Izulde Develops An RPG (RL Dynasty - RPG Maker MV)

[Izulde]

So I've decided to take the plunge into developing an RPG, which will be available for purchase at some point. I'll be using RPG Maker MV due to the built-in side-battler system, though I like Ruby as a more elegant and easier to use language than Javascript.

What I have thus far:

Golden Seeds is the working title.

"All the life-potentialities that we never managed to bring to adult realization, those other portions of ourself, are there; for such golden seeds do not die." - Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces

This is still very much in the rough sketches of development, with in-game only the starting room and inciting quest event complete. As such, I'll have generic placeholders for some names. But in any case...

World/Setting

Spoiler

WorldName is one in which the disparity between the wealthy and the underclasses has grown so great, that bar a few exceptions, the only shops are located in castles. This income inequality has led to many turning to banditry (if criminally minded) or mercenary adventuring (if lawfully minded) to sustain themselves, and an ever-growing discontent among the populaces of the various kingdoms. For now, the superiority of professional armies employed by the various nobility has kept revolutions from erupting, but tensions are high, and it needs only the right spark to ignite the flames.

A third actor, that of an unknown force, will eventually make itself known as the player proceeds through the game, and perhaps there's something even behind that (I've always loved the elegance of the FF series' ability to create a spiraling escalation of epic scope to conflicts).

Plot

Spoiler

Farcet, a middle-aged blacksmith, and one of the few merchants outside of the castles, lives in VillageName in the Kingdom of Dasica. A mundane request for help from an elderly neighbor(the cliche cleaning rats out of their basement) sets in motion a chain of events that will draw him and his companions (some permanent, some temporary) into an ever more complex, grander series of conflicts.

Characters (This list will grow considerably over time - For now, it's just the ones I've got fleshed out)

Spoiler

Farcet (Age: 36) - Like many middle-aged people, he wonders why life hasn't turned out the way he expected it to, and in particular still feels the pain over the breakup with Vinae 11 years earlier. Of intellectual bent, he almost never smiles. Our story's protagonist.

Mikileki (Age: 19) - A cheerful to the point of irrepressible teenager, Mikileki is an archer affiliated with the Adventurers' Guild in Dasica. In an amusing bit of irony, he's assigned as Farcet's mentor when the latter applies to join the guild.

Vinae (Age: 29) - The princess of Dasica, she had a brief relationship with Farcet 11 years earlier, but ended it. She has not seen him since that time at story's start. Although a great beauty, she's refused all suitors, and now, at almost 30, is now an afterthought in the royal court, with her father's attention focused solely on her half-brother, the heir to the throne. Vinae craves meaning in her life, and the power her rank suggests she should have.

Maric (Age: 16) - Heir to the Dasican throne. He either ignores or seeks to ridicule Vinae (haven't decided which), and is very secure in his position. Still working out his personality and backstory.

Game Mechanics

Spoiler

Side view battle system (one of the primary reasons I switched to MV), with standard warrior/magic-user character dichotomies and variations thereof. One of the things I enjoy most is class/character-specific skillsets, rather than just have everyone learn Ultima. I'm not sure yet how involved I'll get here. One thing that will happen is that at one point, at least two of the party members will have class changes as part of the storyline (as the game name and quote reference suggests).

Themes

Spoiler

*Life, love, meaning, memory, identity, agency
*Power, interactions between classes (both economic and social), interactions between generations

Despite the title and quote, I'm not going to consciously shoehorn Campbell's Hero's Journey in here, though in some respects, almost every RPG ever made follows this convention (and indeed, I once had a student in a World Lit journal, after my introductory lecture on Campbell and the Hero's Journey, realized their favorite video game series, Resident Evil, bore hallmarks of it).

Screenshot

Spoiler

The decision for whether or not to take on the initial quest. Yes, I know it's spartan, but I'm working with default graphics for now, and there's not a lot to put in. Each element in the room does have text associated with it, however, except the swords on the walls.

[yeah826]

Looking forward to hearing more about it!

[Young Drachma]

good luck!