Starting to Fear Options

[M30]

Starting to Fear

The First of Two Acts Transpiring in the World of Solen

Preface

Hello there, RPG Maker VX Community persons! I've utilized the board as a resource for a few months now, and recently posted a few questions and comments. Recently, I reached a point where I promised I would halt work on my project, polish it up, and "release a demo" (if you'll permit the pretension of such a phrase). I should caveat this whole ordeal by saying I'm not particularly skilled at any of this, but I do enjoy writing, and I enjoy RPGs. Thus, my first crack at one instantly evolved into this big epic thing which still seems un-complete-able, but I soldier on anyways, becuase I have a story to tell.

So understanding that my technical competence is limited, but that I am doing my best to tell this story, I humbly present my project as it stands thus far, using the requisite informational areas:



Story Synopsis

Spoiler:

Raymond Oliver is a mercenary; he kills people for money. Just examining his interactions with the townspeople, you wouldn't suspect this. He isn't cruel, sinister, or otherwise conniving, but a quiet yet assertive young man who lives alone. He and his partner Daniel have been contracted for the past three years to periodically carry out the cold-blooded killings of persons specified by the person known only as "Siegfried."

They do so not for personal gain, and hardly for the fun of it; Their hometown, Ossetia, is in an economic crisis, and desperately needs the money simply to feed its people. Thus, Ray and Daniel continue this unpleasant process to help the town they love. We join Ray and Daniel on one such mission, and go from there.

On a later mission, far from Ossetia in a foreign land, however, things take a turn for the worse. Ray and Daniel must commit a terrible crime in order to accomplish their goal, and Ray has finally had enough. Daniel, it turns out, has betrayed Ray to Baron VanVleck, the ruler of Stauropolis, the town immediately north of Ossetia which is entirely responsible for all of the trouble that has befallen Ray's hometown.

VanVleck abandons Ray on a small island, leaving him for dead. The villagers their nurse him back to health, and he slowly regains his strength to escape the island in order to return to his home and ensure that VanVleck and Daniel can not drag it back to the depths of ruin. At the same time, Ray is now at odds with "Siegfried," and this dark force continues to work in the world, unrelated to VanVleck, but every bit as menacing.

Ray will need to rally support from his hometown, as well as others met along the way willing to lend their aid to his cause. Starting to Fear deals largely with how Ray will seek to right the wrongs he committed by killing so many people in the employ of "Siegfried." The trait these victims had in common comes as a startling revelation that ultimately will reshape the very composition of the world of Solen.

World Development

Spoiler:

The title of the game is Starting to Fear. It is the first act in a two act sequence story I'm attempting to tell utilizing the medium of RPG Maker VX. The driving idea behind this was that at the start of most RPGs, you are a weak little peon who must slowly build up his strength. Instead, I wanted the character to start quite strong, and grow even stronger quickly, and then be met with some manner of a betrayal that would set him back so that he was weaker then he was at the onset of the story.

Solen is a world characterized by startling dissimilarities in development and a general lack of coordination between its people. Only one unified nation-state exists, on the largest continent of Rhodesia. The remainder of people live in city-states governed by a variety of systems, ranging from that of Ossetia's commonwealth, to the military junta of Stauropolis.

For the early part of the game, you're largely concerned with Ossetia. A small commonwealth with an eastern protectorate, and formerly a western one, Ossetia was once the cultural and technological capitol of the continent Transcaucasia. However, Thom VanVleck organized the brutal nomadic tribes of the far north into an army he used to pillage Ossetia for everything it was worth.

VanVleck then anointed himself ˜Baron" and began building a city in the north, using Ossetia's wealth, resources, and even a few of its citizens. Stauropolis is now quickly becoming a major economic player, giving even the Rhodesians (arguably the most advanced people on Solen) cause to worry. Following this, what was left of Ossetia began to attempt a recovery. A young farmer named Roman Oliver stepped up to lead them, and after a few hard years the town was finally pulling out of its recession, and headed for better times.

Then he disappeared. Ossetia slid back into trouble, and this prompted Raymond Oliver, Roman's son, to abandon his search for his father, and take up mercenary work to save the town his father worked so hard to rebuild.

Screenshots

Spoiler:

Early Title Screen


Ossetia, an Important Location


The Protagonist's (Ray's) Home


Looks like trouble


Utilizing a SBS


Local Industry and Politics are Important


There is a Romantic Sub-Plot


Also: A Nautical Thing Happens

Character Biographical Information

Spoiler:

Name: Raymond Oliver
Age: 23
Occupation: Mercenary

Ray left home at 16 to search for his father, the brilliant leader of Ossetia who had gone missing. After searching the entire continent, he began to lose hope. Thinking that he had been kidnapped by VanVleck in retaliation for rebuilding Ossetia, Ray even infiltrated the early structures of what would become Stauropolis, but found nothing. On his way out of town, he ran into Daniel, a young man looking for work in VanVleck's army.

After convincing Daniel that VanVleck was an evil man, and he should not work for his military, the two teamed up to continue the search for Roman Oliver. After another fruitless year of searching, the two decide to give up, and return to Ossetia and do what they can for the poor town. Returning home, Ray meets one of his only childhood friends, C.J. Conner. She is a plucky girl his own age that has no problem telling Ray when he is wrong.

Tragedy strikes though, when C.J.'s younger brother falls ill and dies, the sickness complicated by malnutrition because the town has no money to grow crops to feed itself, and there is no nearby locality willing to sell them goods. After that, Ray vows he will take up his father's mantle of saving Ossetia.

Name: Daniel Markoff
Age: 22
Occupation: Mercenary

Daniel met Ray on his way to find employment in VanVleck's army. He left home at age 14 when his mother died, and began wandering the Transcaucasian countryside looking for ways to subsist. Hearing that VanVleck needed young men to build his military, he headed north. Ray changed his mind, however, and upon returning to Ossetia at age 19, Daniel was adopted by the town, and it became his home.

He has been romantically involved with a girl named Kara for the past three years, and the two actually live together in Eastern Ossetia. This relationship is by and large what ties Daniel to Ossetia, and he is willing to follow Ray anywhere to make sure that his new home and only family are kept safe.

Daniel is actually from the town of Chechnya, a small village in southern Transcaucasia that is very poorly understood by the rest of the continent, and as a result is shunned. Thus, he has kept this a secret even from Ray, who assumes Daniel was born in the countryside.

Name: Thom VanVleck
Age: 63
Occupation: Ruler of the City-State Stauropolis

Baron VanVleck is a self-made man who took what he wanted and ran with it. Born to a poor Chechnyan family (like Daniel, he also does not advertise this fact), he left home at age 23, throwing off his past, and beginning a new life. Tired of living in squalor and being looked down upon by the other inhabitants of the continent, he sought out the mysterious and vicious tribes in the north, and somehow (it has never been fully understood by anyone but VanVleck himself) subjugated them to his will.

Using this force, he pillaged Ossetia, terrorizing it until her King capitulated. In exchange for peace, Ossetia forfeited her wealth and the remainder of the crops so the people would not starve. The King, so devastated by the decision that was forced upon him, died not a few months later. VanVleck returned, stealing all the crops his men could carry, and burned the rest.

Leaving that all behind him, VanVleck reinvented himself again into a benevolent but stern administrator, using the stolen wealth to build a brand new city that held such promise that it attracted all peoples north of the Caucas mountains, who had not known what transpired in Ossetia. VanVleck has gone on thus, ruling his new empire shrewdly, never missing an opportunity for growth. He has just recently begun to seek diplomatic a relationship with Rhodesia, and established a mining outpost in Wimmera (a northern continent), extending his reach as far as his limited time and almost limitless wealth will permit.

Supporting Cast:

Name: Rick Oln
Occupation: Master Smith, Eastern Ossetia Forge

Name: C.J. Conner
Occupation: Inn Keeper, Old Ossetia

Name: Franklin Marsh
Occupation: Administrator General, Commonwealth of Ossetia

Name: R. Murdoch
Occupation: Chief Accounting Officer, Commonwealth of Ossetia

Name: Archimedes
Occupation: Apprentice Mage to Obiken

Name: Master Obiken
Occupation: Remaining Survivor of The Order, Tasked to Protect Solen

Closing Remarks
If you'd like any more additional information, I've maintained a development blog with some other friends. All posts concerning this project can be viewed under my category at our development blog. Of particular interest is the post containing introduction materials I prepared especially to set the stage and give context for the game.

Download the Demo (Requires RTP)
Est. Game Time: 1+ hr.

[NOTE: The demo is ~26MB (1.2 min. download on a ~5 mbps connection) which I suspect is far too large for an hour-long demo. I'd like to work on getting it down, which would mean converting the MP3s I used to a more efficient file type, but near as I can tell, Audacity can not do that; thus, consider this a solicitation for suggestions for an audio program which could assuage this problem!]

This post has been edited by M30: Jun 6 2009, 06:16 PM

[wltr3565]

Though your mapping is pretty empty, just like me T-T .
NoteWorthy Composer maybe can help. It converts the song files into very little midi files. I used this to edit my bgms. And My computer would need 2 hours downloading this... Don't worry, I plan to play this and give a comment or two.

[Tarrund]

You need to get better with mapping, just add a little
more effort.

Anyways, I think your story is pretty cool, and the characters
to me seem realistic and complex. So good work.

BTW, isn't Ossetia a place in Southern Russia...?

[M30]

BTW, isn't Ossetia a place in Southern Russia...?

Georgia, actually (it is a disputed region with a pretty messy history). Ossetia is located in a region called "Transcaucasia" along with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.

All the names of towns and landmasses in the game are derived from actual geographical places. For example: the continent of Rhodesia is populated by towns which are all actual cities in Zambia and Zimbabwe, the two present-day nations which were once the territory in Africa called "Rhodesia".

Also: Thanks to both the previous two posters for the heads-up on mapping. I guess I erred a little too far on the side of caution: I didn't want things to get cluttered! When you mention that (sub-par mapping) in the general sense, I assume you mean that the graphical elements in stores, towns, and the overworld should be richer, and more varied? Feel free to elaborate if this isn't quite what you meant.

I appreciate the help so far!

[wltr3565]

Those house of yours is little sized like pokemon. Make it a little bigger. And at least add a face. An empty slot for face is ugly to be shown.

[scherzo]

You can use Audacity to convert to OGG.

Your story seems a bit heady but seems well put together, I like that. On the other hand, your execution in the mapping and presentation are not quite up to it. Have to mention too: very fine selection of music (Joe Hisashi!). But, really I recommend you take a look at other projects, the Game & Map Screenshots thread, and just look at some of your maps and how they are designed. You can definitely take it up a notch.

You don't have to include your project file, either.