Update 3/17/2015

Hello people.

Time for another update. This time, most of the work has been getting done outside of the engine itself. Mostly concept artwork, spriting, interface design, scenario writing, and the like.

A preliminary build of the game's first chapter was finished recently. Detailing roughly how the game would play. It was actually a mad rush to try and complete something even remotely similar to what we wanted, but in the end, after several second guesses as to whether it was even possible, it happened. We made it.

Of course that's nothing to stop at now. So much more needs to be made. Finalized sprites, art assets, writing needs to be edited for quality, but all in all, we're getting there.

I imagine that actual engine work won't be resumed for a bit as feedback is collected and changes are made. In the meantime however, asset creation and writing will continue on.

I'll leave off with some visuals

Sprite concepts for Morrighan. These actually turned out to be quite entertaining to make.

Scene from Chapter 1

Thanks for reading, and catch you next time.

Update 3/3/2015

Hello people.

It's that time again. Time for an update. Now, what's been done in the time since the last update?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

...Okay that's a huge lie. We've actually made a TON of progress, I can proudly say. The game, in it's current form is at a playable state, which includes the entirety of the first chapter. The battle system and it's mechanics are completed, the Symbol Map system is functional, and the menu systems are all mostly functional.

What needs to be done now is work on various assets. I have people assisting me with spriting, so the battle sprites are being handled at a good rate. I wager the playable party members will be completed sooner than forecasted. Music is being made at a good rate as well. I definitely have to give my respect for those who are contributing to the project.

I'll take this time out to speak a little about one of SEM's current character customization systems.

Master Quartz

In the last version of the game, characters leveled up, and upon doing so, they gained more of a certain stat of the player's choosing. This could be changed at any time. I decided to do something different this time.

Now, each character has 5 slots in which they can equip different 'Quartz'. One Master Quartz, which influences the character's entire stat spread by percentages, with positives and negatives. Then four base Quartz, which determine the character's elemental resistances, stats by numbers, as well as any other additional effects.

With this system, you can more directly build your character's stats by changing their combination of Master Quartz, along with Base Quartz, without having the permanence of spending points on them and being dissatisfied later.

Both Master and Base Quartz can be found on Symbol maps, as there is no buying items with money.

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

And that's pretty much it.

Have some visuals.

And I'll leave off with some art.

Art by Ryuuen

And that's all from me. Till next time.

Update

I'm going to make this quick because frankly, I have little to say.

Things are going well. Character sprites are being made, the battle system is moving forward, and the menus have been redesigned.

Of course, the /actual/ work of producing story content has come to miserable, grinding halt. But there's not a whole lot I can do about that. Given the time I have.

Sounds familiar, huh?

This was the same exact place I was at with SEM 2k3. All the work went into establishing the base of the game, and story content was produced at a snail's pace. Well, I'm not too worried about it though, because this time, content is being handled faster than it was with the 2k3 version. In that version, I was stuck with the miserable task of handling most of the content and gameplay mechanics myself.

This time, there's a lot more material readily available to work with. ...Plus I can delegate the work I don't have the time to do to others. As they say, money talks and all that.

Anywho, the bottom line right now is; still working on establishing the base engine, and creating content. Story content is on hold for the moment.

That said, here are some visuals.

Fate's idle stance.

Main Menu Design

Priel Redesign

Garenia City Theme

And that's all from me.

Till next time.

And for once...

...I'm not months late posting an update.

Of course, given the short timeframe, I don't have much tangible to show, but I'll get to that bridge when it comes. Anyway, For the month of January, I've just been focusing on written tasks. Writing out the storyline summary. Writing out character profiles for everyone. I mean...everyone. Trust me, it's about as unfun as it sounds. Which is very. Let's see, what else...Ah, I pretty much finalized he gameplay mechanics decisions for menu and battle. And then I worked on some interface designs.

This month now, I plan to work on more...tangible tasks. Setting up the battle system base, editing sprites, implementing designs, that sort of thing. I know that all comes with it's own unique brand of frustrations, but I much prefer doing something I can see play out before me, rather than writing, haha. I'm just that kind of person in the end.

Anywho, for the more visual oriented, like I am, here's a design of the battle GUI. Not implemented yet, but will probably be started on this month.

Of course, elements are subject to change at any time. They may or may not. We'll see when the time comes.

Next up we have some music.



And with that, I can proudly announce that Zack Parrish is on board to work on the soundtrack for SEM. He's a brilliant composer whose work I very much enjoy. He also worked on Valdis Story: Abyssal City, where you can hear plenty of good tunes from him throughout. Having him aboard will definitely enrich the game, so we're definitely grateful.

And to leave off, have some art from me.

Morrighan's new design for SEM

And that's all for now. Thank you for reading! Till next time.

Several Months Later...

Whoops.

I did that post once, and then die for months thing again.

Time to rectify that...with an update! So, where's SEM been since I posted the last update? Where have I been? Good questions, which I'm sure you haven't asked, but I will supply answers to anyway!

Starting with myself, I have been mostly scarce on the game development side of things for the last couple months of 2014 due to life in general. Mostly working real jobs, trying to find a stable source of income, and basically just 'living'. Which meant that my work on SEM slowed down to a crawl. Admittedly, now, I'm essentially working full time, so it's not like I actually have the chance to speed up SEM's development, but I am pushing beyond all odds to do so.

Now, on the SEM front, the move to Ace has pretty much gone swimmingly. Scene and conversation flow have been implemented perfectly, the symbol map system has been improved from Sacred Earth: Promise, and I've done a good amount of work on the game's initial story events. The game's first 'chapter' can basically be played from start to end. The entire game's story has been written down for the first time in SEM's history, giving me a clear plan and idea of how to proceed at all points. All character designs have been updated, finally consolidating everyone into the same sort of style.

What's left now though? ...Quite a bit unfortunately. The game's combat system has not been set up still, and a lot of mechanics simply do not exist, which will require commissioning. Character battle sprites need to be edited, or even flat out created from scratch. I need to design and implement a main menu and sub menus, and of course, I need to create all of the story events from chapter 2 onward.

It's too much work for one man, frankly. And even though I've pruned this game down to the most manageable chunks I can over the years, SEM still manages to be a towering beast to the lone individual. There have been times where I considered giving in to the allure of crowdfunding and running a kickstarter, but...I quickly realize that's a dumb idea. And so I keep on the straight road, plodding towards the distance.

Thankfully I have friends helping me out. Of which I am eternally grateful for(And entirely unworthy), but nonetheless, I suppose that's enough rambling. Let's have some visual proof that I haven't been slacking off!

Conversation in town

                                     Current Symbol Map design

Character Concepts

And that's all for now. I'll try and update this more regularly, and keep a proper development schedule all around, but...when has that ever happened?

Anyway, till next time!