Announcement

[makryu]

I'm looking for team members to make a RPGMaker VX game. We currently have members in all areas, but anyone may join if they want to contribute, almost all jobs could use an extra hand or two. More spriters and scripters would be especially welcome. I'll go over some details about me, about the project and about what I expect the people that join this project to do, so you can choose to help or not. Note that the descriptions only cover two roles, which are the ones the project still could benefit the most, but anyone may join, and I can always provide more details in this thread or through PMs. As of now, the project is currently in advanced development in many areas.

Current Members of the Team:

Makryu - Writer, Mapper, Eventer
RoelfMik - Musician
Mithos - Spriter and Scripter
FenixFireX - Spriter
Dairu: Scripter
Blackmorning: Scripter
Sega7: Graphical Artist
Ouren: Graphical Artist



About me: I'm a 28 year-old RPG fan. I played a lot of RPGs, both console jrpgs and computer crpgs. I played some RPGMaker games over the years, and I've been following the community since RPGMaker 2000. I never managed to stop and find the time to make a project until now, I've only made some experimental maps to this date, and played a bit with both events and scripting. I'm a DM of Dungeons & Dragons since 1995, and my story writing and telling experience comes mainly from my pen & paper campaigns.

About the project, Descent: I want to develop a mix between jrpgs and crpgs with this game. I'd like to bring together classical jrpg conventions and the deep dialogue options and open-world feel of crpgs. My main influences are Dragon Quest and Baldur's Gate (along with other infinity engine games like Planescape Torment). My idea is to produce a mid-sized game.

Story:
As far as the story goes, this is a small description of it (note that any names are temporary and only present for description purposes). If you don't feel like reading too much, you may skip to the Plot section below, it will give you a general idea of what I want to do :

Setting:

Spoiler:

The game takes place in the Aristan continent. It's a west/northwest landmass in the world of Sideon. Most of it is composed of plains surrounded by hills and mountains with a temperate climate. The north of Aristan is very cold, with permanent ice covering the landscape, while the very south has an almost tropical climate. The place is geographically divided by aforementioned mountains, but also by rivers and forests, with the usual gamut of environments. There is also a rich underground world here, with extensive networks of caves spread through the land. These caves are also the main passages between many regions that are otherwise isolated by high peaks. Mountain paths are present, but represent a larger threat to traveling merchants and other travelers, who prefer to take underground routes. There are a number of villages and cities in Aristan. Many are independent, but there are two larger governments that focus most of the political intrigue in the continent: the Kingdom of the Oracles and the City-States of Brejah.

The Kingdom of the Oracles is a monarchy controlled by the Raspian dynasty, one of the oldest families of Aristan, which came with the first groups of colonizing humans centuries ago. The power of the Raspian family is exerted because of their close and exclusive link to the Oracle lineage, a group of strange sages, rarely seen in public, whose prophetical advice has led the people of the kingdom to a state of prosperity. The Raspians are "appointed" as the official link between the common folk and the enlightened oracles, and as such their rule is almost never questioned.

The kingdom expanded, under the uniting banner of the oracles, to encompass most of the east of the continent. It has done so mostly through war and bribery, but as it grew larger diplomacy became an efficient tool and the main strategy. Dissidents were present in the beginning, but were expelled from the kingdom quickly. Their families later formed the City-States of Brejah, to the west. The relations between the 2 forces are uneasy, but stable for a long time, with undercover moves from both sides consisting in the only conflict these days. The kingdom still believes it should rule the west, but recognizes a power struggle would only weaken it and start a larger conflict that is not recommended at the present time. They maintain a trading relation with the city-states, mainly because these dominate a region rich in underground minerals and other important resources.

The kingdom has also expanded to the south, but due to geographical difficulties and distance, it has only nominally assimilated the settlements and towns in the area, charging for taxes while leaving its people mostly on their own.

The City-States of Brejah, on the other hand, do not share the messianic tendencies of its neighbors. Each city was founded by some of the dissident's families, and they aggregated the native people of the region, rather than driving them away. They are ruled by a council, whose members are elected, and gather periodically to decide on issues that the city-states as a whole must act upon, like defense, laws and trading. The cities do not strive for expansion, and their size has grown over the centuries mostly due to the attraction of people from other places. They are also home to interracial conflicts, as the presence of beings largely unknown to the average human is frequent. Geographically, the city-states are located to the west, reaching a bit of both north and south.

As already stated, the southern towns are pretty much isolated from this larger scenario, despite being officially subjects to the Kingdom of the Oracles. These towns are varied in nature, ranging from coastal towns with noble's mansions and small villages with retired people who search for peaceful lives to criminal dens of pirates and raiders which prey on caravans and ships and use the isolation to escape justice.

The north is desolated, and draws little attention from the other regions. It is mostly composed of scattered tribes and the occasional miner settlement. It is also home to ancient ruins dating back to before the colonization of the humans from the east and other places that are yet to be explored.

Finally, it must be said that Aristan's wilderness is home to many creatures, both natural and unnatural. There are magical energies flowing through the world, and Aristan is not an exception in that respect. The underground is largely uncharted territory, and the only safe regions of it are the trade routes and the various mining outposts (although not completely safe either).

Aristan is a continent that has its fair share of adventurers, guilds, mercenaries, gambling, arenas, and is also home to a group of reclusive philosophers called the Enclave. They dwell in the high altitudes of a chain of mountains, the location only known by the select few who study there and even rarer visitors. No one knows the way to get there, however, as anyone that goes to their secret tower is carried unconscious through the way. The Enclave is the ultimate knowledge holder in the continent. Its members are divided between the Permanent and the Impermanent. The first ones are those that leave their past lives behind to fully embrace their knowledge, living forever in the tower and never going back. They have access to all of the Enclave archives, but their ability to influence the outside world is limited to the contact with the Impermanent and the visitors. The Permanent form councils that decide to which extent their knowledge is to be revealed to the world, and all interactions with a Permanent happen under this guidance. Permanents are selected in some unknown way, but no one actually knows about a person who became one, so it is subject of debate whether it is possible or not.

Impermanents are members that spend months to years studying in the Enclave, and live under the rule of the Permanents, but ultimately leave and return to their outside lives. Their access to knowledge within the tower is limited according to the council judgement. The Impermanents are people that end up reaching important positions in the outside world, due to their exclusive access to the Enclave. Many, however, become reclusive on their own, sometimes due to the nature of what they learn in the Enclave. None of them, however, are chosen lightly. It is said that the Permanents have strict rules governing their choices, even when no one knows what their reasoning was.

Visitors are also present in the Enclave. They are, however, very rare, and their access to the archives is extremely limited and controlled, if allowed at all. They include people who receive invitations, the odd merchant and some mercenaries hired in dangerous times. Visitors are very rare, and the philosophers are extremely careful not to let them see more than they should (which is very little, most of the time).

Contrary to common belief, the Enclave accepts people of different origins and professions, not focusing just on the scholar stereotype. One must yearn for knowledge, of course, but other than that there is no restriction. Knights, mages, clerics, thieves, pirates, blacksmiths, merchants and others are said to have spent time as Impermanents at some point. Regardless of their roles, however, all of them are very reticent at revealing anything more than the strictly necessary about their stay in the Enclave. Much has been speculated about the way the Permanents manage to enforce this law of silence, but little was concluded to this day, due to the lack of information available.

Plot:

Spoiler:

I've designed the plot around a scholar-type PC, but I intend to include different aspects if the player chooses a martial type, for example:

Rakdan is a 35 year-old man living in the province of Diefdom, a southern collection of villages that is subject to the Kingdom of the Oracles. He lived as a scribe and an archaeologist for about his entire adult life. He has a family, composed of his wife Leva, and their siblings, Mathan and Invora. They led an ordinary life in the east, close to the center of the kingdom, but Rakdan had a growing desire to join the Enclave, of which he heard the most incredible stories, as an impermanent. Shortly after the birth of his daughter, the younger of his kids, Rakdan was contacted to join. He was in fact surprised, as he was never able to do something that he considered relevant to actually be a candidate, despite not knowing what he could have done, after all. To the disgust of his wife, he decided to join. She, however, was comforted by the prospect of a better life in the future, as an impermanent was always highly sought after for various tasks. The years in the Enclave were enlightening in many aspects, but led to even more questions. After his 5 year absence, he left and came back to his family, as his period was finished.

Sometime later, Rakdan decided to go south, much to the disappointment of his family, as everyone expected him to assume an important position in the kingdom. Rakdan decided to go after the refuge of an old scribe called Allazdran who obtained a number of rare and secret documents and tablets regarding the ancient past of Aristan and even Sideon itself. After some research, he was able to find its probable location. The game is supposed to start some months after Rakdan and his family moved near the refuge site. They are living quite modestly, with Rakdan devoting too little time to earn some income as a scribe. Leva is extremely disappointed, specially with his growing obsession with the refuge site, that he discovered weeks earlier. She decides to leave with their children, back to the kingdom. Rakdan is left alone with his studies, and divided between his duty as a father and husband and the things he discovered in the Enclave and in his following research on Allazdran and his findings.

Among the most important things he found is an ancient stone tablet with a still undecipherable writing in an unknown language. His present goal is to discover what kind of message this tablet contains, and its importance to his current research on ancient cults and civilizations. Allazdran writings serve as guidance to the places where Rakdan may find documents and guides needed to dechipher the tablet and other of his findings. The game development is divided in branches:

Main storyline: Rakdan will be have to travel around Aristan to find clues to the nature of Allazdran studies, the way they are linked with his time in the Enclave, and what the unfinished work of translation by the old sage may uncover when carried on to its end. He will have to revisit the kingdom, travel to the city-states and find his way in the frozen north. He will also deal with the various factions present in Aristan, enlist the help of new and old friends, and face the dangers of the unknown underground regions. His quest may even lead to his return to the Enclave, all the while testing his sanity and will as he faces madness and deceit from forces that may want these tablets to remain a secret. Ultimately, he will have to decide what to do with his discoveries, and this decision may affect the whole continent, if not the world.

World interaction: this is named like that because it represents the activities that Rakdan will be able to engage that do not have a direct link to his goals in the main storyline. Amongst these are the possibilities of pursuing some careers and roles in the world, such as: become a mayor, a guild leader, a merchant, a mercenary, etc.

Return to his family / build a new life: Rakdan will have to decide how to regain the respect of his family, or if he will leave them behind to build a new life. This is an important side story, and will be influenced by his other choices as well.

Small sidequests: Aristan offers lots of opportunities for those that want to accomplish small tasks for a price, or waste some time with games, bets, etc. Despite the seriousness of his mission, Rakdan will have the opportunity to use those as a way to hone his skills and gather resources, or simply vent.

Character Bios (any names are temporary):

Spoiler:

Rakdan (note: this is based in a scholar-type choice of character)

He's a 35 year old human scribe and archaeologist who lived most of his life inside the Kingdom of the Oracles, his father being fairly successful as a merchant. As a dedicated scholar, Rakdan ended up learning a bit of magic in his training. The archaeological need to travel to remote places also gave him some measure of limited physical prowess. Rakdan married quite early, but his career delayed the conception of a child. He's a self-absorbed man at times, such as when he left everything to join the Enclave. The secrets he saw there made him focus completely in his research, and he isolated himself progressively from the world, moving south to search for a long forgotten sage's works. Still, he loves his wife and child, and is, at the moment, conflicted with the needs to continue his work and to recover his wife's trust and respect.

Asdaileen

Asdaileen is a 32 year old human merchant in a southern guild. She was the primary contact of Rakdan when he moved, and provided him with all kinds of support, the two being friends since they were kids. She was the daughter of a former business partner of Rakdan�s father. She's a strong-willed person, and soon left home looking for adventure, much to the disgust of her family. Asdaileen became a successful mercenary, after years of martial training. A bit later, she decided to settle in the south as a merchant. She still travels a lot, and takes a leading role in security for her cargo. Always looking for an eventful life and adventure, she is interested in Rakdan�s work, despite the fact that she knows little about it. They always got along well, despite being opposites in many ways, the two somewhat defying their destined roles in the world. Asdaileen will prove to be resourceful ally in Rakdan's quest.

Defed

Defed is a 23 year old human thief that lived all his life in the slums of the south. He made a natural move from being an orphan that pick pocketed around market squares to joining an organized guild of criminals. To this day, Defed has proved his skill and bravery on several missions for the guild, building a good reputation. These missions included many morally despicable deeds, but still he sees himself as a businessman that won't cross some lines, like innocent assassination. In his thoughts he fears for the day that the guild might enlist him for an act that he considers irrevocably evil, and he fears for the consequences, no matter what he chooses to do. Defed is no ignorant, and used some of his free time to learn about the world. He meets Rakdan under professional circumstances, his involvement being unclear as far as his intentions go.

Features (some of them):

Spoiler:

- A custom turn-based battle system with action points and customized commands;

- Party managing system;

- Achievements and titles system;

- Branching story paths;

- Crafting system;

- Dynamic trading system;

- Sanity and Luck attributes;

- Questbooks;

- Collectibles;

- Passive skill system;

- Day/Night system;

- Miniature wargame minigame;

What do I expect from scripters: To develop several HUD and menu changes, script several changes to the default battle system, help with compatibility issues between scripts.

What do I expect from the spriters(s): To make several requests regarding sprites, from charactersets to tilesets, according to your skills.

What do I expect from these and other potential members: Commitment, reliability and the ability to work with constructive criticism (both giving and receiving it).


This is a small description of what I look for in partners for the project. I'd be the primary person for mapping, dialogue and eventing. I'd like to note that I don't consider anything I planned set in stone. If you're interested in the overall idea of the project but disagree with some aspects/features, I'd be more than happy to discuss about it. Later, as a team, everyone will have a say about all the aspects of the game. I also add that I accept any help for all areas of the game, I just listed the tasks that I would have a very hard time to accomplish myself.

ATTENTION: if you're interested but thinks the development roles are too broad, contact me anyway, we can split them according to need. Example: you're a scripter that does not want/know/can some of the features. or a spriter that does not deal with pictures or facesets. You still should contact me, so you can contribute only in your area of expertise.

UPDATES:

(01/24/09) - RoelfMIk has offered himself to be responsible for the music of the game. So I'm still in need of at least two people, a scripter and graphical designer. Updated a bit of the thread.

(03/19/09) - Kouki has joined as a scripter of the project. Updated thread a bit. Still in need of spriters and graphical artists, and accepting anyone who's willing to help.

(03/31/09) - tetra_flame has joined as spriter of the project. Still in need of graphical artists, and accepting anyone who's willing to help.

(04/25/09) - Kouki stepped down as a scripter. Two other potential members are doing samples for battle backgrounds and sprites and should join shortly. We have a title!

(06/02/09) - Update long overdue. A member has declined to continue, but FIVE new members agreed to work on the project! Check the team members at the start of the post. A project thread will be made in the near future.

(06/27/09) - Another member update. Three more people agreed to join.

(07/28/09) - New member update. A scripter has joined.

(09/23/09) - Another member update. Custom world map tiles under construction. We now have a logo.

Thanks for the attention. Looking forward to answer replies and add further detail if needed.

This post has been edited by makryu: Jan 10 2010, 10:12 PM

[makryu]

Bumping this, it's been more than 72 hours.

The offer still stands. I'm currently gathering scripts that do some of the functions I want.

Also, if someone reads this and has any idea why they're not interested, you could tell me the reason (maybe I could make it more interesting then).

[Guest_zeroplumber_*]

While I wish I could assist you on your project, I have to congratulate you on a request thread well done. Very well written, thought out. Your ideas and features intrigue me. Once I have completed my own project I may have some time to sling your way, but I should be able to offer small help and graphical advice if needed.

[scherzo]

As ZPU (good post) said, great in-depth thread . I often think that, when someone develops an idea this much, they should write it out in a short story or novella format, rather than a project, if they have the talent at least since I know I would enjoy it much more. But, it's up to you, of course . I do have a question though - you mention "musical design", what did you really have in mind there?

[makryu]

@zeroplumber

Thank you, if you could contact me when you have the time I'd be grateful for your help.

@scherzo

Thank you. I mentioned I'm a DM of Dungeons & Dragons, so I'm used to come up with fantasy stories. My job already makes me write a lot, so I'd like to do something different in my hobby for the time being. I wanted to make a game for a long time, and I believe a good plot can and should be told in game format too.

As for the musical design, I wanted it to mean the person would be responsible to come up with music that fits an overall idea of what the game should sound like. Ideally, I'd like to have a "musical identity" for the game, based on the plot, with mostly original music. But I know this would be tough to achieve, so realistically I'd settle with someone that could answer to music requests based on a general description of the mood intended and on the story of a given map/situation. I would expect this person to be quite independent at that, as I have no musical talent myself and would only be able to give a layman's feedback on what I like or not.

[Guest_zeroplumber_*]

I like what I see here, I'm going to sticky this project for 7-10 days. Enjoy your time in the spotlight.

[Blaziruku]

Wow, very nice recruitment thread! (Wall of text! XP) I'd love to help, but I'm very busy with my project, too. If I have time, though, I would be glad to help in something.

[makryu]

UPDATE:

RoelfMik has joined to deal with Musical Design. Still in need of a scripter and a graphical designer. I'd like to make it clear that we're accepting people that are able to/interested in only doing some of the work in these roles, like a spriter that does not deal with pics or a scripter that can't/won't write some of the scripts needed for the features of the game.

Currently gathering scripts and starting with music.

[RoelfMik]

It's good to be a part of the team! I think the story has great potential.

Still looking for a graphical designer and scripter!

[Zabre]

It's good to be a part of the team! I think the story has great potential.

Still looking for a graphical designer and scripter!

I may not be EXTREMELY good, but im consider myself a good mapper, my specialties are town and indoor housing. If you would like me, im happy to join

[makryu]

OK, thanks for the interest, I'll PM you shortly so we can talk about the details.

[makryu]

UPDATE:

I'm bumping this just so people know the offer still stands. Currently, original music for the game is under way, with some complete songs. A detailed story script is in the works. Also, many design decisions are being made, so this would be a good time for people to join and have their say about a lot of things.


I'm still in dire need of a spriter, a graphical artist and a scripter, but anyone may join.. I should also note that the project will still happen even if some/all of these positions remain open. Still, it would be a pleasure and a great boost both in quality and speed to have other people to join.

[Elaynii]

I'm not advanced in any way, but I can make decent scripts and simple things.. I doubt you'll need me, but I'll apply if you wish.

[makryu]

I'm not advanced in any way, but I can make decent scripts and simple things.. I doubt you'll need me, but I'll apply if you wish.

PM'd you. Thanks for the interest.

[makryu]

UPDATE:

Kouki has joined as a scripter. The offer still stands. We need spriters and graphical artists the most, but anyone is welcome to join in any position they can contribute.

[makryu]

UPDATE:

tetra_flame has joined as a spriter. The first custom sprites for the project are done. The offer still stands. We need graphical artists the most, but anyone is welcome to join in any position they can contribute.

[makryu]

UPDATE:

Scripter declined, still in need of one. Two people on the verge of joining (doing samples, etc). Finally have a game title.

[RaidenPrime]

I've had a chance to look over your stuff and I am very interested in the things we spoke about in the email. This is actually the first time I've ever tried joining a dev team.

So, what kind of things would you like to ask/see from me? I'm interested in a writing position.

EDIT: Just as a side-note, I noticed you're a D&D player? Me too.

This post has been edited by RaidenPrime: May 2 2009, 03:54 PM

[makryu]

Ok. I will send you an email so we can continue talking.

Makryu

[RaidenPrime]

Hey, there doesn't seem to be a lot going on here. Have you read my submission Makyru? Just wondering if I sent it properly.