Announcement

[Pentagonbuddy]

A young girl leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

A singer suffocating under his own success.

A little girl drowning in delusions.

A pair of twins struggling to love one another.

And what do they all have in common?

None of them thought such a beautiful dream would turn out to be a nightmare.

Just so I can avoid any potential hot water: this game will contain some (possibly a bit more. n__n;) blood and gore, as well as potentially adult themes such as incest. Nothing explicit, though; if I had to rate it, I'd go with T/PG-13. (And if anything, I'd be more squeamish about the blood; so far it's been showing up more often.)

Want to spread the word? The extra publicity is always appreciated. <3

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[url="http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=29921"][IMG]http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac124/PentagonBuddy_Materials/Project_Images/ALICE/ALICEbar1.png[/IMG][/url]

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[url=http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=29921][IMG]http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac124/PentagonBuddy_Materials/Project_Images/ALICE/EveBar1.png[/IMG][/url]

And the little dream thought "b-but I don't want to vanish like this!", so it called on the help of the people who had dreamed it.

Many were unable to hear its weak cries for help, and even several of those who understood turned away from it. The dream despaired until it reached out to a young girl caught in a similar state, but it did not realize who, exactly, it was inviting to shape it.

She was not nearly enough to satisfy the dream, and so it continued to call out, feeding off those it drew in.

Spoiler:

Stubborn and rash, Alicia is known for her temper and family history. She has made a name for herself around her school, with colorful talk that makes her see red -- she's never been someone who handles gossip very well. Alicia holds the same scorn for most of her family; she hates her mother for leaving her father, her step-dad for trying to be a shallow replacement, and her father for ruining her reputation at school. The tensions frustrate her, and her search for some kind of relief often results in violence.

When she enters the dream world, she finds herself in a forest brimming with lives for her to take. Her story focuses on her journey through this forest in search of thrills and excitement, which for her comes in the form of slaughtering the monsters she comes across. Soon she begins tracking a fearsome beast, and gets so wrapped up in the hunt that she forgets all about the troubles she has while awake.



As the lead singer of Quixotica, Alex is a nationwide sensation and the stuff of fantasies for many teenage girls. His haunting voice has brought him more fame than he ever dreamed he'd have, and with the release of his newest album, a wealthy life, too. But despite the fame, fortune, and fans fawning over him, Alex finds that the superficial happiness just isn't good enough. Unable to find what he truly wants in life, he is sinking further and further into a depression broken up only by brief periods of euphoric mania.

The city Alex explores alternates between a place of excitement and wonder and a dismal world that exploits his faults, inhabited by citizens that can't seem to make up their minds about him. Alex's goal is to simply wake up and escape the world he's trapped in, but in his efforts to do so, he's forced to face everything he tries so hard to run away from.



Eve goes to great lengths to keep the world focused on her. Crying, temper tantrums, displays of sickly sweetness... Anything is fair game so long as it gets everyone to pay attention to her, and not any of her siblings or friends or even the family dog. Her younger brother is her punching bag, her older sister her worst enemy, her parents wrapped around her little pinky finger -- or so she thinks. Eve's perceptions of reality are anything but accurate.

Her world is a distorted imitation of her life, with Eve's every wish fulfilled: she becomes a princess in a magnificent castle filled with friends, family, and doting courtiers. But princess is far too low a position for her, and there are plenty of ways to go about becoming queen.



Lloyd and Lydia are inseparable siblings. Lloyd goes well out of his way to protect his beloved Dolly from anyone and anything that makes her unhappy. He dotes on her day and night, does his best to keep her safe, is her best friend and companion -- they even share a bed together, despite their parents' protests. Lydia is growing up far faster than her brother, however, making such things...awkward, at best. She is beginning to resent the constant protection, even if it gives her someone to hide behind when she catches people staring.

Dolly and Lloyd end up with the leftovers of Alicia, Alex, and Eve's worlds, traveling through a misshapen landscape scarred by the previous travelers. Despite their best efforts to face the world united, it's harder than either of them expected to overcome their own individual differences.

ALICE follows the stories of five separate protagonists, each one traveling through the same dream world. The dream changes in response to the people inside of it, however, and has no true form of its own -- it can only mimic what it takes from others. The setting changes from a tranquil forest to a bustling city, then from city to castle, with each place tied to the stories of the people traveling through them.









(Old version)

Spoiler:

Entrance to the forest (Old version)

Field (Old version)

Principal's office (Old version)

Art

Spoiler:

Recruitment info:
We now have a thread for this~!

[Lainke]

Sounds really interesting.. But I need more information to give a better opinion. Looking forward for more.

[Shanghai]

Why does it seem like everybody's doing an Alice in Wonderland game these days?

[Raulbloodworth]

Why does it seem like everybody's doing an Alice in Wonderland game these days?

I was thinking that myself. This is the 4th I've seen and I've only been trawling RPGvx forums for about a week...

Having said that, this appears to have more plot than most, and It doesn't seem to be just a boring battle after battle after battle affair.
So the plot has piqued my interest. Be interesting to see more.

For some reason the plot reminds me vaguely of David Lynch..

[Pentagonbuddy]

Updated to add the playable characters~!

And I guess if you live in the US, Tim Burton's recent version might be the reason for the sudden popularity. Course, that was a while ago by now, so I dunno. XD I should mention this was originally based off of Alice Human Sacrifice, but it's also inspired by Alice in Wonderland and a bunch of other things.

[Joerao]

Looking good, 'Pents'. (Liked that one best out of the ones in your sig ) Can't wait to see some more content added.

[Andinator]

this game ought to fun bud... can't wait to see more XD. btw, was that titlescreen you posted in your thread some 3 months ago the one for this game?

[Yami]

This looks nice
Can't wait to see more PentagonBud:P

[Tarrund]

This game seems dark, eerie, and (dare I say) even kind of
poetic. I'm going to keep my eyes on this one, PB.

[Pentagonbuddy]

@Andinator: Yup, that's the one. Though a couple of the characters have gotten some design changes, and as for a title screen I have a new one to draw.

And thanks for all the encouragement, everyone~! I'm trying not to be too ambitious here, since I want to actually finish this project, but I plan on having custom portraits and a couple (but only a couple!) visual novel style still pics. I've added a little art section so I showcase things there, though right now all I have are a couple of little poster type pics.

I also want to use parallax maps, but that might be too time-consuming so that's still a maybe. If I do end up using just parallax maps, I'll definitely be looking for someone to help out with that.

[Super Stick Lyon...]

I'm also looking forward to this

can't wait to see some more development shots

[Kovu]

Lol i was expecting to see a American Mcgee Alice....sigh....one day .

Pop culture sure does make a toll on Game makers. and this project sure does sound interesting. BOOKMARKED.

[Pentagonbuddy]

I've been getting a lot figured out, including the battle system. As for faces and portraits and general graphics, I've decided to go RTP aaall the way. Even the VN-style screen I'd like to do. XD Probably the most ambitious part of this whole project.

Also, screenshots! Nothing too exciting, but a couple maps and one battle screen. It's something, no?

Spoiler:

[Andinator]

nice! your using melody XP!!!! likin the screenies!!!

[Confederacy]

I love fairytale-type stories with that twisted nightmarish setting. So I am definitely watching this this game.

[mitchi.exe]

Unique! I like your game so far, Sir PentagonBuddy. XD

[wltr3565]

I almost thought the Alice is based on Touhou's Alice...


Melody... Well, what engine you use doesn't really matters. I'll just pray that the battles are entertaining.

Spoiler:

The default battle system's messages made the battles feel epic...

Blood and gore... I don't really like overzoomed gores (I still like No More Heroes' style, they presentate it in a cool way ). Will you make the goreless edition?

[Pentagonbuddy]

I don't plan on filling the game with much blood OR gore. n__n; That's really only in the art I have for it. But if things get a bit heavier than planned, I'll definitely release a version with any bloody bits toned down.

And as for the battle system, I've been excited for Melody for months. I'm not using one of the pretty angle/side views, but it's a very flexible system. I'm hoping I can make the most of it~! I have my elemental system balanced and I've been playing around with Melodies to figure out how they work. The hardest part right now is figuring out how to balance stats. (Aside from loooots of playtesting.) I've heard of using Microsoft Excel is good for that...but I wouldn't know where to start.

Course, that being said...I happen to have a userbar made, which does have blood in it since I made it out of that Eve pic. XD

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[url=http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=29921][IMG]http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z171/PentagonBuddy/EveBar1.png[/IMG][/url]

Edit: And here's a much lighter one~!

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[url="http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=29921"][IMG]http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z171/PentagonBuddy/ALICEbar1.png[/IMG][/url]

[Yami]

I love the big slime <3
Good luck with melody. It's really customizable.

[Super Stick Lyon...]

Spoiler:

I'm loving the screens

one thing, though--and this is definitely just a suggestion--since you're using the same tuffs of flowers, while you don't have to make new ones to stave off that "derivative look", you can just place a few here and there that are horizontally flipped, know what I mean?

since they're all asymmetrical, that'll just add a little bit more variation to the structure of the flower patches, making it seem a little less derivational.


but again, awesome job so far