I guess you could say this game is officially in production, although it will move at a pretty slow pace. I want the story to be the main draw to this game, but I've also been pondering about the gameplay and decided I would take a stab at a CBS.
So, introducing the "Environment-Based Interactive Battle System". I came up with that right now :P
Basically, the battle system and all of its components will change throughout the progression of the game. Each individual battle will be unique, and characters will never have the exact same battle animations used for more than one battle. Like real people, they will change their battle styles to fake out their opponents (also to make watching them more interesting).
The Environments play a huge part in each of these battles. Characters will sometimes be given special environmental conditions which will allow them to interact with surrounding objects and use them to their advantage. This can include team attacks, throwing objects, blowing shit up, and a whole slew of other things. It will all depend on how many party members you have, their relationships with one another, the objects surrounding them, the state of the environment, etc. This is why I am making each battle completely unique.
Obviously, this will take some time to animate. But the system itself is quite simple, and only requires a bunch of copying and pasting with a few tweaks here and there. And yes, this does mean that there are a limited number of encounters during the game, but grinding isn't what this game is about anyway. Besides, I'm more worried about the character picture portraits, which I am drawing myself atm.
Anyways, I'll be working on this game during my break from the Eden Legacy series. I need something a little smaller in scope while I gather my ideas, and this project seems pretty perfect for that. I've been writing the cutscenes on paper before I animate them (which can't happen until I finish the character portraits) and focusing on the design of the maps and their environmental conditions. For a change, I would like to actually improve on my mapping, which Eden Legacy 1-3 have not really allowed me to do without compromising their minimalistic qualities (8bit 4eva!!!).
As for music, I'm not sure yet what direction to go with this. We'll have to wait and see. Probably something experimental, but interesting, and not too weird.