Just a visual example of what will happen when a character is recruited or a special character joins the party.
While inputting random names to test that, I realized that there will be a lot of possibilities. I inputted 40 names for testing and I was still only only the letter D!
As I get closer to finishing SMWX (my Mario Bros. X side project), I'm starting to ramp up sprite production. A lot of Blackmoon Prophecy: Prologue's sprites are edits from Record Keeper, though a few returning sprites from the other Blackmoon Prophecy games may pop up! Here are the characters/classes that I have finished battle sprites for so far.
From left to right...
Vergil Augurelt, the main character.
Salia Fleuret, the deuteragonist.
Paladin, the character class.
Archer, the character class.
Ami Peperro, a returning character from Blackmoon Prophecy. Her involvement will not be extensive, otherwise she would be a war hero in the first game.
Dragoon, the character class.
Black Mage, the character class.
Blackmoon Prophecy: The Crystal War was a bit of a mouthful, so I've changed the name. The project will now be called Blackmoon Prophecy: Prelude!
I've got a few little screenshots of WIP stuff to share here today. Keep in mind that none of this is at all finalized.
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| The title screen. There are cloud layers that pan/scroll, which makes this title screen look REALLY neat in motion. |
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| Getting the battle look down. Using Dawn of Souls/Pixel Remaster stuff! The HP/MP bars have been removed since this screenshot was taken. |
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| Testing out the item icons. I am liking the classic FF vibe that this is currently giving off, and I may stick with the default equip menu since it is similar to the original Blackmoon Prophecy's equip screen. |
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| This FF9 system skin that I cobbled together is working wonderfully so far. Here we just have me demonstrating that characters will not have portraits (due to the fact that the player can recruit generic characters as new party members) and instead have their sprites featured on the menu. |
I shared all of these on my Discord server already (link is in the sidebar in case you're not there!), so folks there would have already seen these. I'm hoping to have more new stuff in the coming days and weeks that I can share here.
This has been a known project on Discord for several days, but I'm going to resurrect this dev blog to post about it! Introducing... Blackmoon Prophecy: The Crystal War!
Players assume the role of Vergil Augurelt from the remote Lindblum town of Port Alraune. When Branch dragoons come and attack, he and his friend Salia Fleuret defend their hometown. Vergil and Salia are not enough on their own, and the Lindblum Army arrives to save the day. Vergil and Salia learn that King Kain Silverson, King of Branch, has declared war on the world and seeks to gather the Crystals of the Element. Vergil and Salia are drafted into a growing alliance of kingdoms devoted to stopping Branch's tyrant king.
Vergil is the main character, Salia is the deuteragonist (player controls Vergil while Salia is always present - but she does not necessarily have to be in the party). When drafted (very, very, very early on) by the Lindblum Army, Vergil's bravery in Port Alraune sees him given command of his own fledgling squad along with a small airship, the Queztal (Lindblum is mass producing small airships for the growing conflict with Branch). Arvis Beryl serves as tactician aboard the Queztal, advising Vergil on available missions and activities that warrant their attention. Sylphie Viceley serves as the Queztal navigator. The player can change their party on the Queztal, and I'm hoping to have a regular party size that's greater than the standard four members. Ideally, I want five or six.
There's no world map. The player can use the airship to travel directly to certain locations on a map Sylphie has (it will be a drawn map of the world from the first game that fills the screen when the player looks at it). Mission locations are where the player will land with an assembled party and either:
When a mission location is "beaten", it's done and will be removed from the map. Friendly locations, however, persist forever on the map. The player can visit these locations to learn about new mission locations, buy items and equipment, and visit recruitment offices where they can obtain somewhat randomly generated characters to fill their army. Each recruitment office has three characters who can be recruited. Many characters will be able to be recruited. You will pretty much be allowed to have as many, or as few, as you want.
Characters recruited at recruitment offices are generic characters with no plot importance, they're simply soldiers in your squad. They can be male or female and will be randomly given a job and name.
Vergil and Salia do not have fixed classes and instead the player will be able to customize how these two characters function (with Vergil's stats being more geared towards fighting and Salia more towards magic). Additional important characters who join the squad later (say Vera as an example, but she won't, just need someone important for the example) will have operate outside of the job system as well and will have abilities/stats themed around who and what they are.
In a way, it's a tactical RPG until you enter a mission location, at which point it's a regular RPG with cutscenes, encounters, etc. This is going to be my weekend project once SMWX is finished in about two weeks (though starting some sprite editing very soon). Penumbra Crystallis will be worked on Monday to Friday (sometimes on weekends if I feel it needs more work). This is a side project, so I don't expect it to be too grand. Once I settle into a nice groove, it will also be easy to make solid progress on it since it's not an expansive game with a sprawling world map and such. It's more "location focused" like, say, Final Fantasy Tactics.
For now, I am just doing some sprite work, but will commence working on this on weekends soon!
