Storms of April Team Recruitment

[fallenlorelei]

Game Synopsis & Features


The story revolves around a seventeen year old girl April who finds herself transported to a magical land. There, powerful magicians called Storm Magi rule the lands, each catering to a special element. April soon discovers that she too has a power, and is one of a dying breed - a Thunderstorm Magi, a special Magician that draws their powers from the energies around them. She wants nothing more than to return home, but to do so, she must find a source of energy with enough power to send her back to Earth. To gather that energy, she's told to harness the powers of all the storms and become mightier than she could have ever dreamed. Meeting new friends along the way, and with a formidable foe on her tail, she goes on quest to discover not only the various magical Kingdoms, but also herself in the process... 

 

Features

 

8 Elemental Storm Magi:

- Thunderstorm, magical casters of lightning who gather their magic from the storm energies around them

- Eathstorm, tanky sword-wielders who can call upon the defenses of the Earth

- Rainstorm, peaceful healers with the ability to wash away your wounds

- Snowstorm, magical casters with tanky qualities, these magicians are as cold and tough as ice

- Firestorm, a stealthy ninja class with pyromanic tendencies

- Windstorm, quick and graceful archers with the ability to cast strong wind spells

- Starstorm, mysterious casters that harness the energies of time and space to cast powerful offensive spells while also healing their allies

- Sandstorm, an almost barbaric class of axe and hammer wielders

 

4 Fun Crafting Professions:

- Harvesting: gather herbs and magical dust for your crafts

- Alchemy: create powerful potions and status dispelling treatments

- Enchanting: upgrade your weapons and armor to more powerful versions, including giving them sockets with which to place stat-upgrading crystals

- Fulgurgy: craft powerful crystals with stat enhancing benefits to place into your gear

 

Sail the seas, traverse mountains, and navigate mazes while April discovers each elemental Kingdom, including the war torn Earth & Fire countries, in order to channel powerful leyspheres, areas of immense condensed elemental energy.

 

Also...

- Heavily scripted

- No random encounters

- At least 8 party members, collected and lost throughout the journey

- And probably more!

 

Characters

April Storms: The protagonist of the story. April finds herself transported to a magical land of elemental Kingdoms. In order to get home, she first travel to each land to discover herself and her destiny, meeting new friends along the way.

 

 

Alec Riversong: A scholarly Rainstorm Magi, the top of his class. He helps April by supplying information about this new world, in addition to healing in battle.

 

 

Tarin Beryltea: An Earthstorm Magi whose land and family were destroyed by the Fire Kingdom. Fueled by vengeance, Tarin accompanies April on her journey, serving as her guide.

 

Screenshots


 

 

The battle system is ATB pause style. I am using a Moghunter script with my own modified graphics.

 

 

April's room at the Rain Palace. Just a little bit jealous...

 

Sidequests! Naturally.

 

The Water Dungeon at the end of the Rain Chapter (Chapter One) is a watery maze that involves moving boulders to displace water enough to move around.

 

Fulgurites are the crystals that are created when lightning hits sand, which was perfect for April! Thus "Fulgurgy."

 

 

Project Development Thread​

RMN Page​

 ​

 

Staff Recruitment:

First of all, a quick note. Storms of April started out as a personal project. It's based on a story I wanted to write way back in High School, but never got around to doing. Now I'm trying to translate the story into a gaming format via RPG Maker. If you play the demo, you'll see the problem with that (major issue: way too much dialogue and back story at the beginning). I see the potential in this story as a game and I really want it to see the light of day, but I recognize the need to change it. That being said - I am open to major changes in this game with the help of my staff. I am more than willing (in fact, I want) to relinquish full control of "my" game and to instead make it "our" game. I want this to be a full team effort and not just the creative musings of a dreamer who will end up driving it into the ground. I fully believe in the concept of collaboration, and I am very excited to be opening this up.

 

The following are the roles I'd love to help me with this project, followed by optional-but-awesome-to-have roles. This is a free game and therefore all work you do for me will not be compensated.

 


If you are interested in any of these positions, please send me a message on this website with samples of your work. You may apply for more than one position, and each position may be open to more than one person.

 

All staff members are expected to keep in contact with me in one way or another and also other staff members as they relate to your role. Communication includes e-mail, Skype, whatever. Let's all be friends!

 

Finally: this is the first time I've 1) recruited and managed a team for RPG Maker, and 2) even been part of a team. Please be patient with me!​

 

Directer: FallenLorelei (me). I'll be helping out all positions - you won't be alone

 

 

Needed / Urgent: These positions will be able to help immediately with Chapter 1 as it stands now, so we can release a relatively decent version.

• Creative Writer & Storyboarder: Responsible for creative elements within the game's story, including extra lore & history, filling in plot holes, and helping with dialogue. Also responsible for the planning and sequencing of main story elements within the game. For example: I have an hour of dialogue/introduction in the demo right now. Let's split it up and make the intro more engaging.

* Note for this position: I already have the main skeleton of the entire game, Chapters 1 ~ 7, planned out. We can change it and flesh it out as we see fit, but you don't have to feel responsible for creating the entire story

 

• Battle, Item, & Database Manager: Responsible for balancing enemy encounters with character skills, weapons, and armor (keep the fights interesting). Responsible for balancing gold and item drops, and to some extent EXP. Also may create items and weapons/armor (I currently have enough weapons/armor to last until around level 20, but feel free to get creative if you want).

 

 

Could Use...: These positions I don't necessarily need right now for Chapter 1 mostly because it's already been completed, but if you're passionate about this project and want to change / fix up some things, feel free to apply. However, I will need these for future chapters.

• Mapper: Look at the screenshots or play the demo to see my mapping style (after modern day introduction, as the setting is primarily fantasy). I primarily parallax map, but for smaller scenes, editor mapping is fine too. I'll simply need to see samples. This position is not urgently needed at this time because most of the maps are already completed for Chapter 1, but feel free to apply if you'd like to change them, or if you want to call dibs for future chapters

• Scripter: This position is borderline optional, but it would be really nice to have some programmers in the project. Let's make this game unique and one-of-a-kind! Because this position is relatively optional, I don't have any plans for scripting to implement (I already use a bunch of free ones that are fine enough), but if you're interested - send me a message with your ideas!

 

 

Optional: But really really want These positions aren't necessarily needed but would just be amazing and great to have. Most of these roles are typically paid work, which is why I am not getting my hopes up.

• Artist: Creation of busts and facesets for major characters and party members. Also creation of custom battlers for monsters.
• Pixel Artist: Creation of sprites to match new busts/facesets assuming I have an artist, along with monsters to roam the map. Also creation of custom icons for skills/items/weapons/armors. If you can only do one or the other, that's fine too.
• Composer: Want to make some beautiful music for my maps? That'd super cool, thanks

Trade:

If you're interested in a trade agreement, here is what I am willing to do for you.

• Mapping: You'll need to provide the tilesets, unless it is RTP.
• Creative Writing: I'm confident in my abilities to come up with stories and lore, and helping you flesh out your own story. My weakpoint would have to be dialogue and making characters sound unique, unfortunately.
• Editor: Me has good grammar, yes?

 

[Marsigne]

I don't have any skill you'd like, but I'd like to mention that the screenshots look really good!

 

[fallenlorelei]

I don't have any skill you'd like, but I'd like to mention that the screenshots look really good!

Baw! Thank you! That's super nice ^__^

 

[TherainED]

I'll say that I have a minor interest on this. I may offer to help whenever I finish a character chart I'm working on, but in that case, I'd recomend you to get another person since I lack the experience and I still have a lot of english to learn.

BTW, creative writer. That's my jam JIC you were wondering.

 

[Kalin]

I'm jealous of that bedroom too. Is that all your own art?

 

[fallenlorelei]

I'll say that I have a minor interest on this. I may offer to help whenever I finish a character chart I'm working on, but in that case, I'd recomend you to get another person since I lack the experience and I still have a lot of english to learn.


BTW, creative writer. That's my jam JIC you were wondering.

 Absolutely! Let me know~

I'm jealous of that bedroom too. Is that all your own art?

Oh gosh no XD Haha. I use tilesets from Celianna, Lunarae, Enterbrain DLC... All I did was parallax them together.
I have the Credits listed on my main project development thread =]

 

[HawkZombie]

I have zero skill when it comes to storyboarding, sadly. However, what I do have is the ability to write. The screenshots are what's selling me on this project. They're busy, but not overtly so; enough to keep the player engaged but not overwhelmed. They're also expertly done.

I'm downloading the demo right now and will give it a go once I've got it installed.

Now, like I said, I can't do storyboards, but I am interested in helping as a creative writer for this project. If you're interested, I've got a thread up that has several examples of my work. Shoot me a PM and maybe we can figure something out.

 

[fallenlorelei]

I have zero skill when it comes to storyboarding, sadly. However, what I do have is the ability to write. The screenshots are what's selling me on this project. They're busy, but not overtly so; enough to keep the player engaged but not overwhelmed. They're also expertly done.


I'm downloading the demo right now and will give it a go once I've got it installed.


Now, like I said, I can't do storyboards, but I am interested in helping as a creative writer for this project. If you're interested, I've got a thread up that has several examples of my work. Shoot me a PM and maybe we can figure something out.

Thanks for the interest, HawkZombie! And I'm super happy about what you said about my screenies!
Storms of April actually started out as a story, and because of that, there's already a lot of writing in it. I'm trying to lean back from the writing aspect and focus instead of the organization of the story. If you ended up playing the demo you were downloading, you'll see that. I need to figure out how to wrap the story around a gameplay environment. Y'know? But I do need help with dialogue and making characters "sound" like a character. I'm not too great at that ^^; my characters are a little monotone.

 

[HawkZombie]

[SIZE=14.666666666666666px]Ok, I finally had a chance to sit down and play the demo you’ve put up, and here are a few notes that you can take with a grain of salt.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.666666666666666px][/SIZE]

• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]The intro text scrolls [/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px]way [/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px]too fast. I can read quite fast myself, and even I couldn’t get all that done in the short time you gave. Scrolls like that usually take a bit of time to give everyone a chance to read them. I’d say slow it down to a third of the current speed.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]The part going between her and the lecture can probably be shortened a bit. Cut out some of her dialog, or shorten it and you can simply remove some of the instuctor’s dialog entirely. Also, I personally would avoid her giving a synopsis of what the instructor just said [/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px]right after he said it.[/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px] If the information is crucial, you can always add it to a tutorial area later.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]The rest of the school feels just right to me, honestly. It only gets wordy if people talk to -everyone- and even then, it’s expected.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]The walk home can probably be shortened a bit, but I personally didn’t feel it was too wordy. It was a subtle way to give more backstory, and wasn’t ‘in your face’ about it either.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]I did notice a typo, however. When you look at your makeup mirror in April’s room, it looks like this:[/SIZE]
  
  [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]You don’t normally wear make-up. This is just here for your [/SIZE]
  [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]mother’s[/SIZE]
  [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]sanity. She likes it when you dress up.[/SIZE]
  
  [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]Makeup doesn’t need the hyphen, and the spacing it off.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]Same thing happens with your Mother’s Room, when you look at her things:[/SIZE]
  
  [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]These are your mother’s drawers. There’s no need to rummage [/SIZE]
  [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]through[/SIZE]
  [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]these.[/SIZE]
   
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]The entrances to the Bathroom and the side room were actually slightly difficult for me to find. Maybe re-place the rugs right in front of the entrances to make them more easily apparent? This is just a nit-pick really [/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]After the abduction, her stating ‘Oh my head, dizzy’ (or whatever it was, I clicked too fast haha) seems a little redundant since she just gave us a reason for her walking slowly ‘it hurts to move’[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]LOVE the battle sequence and combat.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]I know the fades are to signify her head is causing her distress, but a lot of her dialog can be shortened in that after battle sequence, and a fade out after every dialog seems a bit much IMO. Maybe have two quick fades one right after another, have her comment on her head, and then proceed with the scene.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]You have her falling in and out of consciousness a lot. While it is realistic, it is jarring to the flow of the story. I’d say having her pass out after Tarin and Sir Gray leave the room would suffice.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]If you want to help speed up the intro, completely skip the scene where she sees the palace for the first time. It’s just fluff. Nice and well written fluff, but can easily be cut with no effect to the story.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]The explanation sequence can be trimmed down quite a bit. I say keep her backstory of how she was hit by lightening, but have her be a [/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px]little[/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px] more accepting of the situation. Also, you can probably avoid telling [/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px]how[/SIZE][SIZE=14.666666666666666px] Thunderstorm magic works, and just leave it at that it channels power from the other magics.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]When I opened my first chest, the contents were blocked by the trees it was behind.[/SIZE]
  
• [SIZE=14.666666666666666px]There were some typos when the status effects fell off in the map.[/SIZE]
  

[SIZE=14.666666666666666px]Honestly, these were the only parts I really noticed where some work could be done either to fix a typo, or to make the intro shorter. I found the game quite entertaining, and love the amount of work and detail you’re putting into it. And, sad to say, you’re doing a great job with the writing and there is very little I could do to help aside from proofreading lol.[/SIZE]

 

[woootbm]

Heya! Writer type person here. Sounds like you and HawkZombie are hitting it off, though. I'm curious about the whole plot-hole-filling and storyboarding creative writer position. While I haven't done much storyboarding (I did one or two for some comics that never came about), and I'm not 100% versed in what could be pulled off visually, I am real big on putting together outlines, scripts, and OneNote's full of doc's for creative projects, heh. It sounds like maybe that could be useful here? You know, getting organized and all your ducks in a row kinda stuff. It's a lot easier to rearrange an outline than redraft a whole story and all!

I've also been known to pull lore out of my a** pretty well so I can cover plot holes. Dialogue... well, that's gonna be a whole discussion with samples and philosophies (spoiler: I think it's a lot more complicated than "sounding natural." But that makes it fun!).

I have played your demo (v0.2). I think I have an idea of where your woes are and how to solve some of them. Although some of my thoughts may involve a good bit of work to execute >.<

Anyway, do tell if this is still open and I'll PM some samples. Oh, and cool game by the way  BD

 

[Emont]

Hi there,

This is a great looking game and I'm interested in working on the music. I notice the demo already has music in it - are you looking to basically replicate something similar or try something new? The music you've used seems to be a bit of a mix of atmospheric music and very retro j-rpg style music. I particularly like writing for fantasy and sci-fi when the opportunity comes up, but my music is not so much that retro NES style and more orchestral/electronic, focusing on atmosphere. As an example, here's the soundtrack I did for the re-release of the original "Wasteland" rpg:




I've got more samples of my stuff on my website if you're interested...

http://www.edwinmontgomerymusic.com/

Happy to work for free on a no-budget interesting project!

Cheers,

Ed