Shadows of Odessia

[Corey Zamora 5]

This is a game I've worked on over the past 6 months, and isn't yet as polished as it will be in the future.

 

* I'm waiting on a friend to do all of my character art, and CG scenes.

 

 

Story/Setting:

 

Shadows of Odessia is a dark game, layered with lightheartedness. The story takes place in a very semi-futuristic world, which is almost entirely run by a corporation known as Vycorp. Vycorp uses its resources to oppress and experiment on a race known as the Zodiac, a lineage of people who are able to command "Magic". The story follows a young man named Zek, who has just recently become a bounty hunter for his own personal reasons. Upon meeting a quirky inventor on one of his bounties,  Zek is quickly drawn into a conflict alongside a group of unlikely allies that will ultimately decide the fate of Odessia. Through this conflict Zek will discover who he truly is, and what his role is in this world. 

 

 

 

 

Characters:

 

Zek

 

An extremely fast and agile swordsman, Zek dual wields Katana's. He uses "Shadow Artes", abilities that must be used strategically as an offensive, and defensive tool.

 

 

 

 

Screenshots: 

 

 

 

Credits:

 

*Music

- Fin De L'Affaire by Hank Mobley

- Avila And Tequila by Hank Mobley

- More than you know by Blossom Dearie

- Everything I've got by Blossom Dearie

- Le Voyage de Penelope by Air

- My Favorite Thing by Outkast

- Mr. Tom by Patrick Watson

- Mike Mills by Air

- Night Vision by Daft Punk

- Mi Viejo by Ratatat

- Radio one by Krzysztof Komeda

- Cul-de-Sac by Krzysztof Komeda

- Night Train by The Ventures

- Mirando by Ratatat

- Hernando Hideaway by The Ventures

- Flynn by Ratatat

- Dura by Ratatat

- Mumtaz Khanby Ratatat

- So Weit Wie Noch Nie [Ju¨Rgen Paape] by Erlend Oye

- Sky Dancing by Patrick Watson

- The Spell by Patrick Watson

- Dark Gift by Patrick Watson

- Xl-30 by Shuggie Otis

- Black Foliage (Animation 5) by Olivia Tremor Control

- Tetra by SebastiAn

 

 

*Tiles 

- Lunarea

- Celiana

- Enterbrain

- Icedragon

 

*Sprites

- Enterbrain

- Vibrato

- Mack

- Kazzador

- Cecillia

- Hoko

 

*Scripts

- Victor Sant (Lots)

- Yanfly 

- MOG

- Modern Algebra 

- Killozapit

- Rbahamut

- Elemental Crisis

- Tsukihime

- Pk8

- Galv <3

- Nelderson

- Yami

- Estriole

- V.M

 

 

 

Features: (For now)

- Original Soundtrack

- A unique use of Galv's Magic Shards Script

- Plenty of things to do aside from following the main story, including collecting special items, fishing, a battle arena, and side quests with unique gameplay elements and stories

- A battle system that eventually forces you to use your entire party together as a team

- Very Strategic, and fun boss fights (This is probably my favorite part about the game aside from the story. Once you get a few hours in the difficulty really jumps.)

 

 

 

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/5ziw1255w5s55ws/Shadows_of_Odessia.exe

 

 

 

Known Issues: 

 

- The "Help button" once you get it, is actually defaulted to the "A" key and not escape as it is stated in the game.

 

- This isn't really an issue but keep in mind none of the character art aside from the sprites are final. Again, I'm waiting on a friend to finish busts and CG scenes.

 

- Any bugs you come across, just let me know and I'll be sure to try and fix it.

 

 

 

The demo time probably runs about 2-3 hours without doing any of the extra stuff. 

 

The full game is probably going to end up somewhere around 30 - 35 hours, and I'm only about 8% done probably, and I've got a lot going on right now, and other things I want to focus on, so who knows how long it'll be before the games finished  

 

I also said as little as possible about the story and characters to prevent spoiling anything. I hate when games like FF9 put characters that don't start in the party all over the case. I just sit there for hours waiting for them to join >.<

 

Edit:

- Fixed all crashes.

- Fixed battle window issue

Edited September 4, 2013 by Corey Zamora

[Cecillia 652]

You're not using the stuff you commissioned? o3o What made you change your mind?

[Corey Zamora 5]

Character designs changed, so they didn't work anymore 

 

Also i'm pulling the download link for a few hours, something game breaking I need to fix.

Sorry to anyone that downloaded it prior to that, I had an event to help take some screenshots that I didn't delete.

 

Link is now back up

Edited July 27, 2013 by Corey Zamora

[Jonnie91 1,149]

So I had a small go at this, Sadly I could get no further than the first battle. The game constantly crashed. To be honest, I'd suggest that the demo shouldn't be up until it's fixed. The mapping for the first three maps, (from what i could see) seem functional, but could have improvements. However, if I COULD get past the battle. I can see the maps in the above screenshots are damn good, it seems that your maps have improved ten-fold. 

 

The story, I see none of so far. you throw the player into the game too quickly. you need to give some form of backstory, (especially for people who don't download it from this page). 

The battle theme, is messy. very messy. It was kinda distracting from the battle itself. The battle theme is too all over the place, and seems to have a LARGE number of different rhythms and time signatures. 

 

The battle system as you said is buggy and I look forward to when you fix it, so i can actually get through the beginning levels. which so far I have found it impossible. 

[Cecillia 652]

I agree with Jonnie. It took me forever to get passed the first battle because whenever I used the Shadow Artes move, it kept crashing my game.

 

I additionally noticed during battle the HUD kept getting cropped off. Here's a screenshot.

 

 

As Jonnie stated, the introduction seems just "thrown in there" and I could not attach myself to the characters at all. They seem cliché, generic, and boring. The conversations felt unbelievable and I recommend putting more effort into the conversations.

 

The generator faces, default sound effects, default window, are definitely things that could be altered and if they are changed, it'd be a definite plus to your game. But something that unquestionably needs to be changed is the music, no offense. It is disturbing. The battle theme made my ears bleed. I became uneasy. The moment the song blasted into my headphones, I threw it off because of how abused the sawtooths are. It’s so battered that the song is unbearable, incomprehendable, and just a pure mess. I hated the fact that I had to mute the game in order to concentrate on the character dialogue in story.

 

 

Some of your maps are really well made. I loved your overworld map. It had something that distinguished itself from most of the overworlds people make. I liked how you managed to clutter the towns rather than utilizing 1 town tile to define the town.

 

 

Also, I noticed you said "Save Frequently" I can't save at all and it's really annoying because I had to keep restarting the game after the battles crash. In addition, I found it so infuriating that I could not sprint. I hated going through the house over and over again so slowly. I couldn’t stand going through Lavister with only walking. That is the point where I gave up.

 

 

Do not get disheartened by this criticism. I understand that this game is still in development, but a lot of work needs to be done to get this game to a decent stage. This game has loads of potential, but once again the bugs and other negatives are weighing it down. 

 

[Corey Zamora 5]

So I had a small go at this, Sadly I could get no further than the first battle. The game constantly crashed. To be honest, I'd suggest that the demo shouldn't be up until it's fixed. The mapping for the first three maps, (from what i could see) seem functional, but could have improvements. However, if I COULD get past the battle. I can see the maps in the above screenshots are damn good, it seems that your maps have improved ten-fold. 

 

The story, I see none of so far. you throw the player into the game too quickly. you need to give some form of backstory, (especially for people who don't download it from this page). 

The battle theme, is messy. very messy. It was kinda distracting from the battle itself. The battle theme is too all over the place, and seems to have a LARGE number of different rhythms and time signatures. 

 

The battle system as you said is buggy and I look forward to when you fix it, so i can actually get through the beginning levels. which so far I have found it impossible. 

 

Yeah the first battle for whatever reason crashes when it wants, none of the following battles do so. I don't have any idea why.

 

As for throwing the player into the story, there is an intro in the works but it doesn't exactly give backstory. I understand where you're coming from, and while I wanted to try a new approach with a different flow, the crashes don't help. I'll take what you're saying into account.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by the battle system, I know the HUD is something I need to address as it cuts itself off.

 

 

I agree with Jonnie. It took me forever to get passed the first battle because whenever I used the Shadow Artes move, it kept crashing my game.

 

I additionally noticed during battle the HUD kept getting cropped off. Here's a screenshot.

 

 

As Jonnie stated, the introduction seems just "thrown in there" and I could not attach myself to the characters at all. They seem cliché, generic, and boring. The conversations felt unbelievable and I recommend putting more effort into the conversations.

 

The generator faces, default sound effects, default window, are definitely things that could be altered and if they are changed, it'd be a definite plus to your game. But something that unquestionably needs to be changed is the music, no offense. It is disturbing. The battle theme made my ears bleed. I became uneasy. The moment the song blasted into my headphones, I threw it off because of how abused the sawtooths are. It’s so battered that the song is unbearable, incomprehendable, and just a pure mess. I hated the fact that I had to mute the game in order to concentrate on the character dialogue in story.

 

 

Some of your maps are really well made. I loved your overworld map. It had something that distinguished itself from most of the overworlds people make. I liked how you managed to clutter the towns rather than utilizing 1 town tile to define the town.

 

 

Also, I noticed you said "Save Frequently" I can't save at all and it's really annoying because I had to keep restarting the game after the battles crash. In addition, I found it so infuriating that I could not sprint. I hated going through the house over and over again so slowly. I couldn’t stand going through Lavister with only walking. That is the point where I gave up.

 

 

Do not get disheartened by this criticism. I understand that this game is still in development, but a lot of work needs to be done to get this game to a decent stage. This game has loads of potential, but once again the bugs and other negatives are weighing it down. 

 

I really have no clue what to do about the first battle crashing when using shadow dance. It doesn't even make sense. And it didn't use to do that, it just started to toward the end of finishing the demo. 

 

Cliche and boring characters? Coming from you I find that hilarious. Maybe my conversations should be about something more believable like teenage anime love and rape? No one talks like that. Honestly though. It's just a matter of taste I suppose, since the dialogue and character development was the one thing I got praise for from other people playing it. 

 

Generator faces are addressed in the topic, as stated the art is just a placeholder for the moment, but the effects and windows I agree need to be changed.

 

As far as the music goes, I totally agree the battle themes are jarring, and in terrible quality. This is due to using terrible equipment, and I stated above that the music isn't done. I planned on re-recording each track once I picked up some new recording stuff.

Most of the tracks while incomplete are completely bearable, so I disagree with the music being disturbing. That's pretty ignorant. 

 

Muting the game in order to concentrate on dialogue? There's not exactly dialogue in battles, so I'm not sure which songs you had to mute in order to read text.

 

On saving, I should have made it so you could save anywhere I guess. Apparently the crashing was even worse for you, because once in Lavister it rarely crashes. And I've play tested it more than I wanted too. 

 

I disabled sprint for certain areas because I found it breaks the immersion in a game like this, only in certain places. But if it feels too slow I can easily change that. Feels like you're using a speed hack IMO.

 

 

 

Anyways thanks for trying I guess.

[Jonnie91 1,149]

 

I'm not sure what you mean by the battle system, I know the HUD is something I need to address as it cuts itself off.

 

What I'm meaning is the battlers they are pretty far up the screen they look strange in my opinion, I think they'd be good if they're slightly lower down, I'm hoping that these bugs are fixed, cause I really wanna play through your later maps they look gorgeous!

What battle system are you using, it could be an error with that!  

[Corey Zamora 5]

Oh yeah I see what you mean, I'm using Victors battle engine but I think I can adjust that somehow. I had the same feeling about that awhile back and forgot to address it.

Thanks I'll try, but I'm afraid the bugs are from scripts that are important to the gameplay. So I'm not sure when I'll have them fixed :/

[RetroExcellent 369]

Corey your personal insults and attacks are unwarrented. Do not do it again. Consider this your verbal warning. If you dont agree with an opinion, that is your choice, it does not give you the right to attack anyone.

[Corey Zamora 5]

Personal insults and attacks? Dude fuck you, I was expressing an opinion you biased chump.

 

Edit: Blow me.

Edited August 2, 2013 by Corey Zamora

[Jonnie91 1,149]

Insulting a moderator? That's not going to help your case. You were given a VERBAL warning, which is different to an actual warning, it is asking you to stop however, Your warn level has been increased for flaming a moderator. 

[kaz 1,338]

Personal insults and attacks? Dude fuck you, I was expressing an opinion you biased chump.

 

Edit: Blow me.

Please do not refer to the staff in this way.

 

You will be warned, however we will give you another chance.

 

If you disagree with feedback (when you have asked for it) at least be polite. You may not agree with what they say but it is no excuse for flaming and abuse.Just agree or disagree- nothing more nothing less

[Corey Zamora 5]

Update: Fixed all crashes, and the battle window issue. Also replaced all music with placeholders until I'm able to record my own tracks with better equipment. I also changed the walking speed in Lavister just for you Cecillia. Sorry for being an ass.

 

Also if anyone could tell me why my PM's are disabled that would be great. I assume it has to do with the warnings?

 

I also had to remove the HP bar script, so the Analyze ability now lowers defense and magic defense of the target by 20% instead. Until I can get an Hp bar script that functions the same way without causing my game to crash.

 

Edit: Also, The "Help button" is actually defaulted to the "A" key and not escape as it is stated in the game. Sorry for anyone that didn't get to use this feature if you didn't figure out that I messed that up,  that's my fault. And it's one of my favorite features in the game too 

Edited September 4, 2013 by Corey Zamora

[Ocedic 249]

At long last, I've written a review of this game here.