Please watch the latest video update of my project first before continuing to read. Put your headphones on and enjoy =) Headphones are a MUST to get the best exprience as the game is surround sound 2.1 =)

Here is the link to the video : http://youtu.be/kS8agWF3N50

I've also separated the attribution part of the video as it was getting too long.
This one is for you guys =)
Here is the link: http://youtu.be/cOJoIZ_Zuw0

Check out my webpage: http://vestrel00.wix.com/hoalw#!home/mainPage
Support me @ IndieDB

SECTION 0 : ABBREVIATIONS =)

HoaLW : Heroes of a Lost World OGA : OpenGameArt NPC : Non-player Character

 

SECTION 1 : MISSION & TIME

Mission : To bring to life art submitted to OGA in a fantasy side-scrolling action-rpg whilst doing what I love to do (developing games- this is my very first one). To make a game with more content, flavor, spice, and everything nice than say a Final Fantasy game.
TIME : I do not expect to finish this within 2013 or even 2014 given the above mission. It really depends on how much free time I have during the day as I am a full-time college student. So maybe late 2014 or mid 2015???

 

SECTION 2 : IDEAS / TODO

Here are my ideas that are on my list to implement.
Let me know what you think of them =)
Note that anyone of these (except for ROMANCE, which should be played in real life) should also be playable in multiplayer. Also note that this list will be expanding and changing (but mostly just expanding)

 

CUTSCENES

There will be voice acting.
However, since the entire game cannot be fully voiced due to space limitations, your typical JRPG text boxes will again be of use =).
There will, of course, be dialog sprites like those in your typical JRPG (say fire emblem). The mouth and eyes will, of course, be animated =) I will draw those sprites myself in paper, scan it, and color and anti-alias it in GIMP2.

Scenes will be interactive.
For example, you may follow, a bandit running away in an escape scene instead of having no control and watching fixed camera positions and stuff (though there might be some instaces of this).

 

QUESTS

Apart from the main storyline, there will be side quests- most of which will be repeatable.

Escort

Starting from the left or right side of the map, protect a moving caravan from monsters. If the cravan's health hits 0. The quest ends and your fame decreases along with some other penalties. If the destination is reached succesfully, then fame is gained along with the other rewards. The length of the map will be long enough to give at least 5-8 minutes of gameplay.

Race

This will pit you against 1 to 3 more NPCs in a race. This is a friendly race so you will not be able to kill the competitors. You must be mounted on your pet. The length of the map/race will be long enough to give at least 2-4 minutes of gameplay.

Protect the Village

You must protect one of the villages in the game for a certain amount of time. Time of day will, of course, affect the monsters you have to fight. Gain fame with this quest and maybe some other rewards.

Siege the Enemy Gates

You must aide the faction you fight for or hired you in their siege. Gain fame with this quest and maybe some other rewards.

Defend the Castle

Same as Siege Enemy gates but you are defending instead of sieging. Gain fame with this quest and maybe some other rewards.

Collect Item(s)

You must collect a certain item from an enemy- maybe a boss. Another variation maybe to collect a certain amount or combinations of items.

Kill Monster(s)

You must kill a certain monster (probably a boss) or a certain amount of a particular monster.

 

DUNGEONS

There will be randomly generated (to a certain extent) dungeons throughout the game. The locations in the world map will not change but the insides will (be random). The difficulty of each dungeon is scaled with your level.

 

ARENA

You will be able to engage in a duel with an NPC in the game. Earn fame and other rewards by winning. Become a champion to unlock your last and final "ultimate" skill in the skill tree. There may be more than one arena throughout the game (most likely).

 

TOWER OF THE HoaLW

A tower that has maybe 50+ floors/maps that is unlocked by beating the game 3 times using 3 different classes. What is at the top? Even I don't know... yet =) This tower will reuse texture atlases used throughout the game for different maps. This is similar to a dungeon. It's basically just a reuse of resources to provide more gameplay (and more cutscenes??)

 

MERCENARIES

Similar to your pet- however you will only have him/her fight for you until he/she dies or the time agreement runs out. You will have no control over a mercenary (you can't give it commands like your pet).

 

GUERILLA WARFARE

You will be leading a group of NPCs that you will be able to hand-pick against another group of NPCs. This is something like a mini war game. A 2d 5v5 DoTA match? Very exciting =)

 

TOUCH GESTURES / PATTERNS

Since my primary target platform is the android, I will make use of all of its touch capabilities. Gameplay will be UNIQUE for each class (about 8 base classes each having 3 class advancements) not only because of skills, equipment, weapons, etc but also because of differing touch gestures / patterns for each. I will mainly tie this feature with skills. For example, draw a star with your finger to activate your ultimate spell. (I'm thinking up more - c'mon imagination keep working!!! >

COMBAT

Overkill

Once a monster's health reaches 0, it does not immediately die. You then have a certain amount of time to keep hitting it for a chance to get a second item/equipment drop.

Streak

The more monsters you kill consecutively, the more experience you gain per kill and the more gold the monster drops. The streak will reset to zero after a certain amount of time of not killing anything.

 

HOUSE KEEPING

You will be able to buy a house at certain towns/areas in the game. You will also be able to customize your house.

Buy a kitchen to cook ingredients (maybe even a cooking minigame?). Buy a large bed as one of the requirements to marry. (This list should grow over time)

Need wood/iron/stone/wool/etc to upgrade/make kitchen, bed, etc. There will be different trees thorughout the world to cut down and collect for house upgrades.
There will be mineable rocks of different kinds in dungeons...etc

Perks of having a house include normal and linked storage chest. Linked meaning whatever you put in the chest is usable on other save files. This is also a prerequisite to marrying your dream girl =)

 

ROMANCE

What is a game without love? There will be women that you will be able to court throughout the game. The mechanics will be something like that of Harvest Moon. This should give players more incentive to keeping items (to give to your girl) that you would otherwise sell/discard.

 

PET FIGHT

Similar to the ARENA except your pet is the one fighting and you have no control over your pet. This will force you to equip your pet with certain commands and items and skill to prepare it for battle.

 

TURN-BASED COMBAT

There will be turn-based combat like those of final fantasy games. I will put this in the game. I just don't know where to put it yet. Why do I insist on doing this? Because it will be awesome =)

The list looks pretty big
I may not finish in a year or even two. However, I will complete this game. It is the number 1 thing in my bucket list! =)

SECTION 3 : INVOLVING THE OGA COMMUNITY (OGA EXCLUSIVE =)

OGA Exclusive because my game would look like ascii characters right now if it weren't for OGA art =)

 

CHARACTERS

I really like this idea...
Everyone can help me come up with names and/or background storyline for characters either by:

1. granting me permission to use your OGA name (I want to use "Red Shrike" XD)
2. or going all out and posting down below a name, character type, and background story/description of this form:

Name: "Red Shrike" Type: "Hero" Story: "A swordsman living in the far east continent of Farland. Said to have stood toe to toe with the dark lord himself. It was rumoured that he carries a great sword whilst roaming the dungeons of the Equinox slaying all the followers of the dark lord in the pretense that it will weaken the dark lord's powers..."

The Story described above will effect the actual game XD The story above mentions a villain named "dark lord" and a dungeon named "Equinox". Thus, the hero "Red Shrike" will actually be seen roaming this "Equinox" dungeon fighting monsters! Remember that I will be transforming your ideas (if you choose to submit any) into actual gameplay so try not to go overboard =). You may even create your own sprite sheet for your character and submit it to OGA under CC-BY 3.0 license =) The name and story/description must be in-line with a medieval fantasy world setting. This means no spaceships and laser beam or anything futuristic. I want MAGIC =)

Different "Types" are: "Mercenary", "Villain", "Hero", "Legend", "Myth", "Merchant", "Bachelorette", "Quest Giver", "Arena fighter", "Boss", "Random NPC", more to come... Note that for "Bachelorette" you must also provide things that you like. *(Things that would help the main character get in your pants XD) If you played any of the Harvest Moon games then you know what I mean by this. (you don't have to be a female, the character, however, must be) (and please don't get to the topic of homosexuality- I really don't care if anyone is gay- enjoy life however you want (period))

This will hopefully help speed up building the storyline for HoaLW while getting the OGA community involved. The only requirement is that you must be in my credits! I must be using one of your art.

 

JUKEBOX & ART GALLERY

This section will be an unlockable. The player will be able to unlock the Jukebox OR the Art gallery after beating the game once. They must then play a different class and beat the game again to unlock the other. THATS NOT ALL! Once the jukebox and/or art gallery is unlocked, all contents are still locked! Music and Art drops will be available after their first run. These drops will drop from certain enemies or quests or can be bought from merchants with gold (no real money of course), etc...

 

The Jukebox

Each piece of music will have its own page. The author's name, website, and music title will appear here. Having your own box art is negotiable. This is just a simple music player to attribute great music. The user can set the volume, loop single, loop all, choose/goto next music, pause, or stop.

The Art Gallery

Each piece of art will have its own page. The artist's name, website, and art title will appear here. The user can zoom in, zoom out, and rotate the image.

Both the art gallery and jukebox is fairly easy to implement. I will get this done soon to show you guys what it looks like =)
P.S. If all my music end up coming from OGA, I will name the Jukebox OGA Music Collection =)

ATTRIBUTION

This one isn't much but I will do anything (even if its trivial) to contribute to OGA. You must be in my credits for this one.

If you watched the video's credits portion, I'll let you somewhat customize your portion =) Post a comment down below of this form:

1. "OGA search name"
2. "Title" (R,G,B) *
3. "Author" (R,G,B) *
4. "Source" (R,G,B) *

1. The title of your work in OGA. I should be able to find your work by copying and pasting this on the OGA search field.
2. You may give a different name to your work that I used.
3. You may specify the name that you want to be displayed.
4. You may change the source (from OGA to maybe your website)

*) (R,G,B) is the color codes of the text. You may use integers, hexadecimal, or floating point. (floating point preferred) *) Google "rgb color codes" and you will know what I'm talking about.

 

SECTION 4 : MFAQs (May-become Frequently Asked Questions)

This section is just to save you the trouble of logging in and posting a question that you might have.

1) Is this a commercial project? If so, how much are you selling it for when its done and for what platforms?

This will be a commercial game. This is why I'm only using works under CC-BY 3.0 and CC0 licenses. This game will be released for the android and any desktop/operating system that can run Java. If it is successful, I might port it to Html5, applet, (and maybe even Nintendo DS - lol I wish =). However, my main focus right now is Android.

As for how much I'm selling it for its honestly too early to tell. The above video shows nothing but a fraction of the final product. Fraction as in a grain of sand in the deserts of Egypt. But this magic number "$5" comes to my mind. I have no idea where this number came from. I just see most apps in the market selling for $5 so maybe thats where it came from. HOWEVER, one thing is for sure. You pay for it once and the whole game is yours. This will NOT be the type of game that you get for free or buy and then purchase credits with real money to unlock more game content. I don't like those type of games.

2) I see that you are using sprites from http://untamed.wild-refuge.net/rmxpresources.php?characters Aren't some of those sprites based off already existing games like final fantasy?

Yes I did notice that. I spend a lot of time contemplating about which sprite I can or can't use. I definitely won't touch the final fantasy section lol. That will be suicide. I do modify each sprite and mash them up, especially those that are based off existing characters... The sprites in my game consist of a head body, shield (optional) and weapon (optional) which can be mixed and matched. Honestly, I'm thinking of using only the sprites in the MISC. section for safety. All other sprites in other sections I will have to modify to the point that its not recognizable. What do you guys think about this? In the end what ever I have so far can be marked as just placeholders... I need some advice on this.

3) Are you planning to release a demo for the Android/Desktop?

Maybe. When I have the basic plot down and most of the mechanics up and running. Or maybe I'll stick with just posting up kick ass video updates once a month. What do you guys think?

4) You mentioned so much content. How big do you think the file size will be?

Definitely more than 500Mb. Maybe even 1Gb+. Google Play lets android developers store a maximum of 4Gb and 50mb for their app so space isn't a problem.

5) When do you expect to complete this game?

See Section 1 above. Just kidding. Here it is again though =) I do not expect to finish this within 2013 or even 2014 given the above mission. It really depends on how much free time I have during the day as I am a full-time college student. So maybe late 2014 or mid 2015???

6) Are you using a game engine or framework to make your game? If so, what is it?

I'm using the framework LibGDX. They demand to call it a framework but it provides such a powerful abstraction for everything (file handling, openGL, cross-platform nuisance fixes, and user input) that I consider it to be as powerful, if not more powerful, than a game engine (at least for 2d. I haven't developed any 3d games with this or any at all so I wouldn't know). The best part is that LibGDX does not force you to write code a certain way! I highly advise anyone looking to develop a game to check out LibGDX =).

7) What is your target content rating?

I want to be able to encompass as large an audience as I can. However, I also don't plan for this to be a child's game. So my target is rated "T for Teen."

8) Aren't you being too ambitious? Are you sure you can finish this game all by yourself?

I do sound like I'm being too ambitious or even too cocky (please forgive me if I sound like a cocky jerk to you >_-). I am being ambitous. However, it is a fact that I will finish this game. It is only a matter of time.

I know how to do everything (period)(I'm not trying to brag). I have complete trust in my programming skills. Lines of codes are just floating in my head 24/7. Time is really the only issue.

P.S. I'm not one to give a life lesson but if you don't think you can do something then you can't. However, if you say that you can and you believe that you can, then you know that you can and everyone knows that you can and so you can. (If that made any sense lol)

Maybe its just me though. Maybe I'm just being delusional. Let's come back to this topic a year from now =)

9) I like your game and want to help. How can I help you?

Help me by submitting more art to OGA that is in-line with a medieval fantasy world setting under a CC-BY 3.0 license. Help me by donating to OGA and keeping it alive I don't need money. Even if I do, this isn't the place to ask. Maybe a kickstarter?

10) How much time do you spend on developing your game?

I spend every free second that I have developing my game and I enjoy every second of it =). To give you an idea, this summer I spent at least 14 hours a day, everyday, developing.

11) Does anyone help you? Like modifies your art/audio resources (into sprite sheets and/or texture atlases) for you?

No. I do everything myself. From modifying sounds and even making them using Audacity to making sprite sheets (based on someone else's art and sometimes my original as you will see for the dialog sprites) and designing maps in GIMP2 to programming the physics, effects, UI, and even manually recording coordinates of points in each map in GIMP2 which I will use for my platform and wall collision detection.

12) Do you want help? Maybe make this project into a team project or even open source?

No. I want to have something in my life that I can say that I made all by myself (aside from creating original art and sound). To me this will be like an achievement in a video game =).

13) Do you have a life?

No =) But I do feel more alive than anyone out there that is not doing what they love to do. Lol, can you imagine a 21 yr old guy sitting in front of a computer for 14+ hours straight everyday feeling "alive". But I really am happy about what I'm doing now though.

14) What about friends?

Lol, who needs them- when I'm making something so important? (I'm being sarcastic- but I still feel like its the truth) I do have friends but I don't see them anymore other than in facebook.

15) Girlfriend?

Of course not T_T Must you really ask? -_-