Hello, if you're good at programming and want to do some stuff (and have the will to do it), then you've come to the right place.
I'm Zero, the head of my team, and due to the loss of our previous programmer we're looking for a new one. It's not like he abandoned the project or anything, he just didn't have enough time to spare, nor the will needed to proceed. I'll start by describing the team members, then the game.
Team:
The team is currently made of 2 people. I'll say it from the start, the second member is my girlfriend, but it doesn't mean that she's not good and I'm keeping her. Here's some details about us
Zero (which is me): I'm writing the plot, dialogues and characters, music and how the game will work. IRL I study chemistry, but I'm positive I'm up to the task of writing the plot, which I'm working on every day, updating it, adding details to it, and polishing it. What I created is a world and then I put my characters there, and a story came out (an interesting one I hope). I've played many games, watched lots of movies, readen even more books, I should be able to distinguish a good story from a bad one, hopefully I won't be writing the latter. I've also studied both English and Italian literature (I speak both languages fluently). While my experience with writings might be that of a newbie, I know a lot about gaming, and also something about the programming part that is behind that (even though I can use js and ruby, I realized the hard way that I cannot do everything alone if I want to make a slightly bigger game than some kind of flappy bird clone or something like that), so I know the differences between a bad game and a fun game, and I've already in mind what I want to do as I've chosen a solid option which is the rpg genre. About music, I've studied it a lot since I was a child, and can play the piano too. I can use FL Studio, and I'll surely be using it, but I also use MuseScore to keep track of what I'm doing on an actual score. If we ever get to the point where I cannot do both writing music and the plot, then we'll look for someone to take one role from me (and it'll probably be the music stuff)
Finna: She's doing all of the graphics, from artworks to spriting. She's studying figurative arts IRL, and I have proof that she's good enough to be called a pro. She's only done some sketches until now, but I'll be updating this post with more of her drawings, even if nobody contacts us. Doing sprites would be pointless for now, since we have not yet decided on the size in px of the entities, so I'll be posting any kind of artwork or sketch related to the game. She can also use Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint.
And now I'll finally be talking about the game, plot and mechanics
Genre: As I said before, this is going to be a 2D TurnBased RPG, which will mix original features with improved versions of classical concepts.
Settings: It'll be set in a modern world inhabited by humans and creatures called Monsters by the population. These Monsters are powerful beings capable of great destruction, and are strictly being kept under control by the governments. Their behavior is quite similar to that of some animals, and some of them have even adapted to situations like strong heat, human presence or other Monsters. They can also be trained, and when humans found out about this some of them, later called Tamers, started using them to people's advantage, in a lot of widely different fields, like security or industrial production. Of course, like weapons, it depends on who tames them... and this is why Monsters and tamers are put under surveillance every second. Also, wild ones can be as dangerous as bad people, ergo the zones outside the cities are almost abandoned (apart from streets and human facilities). The story will start in Hydropolis, the capital. The 2 main protagonists (and only controllable characters) are 18 years old, and will have just finished their studies to become Tamers, a male and a female: Raphael, who just moved here from another region with his father, and Gabrielle, who's always lived in this city with her mother, will explore the Reign of Pyriod, a parlamentary constitutional monarchy led by King Pyriod XXIV, while training to become Master Tamers, their dream since they were just children. They'll also get asked to train some very particular Monsters, but they'll need to expand their team if they want to make their dream come true. So, they will travel to cities and other places to improve thei abilities and skills, while also dealing with unwanted problems and relationships.
Gameplay: It'll be kind of similar to a Pokemon game, but at the same time it'll be completely different: battles against other Tamers or wild monsters will be done, guess what, with monsters. Monsters have different stats and abilities depending on their Species (first name, like Leviathan, Thor...) and Stages (like pokemon's evolution system, but more realistic; second name, like Cub, Adult...). There are actually two kinds of battles: the first ones are Friendly Battles and are mainly about competition, and in these cases, like in a tournament or against another Tamer (or in most cases Two of them), the battle will be TurnBased, where every Monster acts once per turn and the fastest makes its move first. Also, in order to prevent them from getting gravely injured, they will be considered KO if their Health Points drop more than 50%. But in some cases the player will have to deal with thugs, bad people in general or stronger boss enemies which will require the monsters' full potential: I like to call them Emergency Battles, which use an ATB system (like in final fantasy games), which uses an Action Bar that gets replenished over time, so monsters can only act when Action Bar is full, and it'll get empty again once the move has been made. This means that faster monsters will attack more often since their Action Bar will replenish faster. Finally, most of all the battles are going to be fought by both the protagonists at the same time, partnered together and both fully controllable by the player, in 2 vs 2 monsters matches where if one gets KOed it gets switched with another monster at the end of the turn (or instantly in Emergency Battles). Outside of fights, the player will be able to explore cities and go outside on adventures in order to get new monsters for his teams or train in the wild or whatever he wants. Like your average classic rpg.
Music: I've thought of this for a while, and I think I'm going to stick with this idea. Most of the music will be made of remixes of classical pieces, and I'm in love with this idea
Audience: This game is not going to be for children, but it doesn't mean it'' be made for adults either. Surely the plot until now seems to be going in the intricated and complicated direction, and some parts of it are kind of dark to be honest, and also the difficulty might end up being just a bit high, but it will not contain violent (apart from battles of course) or xxx content at all. I do not want them in my game, and there's no place for them in the story.
Final thoughts: although the "explore the region to battle people and get stronger" might seem a bit of copied from pokemon games, it's gonna be a lot different than that. Connections between the cities will be a lot more complicated than pokemon routes, and it'll be possible to encounter wild Monsters only outside of the street that leads to your destination. Furthermore, it'll be possible to explore these connections too deeply too early, get ambushed by a way stronger monster than your teams and get wiped out by it (which means: game over, start back from last time you saved the game). Monsters are going to be more inclined to strategic combat instead of any kind of "hit till they dead tactic", and there will not be luck based situations during battles. Also, remember that this game is, to quote the creators of FFXV, a Realistic Fantasy, and every feature or condition or limitation in the game will have an actual explanation.
I really want to make this game, and I hope you will agree with me that these ideas are not bad and cannot be wasted. Our will to continue cannot be wasted either.
For applications just reply to this post or send an email to -----> zerofinnagame@gmail.com
I'll now be posting some of the artist's sketches. Tell me your thoughts on them! I think Leviathan is going to be pretty cool, and Thor too! Tomorrow I'll be posting more (3:30 am here)
Edit: added some drawings to show you how good Finna is
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