Dawn of Shadows

[Shadow_754]

First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to view this topic. This is my first RPG, so any and all feedback is highly valued.

Dawn of Shadows takes place on a typically peaceful planet, consisting of 5 main Counterys; Holfhaven, Kargeth, Teria, Serrigoth, and a currently undeciced named countery.

Kargeth symbolizes tranquility, and has never seen too much troubble in its lazy atmosphere.

Holfhaven is a small countery based entirely around goverment.

Teria is rugged, with dence forests, steep clifts, and baren deserts.

Serrigoth was once prosperous and ritch, but has since fallen to a beren and poor hobble.

The currently unnamed countery has insisted to cut itself off from other civilization for generations, so little is known about it.

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Story:

For as long as anyone can remember, the five counteries have been at harmony. Not so much as a skimmish has ever been reported between counteries. Without warning, unidentified troops ambushed and ravaged tactical bases in both Teria and Serrigoth. The two counteries knew that the soldgers where far to primitive to have been from Holfhaven, that Kargeth was far to laid-back to declair war, and that (Unnamed countery) had no desire to take part in such public matters, leaving only each other to blame. After ages of peace, war broke out.

You start the story off on a small island named Ridge Island off the coast of Kargeth. Being so close to Kargeth, you havn't seen any effects of war on you tiny island. You start as a young mage in training Merric, who had passed out as the result of a failed attempt at a spell. Apon awakening, you find that your "mishap" has near leveled the mayor's house. After being kicked out, you head out to find your childhood friend, Maria. After meeting up with her, a

You awaken a few hours later, dazzed, but certain that what had happened was not merely a dream. You promptly decide that you must set out to save your childhood friend, no matter the risk.

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Character Bio's

Merric:

Merric has spent the entirity of his life on Ridge Island off the coast of Kargeth. Since youth, Merric has been inspired by the epics' told of the great archsages' of yesterday, and so he began training in the magical arts at a young age. He is currently a mage in training, specializing in destruction spells. He can be kind and understanding, but also bold and strong-willed.

Alyssa:

Childhood friend of Merric. She is also training in the magical arts. One day, she is kidnapped by an unknown man, which is why Merric set's off on his quest in the first place.

Maria:

Maria came from a fortunate and wealthy family, and was raised in a town named Hosbrew Town near the southern coast of Kargeth, but she moved to Ridge Island to learn in the magical arts. She is tutored along side Merric, making them good friends. She practices healing magic, but she is also gifted in transformation magic, althrough she is completely unable to control it. Usually shy, she doesn't say much at first, but grows more confident over time. She looks up to Merric like a big brother, but she has also developed a slight crush on him, dispite him being completely oblivious to it.

True:

A master in the killing arts, True was born and raised in the countery Serrigoth. After many years of poor living conditions, True and her older brother decided to escape to Kargeth, but along their voyage, her older brother was killed by Terria soldgers. Feeling pity for Merric, and also anger for Terria, she decides to team up with Merric in order to save Alyssa.

Solus:

A masked sniper from a small village in Terria. He has a burning hatered of the warfair that has broken out, and will kill any suspicious characters seen near the village on sight. He cares not to speak when it is not nessesary, so his past is left mysterious. That mask of his must be hideing some sort of secret...

Diana:

A pirate from Serrigoth who loves to flirt. Her childhood was full of difficulty, and empty on money. After getting fed up with the unbearable conditions, she joined a band of pirates, and has loved every minute of it. She tend to use her charm to get anything she wants from her fellow pirates. She joins the group after aquiring a likeing for Merric.


Etzel

Etzel comes from the distant past, the age of technology (See timeline section (Coming soon)). At the age of 18, the once metropolis era he grew up in began towering down apon him. Most of humanity was killed during this time, but Etzel managed to survive, although he was gravely injured, and on the bink of death. After being found in his near dead state by a small band of survivors, they used what little technological recourses that was available to mechanically rebuild Etzel's body. Roughly 700 years has passed since that day, yet thanks to the technology that makes up the most of his body, Etzel still lives on. Etzel joins up with Merric to help prevent a reoccurrence of what happened in his era.

(I have many more characters to add when I get their bio's planned out)
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Notes:

This is my first RPG game, so please leave feedback on what you think needs inprovment, and what you think is looking good.

I am using a mix of custom and pre loaded sprites, tiles, and music, BUT I do have reasioning for this:

1. I, unlike what seems like many, really like some of the pre loaded material.
2. When it comes to characters, there are several pre loaded sprites that very closely fallow that of the characters I came up with far before I even got PRG Maker 2003.
3. I want to prove that grapthics don't make a game. A game made with pre loaded graphics can be just as good as a game with all new graphics if it has a good story, and overall enjoyable gameplay.

Call me a hipster, but I stand by those reasions.

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Pictures:



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Demo:

I will put one on once I get the first countery fully completed. I am roughly halfway there!

[Moosetroop11]

I liked the set up at the beginning, but from the moment you introduced the characters it became horribly generic :p  The scene where the bad guy appears and he talks about the prophesy and... Even the idea of those two growing up as childhood friends, trying out a spell and accidentally (unbelievably) summoning something instead... It all reeks of being too predictable.

Take the advice or leave it! As I said, I like the idea of your different countries and that war has begun; reminds me a bit of Fire Emblem:The Sacred Stones.

I look forward to some screen shots and don't necessarily think that rtp is a bad thing, but if you've used the light blue haired guy as Klaus I might give up : p

[Meiscool]

I look forward to some screen shots and don't necessarily think that rtp is a bad thing, but if you've used the light blue haired guy as Klaus I might give up : p

Lol.

Plot sounds like a good start to an adventure that has more to it than meets the eye. I would change the beginning a bit though... like maybe one of the members of the units that attacked the tactical bases made his way to the island and kidnaps the girl (for some reason), thus Klaus must save her? First thing I thought of.

[Shadow_754]

Thanks for the feedback!

After you two mentioned it, I read through the begining story myself, and after actually reading through it, it does seem kind of bland. I will get to changing that at some point today.

As for Klaus... perhaps I should keep my mouth shut on the matter...

In all honesty, when I oridginaly designed the character, he did look surprisingly simular to Klaus's sprite, blue hair and all! I will be honest, I kept the name Klaus because I couldn't think of anything better myself. :p I'm sure i'll get to changing that aswell when a more fitting name comes to mind.

I am currently finishing up some minor things on some of the earlier areas, and once I get them done (Probably today or tomorow), I will get a few screen shots up!

[Shadow_754]

Updates to the OP!

I did end up changing Klaus to Merric, as well as I added some character bio's.

Expect some pictures and a changed up story tomorow!

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Edit:

I changed up the story a bit. Pictures should come later.

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Edit:

I added 2 random photos to the OP.

By the way, how could one take screenshots on a computer, seeing as I used my phone. -__-;

[Moosetroop11]

The PrntScr button :p Probably between Insert and Delete on your keyboard.

The maps seem reasonable for first games although I'd avoid using the same moustached man twice in one map and remember that maps can be smaller than the entire allowed space using the pink squares to make black areas around a room.

[daoman89]

It sounds interesting   I just wanna say one thing though...  Idk where you're from but counteries is actually spelled countries lol.  Unless you're calling them something else, then disregard my comment haha