Sacred Earth: Bonds

Ugh, time to get back to....w-work.

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:35:00 +0000

So, uh...Projects are finally off the backburner. I'm getting back to work. I feel kinda sad though. I'm going to miss my spontaneous rage/boredom blog posts centered on games and randomness.

Ah well, I guess I can't take a break forever.

Here's what I'm working on now. I'm currently writing up all character skills, like so.

---- Gunnar Skills ----

--- OutBurst ---

1. Twilight Arrow - EP Cost: 10 - Hits: 3 - Light Arrow Erupts intop energy pillar on target.
2. Judgment Arrow - EP Cost: 20 - Hits: 5 - Light Energy forms into laser blast.
3. Iron Feather - EP Cost: 30 - Hits: 1 - Boost Party Stats with invigorating power. All Stats + 30
4. Energy Storm - EP Cost: 40 - Hits: 4 All - A volley of light arrows rain upon enemies.
5. Element Sword - EP Cost: 50 - Hits: 1 - Strike all foes with the element sword for major damage.

--- Ether ---

1. Dark Cry - EP Cost: 10 - Element: Shadow - A black sphere rages on the target.
2. Shadow Barrier - EP Cost: 15 - Element: Shadow - Protect an Ally against Shadow Element.
3. Devil Ray - EP Cost: 20 - Element: Shadow - A pillar of shadow energy erupts under target
4. Shadow Aura - EP Cost: 25 - Element: Shadow - Protect the party against Shadow Element.
5. Shadow Star - EP Cost: 30 - Element: Shadow - Dark Meteors rain down on the target.
6, Electroshock - EP Cost: 10 - Element: Bolt - A single lightning bolt strikes the target.
7. Bolt Barrier - EP Cost: 15 - Element: Bolt - Protect an Ally against Bolt Element.
8. Judgment Bolt - EP Cost: 20 - Element: Bolt - Several lightning bolts rain down on target.
9. Bolt Aura - EP Cost: 25 - Element: Bolt - Protect the party against Bolt Element
10.Sacred Lightning - EP Cost: 30 - Element: Bolt - Divine Lightning strikes the target.

It helps me remember what the heck I was going to give so and so character in regards to skills. With SEB2, I mostly just ad libbed character skills based on graphics on hand at the moment. This is a bit more organized.

I'm also working on the Community Requests Board. Here's what I have so far.

One major change I'm making to this board is that I'm cutting the number of requests per chapter from 10 to 5. Just to get on with development. I'm making cuts in other areas as well in order to allow me to actually get to making the game. It's not good to be stuck in pre-dev limbo forever!

I also made this to get back into the groove of spriting. Had to try and get used to Windows 7 Version of Paint.

Anyway, I'm getting back into things, yeah. It's a little hard though, since now I have to recall all sorts of things and rewrite all my old info. I'll get back on my process eventually though.

I guess this marks the end of random gamer rage blogging for now!

Later.

The Return of Stuff and Things

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:13:00 +0000

(This one's for you Neok! >:V)

...So yeah, obligatory boredom entry. What have I been up to these days? Wellllllll I scanned in a metric boatload of drawings that I almost immediately scrapped on my DA! Have one!

And then I made some throwaway sprites for other people like that one game Vylternia Chapters. Like so.

I was supposed to do more, but Despite hasn't contacted me, so I assume my job is done! Oh well! 8D

-------------------------------------------------------

What else...So I was haunting some game sites and I discovered that Super Robot Wars
Endless Frontier EXCEED is in the making. YES, another traditional rpg on the DS! It's incredibly fanservice-y though. Even more so than the first game if the heroine is any indication. Trailer for the record.

But still is looks like it's going to be even more fun than the first game. I look forward to it.

In regards to other commercial games coming out Lufia DS was announced! YES! It's a remake of Lufia II! HOLY SHIT YES! It's a 3D Action RPG and all the character designs of old have been thrown away! YESSSSSSSSS-wait, wait, wait! WHAT!? NOOOOOOOOOO!

Scans to demonstrate.

It actually looks like it could be fun in a way, but....I'm going to miss my good old classic 2D Lufia II. :<

-------------------------------------------------------

In the middle of my scouring of youtube, I also found this. It's an RM CBS.

Looks interesting. Hopefully Mastervlad can build on what Eternal Sonata started.

Anyway I'm off!

The battle for the Holy Gra-I mean, Tears Crown begins!

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Hello losers, how's everything going? :3

Me? I've beaten Nostalgia. Easy game through and through...except for Airship battles. But anyway. Summon Night X came out in japan. So of course I have to try it out. It's good fun. Another NORMAL RPG to play on the DS! It's 2D too! I know, what is this madness!? I can only hope this gets localized, like how Tales of Hearts should have been localized. >:|

It starts out in typical Summon Night fashion. Choose either the male or female main character(I chose the male, He looks cooler. 8D). Then watch a long winded intro play out. Yeah, I know. PEOPLE TALKING IN AN RPG!? Well then you haven't played a Summon Night game. They have the most long winded intros ever. But once you get past that and start playing, it's good fun. Have a video.

--------------------------------------------------------

In other randomness...I got an external HD yesterday and got all my important stuff off my laptop. It's a much better backup method than a dinky flashdrive. So now my project's future is no longer in jeopardy. Hooray!

Anyway, I leave off with randomness.

Ah, how nostalgic

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:35:00 +0000

So in my neverending battle against the evil lord of boredom, I got my hands on the new DS RPG 'Nostalgia'. It's a typical by the books rpg, random turn based battles, characters and a story that trips nearly every cliche in the book, etc.

...This is exactly what I needed. A good old NORMAL RPG on my DS. There are way too many goddamn SRPGs on the DS, it pisses me off. Mostly because they're all on the PSP. But anyway, I want to lay waste to my enemies and freely explore maps and solve puzzles! Not to move my characters around a stupid grid and navigate a ton of command menus!

Needless to say, I'm enjoying the hell out of this game. Sure, the personalities of your party members are pretty much paper thin archtypes. But I like them anyway. There are random battles, but I'm okay with that. The battle system itself is nothing like anything I'd make. It's slow typical turn based fare, but I like it. You can predict every major plot point before it appears, but I don't mind too much.

The game pulls it all together and makes it fun.

That's really all that matters in my opinion. It would be nice if the story was more varied and the characters were deeper than their assigned archtypes. But that's just an add on to good gameplay.

I'm about 10 hours into the game and loving it. Though the game is a little easy, character battles in particular. Not even bosses are a real challenge.

On the flipside, airship battles are 'LOL EFF U' hard at times. They play like 'Wild ARMs 3's Sandcraft battles. Each of your party members mans a part of your airship for battle. However Nostalgia uses small number scaling for stats. So at Lv 20, my main character has about 143 HP. The Airship starts out with 100 HP, and airship enemies generally hit for about 30-60 damage. Now you can have anywhere from 1-6 enemies on your ONE airship so needless to say, you get gang raped. My Airship's HP now is 310, but I'm still getting my butt kicked if I run into a bad monster group.

tl;dr it's a huge contrast from the laughably easy character battles.

Anyway, that's enough from me about Nostalgia, go play it.

And to finish off, have a visual.

Annnnd awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay I gooooooooooooooooooo

The Wheel of Fate is NOT Turning

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:57:00 +0000

It's time for yet another boredom blog post. Yessssss!

So what have I done to stave off the looming dark cloud of evil(and boredom) this time?

I've been playing BlazBlue. Story mode specifically. I tried Arcade mode on Hard. I can't beat Hakumen. DAMN YOU HAKUMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

I actually really like the presentation of story mode in BB though. It's like a perfected version of GGXX's story mode. To be simple though, I suppose you could say it's like a visual novel with fights here and there. It's really addicting. You have to play through each character's individual story to unlock two extra story paths and then after you beat those, you can play the true ending. The true ending is the most epic thing ever. Unlimited Ragna is also pretty damn cheap to play as!

I hope story mode in Continuum Shift takes place after Calamity Trigger's story mode, because I really want to know what happens next. That is, if there WILL be a story mode. *glares at Guilty Gear Accent Core*

'Teach me, Miss Litchi!' is also the most hilarious thing ever. Seriously, I laughed like crazy. I only wish there were more episodes. D:

Well, despite all the fun I've been having with BlazBlue. I doubt that it will last very long. That dark cloud of evil is only going to draw closer and closer until it finally consumes me. Maybe it's for the best, huh?

I need to plan...

Edit: onooooooooooooes, I forgot a visual! Here have this.

Later.

My despair. Feel it.

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Wow, I am so bored these days that I'm blogging about it. There's not much else to do. :<

FFTA2 is getting annoying. My handy sketchbook has been run out too. At least I went out with a nice group picture for the last page. Too bad I can't scan still.

So what have you losers been up to these days? Is Tales of The Great Old One finished yet? Did Anaryu fall off Mount Everest? Has Ocean given in to the Foodmonster? Is Sacred Eternal Seraphim Cirno done yet, Nessiah? Has Project DOAD gotten that one star review yet? Has Neok made AAG even more impossible while I wasn't looking? Will I ever stop asking inane questions? Find out next time onnnn, Cloudreach Ball Zeeeeeeee

*cough*

Moving along. I read that Ar Tonelico 3 was announced a bunch of days ago. I like the character designs so far. But...but...Why 3D!? D:

I guess it's sort of inevitable with the industry these days. 2D is very quickly becoming obsolete. Every game review I've seen for 2D games these days has been 'bawww the graphics suck!', which is kind of a downer. I like 2D :<

First it was Trinity Universe, then it was Atelier Rorona, and now it's Ar Tonelico 3!

To their credit though, they look great imo, but...but...3D! D:
Oh well.

What else...

Have some random videos!

*Skie runs*

So we meet again...and again...and again.

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Beware, there is not a single mention of Sacred Earth in here. You have been warned.

I swear, if there is a god of luck in some far off mythology somewhere. I formally present to you this message:

SCREW YOU!

SCREW YOU WITH A RAKE!

*ahem*

So over the past few weeks I've somehow managed to catch a cold, get over it, catch another one, get over that, and then catch yet another one on top of that. Back to effing back! What the hell? >:V

Needless to say I am not happy sitting here running through paper like some kind of sniffling, sneezing automaton...

Heh, an automaton.

I AM A SNIFFLING AUTOMATON *BZZT*...*SNIFFLE*

ANYWAY, moving away from my health issues...

I've beaten 'Star Ocean: The Last Hope' some days ago. Thank the heavens. I have to say though. The last boss is so cheap and annoying. I mean, I beat him on my first try, but all of his attacks are all designed in such a way that they all piss you off. The ending was nice though. Too bad I didn't get the special endings. Ah well, I'm not playing that again. Moving right along.

I also picked up 'Final Fantasy Tactics A2' upon beating SO4. I was already playing this but I had put it down some time ago. Getting back on my current playthrough, I'm currently just messing around doing quests and training my party for the big story mission that I lost to the last time I was playing. I hope to finish that soon. As much as I hate to admit it though, this is the best DS SRPG I've played so far. Imagine if Paradise Blue was an SRPG and you have FFTA2, heh.

What else...Ah right, I'm almost out of sketchbook paper. I've been drawing a lot and I'm actually happy with a good amount of them. Too bad I'm definitely not going to feel like scanning all that crap in once I can. I guess that's not too bad. It's not like every piece has to to leave my sketchbook...right? D:

Anyway, I leave off with random visuals.

Art by KeyPassions

Still alive...barely

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:40:00 +0000

It's been many centuries since I made a blog entry. It's been really....er, busy for me as of late. So I haven't been working on my projects much...or at all. I've switched modes from RPG Maker to drawing and playing games.

I've been playing 'Star Ocean: The Last Hope' at the moment. In all honesty, it's a terrible game in many, many aspects, but it's one saving grace is the battle system. If only that battle system was attached to a getter game! Ah well, I'm almost finished with it. Just a little bit more and then I can free myself from it, ...'kay?

What else. Ah, right. Drawing. I've been doing a lot of drawing in my sketchbook recently. I think I've gotten a lot better in that aspect. But I bet my tablet-fu has regressed. It's been a long while! D:

It's a shame my scanner won't work on this computer. Otherwise I'd show some of my recent work.

ALSO!

It's a little late incoming from me, but Project DOAD was finished and released in full some time ago. I decided to forgo custom music and just release the game. It pains me to not have what would no doubt have been some excellent music from tyvb, but he had his own problems to deal with. Anyway, it's there on it's blog page.

I'm also helping out with a cross over game effort called Cross Retro. It's actually really amusing, but it's still in progress. Check out the test videos!

And finally, can't end a blog entry without some kind of visual. Let's see now.....

Aha, Videos!

"Caith is not pleased"

Alright enough dumbassery. Skie signing out! ( ' w ' )/

Video: Boss Test Final + Menu Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:49:00 +0000

Annnd we have a video with all characters in and such.

Let's see now. All characters are playable, most of the spells have been given custom spell effects, barring Earth Rage, all systems are demonstrated.

I already explained Kell's strategy. Flann's Strategy is to attack with debilitating fire spells and then support Kell with a Fire Barrier spell to make up for her weakness. However, Kell does not do the same for Flann, so you can easily strike at her weakness and take her down first. Kell, however is more dangerous since she has an AOE ice spell on top of three other ice spells, giving her three chances to reduce your Ice resist to nothing and deal ridiculous damage, as you can see in the video.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, in other news, I was brainstorming ideas for how to avoid having to make a custom menu. I do believe I've found it. Delegate all the character growth systems to town locations and savepoints or what have you. This would reduce the need for a tricked out base menu to about say....0%? I am however going avoid the default menu still. I'm probably just going to provide a simple objective/quest reminder menu to replace an involved main menu.

Also that poll totally is not going to decide who the main character is. That's already done. It's more of a 'who do you like more?' thing. I wouldn't delegate major story decisions to a poll.

Speaking of story, I've already outlined the the basic game flow for SEBR. I'll share it with you. It'll at least show that I'm doing something other than battle stuff.

--- Game Flow Design ---

Follows the pace of the old SEL. Take missions, explore and do other stuff. Once you finish the general missions, the story mission will open up. This constitutes a single chapter.

So, game flow is...

Chapter Begin Scene --> Free Missions and Exploration(5) --> Story Mission --> Chapter End Scene

--- Mission Board Design ---

The game takes up a mission based system. You go to the Mission Board, choose requests and fulfill them. Once you've done enough, then the story mission will open up. Finish this mission and the chapter will end. But you can still explore and finish the other missions before doing the story mission.

-- Mission Types and Difficulties --

Hunt: Take out a specific monster. Usually a strong monster. but can sometimes be a group hunt.
Gather: Gather items for the client. Amount and type vary
Volunteer: Minigame type missions where you must assist the client in whatever they do.

- Difficulties -

Easy: You will have little trouble completing this mission.
Normal: There may be some challenge involved in this mission.
Hard: There are many challenges involved with this mission.
Expert: The challenge level is through the roof. Fulfill at your own risk.

- Rewards -

There are no items in SEBR, so Rewards are going to have to be SP and Ether Shards. With this in mind. I should balance it so that Missions are the best source of SP and Ether Shards.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's all from me. Have some randomness to leave off.

Downloads have been removed

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:22:00 +0000

All downloads on the blog have been removed in anticipation of the remake. If you have the game, don't give it out please. It's not like I can stop it, but it would be nice. I'll be purging the game from other sites as well.

Well, I guess I can show you this to leave off. It's what I'm working on right now. Patchoulli's new battle sprites.

Also, have an updated Kell.

Laaaaaaaater.

I come bearing goods

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:16:00 +0000

So I've been doing some work. For today, we have some screenshots, a video, and some art.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here's your video.

This is a test boss battle with the new battle system for Sacred Earth: Bonds REMAKE. I'm also using this to create a first time basic non-random boss strategy.

This boss has a set routine to lower your ice resistance with two ice spells, and then strike with a big ice spell for maximum damage, and finally heal afterwards. So you have to counter her ice spells with ice protection in between taking your own actions while finally still dealing enough damage to counteract her healing. If you slip up even once, you probably WILL die. Luckily I didn't in this video, but I lost once.

The key is to either strike at her weakness, which is fire, or whittle away at her Barrier and deal maximum damage.

As you can see, this is much more strategic than SEB1, off the bat. I'm hoping to keep stuff like this going and expand on this as I go.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And finally, some art.

Meet Fae Lin. She's a fairy of undetermined age. Isn't she cute? Well you'd better get used to her. Because she's your save point. Oh and I forgot to tell you, She's got the rudest mouth ever. Good luck~

Art by Nessiah

Battle System Outline V2

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:50:00 +0000

This system is fairly different from the original, though the basic fundamentals of the system are the same. However the useless bits have been cut out and some new things have been put in.

Elimination of Items

Consumable items have been completely done away with, like in SEB2. This removes one unnecessary aspect of combat I feel. Plus items would break the system from a balance standpoint I think.

Auto EP Regeneration

Ether Points, which is the foundation of the entire system is regenerated each passing turn by 2 points. Every 4 turns, the party also gains back an extra 4 EP on top of the 2 gained each turn. This is in to help speed up the system and minimize luls in combat for things like items.

Strike Chain System

Taken from SEB2, when attacking, hold decision to extend your attack. Each stage of the attack costs 6 EP with 5 total stages for a maximum cost of 30 EP. Each character's Strike Chains differ from one another in terms of stats used for damage, algorithms, and hits.

Outburst Skill System

The same system as in the original. Each time a character attacks, they gain a little bar at the bottom of their battle interface. Attack 3 times to make that character's array of special attacks available. The new addition to this system is the inclusion of spell usage increasing OB count as well. This decision was made since people complained about how in the original, you had to go through risky normal attacks that could miss to get to the OBs. Now you will make them available no matter what. As with SEB2, using OBs increases SW count.

Exceed Limit System

A system from SEB2. Hold decision during an OB in order to extend it into a character's EX Limit. EX Limits are one step below Sacred Will in power, and thus, they cost less to use as well. EX Limits take 2 SW Blocks.

Sacred Will System

Formerly known as Finish Burst. Sacred Will are character's ultimate special moves. They are available to use once you have 5 SW Blocks. You gain SW blocks by attacking and using spells, however the gain is minimal, to maximize your SW gain, you must use OBs. Once you have 5 blocks, you can hold decision during that character's final OB skill to use their SW. So right off the bat SWs are not available.

Crisis Recover

By holding cancel during a Strike Chain, OB, or enemy SW, you can expend 1 SW Block to boost a character's LF and EP a bit. If you feel that healing spell is going to be too late, then you can hold cancel to heal that character and probably save their life. This also serves to help defend against enemy SWs which was a major complaint against the game.

Barrier LF System

An enemy only system. Enemies have a second life value called Barrier. As long as enemies still have Barrier, then your melee attacks will do half damage. The goal is to reduce enemy Barrier in order to deal full damage. Different enemies have differing amounts of Barrier, however they all recieve the same damage. 1 hit from an attack = 1 point of damage to Barrier. So a 5 hit attack will reduce Barrier by 5 points. Barrier can be checked with the Analyze Command that all characters have.

Focus Guard System

All characters have the focus command. Using this command restores that character's LF by 1/10 and restores 5 EP on top of the EP gained back by passing turns. Focus also greatly reduces damage from everything except enemy SWs. If you're really low on EP, then it might be a good idea to focus once or twice. You'll be back up to speed in no time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

...And this is what I have in mind. Any complaints, comments, death threats regarding this, feel free to voice them.

I'm mostly done. Focus, analyze, OBs, exceed limit, barrier guard, strike chain, and EP regeneration are in place anyway. This is a lot easier now that I only have a cast of 4 playable characters to deal with, heh.

I guess this section is back in action again

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:28:00 +0000

Since I'm fixing and redoing many parts of this game. I guess I should keep my progress here rather than make yet another page.

Well after a long break due to lack of general will to work and a gaming binge, I finally came back to my work and found that I no longer felt incredible laziness while looking at my incomplete work. So it's back to the grind for me!

So what have I done so far?

I re-outlined the story. The overall story is mostly the same, but the execution in the beginning is far far different, and from there, many things will deviate from the original. What does this mean for you? You'll have to see, hoho~. A big factor that contributes to this is the inclusion of Patchoulli and Priel from the getgo. So the story is definitely going to be altered to accomodate for them. I'm actually looking forward to having them in from the start to interact will all the characters they missed out on. Basically, those two got screwed really bad in the first version. They were hastily shoehorned in. Now they're getting their chance. I'm also redoing other story details that I felt weren't all that great.

Graphics-wise, I created Veili and Gunnar's all new sprite sheets for battle, and I'm working on Priel now. For some reason, I've been dying to make Priel's new sprites. So this will be fun. I also made a new battle interface design. It's much better looking than both SEB and SEB2's I feel. This new look easily displays OB and FB without getting in the way of the art. So that's a win for me.

On the technical side of things, the battle system has been altered and more unified. So hopefully it will play out a lot better than previously. I've taken some inspiration from SEB2, but not so much to make them clones of each other. I'll post a battle system outline entry separately for what I have done and what's to come.

Anyway, have some art to leave off. It also shows Patch and Priel's new designs. No screenshots and such yet. I'm saving that for later.

P.S. We have a new poll up. As usual, the winner is what I'll go with.

Art by Nuechan

A Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Holy shit! It's an entry!

Seriously, this is just a reflection I had posted elsewhere. I figure it would make for a good read, so I'll make it an entry.

It's been a while since this was finished now. I look back on it now and I can't help but shake my head at all the mistakes I made.

First and foremost was...the writing. People have said that the dialogue was terrible and the characters were too samey. While I don't agree about the characters, I can see the point about the dialogue. This has been plaguing me for years now. I try to write my best, but it never turns out to be good enough. However with each attempt, I learn what NOT to do. Of course, that doesn't really tell me what I should do. It's kind of like process of elimination, heh. It's strange though. No one said much about Angelic Awakening's writing, so I must have done something right there. Maybe it was a fluke, haha.

Secondly, the menu was pretty badly designed, though it served it's function well enough. The worst thing about it was that it was map based. The numbers in the main menu were also out of control and I could never pinpoint the issue. Luckily I've improved my abilities since then. So map based menus are a thing of the past now. Here's hoping I'll do better.

Third was the battle system. I felt that I managed to create something fun enough, but there were many balancing issues, especially with spells and items. Spells could wipe out your party in an instant. On the flipside, items may have been TOO useful. As Nessiah demonstrated. Farming for zelum was easy enough with Gems of weakness. On top of that Outburst Crystals and Burst Gems ensured that you would always have special attacks ready in record time. I suppose in a way, this kind of balances out the cheapness of enemies, but I don't like it.

Lastly was field movement. The way I handled this was to just delegate field stuff to four tools. Nearly all the field challenges involved these tools. But the method for handling them was pretty clunky. GZ from GW mentioned that it was annoying to have to press a key to switch your current tool, and in retrospect, I agree with him. The system was only an annoying aesthetic.

I was actually going to create a big patch for the game that would've had a new menu, a load of edits and fixes and a new skill learning system. But in the end, I grew tired of dealing with the game and decided to focus my improvement efforts on SEB2.

Despite it's problems though, I think I managed to find that some people enjoyed SEB1 for what it was, merely an rpg condensed into a single location.

The other day Neok mentioned that games like Summon Night: Twin Age and Luminous Arc reminded him of the style of my games. It was actually a surprise to me. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? No matter though. That's just my style. Some people enjoy it so it's not like it's an astronomical failure. Not to mention I enjoy working this way.

Getting back to my main points. I plan to try and address SEB1's major faults in SEB2. Especially in the areas of battle and field movement. Writing is not my strong suit, but it's not in me to delegate that kind of thing to someone else, so I'll just do my best to characterize better and avoid dialogue pitfalls.

All in all, SEB1 was a good learning experience and I hope to do better with the sequel.

Sacred Earth: Bonds Closed

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:45:00 +0000

It's been a long haul, but as of now, Sacred Earth: Bonds is finally closed. Version 2 will not be completed unfortunately. Development has begun on Sacred Earth: Bonds II. All feedback gotten from Sacred Earth: Bonds will be applied to the sequel.

I thank everyone who played or was a help in the development process in some way, thank you again.

Sacred Earth: Bonds 2 Blog

And with that, this blog is officially closed for progress.

See ya.

Update: SEB Version 2

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:01:00 +0000

Although I'd like to be finished with this game, I still have work to do. Well I followed up on the first wave of feedback and I'm working on a new menu, a new skill system, and adding new scenes for tutorials and other stuff. And then I need to get all the voices into the scenes and contact the stragglers.

Here are some screenshots to leave off

Downloads Removed

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:36:00 +0000

Downloads have been removed in anticipation of the remake.

Release Notes 1

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:04:00 +0000

The release tomorrow will have three downloads according to difficulty. Easy Mode, Normal Mode, and Unknown Mode.

Easy Mode's enemies have pathetic stats and your SP gain is doubled, allowing you to grow your characters faster and breeze by enemies with little effort.

Normal Mode's enemies have the standard settings that I started with, SP gain is also normal. Nothing special about it. Some may find it a little hard though.

Unknown Mode's enemies have a large boost to all stats, but HP. SP gain is the same as normal mode, but to make up for it, the player starts out with more items and SP.

I did this to avoid difficulty complaints I got from testing really. Download easy mode if you're not really into difficult stuff. At least it won't stop you from seeing the story play out then. Otherwise, normal mode should do fine for anyone with half a brain and some strategic thinking. Unknown mode is just there for masochists.

I'll rerelease a fully voiced version after my VAs get their collective acts together.

Profile: Zuleika Miria

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:54:00 +0000

Race: White Wolf Beast

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Abilities: Heightened senses, Ridiculous strength

Weapon: Flashing Wind(Nodachi, an asian type sword with a very long blade)

Likes: Messing with Melodia, Things that don't require too much effort, Cooking

Dislikes: Bothersome people and things, Getting wet, Seafood

Personality: Zuleika is a rather mild individual, she's not crazy like Melodia and isn't quiet like Talin. She prefers to stand back and observe the situation before striking. She was raised in an Eltian village and trained by a woman named Naru Suzuharu in the way of Eltian swordplay, so she is a bit of an oddity among the Beasts due to her Eltian upbringing. With her monsterous strength and heightened senses, she can sense when an opponent is coming and can strike back with more than twice the force. Truly a force to be reckoned with.

Zuleika is a terrible, terrible cook. She's capable of making things like rice and basic curry, maybe even doing it well, but anything beyond that will somehow be turned into a mutated toxic mess capable of killing thousands with a single taste, so says Melodia and Talin...and Alzilory.

Zuleika also has a younger sister by the name of Kell Miria. She's the reason Zuleika travels around working in a mercenary-like fashion. To make enough money to send her sister to school. She did manage to make enough already though, so it's a mystery why she still hangs out with the group.

Profile: Luxuria Albion

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Race: Human

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Abilities: Manipulation of Water, Knowledge of human weak points

Weapon: Dawn & Dusk(Dual Ether Guns)

Likes: Taking care of the group, developing new technology, mothering Melodia(much to her annoyance)

Dislikes: Nothing in particular~

Personality: Luxuria is a young woman traveling with Alzilory for reasons unknown. She's very knowledgeable about the human body, Human or Humanoid, and knows how to exploit the natural weaknesses in them.

She has a charming demeanor and no one that knows her can really stay angry at her for long. She uses two Ether guns in battle along with Water Ether arts. Using water to distract or heal and her guns to exploit weaknesses from afar. Luxuria has an older brother by the name of Eldis Ablion, and a younger sister by the name of Rhia Albion. Strangely enough, they're all separated and off on their own paths, never really meeting one another.

It's also worth noting that Luxuria's family invented guns and then went on to invent ether guns. Which would explain her skill with them. Guns as weapons are still relatively new to the world and haven't caught on yet though. The Albion family is also the group that's leading the technological revolution of the new world. The family and their business are constantly researching new technology and practical uses for them in their attempt to bring about their vision of "The New Age" for mankind.

Profile: Maron

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:14:00 +0000

Race: Wind Wolf Beast

Age: 14

Gender: "What's a gender? Is it something to eat?"

Weapon: Claws

Abilities: Wind Manipulation, Beast Strength, Anything else is unknown

Likes: Selling things, finding treasures, being around friends

Dislikes: Being hurt, mean people.

Personality: Maron's an innocent kid pure and simple. Veili and Gunnar come upon Maron in the tower early on and they get off to a pretty bad start. Maron's a mystery who apparently has no family and doesn't even know how to do simple things. Maron also sells things to passing travellers as a hobby, even though s/he/it doesn't need or know how to use money for him/her/itself. Maron is constantly asking questions, so those without much patience may end up not liking Maron much.

Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:24:00 +0000

I made a trailer to showcase the game features and introduce the voice cast. It's my first time doing something this big, so forgive my silly mistakes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sktPntINw8M

Finished~

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:06:00 +0000

The game is finally finished. It's in beta testing and voicing phase right now. There were a lot of bugs that were found. I'm surprised how many of them got by me. Ah well, no matter.

You can check here for a verdict so far: Sacred Moon Blog

(Click to enlarge)

I also scrapped the colored knights puzzle on floor 18. it was too buggy and boring. So I opted for something simpler.

I guess that's it. I'll continue character additions and stuff some other time.

Profile: Alzilory Silvern

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:55:00 +0000

Race: Human

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Weapon: None, he uses pure ether blasts unarmed

Abilities: Extreme manipulation of multiple elements

Likes: EtherTech Research, Traveling, Practicing Ether Arts

Dislikes: When Melodia, Zuleika, and Talin get out of hand, The Gods and their religions. The corrupt kingdoms and their political struggles.

Personality: Alzilory has a rather pessimistic outlook on most things and tends to get a bit depressing when he goes on about this 'mission' of his. Many who meet him tend to write him off as evil and suspicious at first glance, and with his demeanor, one would be hard pressed to disagree, but maybe they're judging him a bit too early. He has a dark sense of humor as well, which tends to get mixed reactions from people. alzilory is rather proficient in the field of EtherTech research and application. Given the right materials he can build anything ranging from boosted weapons running on Ether Energy to Mechanized Sentries with limited intelligence.

Profile: Patchoulli Aylin

noreply@blogger.com (Skie) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:05:00 +0000

Race: Half Dragon/Eltian

Age: 15

Gender: Female

Abilities: Power to control multiple elements, Exceptional Ether Abilities. Dragon Transformation

Likes: Cooking, Practicing Alchemy, Gunnar

Dislikes: Melding, Priel's teasing, Laziness, Her parents for basically getting rid of them by sending them to Valdis Academy

Weapon: Ether Device(Drill Knuckle with gun technology intergrated)

Backstory: Patchoulli, or Patch as some people like to call her is the youngest daughter of Cyllya, a woman who is rumored to be a powerful dragon. She and her sister Priel live not too far away from Veili and Gunnar, so they're friends. Her parents want her sister and her to have a greater education, so they plan to send the both of them halfway across the world to Valdis Academy for Achemy and Melding. Faaar away from home, poor Patch. Patchoulli is a rather sensitive individual, who freaks out at the smallest things, nothing like her sister. She's good friends with Veili and Gunnar, but relates to Gunnar a bit more. So much that Priel teases her about having a crush on him. There are also times Patchoulli can act out of line and do impulsive things if something is really important to her. She's been hanging out with Veili too much, says Priel. Patchoulli's weapon, the Ether Device was once a Drill Knuckle forged by Veili and Gunnar's dad. Priel and Patchoulli then took it along with an Albion Issue Firearm and intergrated the technology inside the drill through alchemy and melding, resulting in the weapon Patchoulli now has. It's a perfect weapon for fighting up close or attacking from afar.