The Kingdom of Vo'Stora - Music

Not much work has been done this half of the week, but I did finally obtain the music assets I was looking for that will allow me to finish off the game's opening in the coming days.  Music is something that I find to be crucially important in any form of media, as it the right music plays a very important part in setting the mood and emotion of a particular scene.  As I'm not a composer myself, finding the right music for a scene isn't always easy.  However, I'm never one to settle for something; if it doesn't fit, I either adjust the scene to fit the most suitable music or keep working to find the tune that best matches the emotion or message I'm trying to portray.

The Kingdom of Vo'Stora - Story Changes

Today, I'll detail a few story changes that will be noticeable right off the bat.

While the opening is clearly different from the start, a dream of Victoria's is again featured.  However, the events in her dream are entirely different.  While there is still a clear element of mystery involved, the implications of the dream get the initial sequence of the game moving forward but has less "driving power" to the overall story.

Previously, the game appeared to be centered largely on the friendships between three characters.  This aspect of the story has changed dramatically, with the character Matthias taking on an entirely different role.  It is clear from the beginning that Victoria and Roderick are friends.  Like before, Roderick has a life dream of joining the Xa'Vian Guard.  With the change up, Victoria's goals are different.  She is a dreamer and an explorer, driven by the impact her dreams have on her.  However, Victoria's fear of change and leaving her home, the only place she has ever known, is holding her back and preventing her from spreading her wings as Zara would like to see.  This, inevitably, causes some friction between the two friends.

The general flow of events in the first couple of chapters has largely been changed to adapt better to the overarching narrative that has always been in place.  Hopefully no one who played was too overly attached to the way the story was at the time.

In addition to story changes, the battle system will also change.  For those who played the previous release, it will surely seem  familiar enough.  However, specific battle system changes will be detailed in an update coming in the next couple of weeks.

Weekend Round Up

Things are moving right along!

This weekend, the outdoor areas of Grensan were finished up.  There are some fine details to tweak and add, but those will be done later.  A number of indoor areas have also been added.  The opening sequence, which will be vastly different from that in the previous iteration, has also been started.  However, I'm currently digging around for the proper music assets to fit the opening, so that part is currently on hold until probably next week.  In the meantime, I'll finish the interiors of the homes in Grensan.  Things are still much too preliminary to offer a guess on a release (rerelease?) date for Chapter 1, but my estimate is for sometime in September.

Later this week, I'll offer another progress update as well as a post to help those who remember the previous iteration of the story become familiar with the changes that they will see.

The Kingdom of Vo'Stora - Development Screenshots

Happy weekend!

This morning, I'm sharing a few various screenshots of the new Grensan.  If you look closely, you'll realize it's quite unfinished, but the basic groundwork has been laid.  Interiors still need to be designed, villagers need to be placed, and the minor details of many spots of the village aren't yet detailed and finished.  (in other words, they look a bit drab)

You'll also see a couple shots of the overworld.  Grensan now has two exits.  The southern exit is the main entryway for the town, while the northern exit leads to a region where wood harvesting takes place, and is also the route you take to reach Grensan Woods.  In the previous iteration, the woods were more built into the town directly.  Now it requires a short jaunt north through some overworld terrain.  This gives the player a chance at some rather simple solo battles.

On my next blog update, I'll post some screen shots of the more finished/fleshed out town and the interiors.

Victoria's House (Interior)

Victoria's House (Exterior)

South Grensan Entrance

Outside the southern exit of Grensan

Zara's House

North of Grensan, just outside the Grensan Woods

Overhauling 'The Kingdom of Vostora'

My last attempt at The Kingdom of Vostora came to a pretty abrupt halt as the middle to end points of the scenario gave me continuous problems.  I'm not sure why, exactly, but sometimes a story just simply doesn't work.  It may have been my frame of mind at the time, or perhaps it was the way the story and characters had been set up.  I had too much focus on certain key elements of the story, without enough focus on the larger objective the story was trying to reach.  As is my way, I took some time on some other creative endeavors to let that idea sit and rest for a while.

I'm not sure how, but at some point over the past couple of weeks a number of changes had popped into my head that seem to solve a lot of the key issues I had with the game's general scenario.  I've thought it over, and the few problems that linger I'm confident I can solve with some rather simple techniques.    I'm currently in the process of writing the story out to see if it fits the way I expect it to.

With the story changes in mind come a number of game system changes as well; and I think they'll work out for the better.  The current system in mind includes a simple class advancement system at certain key parts of the story to allow for a degree of customization and replayability that shouldn't adversely affect the complexity of the battle system any.  Likewise, my goal for the usage of statistics has simplified, which also makes it seem much less daunting.  Perhaps I was overthinking things this time last year, which would make sense.

Life currently involves balancing a number of things, as one might expect; so I can't really say how long anything will take.  However, the vast majority of the game's plot is in place, with only minor tweaks to make the new story ideas flow into it.  Redesign of the initial areas from the game are well underway, with the town of Grensan and its surrounding areas much more interesting and better laid out than before, I think.  Once they're fleshed out with some detail, I'll post some screenshots.

The current plan is to release the overhauled opening parts of the game, which include the town of Grensan and Grensan forest.  Way back during the release of Llunia, I often had faster release cycles that included a new town and a new dungeon, with story advancement, of course.  I'm seeking to do the same thing here, as it keeps a steady feeling that I'm making progress.

Anyway, I'll be posting some more information probably some time this weekend with some screenshots of the redesigned opening areas.