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Only 12% done? Better crack that whip!

Time for my bi-weekly update as usual. Lots to talk about.

Ever since the game's plot re-write, I've never given a complete breakdown for the reasons for the political strife in the Lady of the Lion. So, with the help of my scenario writer, Dyhalto, I'd like to give you guys a short little 'primer'. You might want to read the Thirty-Year backstory segment first, whilst trying to break down things for you.

This was originally under the game page section, but few people ever check those tabs.

--- Begin history lesson

The Thirty-Year War



It was a series of conflicts between the various duchies of Liguria, where alliances and adversaries kept shifting. King Auster III would have intervened to put an end to the warring Dukes, but being generally weak of will, he was easily manipulated and controlled.

The 30 Year War eventually came to an end with the Battle of Yalger ( a fortress situated on the borders of Reglay and Caliburn ) when Duke Avalon, on the orders of King Auster, marched his own forces and that of the Cerulean Order in between Duke Caliburn's army and his home Duchy, cutting off his ability to supply his army. Without aid, and pincered between Reglay's defences and Avalon's standing army, the Duke's army withered and were easily defeated.

Duke Avalon argued for punishment to befall Duke Caliburn, as well as the lands seized by Caliburn during the 30 Years War to be returned to their respective duchies and all debts owed to him repudiated, but the King was manipulated yet again. Duke Caliburn got off untouched and maintained all of his ill-gotten gains.

After the war, King Auster let his decision to send Duke Avalon to end the war get to his head. Feeling the need to look like a strong king, he enacted a bunch of punitive taxes on all the Dukes. Knowing absolutely nothing about economics, he didn't foresee that this tax would simply be passed down to the peasantry. So between his inability to put a stop to the 30 Years War, followed by his levying crippling taxes, the cry for "Down with the King" started erupting all across Liguria.



As things now stand, Duke Avegin is spear-heading the anti-Monarchist movement, calling for a democratic revolution...

Original scenario by Dyhalto. Paraphrased by Luchino to avoid potential spoilers. The original version is far longer ><

---End history lesson

And between all this, we have our two heroines, Tristian and Ianna: Both of them have had rather large burdens placed upon their youthful shoulders; Ianna unexpectedly finds herself as Liguria's future Queen and unwilling becomes the target of blood-thirsty anti-royalists; Tristian, our titular heroine, finds herself on the run with her Princess but at the same time, finds herself running away from her very own duties. Tristian only recently inherited the Duchy of Reglay from her deceased father, a Duchy who finds itself caught up in its own problems.

Coming face to face with their eventual roles plays a pivotal part in Tristian and Ianna's character arcs. Both of them have the potential to be rather amazing characters,development-wise, and I hope the player will follow it with keen interest as well. Of course, the yuri-subtext does make things a bit more juicy...





Btw, they do cuddle. Don't you see there's only one bed? ;D

Occurs about 4 hours in. This scene references another scene right in the beginning of the game.


Sometimes I ask myself if the plot would have remained the same had Tristian been male, or had Ianna been a Prince. I do ask myself why I decided to go for girl-on-girl romance ( and it was long before LA came along too ). I suppose Tristian and Ianna were meant to be expies of two of my favourite video game characters, who have one of the most touching bonds that I have ever seen in the medium, but sadly, they were never really major characters, taking a back-seat to a far more bland male lead. Plus, I just find it more fun to write female characters, period.

Not only because I am female, but eh.. I've never been drawn to male leads. Maybe I've had a inherent dislike for them ever since I played Phantasy Star IV ( my first RPG ) and hating Chaz. His mentor Alys was way cooler. Besides, too many JRPGs involve sausage-fests with a token (healer) chick as the love interest. But I am avoiding the 'lol make them lesbians so the perverted player can check out steamy make-out sessions in the bathtub'. Just no. I write people first, then add in sexuality afterwards ( if it even matters ). I research my characters to the point where I look up certain traits of their zodiac sign. If you check out the Capricorn and Piscean for Tristian and Ianna respectively, you will be sure to find some of their traits there. XD

Graphical stuff:

First off, I've starting 'arting' again. I'd really love to do those comic-style cutscenes ala PSIV, but it will be rather painful doing it all with just a mouse. Wait, all the stuff I've shown you guys was done with a mouse... ><



The cutting of her hair becomes symbolic later on.


Maps:

Yes, even I make improvements to my maps. I always felt my water areas appeared too flat, so I went and made an evented animated cliff-tile graphic after altering some areas.


Looks like this in the editor. 100% proof I do not parallax. :D

And like this in-game.







Gameplay:

Now let me talk passives ( I know this blog post is getting a bit lengthy, but I only do 2 blogs a month, so bare with me >< ).

I need some Passive Skill ideas for my characters. Namely Striker ( Mercenary ), Darcy ( Thief ) and Lance ( Recruit ). As you can see from both Ira and Ianna's screens, passive abilities differ depending on the class.



More like Super Swordmaster.




Also, natural healing spells don't exist unless you character is a true magic user ( like Dante ).

Also, the player will no longer just find Crysalii on the world map or as rare drops, but are ingeniously hidden on most wilderness maps. It also gives the player to traverse every inch of my lovely maps ( XD ) scouring out those lovely stat boosters or just hoarding them to turn into powerful skill Orbs.

On a larger note:

There's a demo that's finally ready for testing as well, so I'll be sending it out for a private beta via PMs.

Sometimes I feel I work too hard on a game that is entirely free. Hey, at least LoTL is better than the piles of poo sold on Steam, amirite?

Yes, the title is not misleading you. I only have 3 ( maybe 4-5 hours when I'm done with the new areas ) hours of gameplay done, out of a projected 25 hours. ;_;

Posts

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This looks and sounds amazing, yo. But you probably get that all the time. /fanboys
For my mapping, yes. XD Not necessarily for my actual games. If there are fanboys/fangirls, they're probably lurking out of sight.
You know what, I am a dumbass. I actually downloaded the early alpha demo of this game a long time ago, and I remember thinking it was the coolest shit ever created in VX. You were still using the short sprites and I think it might have even been called something else, like just the Lady of the Lion or something. Anyway, I gotta play this again sometime.
Thanks a lot, Warlund. =) I have to admit, I was pretty impressed by your general attitude towards improving yourself as a game developer by reading your 'Libery inspired me' blog. I've wrote a number of mapping tutorials myself for VX/Ace-style maps as well. So you could always look at that as well if you want to improve your level design. =)
I know I'm as slow as a mule for gam-mak now, but I promise you, the wait will be worth it. I'm still working extremely hard on Tristy. =)
I spot a mapping error! You forgot to use top-of-cliff-tiles around the water so that it looks like it's actually sunk into the ground instead of somehow leaking out weirdly. ^.^
http://i.imgur.com/5qA6HbG.png
@Libby: Yep, fixed it all up already. XD

Also, 16% done only. >< When I get to 25% I should do a little war dance. Which is around 6,25 hours of gameplay...
Good to hear! Also, good to hear you're making solid progress. Keep hammering away~
Slow and steady does it, yes. I'm prepping for a 4 hour long demo release soon. I have to keep my subbies happy, right?
The only way that you’d keep me happy as a subbie is by finally announcing my Siglud & Cillian fangame that I’ve always wanted. Then I’ll be happy!

But a 4 hour demo for Tristian isn’t half bad, either. Either way, just go at your own pace and do what you can.

Laine and Siggy, 3 years on. Now appearing as a killer wife/husband combo in LoTL.

I know you still miss him, Addit. XD The lovable goofball is still my favourite male character I've created for my games, followed by Patrick the Woobie.
Hey, if I ever wanna revisit the old, comedic antics of Siglud and company again I’ll just play Enelysion or read that fan-fic that I did for you a while back in the meantime. It's the next best thing.

But one of these days I shall my get wish of a brand new Siglud adventure… One of these days…
True. He is awesome enough to get his own game lol. But that will have to wait until... 2018?
Aw - but I might be dead by then!

*sigh* Oh well… I guess good things come to those who wait.
I'm also long overdue for a blog update. >< And I really need to get a tumblr/wordpress/some form of social media outlet going for my games.

If I can get 200+ subbies with no external promotion, imagine how much I can get if I do promote it. >:D
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