Leo's Legacy

[Red Giant]

W.
T.
F.
IS THAT A HAMSTER?!?!?!
Why yes it is. You may have noticed, if you have been snooping around the forums, that I have posted a whole lot of custom graphics.
Well trust me, most of those poorly made yet oddly cartoony trinkets came STRAIGHT from this one project.
I set myself the great challenge of making all the graphics myself (Other than System & System2, but I might cook something up) and of thinking up a suitable story involving a hamster, but I did it!!!
Don't expect it anytime soon.

(Some of) The characters:

Name: Leo (Main character, DUH!)
Gender: M
Species: Hamster
Age: 2 (Old for a hamster)
Habitat: House
Status: Pet
Weapon: Sword, Spear
Diet*: Meat + Nut

Name: Jess
Gender: F
Species: Mouse
Age: 1 1/2
Habitat: House
Status: Empire House Mouse
Weapon: Claw, Glove
Diet*: Nut

Name: Hazel
Gender: F
Species: Squirrel (Red)
Age: 1
Habitat: Walnut Grove
Weapon: Staff, Club
Diet*: Nut

Name: Valmont
Gender: M
Species: Frog
Age: 3
Habitat: Bushle Pond
Weapon: Poisons
Diet*: Insect

*Diet is an important part of my game.

(as much as I will reveal of the) Story:
Leo is a normal pet hamster, owned by a boy called Garry, and one day, he breaks open his cage door. Eager to explore the world outside, he roams around the house.

He runs into an odd animal on his trek, a mouse called Jess.
She says she must report him, for he was wached for a long time by the empire. When Leo asks who the "Empire" are, he finds out an amazing secret, within the walls of the entire house lie a civilization of mice and rats!

Jess explain how the entire house is and works, and eager Leo listens, finding out that the mice are afraid of Garry and his family, and were taking it upon themselves to rescue Leo from his imprisonment.

But something nags at Leo: he realizes that the house is just a blown up version of his cage, and he was still imprisoned. Yearning for freedom, he does something extremely foolish, he wanders off and trys to find a way out of the house.

But the house is far from safe, rebel mice and rats lurk the halls and Jess, knowing this, trys to find Leo, when they are both attacked by a group of rebels. Just when it seems that they have no hope, they are saved by a black hamster called Barinae, with one yellow eye and one red eye... and the fun really begins...

Barinae and his band of hamsters intrigue Leo. They take ask him to come with them, and being a curious hamster, he agrees, but Jess won't let him go alone, as she considers him part of the Empire and takes his safety as her responsibility.

Barinae takes them outside and into a huge, metal monster. At first leo is scared, but Barinae simply says that the "monster" is a mere tool that hoomuns use all the time. When they enter the monster, or "car" as barinae calls it, it starts to make a roaring noise and farts out grey smoke, and then, they're off!

Whizzing at an impossible speed, Barinae strikes a deal. Barinae admits that he has been tracking all the hamsters he can find, and that Leo was the last one he needed. He claims that he wishes to summon the god of hamsters (Daruga) to earth so that he may grace the world with his presence. Barinae also says that once Daruga is here, all hamsters will become almighty, powerful creatures and rule all other lifeforms on earth.

Leo agrees enthusiastically, not caring that the Empire will be destroyed**. But soon, one of Barinae's other hamsters informs him that Leo is too weak to apply for the summoning, and Barinae boots him and Jess off. And then... they must find they're own way home.

** Something that must be known about hamsters is that they are lone creatures and really don't care about any others than themselves.

RIGHT: Exploring the grove.
LEFT: AAAAH! BUGS!

[Seth Aechi]

Extremely creative concept, but I'm not going to lie to you; those graphics look like a 3-year old's drawings.

I'd still play it, though.

[FFL2and3rocks]

Originally posted by Seth Aechi
those graphics look like a 3-year old's drawings.

But it fits the style of the game perfectly!

It sounds like a pretty cool idea! I'd play it.

[Alex]

I agree, FFL.
Moreover the graphics is really original, and this doesn't hurt!

[darkgriffon]

despite the overwhelmingly close resemblance to a certain cartoon hampster very high on my toss-into-the-blender list, i'd play it.

[Red Giant]

Hmm... I'm running into a problem...
See, since sprites are only 24x32 pixel drawings, in most RPG's, the main characters need distinguishing characteristics for you to tell them apart from the normal people. I have noticed that the main (or only?) ways this has been done is through clothes, and hairstyles.
However, the characters have neither clothes nor hair (fur is different). Leo's pretty much OK because of his lightning mark on his back, but making Jess, Hazel and the others stand out from others in their species is really hard...

[Seth Aechi]

You know, there's nohing wrong with putting hair on your animal characters (as in human-style hair.)  You'll just end up giving them that anime/furry feel, you know what I mean?

Otherwise . . . I hate to say it, but . . . watch a couple episodes of Hamtaro and see how they distinguish between the rodents.

[Red Giant]

Yes, I have the hamsters sorted out, because hamsters come in variations of colours and patterns, but something like a red squirrel, or a mouse. HARDNESS!!

[darkgriffon]

you could always put a spot or something on their back or front, or maybe make the rest of the mouse/squirrel population a different color than your character. e.g. Hazel the Squirrel is red, but most other squirrels are dark brown, or gray, or even albino if that's what you want. as for the mouse, you could also givie the rodent a distinguishing item, like a leaf wrapped around its head, or a piece of grass attached to the tail, you know, something like that.

[Red Giant]

Yeah I was messing around with something like that.

One more thing: Do you think I should use my Action Battle System in this game?

Pros:

• It seems to fit in somehow... well it does!
• With my custom graphics, I could make bosses that were made up of more than one charset!! Like giant space hedgehogs with telescopes instead of eyes!!!
• Battle characters are hard...

Cons:

• I'd be laying all those lovely monster graphics to waste!
• I would have to work hard to include some things that are needed for the game. WORK!!

EDIT: hey since we're talking about it, test my Real-Time CBS, why not test it?
WARNING: Read the READ ME. That's what it's for! Geez...

[Fade]

Seems a lot like Hamtaro lol. Hmm seems fun too ^^ I'd like to play this game.

[Fade]

Originally posted by darkgriffon
despite the overwhelmingly close resemblance to a certain cartoon hampster very high on my toss-into-the-blender list, i'd play it.

Hamtaro is quite annoying but cute. The show is kawaii. I'd watch it if i were half nude, in my bed with my breakfeast near me

[Razor]

rofl! i love that screenshot! it looks like you did everything in paint, so i'm gonna assume you made everything in paint.

[Red Giant]

Originally posted by Razor
rofl! i love that screenshot! it looks like you did everything in paint, so i'm gonna assume you made everything in paint.

Actually I used Idraw. It's the friggin best!!

[Razor]

uh oh! different breed of bugs! bigger than hamsters! ahh getemoffme!!! cool! must see further development...