an unknown magical void.
And so Merric, alongside his cautious and stern guard Tyra, set off on a quest to find out what's behind all the strange magical happenings, and find a way to save their home. Along their adventures, they'll encounter and team up with several others who have befallen a similar fate, coming together to save those they love, and discover the source of the mysterious events that are slowly consuming their world.
Having much to learn to fulfill his eventual role as Archmage, Merric has spend the majority of his life in preparation for the title. Things have not been calm in the world, though. Unexplainable, magical phenomenons have been sprouting up all across the globe, putting extensive pressure on the magical leaders of the world to find the cause. However, while out on a research mission, disaster strikes. By the time Merric is able to make it back to this home, there is nothing left of the city. Everything and everyone having been sucked into an unknown magical void.
And so Merric, alongside his cautious and stern guard Tyra, set off on a quest to find out what's behind all the strange magical happenings, and find a way to save their home. Along their adventures, they'll encounter and team up with several others who have befallen a similar fate, coming together to save those they love, and discover the source of the mysterious events that are slowly consuming their world.
The game has a strong emphasis on exploring the world, with most objects being interactable for flavor text and item discovery. The items will most often be useful as ingredients for potions, or potions themselves for use in battles, as well as equipment and quest items. Some of the more useful items would only be attainable beyond obstacles and puzzles to be removed or solved with Wisp Skills. Wisp Skills are overworld skills you can swap between to affect the environment, such as destroying rubble with a fireball or lightning, or shifting from the real world into a mystic plane that might feature a secret path or new enemies.
Enemy groups roam around hostile areas and can have different roaming behaviors, and have awareness based on lighting in dark areas. Wisp Skills can be used to get their attention or avoid them, and when an enemy group is defeated, they are removed from the overworld. Players may choose to save or heal at a checkpoint, a Mana Crystal, however this will cause all enemies on the overworld reappear.
From the main menu, you can equip up to three wisps to each character. Each wisp provides a unique skill to it’s equipped party member, with this skill increasing in power for each wisp of that element that the party has befriended. This allows for additional character customization, and alters the wisps a character can call within battle. Obtaining new wisps is often tied to exploration and optional quests.
Enemy groups roam around hostile areas and can have different roaming behaviors, and have awareness based on lighting in dark areas. Wisp Skills can be used to get their attention or avoid them, and when an enemy group is defeated, they are removed from the overworld. Players may choose to save or heal at a checkpoint, a Mana Crystal, however this will cause all enemies on the overworld reappear.
From the main menu, you can equip up to three wisps to each character. Each wisp provides a unique skill to it’s equipped party member, with this skill increasing in power for each wisp of that element that the party has befriended. This allows for additional character customization, and alters the wisps a character can call within battle. Obtaining new wisps is often tied to exploration and optional quests.
Battles take place in a side-view CTB (Charge Turn Battle) system. Instead of choosing the whole party’s actions at the start of the turn, each party member chooses their action and immediately acts in order of their speed. A turn order ribbon is featured to determine who will be acting in the next several turns, and will display how much an action will move a player down the ribbon after they do their selected action.
The player characters can attack, use skills, use items, view basic enemy information, attempt to flee, standard RPG fare, but the real star is the Wisp battle system. Players and enemies can summon a resource called Wisps, of which there can be any stack of elements, up to 5 different elements at a time, and up to 4 Wisps of each element. If an attack or skill is used that matches the element of a Wisp stack, that stack acts as a damage multiplier, and all Wisps of that element are spent. 1 Wisp is x2, 2 is x4, 3 is x8, and 4 is x16. Additionally, passive abilities can provide bonuses based on the number of Wisps, and some powerful skills might have a Wisp cost to use at all. The player must be careful with stacking too many Wisps for a high multiplier, however, as enemies may also put and use Wisps on the field, they are a shared resource.
Weapons and armor both play a larger role in combat than what is usually seen in traditional JRPG combat. Instead of a static Attack command, every weapon has 1-3 weapon arts, skills unique to that weapon that cost no MP to use. Similarly, some other equipment such as shields and talisman can change the standard Guard command into something more specialized for the types of encounters you are currently facing.
The player characters can attack, use skills, use items, view basic enemy information, attempt to flee, standard RPG fare, but the real star is the Wisp battle system. Players and enemies can summon a resource called Wisps, of which there can be any stack of elements, up to 5 different elements at a time, and up to 4 Wisps of each element. If an attack or skill is used that matches the element of a Wisp stack, that stack acts as a damage multiplier, and all Wisps of that element are spent. 1 Wisp is x2, 2 is x4, 3 is x8, and 4 is x16. Additionally, passive abilities can provide bonuses based on the number of Wisps, and some powerful skills might have a Wisp cost to use at all. The player must be careful with stacking too many Wisps for a high multiplier, however, as enemies may also put and use Wisps on the field, they are a shared resource.
Weapons and armor both play a larger role in combat than what is usually seen in traditional JRPG combat. Instead of a static Attack command, every weapon has 1-3 weapon arts, skills unique to that weapon that cost no MP to use. Similarly, some other equipment such as shields and talisman can change the standard Guard command into something more specialized for the types of encounters you are currently facing.
Likely one of the larger things setting the project apart from others will be the emphasis on monsters in the world, and the sheer monster variety. As of writing this, there are over 400 monsters already designed for the project, with over half of them already having both in battle and overworld sprites. Monsters aren’t just the baddies that dwell in caves and forests, they’re an integral part of the world and how it functions. Many types of monsters are kept as pets or companions, while others are domesticated to help perform tasks. Much of the world’s natural phenomena are dictated by monsters and their own unique abilities. Some are cute and friendly, others are a massive threat to nearby civilizations, and are treated as such. Some are even intelligent enough to communicate or barter with humans, and even have their own developed society. With a monster-fanatic leading the party, you’re bound to stumble into many misadventures exploring just what makes this vibrant world of creatures so special.
Like many RPG’s, you are able to gather up an assortment of ingredients to brew a wide range of potions. Instead of having fixed recipes though, all ingredients have a handful of traits. By combining at least two ingredients together with a shared trait, you can make a potion that inherits that trait. Combine even more ingredients with that trait, or add in ingredients that share more than just one trait, and suddenly you can have potions with all sorts of crazy effect combinations!
Ingredients can be found all throughout the world. Some can be gathered from the overworld, others are won in battle. Many ingredients are rare variations that can be occasionally obtained in place of their usual form, with more powerful traits. With over 400 ingredients, you’ll likely end up with plenty on hand. Fortunately, there’s multiple other uses for ingredients outside of just alchemy, one of which being...
Ingredients can be found all throughout the world. Some can be gathered from the overworld, others are won in battle. Many ingredients are rare variations that can be occasionally obtained in place of their usual form, with more powerful traits. With over 400 ingredients, you’ll likely end up with plenty on hand. Fortunately, there’s multiple other uses for ingredients outside of just alchemy, one of which being...
Inspired by Sonic’s Chao Garden, you are able to raise and care for a number of cute creatures known as Chuppo. These little fellas will grow and evolve depending on how you care for them, be it through minigames, or crafting tasty treats from some of your leftover ingredients. These little guys aren’t just for looks, though. Each character can equip a Chuppo to aid them in battle. By building up their Friendship Points in battle, their Chuppo can unleash a powerful support skill, without using up that character’s turn!
As opposed to simply offering an Easy/Medium/Hard difficulty option, players are able to fine-tune a variety of aspects of the game, allowing people to play through the game just how they like it, and allows for built in challenge modes. Some examples of adjustable parameters include buffing enemy stats, preventing the use of certain gameplay mechanics such as wisp calling or item use in battle, preventing healing in battle, raising or lowering gold and item drop rates, disabling level ups, and even a perma-death mode for the truly masochistic!
My Role:
As the one leading the project, my role is to fill any roles that no one is interested in taking, as well as keeping everything consolidated. Most of the database work, as well as working with plugins, will likely still be done by me, as well as most of the world-building, lore, backgrounds, etc. Even for the roles that are taken, I’ll undoubtedly still contribute plenty of work toward those fields.
Roles:
Mappers:
Probably the role I'm most looking for at the moment. While I certainly plan to continue mapping as well, having another team member or two helping with map making would help drastically speed up development, and help me keep progress going at a steady pace during moments of "mappers block".
Artists:
Be it pixel art or more traditional art, having a few artists on the team would be wonderful! In particular, I’m looking for individuals to help with the creation of overworld sprites, sv battle sprites, and facesets. Although, if you’re potentially interested in tilesets or helping sprite monsters, that would be awesome, too!
Musicians:
I’ve been able to get pretty far on my own, giving the project it’s own musical identity is something that I would love to do someday.
Writers:
Another role that I would be contributing to quite a bit. I love writing fun little exchanges between party members and with NPC’s, but larger and more impactful writing really isn’t my strong suit. I do have a general outline of how the story unfolds, and there’s a lot of lore and story building, that I would be more than happy to help work alongside you with developing the story and it’s scenes.
Coders:
While not immediately necessary, having a plugin coder that could help further distinguish the project with custom plugins or edits would be pretty awesome!
With all that said, even if you aren’t able or aren’t interested in filling any of the roles listed, I’d love to have anyone that’s at all interested in helping out as part of the team! Whether it be as a beta tester, someone to bounce ideas off of, or something I haven’t even thought of, just let me know!
As the one leading the project, my role is to fill any roles that no one is interested in taking, as well as keeping everything consolidated. Most of the database work, as well as working with plugins, will likely still be done by me, as well as most of the world-building, lore, backgrounds, etc. Even for the roles that are taken, I’ll undoubtedly still contribute plenty of work toward those fields.
Roles:
Mappers:
Probably the role I'm most looking for at the moment. While I certainly plan to continue mapping as well, having another team member or two helping with map making would help drastically speed up development, and help me keep progress going at a steady pace during moments of "mappers block".
Artists:
Be it pixel art or more traditional art, having a few artists on the team would be wonderful! In particular, I’m looking for individuals to help with the creation of overworld sprites, sv battle sprites, and facesets. Although, if you’re potentially interested in tilesets or helping sprite monsters, that would be awesome, too!
Musicians:
I’ve been able to get pretty far on my own, giving the project it’s own musical identity is something that I would love to do someday.
Writers:
Another role that I would be contributing to quite a bit. I love writing fun little exchanges between party members and with NPC’s, but larger and more impactful writing really isn’t my strong suit. I do have a general outline of how the story unfolds, and there’s a lot of lore and story building, that I would be more than happy to help work alongside you with developing the story and it’s scenes.
Coders:
While not immediately necessary, having a plugin coder that could help further distinguish the project with custom plugins or edits would be pretty awesome!
With all that said, even if you aren’t able or aren’t interested in filling any of the roles listed, I’d love to have anyone that’s at all interested in helping out as part of the team! Whether it be as a beta tester, someone to bounce ideas off of, or something I haven’t even thought of, just let me know!
We also have a Discord set up for everyone that’s interested in helping out, or just wants to follow along with progress, so that we can all keep in touch easier. You can join us here: https://discord.gg/6sGtkR3
Last edited:
