Song of the Bereaved - IGMC Entry

[Dragon Emperors 5]

We finally meet again
Can you hear the song?
The cries of those who fallen

About

Song of the Bereaved is a turn-based RPG set in a fantasy apocalypse world.
Players will take control of a hero, with the power of resurrection, to defeat a corrupted sentient weapon.
The prototype can be played here
This is our entry for IGMC Rebirth Jam

The thread will be updated along with the progress.

 

Features

Power of Resurrection

Dungeon-exploring Skills

Active Time Grid Battle

Familiars Summoning

 

Story

Spoiler

Song of the Bereaved is a fantasy RPG set in a world where humanity is on the brink of destruction after an organic weapon creation went wrong. A certain kingdom created a sentient weapon using the soul of the dragons and infused it into an indirect descendant of the royals of said kingdom. The creation was a success but the power was too strong and it corrupted the host, then it proceed to destroy the kingdom and everything nearby.

Players will take control of one of the survivors which also the sibling of the first host. After the survivors perfected the process of creating the weapon, the main character was chosen as the host as they were also compatible to wield its power. Then, driven by their motivation to put their sibling out of their misery, the main character will delve inside a dungeon to defeat them. If the main character dies, players will be able to resurrect by taking control of one of their retainers. After taking control, their soul will be fused and the main character will get any skills the retainer has along with the body.

 

Characters

 

TBU

 

Screenshots

 

TBU

 

Credits

 

TBU

 

 

Demo

This is a short prototype to showcase some basic features of the game.
Most of the assets are placeholders and will be replaced in the later version
Right now, we are collecting feedback from the prototype, so the next version can be better.
You can download the prototype here

Support Us!

Our thread on IGMC Rebirth Jam
Discord
Facebook
Twitter

Edited July 30, 2022 by Dragon Emperors

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Decided on some skills that players will be able to use to traverse the dungeon!

 

• Push blocks
• Destroy blocks
• Jump through a gap or to a different elevation
• Grappling hook
• Fire breath
• Ice breath

 

Screenshots of them will be posted (hopefully) soon!

Edited July 10, 2022 by Dragon Emperors

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Got some map mechanics working, 4 out of 6 were able to be recorded. It still uses placeholder sprites, lol.

 

Proof of Concepts - Action Skills on Map

Slashing

 

Spoiler

 

Fire Breathing

 

Spoiler

 

Grappling

 

Spoiler

 

Pushing

 

Spoiler

 

Edited July 14, 2022 by Dragon Emperors

[Dragon Emperors 5]

The finalized design for the MC! As of right now, their name will be Zero, until there's a better name for them. Any cooler name you can think of for them?

[Dragon Emperors 5]

I have made a prototype that can be played right here.
In this prototype, you can try several mechanics against obstacles such as:

- Pushing blocks
- Slashing blocks
- Using a grappling hook
- Breathing fire
- Breathing ice

Any suggestions and feedbacks are welcome!

[Dragon Emperors 5]

I've finally revised the main post and had the game page ready!

Look at this title I made! It's not much, but I think it has the somber sad feeling I want to capture, right?

I've also talked with the team about how the game will progress. Communication is critical, but you must ensure others understand your intention.

I'm glad they understood my scribbles

The game will have 4 stages, the first one is on the way to the gate of the wall of a fallen kingdom, then inside the ruined town after the villager moved, and the next is onto the cathedral or what is left of it, and end in the big castle where the monster rests before going on another rampage.

Do you get it from this scribble?

Edited July 20, 2022 by Dragon Emperors

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Take a look at this beautiful picture of the initial design for the menu of this game!

We've also decided to have a constant UI for the map action skill at the top left of the screen and to reduce the resolution to avoid crashes on a big screen resolution.

Check out our blog post on Itch.io or RMN to learn how we've come to these decisions. We've learned a lot from our discussion.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Dragon Emperors

[Dragon Emperors 5]

I decided to use floating textbox for Song of the Bereaved!

It will increase in length as I add more lines, wow

As usual, assets are still placeholders. But I will frame the MC shortly.

What do you think? I think floating textbox is cool

[roninator2 270]

Found a bug in the current demo.

During the second battle, I moved my character back and down. This reduced the damage taken, When I got 4 squares away from the slime the battle froze.

Presumably the slime could not reach so it froze with not being able to take action.

On the hookshot map, the pillar that you hook onto lets you walk through it.

I guess the current demo does not have your updates as the messages were not floating.

I could not see the menu so I don't know if that is good or not. But changing the resolution is better if you can get it to work. I tried RGD in my project as well and it makes a lot of script incompatible.

[Dragon Emperors 5]

3 hours ago, roninator2 said:

Found a bug in the current demo.

During the second battle, I moved my character back and down. This reduced the damage taken, When I got 4 squares away from the slime the battle froze.

Presumably the slime could not reach so it froze with not being able to take action.

On the hookshot map, the pillar that you hook onto lets you walk through it.

I guess the current demo does not have your updates as the messages were not floating.

I could not see the menu so I don't know if that is good or not. But changing the resolution is better if you can get it to work. I tried RGD in my project as well and it makes a lot of script incompatible.

Thank you for trying the prototype!

The next prototype update should have the change to the AI behavior so that the slime wouldn't freeze (hopefully)

The hook shot one is a bit tricky, but I'll see what I can do

The floating textbox is intended for conversation (I forgot to put the detail in my post above), and the menu is not yet implemented.

Hopefully, I can give an example of the floating textbox conversation next update.

I see! Thankfully I decided to rescale rather than continue to use RGD. But, it is a promising piece of technology.

[Dragon Emperors 5]

I'm back with the MC and some other NPCs~

 

the ones that will appear in the IGMC version (hopefully) are:

A kid that volunteered because she wanted her little brother to live a better life (the MC promised to take care of her brother)

An ex-martial arts instructor who is also a veteran of the last war

and an informant who actually knows behind the scene of what happened back then

 

no fixed name yet, we'd like to give them names that actually mean something, but as of now, we call them D, B, and G (if you have suggestions on what to name them, however, feel free to drop them in the reply)

also, their colors might change in the actual game

Edited July 24, 2022 by Dragon Emperors

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Currently working on the second prototype to show off the battle system and the map, but got a little bit delayed because of some technical stuff.

In the meantime, here're some screenshots of the second prototype while I fix the update~

Edited July 24, 2022 by Dragon Emperors

[Dragon Emperors 5]

I've just updated the prototype! The 2nd prototype includes:

- Grid Battle System

- Area of Effect skills

- Maps that are more similar to what it will be

- Story Progression

- Updated title screen (still the prototype version, so it's a little goofy)

 

Known issues:

- Skill window offset is too high

 

The assets used are still placeholders, it will be changed in the future version!

 

Please check our entry on the itch.io page as well, thank you!

Our IGMC Entry

 

[TheRamenGirl 14]

I like the Concept very much!! i love that it's not a JRPG (at least it dosen't seem like one until now) 

and it doesn't have the "pokemon" battle system that i hate in rpg maker games.. (except pokemon games lol)

Instead, it has pazzle games/HUG Gameplay that i adore! Along with a nice story, it would be an awesome game/project!

(btw I need some help with the fist map i am kinda stuck at the first boxes)

 

If you are open to advices, 2 buttons doing the same thing (Q and W) aren't very usuful. 

( except if you plan a mechanism that the player would have 2 powers are the same time..?)

Also, you have 4-6 skills that you have to press the Q or W button enough times until you get the one you have to use...

Maybe, if with the Q or W button, a list would appear and you'l had to select one skill out of the list instead of pressing 10 times the button?

[Dragon Emperors 5]

22 hours ago, TheRamenGirl said:

I like the Concept very much!! i love that it's not a JRPG (at least it dosen't seem like one until now) 

and it doesn't have the "pokemon" battle system that i hate in rpg maker games.. (except pokemon games lol)

Instead, it has pazzle games/HUG Gameplay that i adore! Along with a nice story, it would be an awesome game/project!

(btw I need some help with the fist map i am kinda stuck at the first boxes)

 

If you are open to advices, 2 buttons doing the same thing (Q and W) aren't very usuful. 

( except if you plan a mechanism that the player would have 2 powers are the same time..?)

Also, you have 4-6 skills that you have to press the Q or W button enough times until you get the one you have to use...

Maybe, if with the Q or W button, a list would appear and you'l had to select one skill out of the list instead of pressing 10 times the button?

Thank you! We want more than just a simple turn-based battle, so we're using a grid system.

 

The clue to solving push boxes is to start from the side, and then the center box should be free.

Well, the Q and W are supposed to be "left and right" to choose which skill players will be using. But, you're right, it's kinda tiring pushing the same button just to go to a skill you need, I'll see what I can do about that.

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Look what I got from the artists, a ref sheet and a standing sprite for the MC!

Their name will be Kadena, derived from Cadence, which means 'in rhythm', do you think their name fits them visually?

[TheRamenGirl 14]

3 hours ago, Dragon Emperors said:

We want more than just a simple turn-based battle, so we're using a grid system.

I like grid system more for sure..

3 hours ago, Dragon Emperors said:

The clue to solving push boxes is to start from the side, and then the center box should be free.

Lol, it's the exact part i was stuck, thank you!

Btw i found a error when in the second battle i choosed a skill, this showed up

 

[Dragon Emperors 5]

11 hours ago, TheRamenGirl said:

I like grid system more for sure..

Lol, it's the exact part i was stuck, thank you!

Btw i found a error when in the second battle i choosed a skill, this showed up

 

Which prototype did you find this and which skill did you use?

[Dragon Emperors 5]

These are the different types of enemies that you will find in the game. They are corrupted by the corrupted power of the Z-being, the main antagonist of the game.

 

I've also made a devlog about our process in designing these + the familiars (for summoning purposes), check it out~

[TheRamenGirl 14]

3 hours ago, Dragon Emperors said:

Which prototype did you find

the one you have here posted

On 7/8/2022 at 5:44 AM, Dragon Emperors said:

You can download the prototype here

 

3 hours ago, Dragon Emperors said:

which skill did you use?

Claw ATk3

[Dragon Emperors 5]

1 minute ago, TheRamenGirl said:

the one you have here posted

 

Claw ATk3

Oh, that's the old one. Fortunately, we've fixed that one.

You can download the fixed one here, there's also a different version there

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Currently working on a devlog about how I think of a name for the characters in my game.

Can you guess the idea behind them before I spill it?

 

Also the idea between area of effect skills that will be used by the enemies or can be used by the players on the battle.

Here are some examples for them

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Good day, everyone!
I've just updated the prototype. Now, it has a placeholder menu (some of them work), more areas to explore, and a total of 4 skills to obtain!




Download the prototype here

[Dragon Emperors 5]

The artist has just given me a far more better logo and title for Song of the Bereaved.

LOOK AT HOW COOL THIS IS!

What do you think? This is fitting for a somber-vibe tactical JRPG, right?

[Dragon Emperors 5]

Finally got the grid battle UI figured out. With the help of the artist, this is an example of the UI.

A battle on a 8x4 grid where you also need to watch your position before attacking.

What do you think?

 

I also wrote my line of thought for the names of characters in this game, starting with the MC, come take a look at this

Edited August 1, 2022 by Dragon Emperors