Screenshots of "The Phoenix Effect"

[just1question]

I got a few screenshots of my game here, but they're pretty much only from the first, oh, say 1/100th of the game :/

But hey, they give an idea, don't they?  Lemme know how you think they look!
This one's of my prologue intro.

EDIT: I'm just gonna put my game details here, copied from my old game thread, instead of bumping it, now that I think about it, I probably should have bumped it, but oh well.
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Since one of my primary objectives here is creating an engaging storyline with good characters (since I love to write stories), I'm asking whether or not this story and my characters sound cliche.
The game is called "The Phoenix Effect," named for something later in the game that I don't want to give away right now. Just FYI, in case any of you are ever interested in trying my game, this post has one FAIRLY MAJOR SPOILER . Note that this is my first game I've ever made, and it might not be as good as some others.

The story begins by telling the story of how the gates of Hell opened and attacked the forces of heaven in an effort to make it to the earth, but were struck down easily. A thousand years later, they attack again, now with the aid of a fallen who has changed sides and has become the leader of the demon forces. This time, a small group of demon forces slips through the gate to earth and the story begins to unfold. I know this sounds fairly cheesy and cliche here, but what I'm most concerned with is my characters, because the story will unfold pretty well with some twists as far as I'm planning.
Here are my main characters:

Alex (yes the basic RTP, since that's how I made it from the start)-- The main hero, a guardian of Sasher Keep, a garrison in the north. Decides to defy orders to guard the castle after convincing by Kato and pillages the castle dungeon for the supposed "key to victory over the demons." Somewhat early in the story, he finds out that he is a fugitive on the lam for defying the orders of the king and is being hunted by kingdom soldiers and bounty hunters. SPOILER HERE The twist is that he finds out from Athene about midway through the story he is himself a fallen and is determined to redeem himself and defeat the demons. Phew. Don't worry the rest of the guys don't have as much about them yet.

Kato--A thief who (rather unsuccessfully) snuck into the castle and was caught by Alex. Convinces Alex to pillage the castle. He and Alex have some major ties throughout the story and later on a disturbing event from his past emerges and haunts him and provides his drive throughout the second half.

Athene--Probably the other major character. She is a heavenly warrior who during the demon assault is put in stasis by the fallen leader, yet gets caught in the portal during the attack, and accidentally slips through to earth. As a warrior, her motive more than anyone else's is driven by honorable duty to defeat the demons and find a way to return to heaven.

Seth--A member of a clandestine priesthood who apparently knows exactly how to defeat the demons. However, the exact motive of this priesthood is a mystery, and thus Seth is a rather enigmatic character, as is his past and his exact motive for joining the group, other than orders from his leaders. He comes off initially as a dark, cocky, insensitive character, but as the story progresses and secrets are revealed he becomes less so.

Brutus--The captain of a band of pirates that he advertises throughout port towns as being one of the most prestigious and successful bands of pirates in the world, but later it is found out from other bands of pirates the heroes meet on the seas that his band is actually the laughingstock of the seas. His primary motive is to use the general goal of defeating the demons to gain prestige for himself and his crew. Not sure whether he'll be a constant playable character or just one to use while on the ship.

Kaiser--An inhabitant of an island (the name of which I haven't decided on yet) to where an entire town was exiled after becoming cursed a few hundred years before, which turned all the town citizens into wolves and making them more aggressive, and many people have a fear of these people. Kaiser is actually a character who was forced to live as a recluse after he was tricked by a group of soldiers who offered him freedom from his island prison if he would assassinate the island's leader. Since he has lived in seclusion for years, he is a quiet yet honorable character who has great confidence in his abilities. I'm hoping to make him have a personality close to that of a ninja warrior maybe.

Now for the antagonists...

Cyphen--The main antagonist, the fallen leader of the demons who was critical in the defeat of the demons a thousand years before, but changed sides after his fellow warriors carelessly abandoned him in battle at the end of the war. Merely seeks revenge on those who doomed him and sealed his fate.

The General who doesn't have a name yet...--Yeah, he's nameless so far, because you don't see him too much early on. He becomes a vital "pawn" later on. A general in the king's army who is found to be missing after the demon assault on Sasher, a town to the south of Sasher Keep. Very adept in battle and is willing to sacrifice his life for the king's will. Of course, he's very short-tempered, and he vents this temper early on when Alex becomes angered that he cannot be in the heat of battle and must instead just guard the castle.

OK I lied, one last spoiler character here. If you don't want to know it, just skip this paragraph.[/U]
The High Priest (I need a name for this guy too)--The leader of the clandestine priesthood who is actually a general in the fallen army and is using gullible priests such as Seth to further his plans. He in fact convinces his priests and the heroes that the key to defeating the demons is to open the gates of heaven to earth from this side to allow the heavenly forces to move through and rid earth of the demons, whereas in fact opening the gate will also allow through the demonic forces, and thus the earth will become the battlefield of the bulk of the heavenly and demonic forces, thus bringing about armageddon.



There will be other characters to follow, maybe, since the story and setting drastically changes in the second half of the game, but these are the characters from the first half.

[just1question]

#s 2 and 3, a town and overworld

[just1question]

And my last 2.  Blacksmith mixing/fusion system, a crucial part of my game.

[DragonBlaze]

Looking good! The fusing system looks cool, but I think you could make it look better if you add some sort of menu pic as a background, or maby just some sort of border around the screen.

[Ace of Spades]

DAMN YOU!!!! That's pretty much how my blacksmith system is. Oh well, overall looking pretty good. You need the font fix tho. Go to my tutorial. Oh yeah, and you could've just posted this in the same topic you made for your game (if you made one, if not, sorry.) Looks good tho.

[just1question]

Yeah, I have my own game thread, but it hasn't been touched for over a week, and I don't want to infringe on the sacred "bump" rules of charas

[WarxePB]

And I thought Phoenix wasn't that common...

Eh, whatever. The screenies look decent, and I like the weapon fusion system (reminds me of FFCC). I hope this gets released.

[VahnGrave]

FFCC?

Looks good!I like the blacksmith system, might need a little touching up, but, I don't know because I haven't played.

[just1question]

Yeah, that blacksmith screenshot is not final.  It's actually made mostly for just a screenshot I wanted to put up to show you basically what I was doing there.  In the end, the screen will be FILLED with swords and gems, since I'm going to end up with about 600 different combinations.  But I might change that black background to something else, but actually I'm pretty fond of the black background, unless I can find something else that will look good.  I mean, let's face it, a normal sky background or something just won't feel right.

[VahnGrave]

I like the black screen.I don't see a problem with it.

[Eternal Newb]

I like the blacksmithing system...

(the main character is huge...)

[Red Giant]

Originally posted by just1question
Yeah, I have my own game thread, but it hasn't been touched for over a week, and I don't want to infringe on the sacred "bump" rules of charas

In certain circumstances, it's allowed. Go ahead and post these in your game thread.

[just1question]

Originally posted by Eternal Newb
I like the blacksmithing system...

(the main character is huge...)

I actually just think some of that woman in the pic is smaller than normal.  Because he's the same size as all my other characters, and most of them were made with the generator or gotten online.

Oh, and thanks for all the input.  I like constructive criticism.

[SensitiveGuy182]

hey your game sounds kewl with its gfx, story, and the rest of its features. i wanna ask u 2 things/favors. keep up the good work.
1) plz let me know when u release the demo and/or full game.
2) plz send me the chipset u used for the map overview. its kewl!
thanks.  my email is sensitiveguy182@aol.com.

[just1question]

Originally posted by SensitiveGuy182
hey your game sounds kewl with its gfx, story, and the rest of its features. i wanna ask u 2 things/favors. keep up the good work.
1) plz let me know when u release the demo and/or full game.
2) plz send me the chipset u used for the map overview. its kewl!
thanks.  my email is sensitiveguy182@aol.com.

www.phylomortis.com
That's where I got the overworld set and almost all the other sets.  It's got some good stuff.