Ember Sky: Demo Release

[barnsalot]

The screenshots look good except for one- The wintery forest.
The leafy canopy parts are curving in on themselves and the raised area above the wall flows directly into the part of the map that isn't raised, so it's very difficult to figure out what's supposed to be on that "hill" and what's not.

Aside from that, it's looking very spiffy.

Nice game name, by the way.

[Vidian]

lol Good eye barnsy...

Yeah,  The Cliff Defies the laws of physics.
Anyway, These are alright screens, Can't wait for the battle screens.

[Moosetroop11]

The maps are fair, although a lot of that it down to the excellent chipsets rather than how the map's been made.

No point being a perfectionist though- if you make maps like those then the game will look reasonably good and you might actually have time to finish the thing :p

[Phayre]

I'm in the process of what I like to call the massive overhaul of death.... the forest is most certainly one of the older ones that needs to be fixed. I went through one of my cities and realized that the door took up like half of the house.... ^^
Thanks for the feedback, it's muchly appreciated. I was wondering how to kill that icky border around the Christophe there.
The goal for Ember Sky is to be very dark, but it also has a lot of humor and wackiness and such. Like me, I guess....

[Phayre]

Hehehe, I let a complete stranger play a not-complete demo, complete with glitches from the system switch (on the first boss battle, the game crashed cuz it was missing a background...... and I had to re-import all my chipsets because many of them were in my extended RTP thing..... and battle animations would randomly explode....... ^^)
I'm working on battlechars now for Caolan. Also, two characters that weren't going to be in the demo but are in now:

Athair "Flameheart" Elseth (also Lyra's last name)
Age: 30
Weapon: Either a red sword or a red axe..... he loves red.... ^^
Skill: Flameheart (fire elemental sword attacks. more powerful than Caolan's magic)
As noted in Lyra's profile, Athair is one of the most powerful forces at the royal family's disposal. Although he has every right to be badass, he is an intensely laidback and cheerful guy. He and Lyra disagree on many points, including loyalty and the role of one in their position. He and Christophe become friends quickly, but Athair is only a temporary member of your party. Yes, he pulls a Beatrix. Arin and Athair are extremely close and rarely carry out a mission while separated.

Arin "the Shadowblade"
Age: 24
Weapon: Rapier
Skill: Either Chaos, Shadowblade, or something else..... (dark-elemental magic, which Caolan cannot learn because he's a lameass)
Arin is the youngest of the elite officers, and also the most eccentric. He is softspoken most of the time, but he has a very short temper when it comes to disrespect (for example, he puts Caolan in prison for mouthing off). Because he is as young as he is, the public has a mixed opinion of him, but he doesn't care all that much. Despite their initial squabbles, Arin eventually styles himself as Caolan's protector. He prefers not to reveal his last name to anyone.

Other notes:
Fixed up the Talreye Wood sequence. Screens coming soon.
Looking for battle bg's in complete resources. Is there a way, without a custom battle system, to make it look like there's no background and you're just where you are on the map?

Planned minigames/sidequests:
Shooting game (kinda like the Gunner's Gauntlet in X-2, except not as X-2), may be in the demo
Blackjack, definitely in the demo
Drinking contest, probably in the demo (will need spriting help for this, though)
Travels of Monterey sidequest (sorta complicated), definitely in the demo (at least the beginning is.... it's long as all hell)
Missing kitty mini-sidequest, definitely in the demo

Also, before you say I went character-crazy, only Christophe and Caolan are playable in the demo. The others just appear in the story.

[Phayre]

Yeeeeeaaaahhhhhh..........
Just finished Caolan's battlechar last night, yay. So here are some shots from a boss battle....


Christophe shoots the wolfie!


Caolan wonders what to do......


He decides to set the wolfie on fire.


I'm going to change the battle backgrounds to something other than RTP, but right now the maps are the #1 priority. I've been snooping around, checking out better games, and getting ideas for map techniques. Mwahahahaha.........

[A Forgotten Legend]

Originally posted by Phayre
Yeeeeeaaaahhhhhh..........
Just finished Caolan's battlechar last night, yay. So here are some shots from a boss battle....


Christophe shoots the wolfie!


Caolan wonders what to do......


He decides to set the wolfie on fire.


I'm going to change the battle backgrounds to something other than RTP, but right now the maps are the #1 priority. I've been snooping around, checking out better games, and getting ideas for map techniques. Mwahahahaha.........

[STRIKE]3[/STRIKE]5 things

• Wonders what to do, sets the wolfie on fire.. XD!
• I WANT THAT MONSTER!!!!
• I WANT THAT ANIMATION!!!!
• I wanna play a demo. :(
• GOOD LUCK CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT TUTORIAL MAKER! I will be paying attention to the storyline and character development. lol.

[Phayre]

The fire animation? Got that here, dude. *grin* *loves complete resources*
As for the wolfie..... might be from Crankeye...... dunno.
I pride myself in giving early impressions of my characters, then having them blow up in your face.
The demo is so close to done it hurts. It's like an almost-done-gasm.

[Phayre]

I know this is a double post...... but I thought you all should know. I grad-jee-ate (say it with me! grad..... jeeee----- aaaaaaaaaate) next week, so I'll be busy, but......
The projected release date of Ember Sky's demo is June 16th. I'll try to stick to that, but......
My to-do list:
-New battle backgrounds
-Huinn interiors (I'm better with interiors, so this'll
-Map touchup for Talreye Wood
-Sprite touchup on Arin (changed his haircolor)
-Some minor cutscene work

Ha..... I can do that in two weeks.

[phlum]

Let me guess...this is being made with RPG maker, or something else?

[elementalhero76]

hmm you use sprite sized battlers... I dont know. I use tales style battlers can you do those? Sorry for off topic but... damn! Now everyone will be up set with me!!

Anyways... you do good maps. I am not good at all with environments. I do better with dungeon design I plan to do a dungeon with rising and lowering water levels. We all know how eveyone likes water levels! eheh heh heh!

By the way I want your chips! Oh to do that thing where you want to have a battle background where you are on the map you'll need screen shots for every part of the map. Too tedious i'd say.

You'll also have to deal with frames and paralux backgrounds. I did a battle background with a scrolling backdrop. I still have it but it is in two pieces so no one can have it.

[Phayre]

Sprites are easier to make, since I can just copy and paste, then edit. Good stuff.
Just....... PLEASE don't OT in my game thread. PM me about the thing you wanted done, silly billy.

[A Forgotten Legend]

Originally posted by phlum
Let me guess...this is being made with RPG maker, or something else?

...this is an RPG Maker forum...

Go RM2k3!

I so can't wait Phayre for the demo! (I can spell Phayre without looking now, Yay!)

Originally posted by Phayre
Sprites are easier to make, since I can just copy and paste, then edit.

I do this now too.  Its so easy!  I actually made one recently...  But it was from a FSM charset...



EDIT: I can't find the wolf... oh well.

[Phayre]

Yeah..... I'm excited too. Except life got busier than expected, and then I was like, Oh ****, my facesets aren't done! Oh ****, my sprites aren't done! Oh ****, Caolan's dialogue is buggy! Oh ****, my maps are yucky! DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT...........
But uh, yeah. I'll try and get it out by my self-imposed deadline.
*is happy that people care about silly rpgmaker game*
SQUEE.

[Phayre]

So..... I've grad-jee-ay-ted.
That means more time for ES. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay.......
However..... my jumpdrive is still missing. Ah well.
Initially ES was going to have your typical world map setup. I changed my mind. World maps aren't fun. I decided to rehaul and lengthen Talreye Wood (the snow forest) and delete the world map. Instead, I'll be using a system like FFX's. Yaaaaaay FFX!!!!!
Oh, and I may or may not take out chests. I dunno. Chests are tedious to make, and really, who leaves treasure chests lying around dungeons, anyway? Jeez. "I know, let's leave a Potion here in this pretty chest so maybe some intrepid hero man will come along and utilize it! Ha!"
Errrrr..... no.
Input on both of these decisions would be helpful.
If all goes well, Ember SKy's rather short demo will be released on Saturday. Three cheers for Phayre! Hip hip hooray!