I wanted to wait a bit longer before writing this next blog to keep from pumping out too much info at once, but the initial reaction to this has been so unexpectedly awesome that my motivation has rocketed higher than it has been since January when I started working on it! I've been blasting through tasks that normally take me an entire day's work to do, and I've made SO MUCH progress that it's insane! Learn from this, everyone: if your motivation starts to take a dip after a long time of solo working, don't be shy about sharing what you have.

Game Structure

So I said in the last blog that I'd talk about the overall structure of the game, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm sure you've noticed the episode count on the main page, yes? Well, PotF isn't going to be strictly episodic like what you see in, say, Fire Emblem. In truth, the episode listing is more in line with a pseudo progress bar for the entire game. Each "episode," is just a chunk of the game that is to be completed and playable. So you're not going to see chapter splash screens or cheesy, "Next Time on Prayer of the Faithless," scenes. No.

So what does each episode consist of, exactly? Well, PotF has two main characters, Aeyr Wilder and Mia Alacruz. After the prologue, the two of them will split and undertake their own separate journeys. With some exceptions, this means that each episode will be divided into an Aeyr segment and a Mia segment. While the final product will undoubtely be different from my plan, I'm aiming for each half to take about 30 minutes to an hour to complete.

I like this structure because it gives clear beginning and end points allowing for character arcs to make a powerful appearance without dragging on and bogging down the player. I think this is especially important for longer RPG Maker games to help keep them focused.


Art-tastic

You may have noticed a new portrait completed in the character tab a few days ago. If you haven't already, go check it out! I'm aiming to have a new portrait and description done about once a week, so be on the lookout for those! Plus, there are a decent amount of characters that aren't playable but still very relevant to the story. For example:



Commandant Vanessa plays a very prominent role in both Aeyr's and Mia's story.

I want to draw a portrait for her, and I will eventually along with all the other characters that get busts. Since she's not a playable character though, a portrait wouldn't go anywhere in the game, and isn't a good use of time right now. I'll do that later once I get all the portraits for the party members that you'll see in the prologue done.

Speaking of which, here's a WIP of the next party member to be revealed:



This is what a true Manna looks like: Dark skin and red eyes (does that remind you of anything, Soul Sunder players?) are the defining characteristics of a Manna.


Art has been, by far, the biggest time sink for this project. It's coming to an end soon, though, at least for the prologue, and I can focus more on the writing and eventing.


As for where I'm at now...

The current prologue has about 45 minutes of content ready to play. That's including cutscenes and battles. Thing is: it's still pretty barebones. Few NPCs have been added, some interiors aren't finished, and the second half of cutscenes haven't been added yet. So I imagine the final prologue will take over an hour to get through. This is surprising, since I originally planned for the prologue to take 30 minutes at most. But there is quite a bit of story to convey, and it has to be paced well enough to avoid the dreaded info dump. Don't worry, you won't be sitting through a long cutscenes where your only interaction is to mash the space key. You'll be doing plenty of walking about and interacting with others.

I want to talk more about the battles systems and such, but I think I've wasted enough of your time already, so I'll leave that for the next blog. This does raise a question, though: What are you interested in reading about? I've been working on this project for half a year already. I've got plenty to talk about. Hell, I could post about 10 blogs on the story alone. But posting constant updates of "I did this, I did that," can get pretty old pretty fast, and the last thing I want to do is bore you by ranting about things you don't care about.

I want to get you involved in this as much as I can. So whatever you want to hear about, let me know and I'll tailor future blogs accordingly.

EDIT: Oh yeah, a release date.

Well, I'm going to start school on August 17th. I aim to have the prologue out before then. you'll have something playable soon. Yay!