Project DragonBlossom [WIP]

[Ark-E]

Note from Me:

Okay, I know it's a bit early to be doing this and letting the public know about a project of mine's that is relevantly a work-in-progress, but it's a desperate callout to those who could possibly help us out.

Project DragonBlossom is mostly an ambitious project I have started since December last year to January of this year. It is mostly filled with major influences of Eastern mythologies, references and etc. It began the moment I saw Freedom Planet (Strife's project) on a video on Youtube and since, I began working on it.

== Story Summary Basis ==

It's been a millenia has since the Ancient Beings and the Great Hero has established peace within the lands after stopping a war that was being lead by a mysterious evil to conquer the world. Once defeated, this evil was sealed away, never to return to threaten the lands. In this time of peace, enough was done to establish the grounds for the four kingdoms which all have Leaders, however the High Prince was crowned as an absolute ruler to keep the Kingdoms in check. Over time, despite of being beaten, the evil grew until the time of it's revival and from this, it threatens the lands once more. Worse of all, it throws enough havoc to have the Solsai Kingdom press threats of war against the other Kingdoms and blaming the High Prince for his inability to stop such an incident. To make matters worse, strange happenings have been sighted around all over the kingdoms and in a strange twist of Fate, it's all up to a youth and her allies to save the kingdoms from going to war against each other and stop the evil before it's too late.

== Purpose ==

Like Freedom Planet, this project is meant to be an action-adventure platformer, but not just that. There are elements of RPG, Puzzle and even combat (ala Kingdom Hearts) inside which means you guessed it, general puzzle solving and level systems are involved and with that being a case, there's going to be skills unlocked and secrets unvealed.

That's why we need some backup spriters that can do amazing things with the effects and characters in terms of not only attacks, but other things as well.

== Gimmicks ==

Now, what's a game without gimmicks? Come on now. We can't have any gimmicks whatsoever, however I can tell you this. Gimmicks will be borrowed from games such as Sonic, Donkey Kong Country and others. However, there has to be a balance on the terms of having too much or too little and as a project, we need to be just right.

I have already created a gimmick that would be of something unique, but it's a work-in-progress.

== Gameplay Mechanic ==

Before we move on, yes, all characters will be able to swim (with the exception of one), grab-onto grapnels, roll, attack, defend and other basic things, it's just these gameplay mechanics that I am about to mention, will separate each other from having the same gameplay mechanics.

Now, since we are entering about what's unique about each character, there will be about four to five different gameplay mechanics;I will listed them now.

* Ayasuka will have great speed, however don't be expecting her to be fast as a certain blue hedgehog anytime soon; not even Lilac is that fast. Since Ayasuka is a monkey, she will be able to climb vines (ala from the DKC series), be able to wall jump, rebound herself with her tail if she was being attacked on the vines by enemies, even being able to rapidly jump from different treebranches and swing herself into the next target branch as well as cling and climb onto moss covered walls. Did I mention that she can balance ride on runaway barrels (ala the DKC series) and steal enemy's weapons and/or items and can choose to keep or attack them with it? Yeah.

* Ukiagi, like Ayasuka, will have speed, but it easily surpass Ayasuka's, because of one reason, rabbits are natural speedsters. Besides that, she's basically the projectile type, notably known for her kunai and shurikens. Certain ropeways will be accessible to her to walk across on, she can jump far across gaps, her fast and agile jumping is limited by jump panels, she can wall run on certain places and can happen to easily use stealth to hide within her surroundings and/or disguise herself to surpass tough situations.

* Tadao is mostly different from the other two; however, his abilities are more tied to using his energy. He can easily sense enemies by vibration pulses given off from either the ground or his surroundings, find hidden passageways and in general, he can project aer-based attacks and barriers that would allow him to destroy and/or mow down enemies and obstacles in his way (thing is it'll use up his energy and he'll need to go to the nearest crystal statue to recover that lost energy.) He is easily known as the slowest of the group, but his defense, man is it tough!

* Michio is the swordsman of the group. With his twin swords, he can cut through enemies and certain blockages with no problem. His speed is average, but it's a close par to Ukiagi's. He has great strength with using his swords and unlike Ukiagi, who can run up walls, he can basically climb up rock-covered walls with no issue. This guy is combat heavy, especially when he attacks with his swords.

Boy, what a mouth full, however, if this is to be convincing you folks to help, it's worth it. Oh and another thing, the fifth gameplay.. there is one, however, we're holding it off until we can get a demo up and a Kickstarter going, so.. there might be a chance you'll see it.

== Unique Abilities ==

Yes, there are those abilities around and there is a total of FOUR of them: Wind, Earth, Fire and Water. How they will enhance each character will result in the following;

Wind: Increases General Speed, grants user relevant elemental ability; CANNOT learn Earth, Water and Fire; can co-operate with Water

Earth: Increases General Defense, grants user relevant elemental ability; CANNOT learn Wind, Water and Fire; can co-operate with Fire

Fire: Increases General Offense, grants user relevant elemental ability; CANNOT learn Water, Wind and Earth; can co-operate with Earth

Water: Increases Special, grants user relevant elemental ability; CANNOT learn Fire, Wind and Earth; can co-operate with Wind

They will also grant the character with skill sets according to their element, however the only thing is: they can't use their said elemental skill sets in the platforming sections, only within the combat areas in the game. However, to add, there will be use of health, energy and Special Bars involved.

== Sprite/ Sample Artwork ==

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/044/0/4/colored__ayasuka_by_arkenova-d5sbavd.png

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/026/6/3/custom_sprite__ayasuka_by_arkenova-d5steyl.png (Beta Sprite)

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/045/d/a/commission___ayasuka_by_noble_maiden-d5uyyq6.png

(Commissioned. Made By Noble-Maiden of dA)

[Ayasuka, the Lead]

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/044/0/7/final__ukiagi_by_arkenova-d5uugcg.png

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/029/e/c/beta_custom_sprite__usagi_by_arkenova-d5t5tcz.png (Beta Sprite)

[ukiagi, formally known as Usagi, the second protagonist]

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/044/1/e/first_concept__tadao_by_arkenova-d5tmaq8.png

[Tadao, the third protagonist]

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/041/0/2/2nd_attempt__michio_by_arkenova-d5uit0o.png

[Michio, the final protagonist]

==Supportive==

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/024/b/b/sketch__guardian_ryota_by_arkenova-d5sl8xm.png

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/026/2/4/colored__guardian_ryota_by_arkenova-d5su1ey.png

[Guardian Ryota, the lead of the Torio no Gadian]

(More coming soon!)

== Music ==

https://soundcloud.com/silverpoyozo/tsuki-no-mori-update/s-eAsrj [Tsuki Forest Phase 1 Preview #1]

https://soundcloud.com/silverpoyozo/tsuki-no-mori-update-1/s-rzmxL [Tsuki Forest Phase 1 Preview #2 - Decision Variation Preview]

(More coming soon!)

==Team==

Creative Lead, Storyline Writer, Spriter: Arkenova (me)

Supportive Art Help: Highwire4 (temporarily?)

Composers: SilverPoyozo (Newgrounds) and StunkelSounds (Newgrounds)

==Wanna Help?==

We're actively looking for some new team members as we speak. If interested, fill the application below~

Just send in this nice and neat application in a note titled "APP: PROJECT DRAGONBLOSSOM - (INSERT POSITION NAME HERE)"

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Why Are You Interested In This Project? (Explain)

Position of Interest(s): (What are you good at?)

Experience: (How long have you been doing this?)

Commercial or Noncommercial: (If you are commercial, I'll try to find a way to pay you off later since I don't have the money as of current.)

Rate Per Hour: (If Commercial)

Contact Address: (E-mail, Blog, just provide something.)

Note #2: More updates are on the way, so stay tuned!

[Serephim]

Would probably be better to stick this in the Art section until you've got some sort of gameplay footage.

[Ark-E]

@Sepephim: Okay, thanks. Hey, should I create another thread in there or what? Not unless you or some other mod move it. I don't want to create another thread and find out I made double threads. @-@;

[OverbounD]

Don't worry Arkenova if Serephim can't move your thread with mod powers it's fine where it is. You need not worry about what he said. As long as there is proof you are working on something it's fine. You've got concept art, music, and a story.

As for the game. Your sprites a really good, I look forward to seeing them animated. The concept art is all great too. It would be great to see more games similar to Freedom Planet. I think Strife may have started a new trend I'd very much like to see continued.

[Ark-E]

@Overbound: Aww, thanks Overbound, but yeah; I do have to admit that for Strife, I admire the guy since his game, Freedom Planet, is what inspired me for my game in general.

So like his game, I would like to go his direction to make it like an indie game.

Edit: I thought to add this in. A commissioned picture from BlueSwirl on dA for something of a scenario this time.

[Ark-E]

Okay, it's not much of an update, but it's rather something:

Update Edited x2! Ayasuka Sprite Update

Speaking of which I did do walking/running animations, but it would need a major update. Question though, any of you guys know of a good animation program I can use for creating future animations better? I'm asking because to be honest, GIFAnimator is crap. =/

[Rawr]

Is that sprite a standing sprite or is she sitting down? If she is standing it looks like she's gonna fall over. I felt the beta sprite to be a better stance actually, the one up in the first post!

[Ark-E]

@Rawr: I think it's suppose to be standing, but I can fix it up to be a sitting one easily. Do note that I am rather new to doing custom sprites and it's bound to be messed-up at times.

Update Time!

Ayasuka Mugshot (Talk?)

Left: The Update, Right: The WIP

Note: Boy, have I been at this for a long while, course it's a bit messy but it'll be fixed up over time.

Update: CHECK FIRST POST! It's IMPORTANT!

[Ark-E]

Another update, I dunno about keeping Ayasuka's sprite in this format since the debate would be thrown in the air.

Oh and another thing, Overbound is helping me develop some background elements (well, as in tutoring me) in case nobody else would be interested in helping out with doing the background elements.

Ayasuka sitting on the edge of a cliff.

I'm still relevantly a newbie with background elements, so yeah..

[Serephim]

It's looking pretty awesome to me.

A good program for animating, best I can think of for sprites is Graphicsgale. It has pretty much everything needed for pixel animation in a neat and convenient package.

[Ark-E]

@Serephim: Thanks. I'll need all the help I can get to develop this project more.

UPDATE!

Actual Background Elements in Play. (Yet to be Pixelled!)

[Ark-E]

Update! x2 Edit!

Something of a WIP and surprisingly, it's going rather well.

Changes:

- Grass has been updated a bit.

- Tree and Mountains are custom-made.

And for those who are waiting for another update of one of the level songs, don't fret! Our composer gave us another update.

https://soundcloud.com/silverpoyozo/tsuki-no-mori-moar_updates/s-ExiZz

[Ark-E]

Bump!

Sorry if there's not much being posted, but I've been busy with sprites and such for this game and all that jazz.

However, I can show you guys something:

A brief WIP of the introduction area.

(Note: I did NOT draw this. This was another commission done for the project!)

[OverbounD]

Awesome drawing. You could probably outline those dragons with the pen tool in photoshop. That will give you a nice outline for starting a pixel art version. You can even re size the outline to the size before you start that way. You'll end up with an almost perfect pixel out line.

Watch a few videos on how to use the pen tool on youtube.

Try to outline a few sketches or something with what you learn. I'll then show you how to use it to create a base for pixel art and assist you with any questions you have. A lot of people find it a bit tricky at first. If you stick with it though it's going to make your life a lot easier.

[Ark-E]

Sounds cool with me, Overbound. =)

[Ark-E]

First up, news. I got another friend on the team who will be helping with Voice Acting to some of the some of the characters and creating the HUD concept.

Second up, new things are in:

New Beta Stand sprite (unfinished)

and these~

Commission of Ayasuka.

UPDATE! March 25th!

MAJOR UPDATE! Ukiagi's new Sprite!

I did a major overhaul from her beta sprite to this and boy did it take long.

Note: Don't mistake Guardian Ryota as Monkey Khan from the comics, he is an original character that was inspired by him. XD

Now..if only this project had a logo.. that and I'm working on revising some sprites to fit in the new style I have in mind. I know progress is slow, but it's going still.

[Ark-E]

Another update after what 5 days or something? I would do updates sooner but my internet went bipolar on me and turned on and off, however that's been fixed. Thank goodness.

- Ayasuka's walkcycle revamped (1/2 done)

- Introduction to Tadao (3rd protangist)

- Revamped Ukiagi's runcycle sample

- Ages are revealed for the three characters

We got some new characters coming in so it's no longer just Ayasuka and Ryota. Another thing, I have also some new concepts for characters coming in, but they have to be near finalization before I post them up here.

Ukiagi equals one word: Ninja Bunny. Hey, it's bound to happen sometime and this happens to be the case. XP

Update! 3/28

This is a half-done beta run sprite for Ukiagi. I have yet to improve it! But yeah.

Update! 3/29

The updated version.

[Ark-E]

Graphical Overhaul Time~

What used to be a whopping 38-colors is now reduced to a fairly decent 31-colors, pushing the game to result to a 32-bit target.

And what's this? An revealing of an item? Yes folks, we have our common collectable: the Crystal Arrowheads. They will be worth the value later on down the road.

Now for the WIP HUB, it's going to look familiar to most of you who follow Freedom Planet, but here it is:

If you notice it, congrats. However, I aimed it to reference elements from the Kingdom Hearts series with the different actions. After all, this is an Action-Adventure Platformer with different elements, however RPG will be a major role to this.

[InfinityAlex]

First off, I'm happy for you and your project. I've seen you talking about it on Sonic Retro.

Secondly, does anyone else think "Monkey Kahn" when they see Ryota?

But yeah, great project so far and looking forward to seeing the final result.

If you get a music team, try to keep them on track!

[Ark-E]

@Infinity_Alex: Thanks and by the way, Ryota has been slightly redesigned as of recent and I'm working on his next pixel work with his updated look.

Another thing, I do have a composer and yes, I keep on their sides to make sure that they do their job.

*sigh* But it's still so hard to find a team. I'm in total desperate mode here to gain more members! I've work my tail off on this the most and to see that lack of interest worries me, but I'm not giving up. I will make it through somehow!

Please when you get the chance, spread the word of this so people would come in and help out! Every bit helps!

[InfinityAlex]

I would love to help with promo and concept art but I pretty busy with my own project right now. Maybe once I have my first zone done I'll go on hiatus to help you. However, you do seem to have got everything you need in the art section. I could play test?

[Ark-E]

@Infinity_Alex: Play test? Could you explain further?

[InfinityAlex]

Play through your game to check for bugs and offer impartial criticism.

[Shinbaloonba]

31 colors isn't "decent" for a sprite like this,matterfact,it's a LOT.

About your "32-bit" reasoning,look at the player sprites from..say SOTN or MMX 4-6,you'll see that they don't even exceed 15 colors.

Not only you're using too many colors,but the majority of them are severely lacking in contrast,and overall "refinement" for lack of a better term.

She's also overdetailed,and her washed out colors contrast too much from the more simplistic,cartoony like shading of the dog and the bunny's body (those also lack contrast).

[Ark-E]

@Shinbaloonba: Look, I'm trying to do my best on spriting, okay? I'm relevantly still inexperienced to doing custom sprites since I've recently started back in 2008 and for people to criticize on them and I dunno, visually not help me, it's not making my job any better, isn't it? N-O as in NO.

Sorry if I sound like ranty and complaining, but it's been generally very stressing on me as of recent with juggling two projects with one of which that I severely lack a team in and have little to no money to work with on commissions and all that stuff.

@Infinity_Alex: Sure. However, we still need a stage and a character to be completed as well as a person who can help with fixing up Sonic Worlds engine.