RPG Maker Forums

Greetings! 

I've been torn about whether I should open up a topic and ask for help or just keep this the one-man project it always was, but I've come (after a huge loss of data) to the conclusion that, in case I want to release the game in like, 2 years, I'm probably going to need a little bit of help. A massive mapping bit of help. But let me first show you what this is all about!

Astralon is a project I've been pouring my soul into for like, a good year and a half now. I've been doing nothing but step-by-step map building, polishing and tweaking stats of things I've already put in. You can see the results in the demo, as seen on the presentation page of the project. Progress has always been slow, so I kept asking myself, "Why" and the simple solution is, "Parallax Mapping takes a hell lot of time!". Honestly, this sounds a little bit like I'm just lazy and/or inexperienced but it really is that simple. Mapping in Photoshop takes a good 4 hours for the first draft for me, that might need to get edited several times later on and I never actually reach the parts that actually make a lot of fun in the game developement progress: Eventing, Scripting, Balancing. 

In no way do I intend to say that mapping isn't any fun, it certainly is- but I'd rather spend those four hours on meaningful story progression then on fixing this one little bug with the animated parallax waterfall where I screwed up a little bit. But enough introductory talk, let's get to the project itself! Why would you spend your precious time on it?

A new great evil arises. A human overcame the limits of his physical body in his lust for power. The first demon was born. However, this is all a thing of the past, the "great evil" has already been vanquished by the valiant efforts of the heroes that will now be known as the new rulers of the land, the "Council of Justice". But that wasn't all - after the demon was defeated, a huge burst of magic spread all over the land, giving magical powers to all its inhabitants. All except for Rayden, a young adventurer from the village of Aeston, who didn't seem to get any powers from the burst. However, this doesn't keep him from expanding his own horizon, as he learns all sorts of techniques for close combat, allowing him to wield almost any weapon imaginable. One day, Avena, a member of the royal guard seeks to expand on her own melee prowess by training with Rayden. However, just as they were getting started, the earth quakes and monsters appear seemingly out of nowhere. As Rayden investigates the matter, he discovers an artifact of unknown power. The Astralon. How will this find influence the story?

Again, you can always read more about the story and its charactere here. 

So, what exactly do I want? "A Mapper" isn't a really precise description. Well, there are exactly two ways to go about this:

Either, you are pretty good/excellent at creating maps with the RTP / Tilesets we will create in union to fit the theme, or you are able to create good looking and functional (!) Parallax Maps.

I do not want to sound like a pretentious douchebags, but there are some points I expect from you if you consider applying:

• Being able to keep a consistent style. This is more important with parallax mapping, but I still want to mention it none the less. Consistency is key, we don't want to jump from one tileset style to a completely different one in the blink of an eye.
• Being able to handle a good variety of different areas. Astralon isn't a small project. It spans a lot of different areas, from plains and grasslands, to deserts and snowy villages, it's all in there. 
• Being able to communicate well. I'd really like to use Skype to communicate, however, if that doesn't work for you, we can figure something else out. Staying friendly and patient is huge plus too!
• Being able to handle critique and suggestions, while adjusting the map accordingly. I am a bit of a perfectionist at times, which is not necessarily bad, but might result in the occasional, "Could you maybe change A to B, or add C to D?" kind of requests. I will never just say, "That's bad, scratch that." but rather tell you where and how it's possible to improve on certain areas. Just ignoring those is not... good.
• Being able to follow instructions. No, I most certainly will NOT say something like, "That's how I want it, and if you stray the tiniest bit from my design, the map is bad and you should feel bad.", and you will always have your artistic freedom. What I am going to say however, are places that absolutely -need- to be in the map. 
• Being able to stay focussed and committing to the project. Please don't apply and then stop after a week because you're bored. That would be the worst case scenario, honestly.

If this didn't scare you off (I'm really glad! You're awesome for reading this far already!), I'd be incredibly glad to work with you!

It's super simple! If you're planning on joining the developement of Astralon, just...

• Leave a message in the topic here!
• Write me a private message here!
• Add me on Skype (Contact: aleksmartrobi) and we continue discussing from there!

If you are applying for RTP mapping, -please- include a sample of your work. I don't want be a giant douchebag, which I'm totally going to sound like now, but if your work doesn't fulfill my expectations, I will most likely turn you down and feel bad for weeks afterwards. If you are doing parallax maps, it would be good if you could show me some of your work anyway, but I'm more willing to just "let it happen" with this one, as it effectively reduces developement time on the full release by like, half.

Here are some screenshots from the original demo. Feel free to check it out under this here link.



List of people that want to apply as a mapper:

• Your Name could be here!

A little extra bonus at the end. If you can draw, that would be a pretty sweet bonus. I've been planning on reworking the "Revelation" scenes (read more about those in the main presentation) and thought that it would be pretty swell if the background was drawn instead of mapped. More to that if you care for that!


List of people that want to apply as an artist for the work mentioned above:

• Your Name could be here!

If you have any questions, please, feel free to ask. I will gladly answer everything, as it is a huge commitment and I want you to know exactly what you're getting into here.