Soul Sunder

Did you hear that 2k3 is finally released in English? Hooray! Now I can fulfill my dream and remake Soul Sunder in 2k3 for commercial distribution!

*snort*

In all seriousness, I have nothing against 2k3. Granted, I only played with it for about a month before moving on to VX so I don't know the ins and outs of it like I do with Ace. But it was my first RPG making engine, so without it, I'd probably be off in Game Maker or Stencyl and I'd never come here to RMN. So I gotta respect it for what it did for me as a developer. However, the only two things I remember liking about 2k3 are the tilesets- er, chipsets (See? I'm throwing around the oldschool lingo!) and the default side view battles.

But I digress.

The purpose of this blog is 10% an update on things and 90% to get that April Fool's blog off the front of the game page. For the record, I actually made a halfhearted attempt at trying to get a cooking simulator to work on Ace, but all I could do was slap on a crafting script and call it a game concept. I know it'd just be an April Fools joke, but if I'm going to do something stupid, then dammit I want to be PROUD of my stupidity! Plus, given my current endeavors, I don't have the time to delve deep into any more projects.

I am now going to talk about Soul Sunder 2's general progress. This will be the last time I do so on this game page, as I think it's tacky to talk about a game extensively that has no game page yet. So I'm going to just lay out my progress with the hopes that nobody kicks down my door and holds me a gunpoint demanding info about the game. The next time I talk about SS2 here will be to direct you to the gamepage that will appear on RMN.


Info dump ENGAGE:


Yes, Soul Sunder 2 is happening, but that's about all I know right now.

I want to thank everyone who gave feedback for the prototype during Release Something XIII! There was so much valuable info there that I have taken into consideration. 99% of what was mentioned has been implemented, and this is making me more excited about the project's future, uncertain it may be. Those that have played the prototype can attest that SS2 is going to play out sliiiightly different than the original while (hopefully) retaining the core concepts of a survival RPG. So if you hated the original, then SS2 may still be able to hook you! (Also, if you hated the original, how did you get this far into the blog?)


That being said, it's coming along quite nicely.

The battle system, the areas, the character designs, and the overall game structure are all but finished. Of course, without anything PLAYABLE, anything I say is just empty boasting. I can have a perfect mmo planned out and can talk about it for hours, but it'll mean just as much to you as what I'm telling you now with the lack of actual playable content. It's true, though. Between getting Remnants of Isolation polished for commercial release and getting ready for final exams this coming week, I've gotten a lot of this game planned out and ready to be developed.

What's that? A vacation? I have no clue what that word means.

I have the entire story written, as well. Usually, I plan the beginning and the ending and let the characters work their way to the end all on their own. However, as this is actually a rewriting of a story I had written about five years ago, I had everything in my head already and just needed to present it in a more manageable way. Now I know what I want to do from the very beginning to the very end, so mapping, art, and writing will (hopefully) come along much more smoothly than SS1 did.

One part of the story that I'm very proud of is that it's independent from SS1. You do not need to play SS1 to understand SS2. The only similarities to the original is that both games take place in the same world, so you'll see similar lore that you did in the original (Kiyomas, Miasma, etc.). However, it will still be made clear what these things are so anyone just jumping in will still understand what's going on in the world.

Besides, both games are character-driven stories, not world driven stories. It's not like there was a LOT of lore in the first game, anyway.

Mapping is what I need to work on the most. After all, without any maps, it'd just be a visual novel. However, thanks to RMN essentially telling me to quit whining, get off my lazy ass and WORK in addition to some super useful tips from unity, I've actually started making progress on mapping again! Yay! I've actually mapped about half the prologue! I mean, it's still rather barebones, but I have ideas on how to make them look better, which is much better than how I was less than a month ago.


Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever! When can we actually SEE it?!

Well... I honestly can't tell you. I know that I'll make the game page when I'm closing in on finishing the prologue, but who knows when that's going to be. Plus, I've made it a short term goal of mine to get on the New and Notable list. It may seem petty and pointless, but first impressions are important, and I want to start off strong. To that end, I've been studying mapping and improving my drawing so I can give the game a stronger visual appeal.

All I can say is this: It will be ready when it's ready. Not a moment sooner.