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Release Date
Eventually...


==========
PROGRESS
I began work on Ob Iter back in the fall of 1999 when i stumbled across RPGmaker 95+. In 2003 i released 'Dark Void' for the 95+ platform. It was at this point that what started as something to toy around with one night began to transform into a much bigger world. Therefore, i moved to the then new RPGMaker 2003 platform to begin work on this current project. Over the years it kept growing and growing to the point of never getting finished. It has now migrated over to VX Ace, which in all should make for a better final product

Principally, i have put in over 5,000 hours of work to this game over the years (including Dark Void). The foundations are finally firmly in place and a polished product i feel comfortable releasing is taking shape. I cannot promise when it will be complete, but i am working on it always. So long as there are people out there to play it and a website such as this lives, you'll find it here for download eventually.

==========
STORY
Drake is a war deserter escaping his homeland of Saldonia. He runs south to the enemy nation of Val. He looks for a quiet life with his lifelong friend Garret. This is where the story begins.

This is a story about a world nearing extinction. The focus is on the people in it during their final weeks. Is is about their lives and relationships, but also a journey of discovery. It explores reality as a dream state and a theory that time is not linear. It is also a love story.

============
Battles

Monsters appear on the map.

I work to avoid big heals and one good attack auto spam. A character with 1000hp cannot be healed for 500, but rather in the range of 50-150, but if healing 50 costs 2mp, then healing 150 would cost 10. Enemy strength works similarly. In this way, long battles become a strategy where health rises or falls gradually, creating an epic struggle rather than a repetition fest. All stats are restored after battle, but not between consecutive battles. MP can be charged during battle, or characters may charge an ally.

==============
Graphics

Are a mix of tile-set and Bryce.

Map sizes are prioritized to the minimum, but some are larger to avoid fade in and out screen fatigue. When larger, i still like to use maps that are minimum size on either the x or y axis.

I would rather the hero move around the map, than have him centered around a scrolling map. Also, i find the standard tileset approach to be too repetitive generally, but not useless. Bryce / DAZ textures provide a more varied design than taking one tile and replicating it across the map. Skyboxes add a sense of dimension or horizon.

By a general rule, i aim for exterior locations to be largely pre-rendered, and interior locations to be tileset, but both, including sprites and monsters are in the prerendered style.

===========================
Music
No MIDI tracks. All MP3. It's worth it. I've tapped OC Remix for some favorites. Also included is a selection from the Audio Machine platinum series (you hear these a lot in movie trailers). Finally, there is also an assortment of originals i have composed on Reason.

=======================
Chapter Overview
Prologue
Chapter 1 - The Search
Chapter 2 - The Odyssey
Chapter 3 - Medley
Chapter 4 - The Dark Empire
Chapter 5 - The Sins of our Fathers
Chapter 6 - The Goddess Tower
Chapter 7 - Redemption
Chapter 8 - Paradise Lost
Chapter 9 - Eternum

(Subject to change)
This is a brief overview of the 'episodic' structure. Chapters 7 and 8 may end up becoming an additional chapter or two depending on how things flesh out.

==========

Always interested to anyone who wants to help with the game.

Latest Blog

Scrapping the concept

Recap on current situation
In my previous blog post, I mentioned that the foundation had been completed. A couple thousand hours of exhaustive work on creating the database for my game. Countless hours were also completed around character designs, story progression, graphics, and music. In all, I was ready to start actually making the game. In doing so, I realized that drawing the graphics of each single map took me an average of 10 hours, and that's not counting the game play overlay work. It would take 10,000 hours to make Ob Iter as I originally envisioned. So I became disheartened and shelved the project once again.

I still don't know if the game will ever see completion, but I think that the only way to give it a chance is to scrap the original concept. It is, after all, a 20 year old concept at this point. While it has evolved over the years, the core story progression may actually be a hindrance after all these years anyway. I need to blow up the concept and start fresh from a point where I can actually tackle the project.

So how do I do this?

Well, As I stated, the maps would take me 10 hours each to complete. This is in large part because of collision mapping, since I'm using per pixel movement. Interiors are much, MUCH easier. Walls are generally set on the box, so the only real collision mapping work is detail related, rather than every little corner of a wide open area. The new game design needs to be predominantly indoors.

This way I can spend less time on the actual mapping, and more time filling each map with content.

What about the concept?
Much of the database work can be retained. I can feature the same character designs I have already made. The same music and graphic assets still work. In fact, I can still tell the story I set out to tell if I wanted to. It's just the core A to B to C progression that needs to be scrapped. The world map and the designed route that the character takes through it needs to die.

A critical element to my original story is the the 'Dream World'. A closest comparable might honestly be the 'Ribbon' from Star Trek: Generations. What if I simply place the protagonist in a room. He has arrived in the 'Dream World' or 'Ribbon' with no memory of who he is or how he got there. No one else seems to remember either. They just know that they arrived one day and have each gone about dealing with it in their own ways.

What does become apparent is that they are living at the top of a 'Deep Dungeon'. The answers surely rest below, but most would rather settle into a comfortable new life on the first floor than risk life or limb to investigate the dangers of the lower levels.

Buried in the dungeon are memories of the forgotten world from which you came. Interacting with objects and people in every area will present choices that will affect the world around you.

I can then utilize the memories to tell the original story, or some adaptation of it, from the setting of 'Deep Dungeon'. I can focus cleanly on the battle system I worked so hard to tune over the years. It should take less time do do more because the big open world is gone. On the flip side, the world itself would be gone and replaced with a dungeon. That's not necessarily worse, being that big spaces can often be empty. There's focus in a situation where every screen has content.

At least, this is the best I have for ideas right now. ... And really, 'Dungeon Levels' also lend themselves very well to episodic release / added content / continuing story etc. I still wouldn't expect anything soon, as I have other projects on the go as well that are not game related. Still, I think it would be plausible to tackle the game this way.

So, eventually, ... probably soon, I will take a few days and really SEE how long it will take to build the game this way and then I'll have a better idea of if it stands a chance.
  • Production
  • 0 of 9 episodes complete
  • RedAkerston
  • RPG Maker MV
  • Strategy Visual Novel RPG
  • 06/08/2010 01:02 AM
  • 05/23/2018 04:11 AM
  • N/A
  • 64580
  • 22
  • 0

Posts

Pages: 1
This is the weirdest game name I've ever seen.
Kewl, keep up the good work. I like the direction this game is heading; can't wait to see what else you come up with.
Despite
When the going gets tough, go fuck yourself.
1340
this game looks really bad.
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
Oddly enough, I doubt any game can be extreme enough to warrant heavy metal as a default battle theme.
chana
(Socrates would certainly not contadict me!)
1584
Looks good (don't let it be yet another good game destroyed by the wonderful feedbacks!).
Despite
When the going gets tough, go fuck yourself.
1340
author=Despite
this game looks really bad.


Wow was I a dick.
Wow! Modern military setting! Pistols & rifles... It will be great!
I'm tired of classic fantasy with swords and magic (and not only me).
This game will be very good - i'm sure!
Especially, i like the character sprites and portraits from the battle screenshot - they looks very "One-style" and this is really good. Simplistic, but looking good!
Try to make all the sprites in this style - even enemy sprites.
The one-style custom graphic is the key to high-standart and stand-alone project.
(the default RTP guy with hairband, and red-haired guy from "Langrisser" must be replaced - they doesn't fit the style... but you already know this, i guess)

P.S. The title name is really weird. What it means?
author=calunio
This is the weirdest game name I've ever seen.

author=Arey109
P.S. The title name is really weird. What it means?

It's latin is all. "Iter" means way or journey, "ob" means toward/against or in order to/because of. So you can make something like "On to the journey"

I don't mind metal at all .. it just depends on what kind of metal they use. The usual heavy metal stuff is crappy, repetitive and boring imho, would spoil the game a bit. Other sub-genre could very well do the trick.
It does look interesting overall
Pages: 1