DragonBlossom: The 2014 REBOOT

[Ark-E]

Introduction

Well, it's been several months down the road since I had made the original DB topic and I didn't like how it was all forced/rushed; since then, it underwent a heavy overhaul with the main story and did some swapping so without further ado, I will re/introduce you all (Sonic United/SFGHQ) to..

 

_{*Logo not final}

What Is DragonBlossom?
An indie 16-bit action adventure platformer with RPG elements based off of elements from the Donkey Kong Country, Sonic, Klonoa and Okami, alongside many others. Choose between Adventure or Classic as Ayasuka and her friends are sent into an journey that rooted from the distant past on mains to stop an evil force from taking complete control of the Kingdoms.

Overview
Long ago, after many struggles, the Four Celestial Sovereigns alongside with an unlikely Hero that took to the ranks of protecting a Princess, seals away the force as it was the cause of the among the spiritual imbalance of the land. It had caused many wars with the recent being the Dragon Wars that had brought much damage to the four Kingdoms; with rebuilding in progress and peace being restored, he made a one final vow before the Sovereigns scattered: it was a vow to pass his strength down to his future descendant in case the evil returned, leaving his sword in the ground where the seal was.

Time passes on and since the seal was weakening, there have been incidents of attacks that rose in the years, eventually bringing to the full release to terrorize the Kingdoms, bent on revenge and with the insight to cause the fulfillment of a dark prophecy.  At the wake of the crisis, three individuals from different Kingdoms, all from different lines of life are brought together through the strings of Fate as they must fight back to save their World and solve the mystery of the intentions of evil at hand.

 

Team

Novally, PixelJoint, Character

Mr. Din, PixelJoint, Character - Left

BrendaMaya, deviantArt, Tileset

Tebited15, deviantArt, Tileset (Close friend BTW)

Can of Nothing, SFGHQ, Music

 

Special Thanks

DerZocker, SFGHQ, Revamping/Logo

Toto088, deviantArt, Additional Help

Chibi-Nuffle, deviantArt, Additional Help

Pixy, Friend and Fellow Pixel Artist, SFGHQ, Encouragement/Advice

Mr. Lange, formely SFGHQ, Encouragement/Advice

Strife, Friend and Fellow Developer - Freedom Planet, SFGHQ/various indie sites, Encouragement/Advice

 

Progress: Around 10-15% done

_{*Additional help is still required, however we are trying to limit people out so the team won't get too big,}

 

Main Characters

 

Ayasuka [ Art ]
Spunky, tomboyish and adventurous, Ayasuka is the town rascal that enjoys causing trouble, from whenever she feels like it; she only does it to have some fun and often times she hangs out with the only friend that she has known to be her mentor when it came to thievery. She lives in a house on the mountainside outside Kazujin's capital city.


Mao (Toto088's character) [ Art ]
Fierce, serious and down-to-earth, Mao is one of many sisters in the Zheng family, who owns a restaurant in Houng-Tu; as a child, she was trained and raised by temple monks who, on her departure, gifted her with a sword and mystical cards with the ability to summon the Zodiac Spirits, who are beings that inhabit the four Kingdoms.  


Seichi [ Art ]
Calm, soft-spoken and pure, Seichi is a youth that has resided in the lakeside of the Kingdom of Tsumizu-Le. He is very respectful to his mentor who has trained him in self-defense especially with the lingering threats that has been an issue; on the other side, he gets a bit homesick every now and then.

 

 

_{*mockup, not final; WIP}; _{tiles made by BrendaMaya/me, revamped by Derzocker; oh and Ayasuka sprite made by me, revamped by Novally}

We're working on a graphical overhaul to give the game a more professional touch!

Edited July 4, 2014 by Ark-E

[Riseodvi]

Looks awesome! I read that it has KH style combat, and I could go for that any day. I like the Genesis-esque art style, and while I usually like minimal HUD's, I love it when RPG's have statistics and meters all over the place!

[Ark-E]

@Riseodvi: The tile artstyle is as DerZocker says as if it's like one of the 16-bit vintage early Genesis/Megadrive titles had. I believe a good example would be like The Revenge of Shinobi since that came out in 1989.

 

TEAM Update: Bad news, our Pixel Artist, Mr. Din, for doing the characters sprites, has left the team because he was hired out by another team, so I'm a bit tensed up, however, I wish for him the best of luck. However, the good news is that a new tileset will be coming in from one of our tileset artists, BrendaMaya, this coming weekend.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Ark-E

[Ark-E]

Gimmick Update

 

CRYSTALS?! Hey, you're ripping off- okay, no, just listen before you judge, because yes, even though it's similar ideal to a certain indie game coming out soon, they have benefits that will add on more than just the protection of the character.

 

Hear me out: the green and cyan shards are unobtainable for inventory and serves as temporarily basis for life/energy replenishment. They are meant to be not abused because it will recover less each and every time; careful planning is key because if you take it for more than granted, the crystal will eventually shatter and disappear for good.

 

However, the other four are elemental shields and are obtainable for inventory for later use. Now, there's four elements: water, fire, wind and earth, however these can only provide the similar benefits as mentioned in the recent topic but are not able to be combined and are considered useful by everyone.

 

Wind: Increases Speed (increases speed on user depending on the level), grants user relevant elemental ability; will be able to boost dash into the air and can blow off enemies in different directions.

 

Earth: Increases Defense (lowers attack from enemies depending on the level), grants user relevant elemental ability; will be able to smash through blocked-off areas by boulders and ram through enemies without much problem.

 

Fire: Increases Offense (increase attack from user depending on the level), grants user relevant elemental ability; will be able to speed up on the ground, resistant against lava

 

Water: No additional effect; grants user relevant elemental ability; will be able to breathe underwater for extended period.

 

You can stack these to layer the effects of each shield to another level; max is around Level 3, however after one - two hits, it will break the shield.

 

Remember this is WIP and it's not final.

 

In conclusion, what do you guys think? Any suggestions, comments or questions about it? Your input is valuable.

 

Update: Okay, it edited it. Thinking on the golden heart one though.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Ark-E

[Ark-E]

LATEST UPDATE: We're getting an engine together and I have been trying to contact the tile artist but no response. I will try again and as for character sprites, expect delays. I know that things have been slow but that doesn't mean we're not progressing.

[Serephim]

I saw this on Tigsource, it's looking pretty good dude.

[Ark-E]

@Serephim: Thanks. Your kind words mean alot.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Ark-E

[Ark-E]

Character Update!

Several Newcomers!

 

Clay Zheng [ Art ]

 

One of Mao's many sisters that runs the restaurant business in Houng-Tu. Unlike Mao, she is more upbeat and cheerful of the sisters. She will serve as a shop NPC.

 

??? [ Art ]

 

The enigmatic character. He serves for one purpose and that is to track down whoever is responsible for causing the crisis in the first place. Many say that he bears a strong aria of darkness and is a curse among the lands.

 

TEAM Update: We have gotten a newcomer Musician on the team (something of a volunteer effort since he was willing). The tile artist on the other hand is still working on the tiles and progress may be a bit slow ..and my tablet won't work, so future character sprites will be worked by mouse.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Ark-E

[Ark-E]

Characters!

 

Calm and reasonable, Emperor Ryuuchi of Kazujin is also an authority figure that not only protects the citizens of his kingdom, but make sure there is equality among all kinds to maintain peace with the people. Rumor has it that there is something of a long lost connection from his past..

 

Anyone remember this guy? No, well then. This is Ryota, obviously the leader of the three guardians under Emperor Ryuuchi's command. Over the years, he along with Ayasuka have been having conflict after conflict with each other, however maybe just maybe, there's something different this time..

 

I know he usually has his staff but I kinda excluded it in this update, maybe next update.

 

Concept!

 

 

_{*WIP, not final titlescreen}

Been experimenting with this; if you can't read the first one, there's always the second one.

 

One more thing..

Treasure Chests, the update to the element crystals and some wordings I'm working on.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Ark-E

[Rawr]

The second one is definitely more legible - but I am unsure if its just the font in general or the really bright green against the red that makes it hard to read. I'd experiment - maybe try making the text white instead? Either way I do think the font itself might also be the problem.

Everything else is looking pretty cool though - keep it up!

[Ark-E]

@Rawr: Yeah, white looks more legible; oh and thanks for the compliment.

[Can of Nothing]

Yeah, white might be a better idea, and the black lines inside the letters themselves might be hurting the legibility a little too.

 

The screen's looking pretty okay for the meantime though - background looks great, neat logo and other than the scroll and text (shading might need some work on both parts) it looks like it's making excellent progress!

 

I just hope I can live up to the standards placed by the art.

[Ark-E]

Well guys, we're moving along and quite literally at that sense. Get the hint? If not, then:

 

 

BAM!

 

Now you know and this is a rough draft. It'll be fixed in the final..and would you look at that, Ayasuka's looking as crisp as ever (even though her contrast needs fixing.)

 

On top of that, a new stage song is in the works as well as many other things and I know it's a small update but I wanted to point out that this project is still alive and going (though slow and steady).

Edited November 13, 2014 by Ark-E

[Ark-E]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkS4hA4Xuog

UPDATE! Very Early Gameplay video and announcements if anyone wants to look. I know it's mostly unfinished but progress is going!

 

Sorry if it's choppy but Camstudio..yeah. Will update with a replacement video.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Ark-E

[JiyakoZen]

Well, I don't know what to assume with just the video, since it's early WIP . But I think judging by the concepts you have so far, this might be the first indie game I spend money on ^^.

 

*Not that I pirate games or anything, I just haven't played any shareware indie games .

[Ark-E]

UPDATE! A true blue playtest screenshot of Ayasuka (Unity Engine). This is an unfinished sprite of her that our Programmer is using. However, we could use a Tileset Artist and Enemy Design Artist to help progress things faster.

[Ark-E]

News Update! Okay, our Programmer is working on a new build as I speak. However, we picked up some new members in terms of sound design as well as music, however the current composer had to quit because of a record label scenario. As much I don't want to over saturate the team, these 'in case' scenarios are being more frequent.

 

Team:

DaPhyre, dA, Lead Programmer

TanjatheBat, dA, Animation (Character)

FancySass98, dA, Backup Musician (Problem: He needs another Musician to collaborate with since CoN has school)

 

Incoming:

OpenLight, NewGrounds, Potential Musician?

 

Inactive/Away:

CanofNothing, SFGHQ, Musician (School)

BreyaMayan, dA, Tileset Artist (School)

Novally, PixelJoint, PixelArt (Inactive)

 

..I'm gonna have to cut out some people..this is getting too huge for a team.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Ark-E

[Plom510]

If you're still looking for help, I could probably help as a tileset artist and maybe as a musician as well. Only problems I see is if my art style for tilesets can match what you want. Making original music might be hard for me but sometimes I know what sounds right in terms of music.

[Ark-E]

@Plom510: Thanks. That means alot actually.

[Ark-E]

Good news! Even though progress is slow from the Holidays to the New Year, things are going and what better off than to have good ol' revamps?

 

Curious? Have a peak.

 

Mao had a MAJOR revamp from her recent sprite while Seichi and Ayasuka had obvious minor changes, but it's better to have quality.

 

More to come in the future and until then, Happy Holidays and have a safe New Year!

[Felik]

It's very nice to see an original IP over here. I hope the gameplay will be good.