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Sacred Earth: Memory is a visual novel that adopts certain aspects of RPGs seeking to throw off contemporary shackles of constraint given by the genre's predecessors. With useless fluff done away with, Sacred Earth: Memory seeks to provide an entertaining experience without the frustration present from standard RPG conventions.

Join Veili and Gunnar as they explore the labyrinthine tower that has suddenly appeared in their world. As they explore, they will meet friend and foe alike, and perhaps, they may just discover what it means for it to have appeared now...

Latest Blog

After five hundred years...

...I actually post something.

SEM has more or less been on the backburner for the last... two years? Amid a tumultuous changeover from RM2k3 to RMVXA, then getting hit with RMMV, THEN waiting for the water to settle only to find that RMMV was not going to be my holy grail of game making, legal RM2k3 still wasn't up to the less legit version's standards, and RMVXA stood in a weird place between...

Talk about a run on sentence.

Well, in any case, the end result was that I did a whole lot of waiting only to be disappointed. That, plus my motivation was at an all time low for the last two years, and I lost the same insane drive to create that I had back when this was just an RM2k3 project.

So now that the dust is settled and everything is all said and done, I'm deciding to move forward with prototyping the first 'Chapter' of the current plot outline of SEM, using RMVXA and Sacred Earth Promise's engine. This disappoints me on a deep level because SEP is not what I wanted SEM's base to be.

SEM was going to be deeper than that, but as it stands, RMVXA is getting older, and older, and eventually, I may find myself in the RM2k3 situation again. So rather than twiddle my thumbs, I'll just do what I can with what's there. Even if it's not to my dream specifications and the extra mechanics are missing.

That spiel out of the way, what HAVE I been doing anyway? Well, for now, just making sprites. Thankfully, I have a metric boatload of graphics from the years that SEM has been in the works, so all I really needed to do was polish those old sprites up to my current standard. This is what I have so far:

(Kinda impossible to see weapon trails against this BG, but heeeeey)

Most of the work is adding inbetweens, as the original sprites were pretty much just key frames. Especially in the case of Mir, whose original sprites had no transitions whatsoever. It was kind of bad, yet I was lazy and less skilled back then.

Anywho, the plan is to make all the materials I need for 'Chapter' 1, and then develop it. Once I'm finished and it's playable, I'll see how I feel about it in the end, and if it's worth going forward with. But at the very least, it's something to do to keep me busy.

I wish I knew how to program.

Posts

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Puddor
if squallbutts was a misao category i'd win every damn year
5702
GUNNAR *squee*
Yay! It's about time this makes an appearance!
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
So this is related to RSW? Look forward to whatever (no pressure here!) you release.
cool words on what this game isn't

a full list of what this game isn't will be forthcoming as time warrants

wait you want to know what it is??? um uh hold on I just gotta
author=edchuy
So this is related to RSW? Look forward to whatever (no pressure here!) you release.

Yes, it's related to RSW. Just submitting the profile early in order to beat the rush that will no doubt happen on the 5th.

author=mawk
cool words on what this game isn't

a full list of what this game isn't will be forthcoming as time warrants

wait you want to know what it is??? um uh hold on I just gotta

This man wins the prize.
Whoa! Sacred Earth on RMN? Instant sub! ...I've always looked up to this game when it comes to customizing rm2k3's dbs. =)
author=alterego
Whoa! Sacred Earth on RMN? Instant sub! ...I've always looked up to this game when it comes to customizing rm2k3's dbs. =)


I didn't realize anyone looked up to SE for anything. Flattering as it is, I think I should point you in the direction of Neophyte and Disillusionist instead. They were my seniors in the field actually, and I looked up to them pretty strongly!

...Not that they're around anymore, I think.
Solitayre
Circumstance penalty for being the bard.
18257
I remember this. I'm glad to see you posting games again!
author=Solitayre
I remember this. I'm glad to see you posting games again!


Ahahaha, honestly I wouldn't have posted a game page in any other case, but RSW demands one. I guess it was time to step out of my dark cave anyway, so it's all good!

Thanks!
I know its not a cool question for an indie developer to ask an indie developer but still, any plans on release dates.
author=SaitenHazard
I know its not a cool question for an indie developer to ask an indie developer but still, any plans on release dates.

| --- Refer to this
|
V

author=Dyhalto
This weekend, I would think.
Downloading like a boss.
Alright some stuff.

#0 ugh molebox.
#1 the snow doesn't disappear when you enter the houses at the beginning. When you get out of dark space, the snow disappears completely as well in the town.
#2 all tutorials should be optional because they're annoying and cancels my attacks.
#3 attacks get cancelled way too often ESPECIALLY chain skills even when I'm taking it slow and it gets really annoying I guess. Are they really in wait mode? It feels active.
#4 This http://puu.sh/2NGNh/ff41cfa411.jpg I can't proceed in the game because of this.
#5 Once you get LF break by the trap, there's no way of healing.
#6 I'm soloing the forest and one enemy inflicts stun. You can guess what happened and me almost throwing my mouse to the wall.
#7 Patchouli is still locked and I can't get her into my party during the flower scene.
#8 I got the Energy storm skill thing but I don't see it in my burst skills. Where is it?
#9 a way to access the menu for all my skills that isn't battle (since it seems to be in active battle) Would be really appreciated. Especially since I tend to forget some stuff whenever I was doing the soul upgrade thingmajing.
#10 speaking of traps, it'd be nice to know if there's a way to know if we can actually avoid them than nullify, I wouldn't remember what my rank is for example since it was an out of the blue thing.

#11 Ridiculous brave clears. I killed 2 enemies in 3 turns without getting much damage as Gunnar (since I was too fast for them and I just bolt their asses), I still get a D rank. Wtf? Honestly I got D ranks all the way no matter how fast I killed them or if they even managed to hurt me or whatever. I know it's probably not about speed, but really? :x

The most I got is a Rank B and that's when the FULL LP/EF thingmajings finally stopped appearing for 2-3 battles.
Just reconfirming. Why did my anti virus program detect the file that it has a trojan?
author=Archeia_Nessiah
Alright some stuff.

#0 ugh molebox.
#1 the snow doesn't disappear when you enter the houses at the beginning. When you get out of dark space, the snow disappears completely as well in the town.
#2 all tutorials should be optional because they're annoying and cancels my attacks.
#3 attacks get cancelled way too often ESPECIALLY chain skills even when I'm taking it slow and it gets really annoying I guess. Are they really in wait mode? It feels active.
#4 This http://puu.sh/2NGNh/ff41cfa411.jpg I can't proceed in the game because of this.
#5 Once you get LF break by the trap, there's no way of healing.
#6 I'm soloing the forest and one enemy inflicts stun. You can guess what happened and me almost throwing my mouse to the wall.
#7 Patchouli is still locked and I can't get her into my party during the flower scene.
#8 I got the Energy storm skill thing but I don't see it in my burst skills. Where is it?
#9 a way to access the menu for all my skills that isn't battle (since it seems to be in active battle) Would be really appreciated. Especially since I tend to forget some stuff whenever I was doing the soul upgrade thingmajing.
#10 speaking of traps, it'd be nice to know if there's a way to know if we can actually avoid them than nullify, I wouldn't remember what my rank is for example since it was an out of the blue thing.

#11 Ridiculous brave clears. I killed 2 enemies in 3 turns without getting much damage as Gunnar (since I was too fast for them and I just bolt their asses), I still get a D rank. Wtf? Honestly I got D ranks all the way no matter how fast I killed them or if they even managed to hurt me or whatever. I know it's probably not about speed, but really? :x

The most I got is a Rank B and that's when the FULL LP/EF thingmajings finally stopped appearing for 2-3 battles.

0. Hrm, yeah I know. I wish there were some way of compiling the game that wasn't molebox, but I'm not familiar with that line of program types.

1. What houses in the beginning? Let me have a look at this... Aha, I see. The events in the city. That's an easy fix. (DONE)

2. I'll make them optional.

3. I know, I know. And it is in wait mode. I had the EXE specifically forced to be that way from the start. I really have no way of fixing this any further because this is a hard coded issue that I can't do jack about. It's REALLY annoying! And no one is tackling it!

4. Guh, looks like RMtool got rid of some resources that were actually being used.
I'll have to...ehhhhh...maybe I should just upload an open copy.

5. What do you mean? It should pass after or during battle.

6. Oh, I forgot about that. I knew I was supposed to alter something with one of those enemies. Whoops!

7. You're supposed to solo that quest since it's still Day 3.

8. Energy Storm? Or the EX Skill, Force Stream? Because...they should be there. Let me check... Oh wow. Energy Storm doesn't show up. Even when I buy it, but the code clearly says that it is being added. This is....stupid. Let me fix this. Sigh. Though really, I didn't expect anyone to get to 4th Burst skills for anyone, haha... Edit: OH! I got it! Old timecard framework was getting in the way! It's fixed now.

9. I'll think about how to approach this. Maybe with the next menu upgrade. Since I still have work I need to do on it.

10. I'll think about how to approach this as well. I may have to go all pictures for this. Or rework dodging entirely.

11. Brave Clears are entirely optional and random. Whichever ones you get are up to the system. There's really nothing that can be done for that. If you get one you can do...do it! If you can't, ignore it. :D

Additionally, Battle Report Rank depends on how much LF/EP/LP is left after battle in addition to turns taken, but I think that the criteria MAY be a bit too constricting at the moment. Still I've been managing Bs and Cs by the time the third dungeon came around. I'll need to think about how to approach this.

In any case...looks like I need to upload a fixed copy to address missing files and such. Sigh. Thank you though!

author=wltr3565
Just reconfirming. Why did my anti virus program detect the file that it has a trojan?

It's not a virus. Apparently Molebox does this, according to other people. I'll need to upload the game another way.
Weird... Just weird... My anti virus program detected the same trojan virus again. I'm certain that it was from speedy or whatsoever. Is there anyway to deal with this molebox problem or something else?

EDIT: I decided to take risk to make the game as an exception by my anti virus. I do hope for other releases to not use molebox, to avoid more confusion. I did search about this molebox thing and it has a reputation to be falsely detected to contain viruses. Okay, time to play~

EDIT2: Now I've done playing, I hardly patient for waiting this game to be completed! I still need to tell my thoughts though.
- The way to navigate the overworld map is particularly unique. But I do prefer one button press to navigate one point to another though. Convenience's sake :P
- Orbal weapon? Quartz? No offense but, does the game hold some heavy references from Legend of Heroes series? I only played Trails in the Sky episode 1, so... This is the first Sacred Earth game that I played too.
- It feels empty for a status screen without any portrait when there's a room available for it. Just personal opinion though.
- Graphics are astounding, of course. With an exceptional art style like this!
- Ar Tonelico 1's Battle Theme. It brings good old times :) But, lacking a loop?
- Counting by turns (times activating commands), remaining Life, etc... So the basic is to do things as efficiently as possible. Really, common problems that accompanies games with unique, great battles are just, the basics sometimes are hard to grasp at start. Yep, the learning curve is pretty steep. The chain thing is to be read first, too, albeit being unique!
- With the exploration bound with the nodes there, it gives room to imagination for players :P
- I see Brave Clear contributes greatly to the end score. But still, the scoring system is pretty unforgiving. Gunnar's out, but get a C Rank with Brave Clear?
- Other problem. I'm certain that I cleared a battle unschathed, only took 2 turns, but the 100% LF Brave Clear isn't achieved, and got a D Rank? No joke, so unforgiving. So I decided to just forget those ranks and fight along.
- But with so much ether left from focusing, the rank is B... So the total turns took is not important or what?
- And it ends with a Game Over, after clearing the first dungeon. I think the demo ends there.
Sums up, I found the learning curve is pretty steep, with so much mechanics explained mostly on http://rpgmaker.net/games/5094/Mechanics/ . It's a minor problem to hinder me, though. I wish that I've wasted my time on earlier Sacred Earth games long time ago :(

- The way to navigate the overworld map is particularly unique. But I do prefer one button press to navigate one point to another though. Convenience's sake :P


- Hmn, I actually thought about that, but the choice to enter or not is a failsafe in the case of players who accidentally select a place they didn't mean to. It's much more annoying entering a dungeon area specifically and then having to wait to leave. So the choice is there!

- Orbal weapon? Quartz? No offense but, does the game hold some heavy references from Legend of Heroes series? I only played Trails in the Sky episode 1, so... This is the first Sacred Earth game that I played too.


- No offense taken, they are references to Legend of Heroes. Nice job catching it. 8D

- It feels empty for a status screen without any portrait when there's a room available for it. Just personal opinion though.


- The status screen is a work in progress. The characters will have portraits on the right side of the screen...when they're done. Which will be...eventually.

- Ar Tonelico 1's Battle Theme. It brings good old times :) But, lacking a loop?


- 2k3 has trouble looping as far as I know. But yes, Fenrir's my favorite AT battle theme. It's a placeholder though until I find something I like just as much and is original. ...Which is turning out to be a very hard task.

- Counting by turns (times activating commands), remaining Life, etc... So the basic is to do things as efficiently as possible. Really, common problems that accompanies games with unique, great battles are just, the basics sometimes are hard to grasp at start. Yep, the learning curve is pretty steep. The chain thing is to be read first, too, albeit being unique!


- Yes, the general goal of battle is to fight as efficiently as possible. That's my intention anyhow, but currently, the battle ranking system grades players based on the assumption that they have a full party. I need to rework it to be more mindful of party size.

- I see Brave Clear contributes greatly to the end score. But still, the scoring system is pretty unforgiving. Gunnar's out, but get a C Rank with Brave Clear?

- Other problem. I'm certain that I cleared a battle unschathed, only took 2 turns, but the 100% LF Brave Clear isn't achieved, and got a D Rank? No joke, so unforgiving. So I decided to just forget those ranks and fight along.


- Like I said above, the system grades you based on the assumption that you have a full party, so solo or dual parties get lower scores.

- But with so much ether left from focusing, the rank is B... So the total turns took is not important or what?


- Turns taken is only facet of the system. The other factors matter as well. This isn't FFXIII where only time taken matters.

- And it ends with a Game Over, after clearing the first dungeon. I think the demo ends there.


- Actually the demo goes on for much longer than the first dungeon. What did you get a game over in? After the first boss, you should be continuing events.

Sums up, I found the learning curve is pretty steep, with so much mechanics explained mostly on http://rpgmaker.net/games/5094/Mechanics/ . It's a minor problem to hinder me, though. I wish that I've wasted my time on earlier Sacred Earth games long time ago :(


Yes, I know the learning curve is pretty steep. It's a system that's not very standard, so there are a lot of alternative things to take into account. I tried to break it up in game and give it to the player in small doses however.

Thank you for playing so far though. Your feedback is appreciated!
author=wltr3565
- Orbal weapon? Quartz? No offense but, does the game hold some heavy references from Legend of Heroes series? I only played Trails in the Sky episode 1, so... This is the first Sacred Earth game that I played too.


To be perfectly honest, I was somewhat on the verge of flipping tables over that because I think Frost Metal fragments (which is what they were called during an early version of this) were a better name for the crafting material Mir is using. But I guess there's no going back.

author=wltr3565
I wish that I've wasted my time on earlier Sacred Earth games long time ago :(


Actually, it's a blessing that you didn't and it's quite clear that Skie would agree with me on that. Trust me, you haven't missed anything.

Though Angelic Awakening did have promise but a movement bug choked it to death and since then the only other SE game that we have asides from this one is SEB, which is only mildly competent nowadays.
author=DBAce9Aura
author=wltr3565
I wish that I've wasted my time on earlier Sacred Earth games long time ago :(


Actually, it's a blessing that you didn't and it's quite clear that Skie would agree with me on that. Trust me, you haven't missed anything.

Though Angelic Awakening did have promise but a movement bug choked it to death and since then the only other SE game that we have asides from this one is SEB, which is only mildly competent nowadays.


All true.

SEB was....a technical disaster, though I suppose that some mindless fun can be taken from it, it also provides an interesting look at a good number of characters that appear in SEM. But the game is entirely non-canon now. So it hardly means anything.

...And Angelic Awakening's situation still saddens me. That was one of the first projects I had a great chance of finishing that actually held real promise. But alas, bugs. I haven't escaped bugs either, ahaha...ha.
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