Jack's Revenge -A Wild West RPG-

[Aslanemperor 48]

STATUS: EARLY DEVELOPMENT (NO PLAYABLE CONTENT YET)

Developer's Note:  A lot of what I'm doing now is working on the tedious stuff:  items, weapons, skills, battle animations, etc.  I know where I want the story to go, have the first quest mapped out, but I'm primarily a writer.  I get excited to start putting in the story, then realize that I can't event the character collecting an egg because the item "egg" hasn't been created yet.  This little piece of text will change as I start working on new things to tell you what specifically I'm working on.

Note:  This game is still very much in the development stage and I don't have enough for a demo.  I don't think I'll be releasing one until I get to the playtest phase as it's not going to be a long game (I'm aiming at 2-3 hours).  This page is to show off the story and a few of the elements that have been put together for the game, including some characters!

Story:

Jackson Cole is a loving husband and father living on a decent sized homestead.  When he goes into town to buy some ingredients for a birthday cake for his youngest daughter, he returns to find his farm burned down, his son murdered, and his wife and daughters kidnapped!  What the kidnappers hadn't seemed to know is that Jackson wasn't always known as a simple farmer, but was once infamous for being "Mad Jack Cole," a gunslinger and bounty hunter known for always opting for the "dead" option of "dead or alive" bounties.  His temper is legendary, and they've managed to spark it in the worst way.  Jack heads out determined to save what is left of his family and avenge his son.  Along the way he will enlist the aid of his father-in-law, Roy Feathers, a Marshall quietly derided for being a little too friendly with part monster folks known as "half bloods," Gustave Weiss, a half harpy sniper whose deadly reputation haunts him, and Clarence Branch, a young mage and tinkerer who is hoping to make a name for himself and prove he has what it takes to rival more traditional magic users with his special "Sygil Shot" weapon.

Their foe is no ordinary bandit either.  "Blue Zander" Grimes is known for his vicious nature and odd, demonic powers.  His reputation as an officer in the Half-Blood army, a rebel group that was put down a generation before, precedes him, and his small force of half-blood bandits all sport their own array of strange and useful powers and talents.

Featuring:

Jackson "Mad Jack" Cole:

A retired gunslinger and bounty hunter with a reputation for rage and cruelty.  Any man might be angry when his family is abducted, but traces of dragon's blood in Jack's veins make his rage a far more potent force!  Without the calming force that his wife represents, it's unclear just how far Jack will go to sate his temper.

 

Roy "Savage Law" Feathers:

Gustave "Red Breeze" Weiss:

Clarence "Clean Up" Branch:

and our main villain, Alexander "Blue Zander" Grimes:

Featuring art by:

Landscapes and CGs:
USA-Reiseblogger
nass1c

Character Sprites:
Avadan
Thatonenpc

Tile Art by:
Blind_Firefly
Candacis
Enterbrain
GrandmaDeb
Celianna

Portrait and Character Art By:
Candacis
nass1c (She made all the character art you're seeing and has some super reasonable pricing!  She brought all of these characters to life with limited references and my descriptions!  I can't recommend her work enough!  Locate her on Fiverr)
Avadan
Symfpnia

And Music by:

Prod. Ryini Beats: https://www.youtube.com/ryini
(Seriously, if you're making a non-commercial game, check this guy out.  His beats and loops are amazing and they're almost exclusively free for non-commercial use so long as you credit him!)

Edited October 16, 2021 by Aslanemperor
Updated the Credits, added a "Status" and "Developer's Notes" section towards the top.

[Chigoo 38]

cool game! keep up the good work!

[That One NPC 321]

Jack is his name, and revenge is his game.

 

 

I drafted a Loose Leaf for Jack based on the beautiful art by nass1c. I hope this is acceptable for what you're seeking. The one notable aspect he is missing is the spurs on his boots. I had held out to try that later, provided you feel you can use the style, or would like more samples of the title characters and some NPCS.

 

I will work on the other characters, but Jack turned out so good imo, I wanted to share him to touch base with some progress.

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by That One NPC

[Aslanemperor 48]

Can I ask a minor change?  He should only have the scales on one side of his face and no facial hair.  He's 1/16 dragon, and the markings on his face are actually the bits of scales that come through.  Still pretty darn good, though!

[That One NPC 321]

Revisions made to Jack.

Spoiler

 

Zander drafted.

Spoiler

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by That One NPC

[Aslanemperor 48]

I love it!  Great work!  I can hardly wait to see the rest!

[That One NPC 321]

Roy Feathers drafted.

 

Spoiler

I feel like that hard black edge on the feathers may need to be dulled, and a pistol needs adding to the non-jacketed sheet, but again, every spite has a master pdn (Paint.Net) workshop file containing all the layers. So editing isn't a problem.

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by That One NPC

[That One NPC 321]

Gustave Weiss drafted.

 

Spoiler

His bandoliers need some cleaning up, and I'll get on that this week.

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by That One NPC

[That One NPC 321]

This is a test sheet of the 3 heroes drafted so far.

Spoiler

I'm doing 2 versions (minimum upon draft. Extra, custom versions for scenes in your script are welcome bring 'em on. It's what I'm here for) of each. One full appearance "regular" version, then a cutscene version where a main clothing item like a hat or duster has been removed. This will prove useful for your plot structure. Characters could remove their hats when they go inside certain buildings and interior areas, or during scenes when your characters are resting at inns, in someone's custody, or gathered at an ally's home, you can have them in a more casual indoor sprite to work with.

 

Again if at any point you need some custom scene sprites like Roy with his badge removed, Jack with a badge added, or all of them in a certain disguise, let me know.

Edited December 9, 2021 by That One NPC

[Aslanemperor 48]

I love them!  Definitely puts a fire in me to work harder on the game!  Thanks so much!

Edit:

Okay, so I wanted to mention that I'm gonna need some new battlers.  Specifically I need some gunslinger types.  I was shocked to find that this is something I'm missing!

Edited December 11, 2021 by Aslanemperor

[That One NPC 321]

19 hours ago, Aslanemperor said:

Edit:

Okay, so I wanted to mention that I'm gonna need some new battlers.  Specifically I need some gunslinger types.  I was shocked to find that this is something I'm missing!

 

That's been in the back of my head. One easy solution is switching to some form of ABS system where sprites become the battlers, and you can have more fun with a 6 shooter or repeater. Khas Arcthunder has the Sapphire system which is clean and easy and has a nice projectile feature for ballistic weapons and tnt, as well as an AI follower system that may add a layer of strategy or even replay value if you make so that camp spots and safe houses act as a player hub of sorts where Jack can take one ally of his choosing to embark on the next portion of game/maps, making that choice strategic based on their strengths and skills, as well as maybe changing how a scenario plays out or giving the player access to secret or optional content and rewards.

 Just an idea. For a far more complex system with a full, Zelda-like tool system you can customize to your imagination's content, Falcao has the Pearl System.

 

Otherwise it's going to be a grind to get some battlers edited or made.

[Aslanemperor 48]

The problem with those is I'm really not wanting to have that sort of combat system.  I like a turn based battle system(Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, etc), and both of those are more of a ARPG battle system(Zelda, Legend of Mana, etc).  Sadly, I didn't really think it was going to be so hard just to get assets.  It seems amazing that no one else has asked for these resources before.  Maybe I'll see if I can get one or two made through resource requests.

[That One NPC 321]

Clarence Branch drafted.

 

Spoiler

 

Trying to decide how to add the flag ties to his pony tail.

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by That One NPC

[Aslanemperor 48]

So, they're just supposed to be ribbons.  (He adds one every year)  Shouldn't be to hard to line draw it, though I guess it would be pretty tedious to do that for each figure.

[That One NPC 321]

Roy has been cleaned up.

• jacket added behind his step in side-side frames
• feathers cleaned up and brightened
• holster added to casual sprite
• misc clean up edits

 

Gustave has been cleaned up.

• new pancho layer
• new bandoliers
• both cleaned up to coexist smoothly
• hand hair removed to reduce pixel clutter
• New hair layer (for a recolor)
• Hat edges cleaned up by removing sprite base edges
• misc clean up 1.0

 

I'm working on Clarence.

 

I've removed the ponytail I was working on to try other ideas as his is very thin.

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by That One NPC

[Aslanemperor 48]

Honestly, so far I like the original Clarence with the hat best.  I felt like that one looks perfect even without the ribbons (when is the character sprite ever THAT perfectly detailed anyway, right?)

I love that I can see Roy's badge peaking out from the coat!  It's a little detail, but it tickles me that it stands out!  Nice work on making that detail pop!

Not sure how I feel about the poncho on Gustave.  I feel like it kinda makes the bandolier hard to see when he's facing the camera.

[That One NPC 321]

 

Super cool to see them all complete and together.

 

I also put Jack on Panda Maru's MV horse to see what it would look like.

 

 

Love me a good western.

Edited January 1 by That One NPC

[Aslanemperor 48]

YAY!!!!  Thanks! 

[Aslanemperor 48]

@That One NPC I've got another mission for you!  I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier.  This character is one who is set to be recurring as he's one of my favorite characters I ever designed.  Dr. Edwin Martinique is a multiverse hopping mad scientist geneticist!  He's unique in the fact that he's not really 100% human anymore as he tends to replace parts with "upgrades" when he can. 

 

I need a character sprite for him in this game because he's actually going to operate a special shop in the game selling potions and secret upgrades.

[That One NPC 321]

First draft is in.

 

Spoiler

 

[Aslanemperor 48]

That's so great!  And you got it done fast!  Thanks!

BTW:  Currently working on eventing.  it's a slow process, but the first "dungeon" should be done in about a week or so.

Edited April 6 by Aslanemperor