Moon Blade
From Spheriki
Moon Blade is an RPG project by Tengu Dev, a team currently consisting of DaVince and Musashi.
Our aim is to create a large RPG with an epic storyline, many characters and a (fairly) unique map perspective and battle system, and make it available freely for the wide world.
Contents |
Plans
Story modularity
We also plan to make the game's chapter (or scenario) system modular and "attachable". For production and release, this means the following:
- The game (after some demos, that is) will initially be released as an incomplete product.
- Over time, we create new chapters and put them available for download.
- Users download the extra chapters (or they redownload the entire game with new chapters included) and they will be able to continue their game as normal.
For other purposes it means the following:
- We can release bonus chapters and scenarios if we wish so. Think Kefka's Revenge's special Christmas version, if anyone's ever played that. Or, more seriously, extra additions to the story, serving as a side story, derivative story, etcetera.
- People can try and make their own content, then share it with others. This is kind of ambitious, for now we intend to use it just for our own purposes.
Involved battle system
Current plans for the battle system is to have two modes; active and passive. Both versions are actually turn-based; action is paused until the player does something. The difference between the two lies what you do when it's your turn:
- Active mode lets you press buttons with specific timing, performing different actions and damaging the enemy the best you can. Feels more real-time.
- Passive mode lets you select the same attack actions, but beforehand. Then the character attacks and you can improve these attacks by following a specific timing while the character is performing your actions.
Development progression through iteration
We have several development phases where we set a short, clear list of tasks to complete. When this list of tasks is done, we test everything extensively, then continue to the next phase, which has a completely new list of clearly defined tasks. There currently are four such phases before demo 1, this might get expanded to 5 or 6.
Goal for demo 1
This is what we're ultimately aiming for in the first demo.
- At least one town or area one can walk through.
- At least a few NPCs one can interact with.
- A store, or several stores.
- One to several cutscenes.
- Full debugging available to the user.
- A menu interface with at least access to character stats and equipment (and a quit function).
Progress
Not far, but slowly but surely getting somewhere at the moment.
We're currently still at development phase 1, where the phase is as indicated a few paragraphs above. This stage is about 1/4th along. This includes a simple character system (for both allies and enemies); a resource loader that simplifies loading any kind of resource and falls back on special resources if the file doesn't exist yet; and two types of menu systems for different uses.
There's a long road ahead of us to even get to the first demo. But we'll get there. :)
External links
- Tengu Dev website
- Old forum thread (note; most information in the thread is outdated and referring to an old version of the game.)
