A familiar location appears...

 Dear Players,

Looking forward to seeing you again!

Sincerely,

Lindblum Castle

Blackmoon Prophecy Prelude - Intro (most of it!)

 Most of the intro segment for Blackmoon Prophecy Prelude.

There's a obvious typo when Branch confronts a Branch solider, can you spot it? Video also ends at the boss fight because I forgot to dumb down the fight because it was previously going to be unwinnable (still unwinnable on PC, adjustments to make it winnable were done on my laptop which I'm not on).

Blackmoon Prophecy Prelude Survey

 In order to flesh out how some systems will work, I've created this little survey quickly to see how people feel about certain systems that will be in place and how each player would personally like to see them function. The results of this survey may affect how I develop the game.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbmt5jKE1Fuv-vAAtphls9MrtaObudRRllvvpGhI3LYsOtkg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Intro Sequence

Something to show off tonight! This is part of Blackmoon Prophecy Prelude's intro. There will an ominous panning bit BEFORE this intro sequence that will be similar to the panning shots at the start of Final Fantasy VI. I will add those parts at a later date!

Blackmoon Prophecy Prelude Main Cast

Time for a little update!

I've been toiling away pretty heavily today on getting the database sorted and I aim to have a functional intro done by the end of the week which is a lofty goal since there's really no form of any intro in the game at all right now. Anyway, these portraits have been imported into the game for a while, but I'm just getting to them now on here (I shared them a while ago on Discord). Here are your eight permanent party members!

Vergil is the main character of Blackmoon Prophecy Prelude. When the game starts, he is a new recruit in the Port Alraune town guard. When trouble comes knocking in his hometown and interrupts his training with his fellow recruits, he pledges to fight back and joins the Lindblum Army.
Vergil's official job is fighter. He can wield knives and swords and has a combination of abilities from the knight and thief jobs.

Salia is Vergil's best friend in Port Alraune. She is not as built for combat as Vergil, but is a fledgling white magic user and is proficient with the bow as a weapon. Salia, while not mandatory in the party at any time, is the game's deuteragonist.
Salia's official job is holy archer. She can use bows, rods, and staves. Her skillset combines abilities from the archer and white mage jobs.

Bocshe Gore returns as a playable character and is just as nonsensical as ever. Bosche is a man who seldom makes sense and typically rambles incoherently before forcing himself into situations (like joining the party in the first game without any discussions with the party beforehand). Bosche is once again a seeker of artifacts, relics, and treasures.
Bosche's official job is seeker. He can use bows and knives. He is able to use abilities from the archer and gambler jobs.

The official main character of the cancelled Blackmoon Prophecy III has earned a spot in this game serving a similar role as she did in her original game as a summoner! Aysha hails from the Lenadian town of Daguero and is a young summoner who wants to go out in search of new Espers to bond with.
Aysha's official job is kindred. She can use swords and hammers. Aysha can use some abilities from the knight job while being able to obtain summons not available to the standard kindred job for followers/recruits.

Aysha's sister Ronan has also made the transition from Blackmoon Prophecy III. Like before, Ronan is a spear user who funnels his innate magic talents into his weapon strikes and he is also able to learn blue magic abilities.
Ronan's official job title is halberdier. He can use spears and swords. Ronan can use a few abilities from the dragoon job while, again, also being able to learn blue magic in the same manner as a blue mage.

Lanse Crescent is a hopeful young mercenary from the kingdom of Branch who seeks to look for paying jobs on either side of the Crystal War. Lanse hails from Oaktown an is an ancestor of Blackmoon Prophecy II character Twill Crescent.
Lanse's official job title is mercenary. He is able to use axes and swords. Lanse's skillset combines abilities from the dark knight and duelist jobs.

Soryu is a master ninja from the independent Village of Zen on the small Zen Isle off the coast of Ivalice. Unlike Nobumasa in the original game who was a ninja who was ridiculed in his hometown before venturing off into the world to better himself, Soryu is an accomplished ninja already and his skills reflect it as he has also learned how to harness the power of black magic.
Soryu's official job title is ninja (surprised?) and he is able to use ninja swords. His skillset combines abilities from the black mage and ninja jobs.

Ceresa Vainstrong is a young woman from northern Branch who distanced herself from the affairs of the warmongering King Branch and the war he has started with the world. Ceresa seeks to rise above the reputation of her kingdom in her travels as she seeks to better herself both as a fighter and as an intellectual.
Ceresa's official job title is pugilist. She can use claws, rods, and staves and can obtain abilities typically used by the monk and time mage jobs.

Battle & World Map Testing

 Two videos to show off today!

The first video is the world map. It is intended to be similar to a tactical RPG's world map in that the player moves about on an illustrated world map and selects a location to enter. Players will unlock new locations on the map as they progress. Blue locations are towns, red are hostile areas where the player can fight generic enemies, yellow are mission locations, and white are optional non-combat areas.

It was pointed out on YouTube by Kaimi Kreissel that the A and R in the location preview images were too similar to one another. I agreed and have since fixed this by adding an additional black pixel to the R, but this change was made after the below video was recorded.

Next video is the very first battle test! There's not much in place yet, but it's a great start I feel. I'm reusing a lot of assets from the cancelled Blackmoon Prophecy III such as the battle transition and many sound effects. I'm also pixelating the RTP battle animation files (shrinking by 33% and then resizing them back to their original sizes via pixel resize) to give them a nice pixelated SNES look.

Field Sprites!

Decided that I'd show off some of the field sprites for this game since I've been making quite a few this week!

Wondering who they are? Well...

1. Adder Legault: General of the Branch Dragoons. In the first Blackmoon Prophecy, he is known as Lord Adder.

2. Ami Peperro: A fledgling blue mage in training from the Lenadian town of Palumpu. 

3. Arvis Beryl: A strategist and tactician assigned to work under Vergil. Arvis is related to Cid Beryl, the Commander of the Augurers in Blackmoon Prophecy II.

4. Bosche Gore: Relic seeker and treasure hunter extraordinaire! Bosche Gore returns in all his chaotic glory. As usual, he won't really speak much sense.

5. Braak Amiro: General of the Ivalician Army. He is one of the four elite generals who make up the "Four Swords of Ivalice".

6. Darius Nobleton: A young Branch dragoon who is eager to impress.

7. Deckar Casca: General of the Ivalician Army. He is one of the four elite generals who make up the "Four Swords of Ivalice".

8. Dragoon: Just a typical dragoon sprite!

9. Gran Goldmore: Regent of Lindblum. He steps in to lead the Kingdom of Lindblum when his brother, King Edward Goldmore, goes missing.

10. Jasmine Amiro: Sister to General Braak Amiro.

11. Jastira Foxglove: Recruiter for the Lindblum Army.

12. Lanse Crescent: An aspiring mercenary with an adventurous heart. He hails from the Kingdom of Branch.

13. Ronan Solaris: A youthful Kindred from the Lenadian town of Daguero. Fun fact, Ronan was one of the two main characters from the defunct Blackmoon Prophecy III.

14. Sabino Ricci: Head of the Mage Academy and Lindblum's senior most magic authority.

15. Salia Fleuret: Best friend of Vergil Augurelt. She is the deuteragonist of the game.

16. Siegfried Sigmundson: A swordsman from the remote Lindblum town of Kaipo.

17. Vera Farabrandt: A Kindred and General of the Ivalician Army. She is one of the four elite generals who make up the "Four Swords of Ivalice".

18. Vergil Augurelt: Main character from the Lindblum town of Port Alraune.

19. Zeul Raithwall: Lord of the Ivalician Military.