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About this blog

Devlog for my discontinued project, Virtuous Blade

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Virtuous Blade: Progress

Honestly haven't gotten a lot of work done since the last update (I'm blaming learning the wonders of Mass Effect...), but I have gotten a little bit done in the last few days.   I've created some prototype sprites for the four main characters (frankensprites and edited generated sprites) and created the framework for the databases for weapons and monsters. As of now, there are a planned total of 41 weapons -- including "Virtuous Weapons". I've also created the framework for 64 of the enemies found in the game: What's in the database as of now are the common enemies -- those that can be found anywhere -- the overworld enemies, the enemies only found in first dungeon, and the enemies only found in the final dungeon.   The world map is currently about 50% complete: The finished areas include Darston Plains, Hora Wasteland, and the Desert of Thinic. The Swamp of Tears is currently about halfway made (though you only ever see most of it once you get to fly around in the airship.   Primary objectives for what to finish before the next update: Finish framework for the database, excluding skills (There's a lot since each monster will use a unique ability in place of the standard attack)
Finish the World Map
gcook725

gcook725

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Virtuous Blade: Development is a go!

Development on Virtuous Blade has officially started 2 days ago after I finished installing Ace onto my computer and activating it. I still have a bit of planning to go, but I can at least work on the world map and some of the database until then.   As such, I'm going to leave with a screenshot of the "finished" (still subject to change) Darston plains area, or at least the northern part of it where Darston and the Shrine of Pandora is located. I'm still debating on using a temple type graphic or sticking with the fortress due to the inhabitant's militaristic attitude. You can also see Toothed forest on the right, across the bridge.  
gcook725

gcook725

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Virtuous Blade: The World and How It Works

Today, I'm going to talk a little bit about the design of Virtuous Blade's world and why places are where they are as well as a little bit of the background stories behind each area.   I've had friends and family who've looked at Virtuous Blade and remark that the world of Tsunolda is illogical and that the placement of the dungeons don't make sense, and from a literal and unknowing perspective that is completely true. There's a massive, hot, sandy desert merely a day's journey south of a frigid, frozen tundra and just northeast of that tundra is a semi-tropical island plagued with storms. No world would have such extremes in temperature and landscapes so close to each other, unless of course there's a reason.   Tsunolda is steeped with magic. There are magical energies permeating everything, most of it instilled by the Olden Gods, as such many extremes can occur if the Olden Gods designed it to be so, and one thing that the people of Tsunolda don't know is that those same deities were very human-like and all had wide ranging emotions and imaginations; it just so happens that they got a little too creative with the design of their world. Much of the landscapes and climates were created as such by the deities for one reason or another. A good example is the tale that surrounds the creation of the Niphad.   The Niphad (Greek for "abounding with snow; snowy" and from the root nipho- or niph, meaning snowy or wintry) wasn't always called such and wasn't always covered in deep snows and blizzard-like conditions. It used to be much like Darston Plains -- which also wasn't called by that name at the time; the current name is a modern one -- temperate with very fertile grassland plains. At the time, it was known as Chloros (green in greek) because of its rolling, green plains and it was settled by a powerful nation who believed themselves to be more powerful than the gods themselves. This nation went on to create the Tower of the Gods so that they themselves can take what they believed was their rightful place in the heavens. The Olden Gods were angered by this and punished the Chloros, taking from them the land that made them who they were; no longer was the ground covered in lush greenery but rather white frost and snow. For a hundred years the country deteriorated unto nothingness, leaving a but a few sparse villages in its wake. It was now that Chloros became the Niphad.   It later became tradition for the villages to send a single representative across the Hellfire Valley to the remains of the unfinished Tower of the Gods to pray for the warmth of summer and apologize to the Olden Gods for their pride. They re-purposed the ruins and renamed it the Tower of the Sun; no man ever left the first floor as symbolism of their place in the world. While the Olden Gods ignored the people's prayers, Pandora took pity on them and praised their newly found Humility -- one of the five Virtues in which Pandora taught to her disciples. She gave the people what came to be called the Thaw, a period of time spanning a few years in which all the frost and cold of the Niphad would melt away. Afterwards, however, the land would return to its frigid state and the villages would again send representatives to the Tower of the Sun. This cycle became known as The Pilgrimage.   However, the trek through Hellfire Valley required a special reagent from the frozen Icicle Forest known as the Everfrost Bloom. It only ever bloomed in the dead of a long winter, and thus The Pilgrimage caused the near extinction of the plant, thereby ending the cycle. The last several thousand years has seen the Niphad in eternal winter since the Pilgrimage could no longer be completed. All that is left of the ancient civilization that once controlled the region and built the original Tower of the Gods is the modern day Helgnir. No one makes the trek anymore to the Tower of the Sun, no does anyone wish to try.   Every region and its associated temple has a simple story (though probably not as interesting as this one). The Temple of Hora was used to pray for fertile lands in a wasteland, the nomads of Desert of Thinic made regular stops to Tethys' Haven to pray for water and to take some of its blessed springs with them for the year, and the ancient civilization on Typhoeus’ Isle built Mistshroud Palace in an attempt to control the weather that cursed the island. This was done for three design reasons: To break the mold of "elements near a place steeped with that element", because it makes more sense, and it fits in with the overarching theme in Virtuous Blade of hope. The places in which were settled by the people of Tsunolda oftentimes were difficult to live in and, frankly, don't make any sense as to why someone would settle there in the first place; however because of divine intervention an all manners the people believed that their deities would protect them and guide them to a better life. They had hope that they would survive, and so they did.
gcook725

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First Post! ~ Virtuous Blade: Hope

Well, lookie here, a blog. My first one, in fact. I wonder what I'll post. How about a development blog for my RMVX Ace project? Onward ho!   Virtuous Blade is the first RPGMaker project I've worked on where I've actually planned out what the flak I'm doing before I even started, and its the first time I've actually intended to finish an RPGMaker project.   It started out without a name -- in fact I simply called it "Simple RMVX Ace Project" in my notebook -- and has gone through a lot since then. My original intention was to make a quick, easy-to-make game inspired by traditional roleplaying video games such as the NES and SNES editions of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, all just to get me used to RMVX Ace. As I continued to develop my idea, however, I just couldn't stop there. I found that rather than simply slapping something together on a sheet of paper, I was cultivating a garden of places and people in my mind.   Virtuous Blade has gone through many phases since then, and I'm happy with where its going for now. I actually just now came up with the current name that you see in this blog entry. Virtuous Blade. I love it. Its simple, it harkens to a long lost age -- the Golden Era of console RPGs -- and it explains the game so well.   The name, of course, implies that the game is about a sword -- a virtuous one at that. And, at its core, it is. It goes a bit deeper than that however. The blade in question, Elpis, is a symbol of hope in the game's world of Tsunolda; its a mysterious blade that was once wielded by the Angel of Virtue, Pandora and used to seal away the Angel of Despair, Atenos -- the game's main antagonist.   So, if Pandora opposed Atenos originally, why isn't her name in the title? Those of you versed in Greek -- or at least those of you who bothered to Google the word "Elpis" or "Pandora" -- will know that Pandora's sword's (I'm not entire sure that's grammatically correct, but I can't remember what its supposed to if its not) name comes from the personification or spirit of hope. At least, usually -- it might also be translated simply as "expectation", which could imply either the expectation of either good or bad, however the former appears to be the case five times more than the latter. I went with hope because it worked better in my story. Compare the personification of hope to Atenos' (itself derived from Até, which is the action performed by a hero out of hubris which leads to his or her downfall) title, "The Angel of Despair".   Atenos' true enemy isn't the person who sealed him away, Pandora; rather, it was her blade, Elpis, which -- as a symbol of hope -- is the antithesis of the Angel of Despair. Pandora is no different than Vayj -- the main character in which the player controls -- in that its not really them who can defeat Atenos: The blade they wield, and therefore hope, is what truly has the power to defeat the dark angel. It is for this is why my project is named after Elpis as opposed to Pandora.
gcook725

gcook725

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