Sacred Earth: Bonds II

SEB II Update

2010-01-29T20:02:00.001-08:00

That is all.

A step back in time~

2009-08-30T20:53:00.001-07:00

Art by K-Hos

So blog focus has shifted once again. This time to the original SEB blog. I'm getting loads done for that. I don't doubt that I could have myself up to speed with the first demo of SEB if I keep going like this. But since fate loves me so much, I kinda doubt it at the same time. orz

So yeah, tl;dr...

SEB2: Hiatus
Project DOAD: Complete, but awaiting music
SEBR: In progress.

Distractions

2009-08-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

I fought the good fight, but ultimately, I failed.

The ~~Matrix~~Touhou has me. I can't escape from it's grasp! D:

C76 was a few days ago, so I've been completely absorbed in Touhou 12(above), Touhou Hisoutensoku, and Scarlet Devil Castle Remilia, which is hard as heck, mostly due to the old school castlevania physics. =_=

I might be looking into seeing if Mystical Chain was released as well. The demo for that was interesting. ~~Edit: It wasn't released, booo.~~

Anyway, back to gaming I go!

~~Whoa, a non-SE related entry!~~

SEB II On Hold

2009-08-05T01:07:00.000-07:00

No, there isn't any life shattering situation happening right now. I'm just working on other things. Namely I'm going back and addressing SEB's problems. I said Iwouldn't do it, but SEB has been getting more attention lately, and it's flaws keep getting put on the table, so I'm going to fix it.

By 'fix' it, I mean, fix and alter the battle system, change the field system handling. Alter the story to better fit with SEB2, and to be generally a better experience overall. Also, giving the party custom sprites...Or rather, better custom sprites.

This remake is much less demanding than SEB2 as a whole, so it will be much easier to make.

I've also been working on Project DOAD. I had canceled that game, but my friends convinced me to finish it once and for all. It's done now. I just have to wait for music. orz.

What have I done that's SEB2 related? I went over the story with Jihaus some, and made some more sprites. That's about it.

So yeah, SEB 'Remake' is go.

Later.

Here comes a new challenger!

2009-07-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

It seems the powers that be shone their light upon me and bestowed upon me the power to post upon this hallowed ground. Well here I arrive, and post I shall.

For those who haven't met me, I'm some guy named JIHAUS who came wandering in from lands unknown one day. My actual role in the creation of SEB2 is actually rather small, but I'm notorious for bothering Skie by drawing random pictures related to the game. My job on the project is that of a concept artist but this is pretty much limited to environmental drawings and special moves. I do draw my share of character drawings related to SEB2 and you may have seen some on this page. Although my drawing skills are not as advanced as some of the artists who contribute to this project, I do try to keep things interesting. I'll be making some artwork updates here and there for those who want to see more stuff related the game while Skie is busy. I guess to start off, I'll post some of my recent ones:

Bah, may as well update.

2009-07-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

So I vowed not to update until I passed 5k visitors for no reason other than sheer laziness.

Anyway, that time is here so now...time to update.

What have I been up to?

Well, I haven't really gotten much done game progress-wise.

I've been making sprites and tilesets, and Jihaus has been creating plenty of concept art for me to work off of. Nessiah has created some new artwork, which is very nice looking. We also went over the entire storyline together. Ocean has assisted me with tilesets as well, so we have a bunch finished already. Di and Troy have provided me with some great sounding music.

I also changed the message system. The previous style used big unchanged portraits, but Nessiah thought that it would be better if the characters expressed emotion. So we moved to skit faces. Portraits are now restricted to the status menu and battle face cutouts. Here's a set of screens of the new style.

You can hear a WIP of the battle theme in my Melodia skill overview video at youtube. Too lazy to upload it here. So have a link.

Melodia Skill Overview(Youtube)

Secondly, have some art that Jihaus made. These are actually skill concepts. I'll be reinterpeting them in sprite form.

And lastly, have some character concepts courtesy of Elagune.

And that's that. See ya, space cowboy.

Progress

2009-06-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

A quick update.

1. I can thank my lucky stars, my laptop still works somehow. I have no idea, but I'm not complaining. I made more extensive backups in the wake of that scare and I'm back to work.

2. Added Melodia to the battle system. Screen and sheet below.

I would be more descriptive, but I'd rather work than talk.

Later on.

Oh life, how I love you so

2009-06-18T11:41:00.001-07:00

Considering my incredible luck, it's no surprise that right as I'm making great progress and things are speeding up, life decides to put a stop to it.

My laptop died. I had it checked out and apparently the motherboard is dead. I don't know. But it won't turn on anymore, that's for sure.

So needless to say, we're back on hold...again. At least until I can somehow secure a new computer and hopefully get back the data on my laptop. All my SE work is on that thing...

Anyway, that's all from me for now.

Media Update

2009-06-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

Meh, I don't feel like saying anything in particular, so have some random stuff.

Progress-wise, I'm currently finishing up the base work on the menu for all characters. After that, I'm going to get into expanding the character sprite sheets and add them to the battle system.

After that we may have a demo on our hands. Maybe. There is still plenty of work to be done. But like what Dis and I were discussing the other day; It helps to not think about what's left and just DO it. Not going to get anywhere by twiddling your thumbs. (Though that would be nice...)

Victory was had this day

2009-06-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

So a reliable source has told me that the main menu for SEB2 and all it's functions have been completed and mostly implemented for every character. I even managed to take some secret shots when the creator wasn't looking! Have a look!

This is the advancement menu. Now called Soul Advancement.

It works mostly the same as SEB1, with one key difference. Stat gains now grow by percentage rather than a static amount. So you'll start out raising your stats by ones and twos, but before long, your stat gains will start getting higher, but as they get higher, so does the price as you can see in these shots I managed to grab before I creator could catch wind of my efforts! Also, look at that spelling error! Obviously it will be fixed before long!

This next menu is called Soul Evolution!

From what I hear, it's the same concept of upgrading weapons with Ether Shards like in SEB1, but this time, you can choose which stats you put into your weapon with each rank up instead of it being a static boost. The second key difference is that the cost of boosting your weapon is now the same as the next rank. So if you have a rank 6 weapon and want to boost to 7, then you need 7 Ether Shards. Obviously with this change, you'll be getting more Ether Shards!

And finally, the creator wasn't happy with the old status menu, so it was redesigned! I think it looks much more functional now!

This is all I managed to get ahold of before the creator caught wind of my ulterior motives and tossed me out! Till next time!

Also have some art! This was apparently based on an old design of Caith, so I hear.

Character: Caith Aqil

2009-06-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

(Click on image for full size)

Name: Caith Aqil

Age: 16

Race: Feline Beast(Bolt Tribe)

Weapon: Jupiter Talons

Caith is the daughter of the current chancellor of the Vanir Republic. As such she gets treated like a princess and lives a life of luxury that others could only dream of. She may as well be one with the kind of life she has.

It's not all fun and games though, Caith also has the job of being an emissary of peace. As such she visits locations all over the world and meets with all kinds of influential people to discuss matters as representative of her family. It can be a pretty taxing job now and then.

Caith is currently outside the republic with several appointments to catch. Her 'servant', Relima is also accompanying her. 'Servant' meaning that the two of them are actually good friends, but since their statuses are too far apart, a certain image needs to be presented at these noble meetings; that of master and servant.

The two of them find it amusing and play along with it in public for fun, so it's not a big deal. But they unwind and treat each other equally in private. Relima usually drives Caith insane with her ridiculous acts. It's usually up to Caith to clean up after her in the end.

Caith is also incredibly untrusting and can be very curt with new people. Refusing to waste time on silly things. It's usually up to Relima to drag her into doing anything remotely fun, much to her annoyance. She's not a total control freak though. If she really didn't want to do the things Relima sometimes drags her into doing, she could easily stop her.

Caith's weapons are the Jupiter Talons, a pair of claws made from Ethermetal. They are nigh unbreakable and are razor sharp. She can also channel her own ether energy into her claws for attacks. It's the perfect weapon for her since she specializes in hand to hand martial arts. She also uses a force known as 'Chi' to enhance her attacks and perform other feats completely unrelated to Magic and Ether.
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I didn't want to post another menu update for a while longer, so I decided to toss up another character.

Laaaaaaaater.

Video: Menu Stuff

2009-06-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

I finished the party changing system yesterday. I was actually surprised. I managed to get the graphics, code, and debugging done in one day. It all works now. I'm particularly proud of this one because it's a system that gave me trouble in the past back when my skills weren't so great. I'm glad I managed to overcome it though.

Anyway, I included the Growth Circuit menu as well.

I already explained the Grow Menu, so I'll go over the Party change menu.

Your battle party is displayed at the top row and your reserves at the bottom. You select a battle party slot, and then select a reserve member slot. After you make your choice, your chosen characters will switch places. I also made it so the party gets rearranged so that they're shown in correct order in actual battle.

One drawback to this system is due to the way that the party changing code works, Alvis will always be in slot 1. Always.

It's not so bad though, I suppose. The hero is always a good party member, hoho~.

Menu Progress

2009-06-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's obvious from the poll that Skill Grid is going to win. So I began to (grudgingly) work on it. Here's what I have so far. I'd make a video, but I'm lazy right now, so screenshots it is.

I'm just about done with the system. Your party members are displayed at the top(all 8 of them), and if you have less than 8 party members, then only the amount you have will be shown.

You select a member, and then their grid. pops up. You scroll through the slots and choose what you want to buy. When you select a slot, a message box will display and give you most of the skill's parameters. After that, you will be prompted to buy it. You can accept or refuse, if you accept, you gain the skill and lose that amount of LP. Simple. Afterwards, that slot will gray out and cannot be bought again(obviously).

Things you can buy are Ether Arts, Outbursts, Unlocking that character's Exceed Limit, Unlocking their Sacred Will, and Stat Ups for PWR/PRY/KNW/QCK.

I was thinking of either having skill requirements for later stronger skills or just keeping it all free. What do you think?

Anyway, that's all from me today.

Time to Clarify

2009-05-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

The wild assumptions and lack of faith in my abilities is starting to get a little ridiculous so I'm going to clear some things up.

1. There are 13 hero characters. You've met most of them but I'll list them here.

-Alvis
-Mireille
-Melodia
-Maron
-Veili
-Gallen
-Reiven(Not introduced yet)
-Itzal
-Talin(Not introduced yet)
-Meryl
-Caith(Not introduced yet)
-Relima
-Rhia

2. The story and some characters have undergone some changes like I said a few blog posts earlier. I will give a basic rundown now.

There are three paths you can take for the first half of the game. Mireille Path, Maron Path, and Melodia Path. Each path has a different set of characters, different locations, and different events. All three paths merge at the end to form the second half of the game.

--- Part 1(First Half of Game) ---

A boy exiled from home leaves on a journey of self discovery and worth. Time and time again he asks himself a single question.

"What is justice?"

This boy sets out into the relatively unknown world to find his own justice. Unknown to him, there are much bigger things in store for him.

--- Part 2(Second Half of game) ---

They say that there is a much darker truth behind the creation of the new world 20 years ago. There are forces out there that seek to discover the truth. This truth lies within The Tower of Souls, hidden from the eyes of man by way of two entities.

The Revelation and The Genesis.

The key to both is the 3rd Chronicle, an ancient text that holds record of all of Miltiades' history. Now begins a race for this fabled text. The text that holds to key to everything.

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As an aside, the game is not planned to be ultra epic 60+hours. However long it turns out to be is however long it turns out to be. It's silly to estimate gameplay hours.

If you have any questions, please ask me. I'll more than likely be happy to answer.

Character: Relima Elsa

2009-05-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

(Click Image for bigger size)

Name: Relima Elsa

Age: 16

Race: Lower Goddess

Relima is the daughter of Leon Elsa and Lanaan Guardia. Two people who had a hand in saving the world twenty years ago and making Miltiades the floating world it is today.

Being that her father is human and her mother is a goddess, she was born with a ‘God Rank’ of zero. The lowest rank of divinity there is, as such, her abilities as a goddess are neglible. She may as well just be an immortal human.

Relima doesn’t take this goddess thing too seriously though and she doesn’t care about her ‘God Rank’ either. She just prefers to live her life the way she wants without the constraints and rules of godhood breathing down her neck. She is currently traveling the world with her friend Caith, they appear to be on some kind of important business for Caith's family.

Their final destination however is Valdis Academy, School of Ethertech Research and Melding. Also, the place where her mother resides as headmaster.

One other thing to note is that Relima has no idea what she's the goddess of yet. But she does happen of have a special ability to steal ether energy from other people. Most people detest her for such an ability and call her a 'vampire' or 'succubus'. She actually has lots of fun with the ability and steals energy from just about everyone carelessly. She can take energy from people in a multitude of ways. Her preferred method is kissing and drawing out pure energy, but she could take it from your blood or do other unmentionable things. Her perverted behavior drives Caith completely crazy since she's the complete opposite of her; proper to a fault.

Her weapon is Arc Eis, a strange bow-looking catalyst that fires projectiles made from magic rather than consumable ammo. The projectiles fired can bend to Relima's will, so they can be made up of whatever element she wants them to be and they can arc and bend mid flight. The bow can also be taken apart from the middle to be used as daggers of sorts when need be.
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Yes the art is off proportion. I actually made this RIGHT before I had done some reading and realized the importance of bodily shaping and what have you. I should redo it sometime...

A word on skill handling.

2009-05-30T11:50:00.001-07:00

I was talking with JIHAUS earlier and I came to thinking about the way I handle skills.

My current method is that you have a skill tree and you spend LP, which is a value parallel to SP in order to obtain new skills.

But then I figured that instead of doing that, I could cut down development time but delegating skill gain to Rank. Like in SEB1. Now if I did this, then I'd have two ways of approaching it.

1. I could go straight SEB1 style and give no indication of when you would obtain skills. Instead, the player would just spend SP on rank and hope they got a new skill.

2. Give a skill for every Rank increase, but the price for increase rank would rise greatly each time. This would result in 10 skill ranks.

As usual with any development conundrum, we have a poll. So give me your input.

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And have some art to leave off.
Note: I should have said this a while ago, but all the art you see in this style are character concept pieces done by Elagune, who happens to be the concept artist for SEB2.

Video: Field Test V2

2009-05-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

A new gameplay video that better displays the game in play now that most of the systems are set up at a basic level. I never entered the menu in this video. I simply forgot to, heh. Anyway. I'll continue working on this and checking for bugs.

Character: Rhia Zellen

2009-05-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

Name: Rhiannon 'Rhia' Zellen

Age: 13

Race: Human

Rhiannon, or as most call her, Rhia is a member of the Zellen family, who have dedicated their lives to technological research and development. Rhia is one of two children in the Zellen family, the other being Alvis.

Unlike her brother Alvis, Rhia has completely accepted the family's activities, and as such, is a complete tech-geek. Put her in front of a new and interesting mechanical object and she will go crazy, attempting to take it apart and analyze each and every piece that makes it tick.

She's also an obsessed fan of martial arts, and while she doesn't have a strong body and can't grasp the concept of 'Chi', she practices it anyway. The mechanical gauntlets she wears(currently not shown) were invented by her. They are made to emulate the concept of 'Chi', but with electricity instead. They also analyze her every move for future observation as well as enhancing her strength and general abilities far past what she's actually capable of, making her far more dangerous than she should be. Basically, she's cheating.

Due to the stark contrast in their interests as well as parental attention and so on, Alvis does not get along very well with Rhia. However on the flipside, Rhia showers Alvis with an infuriating amount of attention. Which makes his dislike for her seem childish and silly.

Since Rhia has accepted the family practices so well and actually does great with machines, their parents generally take to her side for everything and favor her while they constantly criticize Alvis for not following the rest of the family.

Fun with prototypes

2009-05-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

2 updates today. One systems one and one character.

I've been putting aside the battle system for now to establish the field systems. So far I have the new stylized message box done. With this setup, portraits will only show up on the right side rather than both sides. Leaves a bit more space on the screen now.

I also setup the field navigator which displays the encounter gauge, battle party, key items, and SP. 'Travel Points' was a riviera element that I haven't erased from the HUD yet.

The field interaction system for Alvis is also set up. So now Alvis can jump in real time, push things, interact with destructible objects, and climb stuff. So hopefully field movement will be a bit more fun than in SEB1.

And for now screenshots.

Not back but vaguely working

2009-05-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not through with my issues, but in my free moments, I've been revisiting the general design for this game and figured I could share my thoughts here with everyone to consider and offer their opinion. Mostly the story and field aspects. I know, 'oh my god there's a story!?'

Despite how I might come off, I do pay quite a bit of attention to the storyline, character, and out of battle aspects. I just haven't come to working on them much yet.

Now, one of the main points of my brainstorming has been how to handle the field aspects of the game. Originally I was just going to do your usual free movement rpg handling, you walk around towns and dungeons in usual fashion and encounter monsters and puzzles and such.

But then I started thinking, "what if I approached the game in a more writing heavy fashion?" By that I mean cut out a good portion of field control and delegate the progresion of story and battles to a visual novel-like system.

This would mean a lot of 'character portraits talking amongst backdrops' game style. Only getting into battles based on a story situations.

My second approach was something akin to my previous game Angelic Awakening. Which has a system of movement styled after Riviera: The Promised Land.

In Angelic Awakening, you moved from map to map and watched scenes between your party, got into battles, encountered traps, solved puzzles, and found treasures. The way you moved was that rather then freely walking the map, there were four buttons on the screen that corresponded to a direction. Up, down, left, right. You pressed the direction you wanted to go and you would move from map to map that way. This is also a scene heavy option, but there is a bit more freedom in it than simply going Visual Novel Style.

I'm not going to share my story ramblings as that would be pretty spoilerific, but I will share a video and some art to leave off

Just a general prototype that I whipped together in a moment of free time.

It's pretty much a stripped down version of Ar Tonelico's Magic system.

You choose a spell and then it charges throughout the passing turns, building up power, and then you can choose to cast the spell whenever you want.

Your spell will evolve the more you charge it and based on how much you've charged, the damage the spell does will be boosted. The amount your spell is charged by is directly dependent on the EP Cost of the spell, so you lose that much EP each turn and in exchange you gain that much charge.

My own additions are simply the choice to charge your spell even more through the command menu and choosing to release the spell and gain back all lost EP during casting.

And that's all. Back to life with me. -_-

Project on hold

2009-04-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

I feel bad having to do this so soon after resuming work, but some issues have come up in my life that have rendered me without my home. So I have things to do that are far more important right now.

I need to sort this all out and then find a new place to go. I'm sure this will take a while, so I'm not gonna hold my breath. So till then, the project is on hold, apologies. Also, no this is not a joke this time.

If you need to contact me, then just email me.

I'll leave off with some art.

Resuming Project

2009-04-15T00:54:00.000-07:00

I've finished what I wanted to do with DOAD, and that was to finish drawing all the portraits and updating some of the graphics. I can't help but feel that the project is a failure already. Less than stellar public response on part 1 coupled with my general inability to take full advantage of RMXP. I wish scripting were as easy as certain individuals make it out to be. But I've already invested much time into it. I may as well finish as best I can.

But this blog isn't about DOAD. Back to SEB2. Here is a work in progress video of some general gameplay.

Youtube Video because I'm too lazy to deal with my crappy net right now.

Anyway, some basic Field to World Map to Field to Battle gameplay. It's pretty barebones right now since field interaction isn't set up yet. Map sprites aren't complete, and the tilesets are placeholders. Also, Alvis' OB/FP indicator isn't set up yet, which would explain Melodia's face.

All in all...there is work to be done. This isn't going to go by at the speed of light clearly.

And some art.

Project Shift

2009-04-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

As I work away on SEB2, I find myself drifting back to my other project, 'Project DOAD'. So I'm going to shift gears for a while and work on that. Not for a ridiculous two months like before, but a bit of time.

I feel that I've made enough progress to warrant a short shift. The main menu, and status menu are complete, the skit system framework is set up, several sprites have been made, a custom forest tileset has been made, and Mireille, Veili, and Alvis are all functional within the battle system.

Since there's no place of documentation for Project DOAD, things are just going to get silent for now. Till then.

Character: Meryl Caelestis

2009-04-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Race: Crow Beast

Weapon: Wayra, a large fold able bladed fan.

Likes: Shiny objects, money, treasure hunting, messing with those around her.

Hates: Gloomy people, Bandits, Feline Beasts

Profile:

Meryl is a self-proclaimed treasure hunter. She scours ruins and other points of interest in search of all sorts of valuable things. What she won't tell you, is that her 'hunts' are largely failures and that no one ever wants to team up with her due to her seeming disregard for the safety of others.

Meryl is a rather cheerful person, not really letting things get her down too much. She also has a mean and manipulative side. Using whatever means necessary to secure things for herself. Not a very good way of winning friends. But still, she does all of this with a bright smile on her face and without a care in the world. One has to wonder if she's sane.

Meryl finds Alvis and Melodia, and after taking care of them, she promptly forces them to join her under the pretense that the both of them owe her their lives. Not to mention she was forced to use her supplies on someone OTHER than herself. Yeah, not a very kind person...

Media Update

2009-03-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

A media update for april 1st. Screens, art, etc, etc.

Battle System Outline MK III

2009-03-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

The redesigned battle system retains most of the concepts from the last outline, except that some things have been simplified and streamlined, and some other systems have been cut away to reinforce the simplification.

--- The Basics ---

To start with, there are no consumable items in the game, and thus, there is no item command. I believe that items are a hindrance and breed broken strategies as found in SEB1, so they have been removed.

To remedy the loss of items. Each and every passing turn, the entire party gains back 5 EP. Not just on their own turn, but every turn that passes throughout the battle. There are also plenty of avenues for healing and revival as you go along.

--- Strike Chain System ---

When you choose to attack an enemy with a normal attack, your character will move to the enemy and attack as normal. At first this will seem like a simple, and very weak attack. But the kicker is that you can hold SHIFT to extend your attack, creating a larger combo, and having a higher chance to score critical hits.

Each character's combo has 5 parts in total. Each part of the combo costs 6 EP. As you hold shift, you will lose EP for each part of the attack. So a full Strike Chain Combo costs 30 EP.

--- Focus System ---

Focusing is a vital part of battles. Focusing increases your LF as well as your EP on top of the EP you get back each turn. Focusing also increases defense by a great amount. Protecting you against physical attacks and spells that would normally do far more damage.

--- Outburst System ---

A returning system from SEB1. When you attack three times total, you gain access to a special class of skills called 'Outbursts'. These skills are more powerful skills that are the more useful part of a character's arsenal. Most deal multiple combo hits as well as having a chance to critical.

When an outburst is used, the character loses the command and gains 1 FP.

--- Exceed Limit/Sacred Will System ---

During an outburst, you can hold SHIFT to activate Exceed Limit. Exceed Limits are special and powerful skill extensions unique to each character. They're perfect for dealing an extra bit of damage or increasing the effects of a passive outburst. The catch is that to use an Exceed Limit, you must have 2 FP blocks available to expend.

Sacred Will is a character's ultimate extension and is the successor to Finish Bursts in SEB1. They can only be used once a character has access to their final Outburst Skill. Hold SHIFT in the same manner as Exceed Limit to activate it. The catch for Sacred Will however, is that you must have all 5 FP blocks to use.

--- Elemental Fluctuation ---

Another returning system from SEB1. But ramped up a little. All offensive spells in SEB2 lower your resistance to the element it is. So any fire spell will lower your resistance to fire, making you take more damage from fire attacks afterward.

To counter this, you must keep your resistances up with elemental support spells or risk getting wiped out by abnormally powerful spells. Having your resistance lowered is like a double edged sword. You take more damage from spells of that element, however when you use an elemental support spell to increase your resistance again, you will recover more LF.

Lastly, elemental support spells will have little to no effect at all if used before an elemental change, but they can serve as cheap healing if necessary.

April Fools, hoho~

2009-03-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

And on this day at 12:10, AM April First, 'The Plan' is complete, haha. Anyone who believed that SEB2 was spontaneously canceled deserves the reaction in the image. Anyway, I was just having some fun. SEB2 isn't canceled and it won't ever be canceled.

So for today there will be a larger update than normal. A few character profiles, an outline of the reworked battle system, and screenshots and art. So, let's get this underway.

Project Cancelled.

2009-03-30T02:53:00.000-07:00

Sacred Earth: Bonds II has been cancelled to to a number of reasons that I don't care to explain right now. Thanks to all those who followed. But this is the end of the line.

No more from me.

See ya.

Spritework

2009-03-28T01:15:00.000-07:00

It just occurred to me that I never posted a complete spritesheet here before, while I have elsewhere. This needs to be fixed! Have a closer look at Alvis along with some action examples. I won't be posting all the sheets I ever make though.

Obvious sprite guidelines apply. Don't use, etc, etc, whatever. We're all mature people here.

And to leave off. Have some Alvis and Melodia hijinks, courtesy of Jihaus, heh.

Video: Skits(and menu)

2009-03-25T02:14:00.000-07:00

Sheesh, I need to lay off on the updates. I'll probably slow down soon enough.

But for now, another video demonstrating the skit system concept based off the Tales of Series. Optional Party chats that can be seen with the push of the button. They are situational based on story situations and your location. So your party may talk about recent events, each other, or even the area they're in at the moment.

Nothing special to say about the menu other than, that all the numbers are attached to a real value now.

Edit: lol missing word.

And have some art to leave off.

Media Update

2009-03-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

A random assortment of images. First off, the menu is coming along great. The party you see in the screenshot is what you'll have for the demo, barring one character. Anyway, enjoy, etc. Back to work for me.

Character: Alvis Zellen

2009-03-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Weapon: The Soul Arms, a pair of swords that have been passed down in the Zellen family

Likes: Respect, recognition, those who know their place, Getting things done with minimal effort.

Hates: Melodia, those who place themselves higher than him, wasting energy, etc, etc

Profile: One of the new(!) main characters of SEB2. The other being Mireille.

Alvis comes from the rich and famous Zellen Family. They're known for their vital hand in aiding the research of the Albion Family, and thus, they work closely with them. Researching and discovering new technology.

Alvis however, cares nothing for research and discovery, preferring to bask in the glory of wealth and lord over others. Up until recently, Alvis has never really set foot outside the Zellen Property. Only seeing a bit of the world based on trips his father would take here and there. He would have been perfectly fine living the good life not knowing about the world either.

However his parents, exasperated with their son, issued an order to him; 'We want you to get to know the world you live in and the people that inhabit it. Once you have, then you may return home.' Alvis, not being one to turn down a challenge, set off to travel...It wasn't until a few days after that it dawned on him that his parents had technically kicked him out of the house and barred him from returning.

Alvis, because of all the wealth and good times his family has seen, has a huge ego and thinks that he is better than anyone else. He talks down to people like they're nothing and since he's from the Zellen family, most people can't say anything in return. Despite his shortcomings, Alvis can be a nice person at times...in a twisted sort of way.

Alvis is unique in that his body doesn't recognize elements. Thus, any Ether that he attempts to use will have absolutely no element. It's a rare case in this world, but it happens from time to time. People who end up like this usually forge their own element. Alvis is no exception. The element he created for himself is 'Swords'. Nearly all of the Ether he uses takes the form of swords. It has no actual elemental effect on anything, but the shape of his Ether is unique since it is one that he made for himself.

In the beginning, Alvis meets Melodia and things don't go down well at all. From that point they continue to fight and argue. Melodia sees him as a spoiled rich kid with no redeeming qualities, and Alvis sees her as a mouthy girl who doesn't know her place.

Battle System Framework Complete

2009-03-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I figure I'd update to inform people that with the completion of Mireille's integration into the battle system, the framework is essentially complete. All of the battle mechanics are functional and bug free based on my repeated testing. So now, adding new characters is just a matter of tedious copy/pasting code, haha.

Anyway, this will be the last battle related testing video for a long while since, you know, there won't be anything special to show after this in terms of battle.

Anyway, now I can take a break from the battle system and get back to work on the menu system. As nice as it would be. It's not going to make itself. In the meantime, have some art.

Video: Party Members(Finally)

2009-03-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

Another test video, this time with another almost fully functional party member; Mireille. All she needs are Outbursts and an Exceed Limit. Which brings me to my next point.

The new addition to this video are skill extensions called Exceed Limits. They are executed while holding SHIFT during an outburst. If you have enough FP(The blue blocks), then the skill will extend into an additional one with a higher damage modifier. This should be useful for creating a nice bit of combo damage as well as getting players out of a bad situation.

With the addition of another party member, this actually becomes somewhat fun I believe. I look forward to having a full party fighting eventually.

And finally my last point for this update: The stat known as quickness in SEB1. This stat was pretty broken in the first game as you'd usually either

A) Not have enough to keep up with enemies and bosses.

or

B) Have way too much and breeze by your enemies.

So, I've decided to do away with speed altogether for SEB2. Now speed is a static value that will not ever change beyond what that character or enemy starts with, buffs notwithstanding. I believe this is the better decision in the long run as it eliminates QCK farming from SEB1 while keeping a good, fast pace for the battle system.

Anyway that's all from me. Back to work.

Project Revival!

2009-03-02T00:35:00.000-08:00

Now that I've finished my little two month game stint(with little success I'd say), it's back to where I belong, SEB2. In the time that development began again, I revisited the storyline for some revising and additions as well as starting to create the framework for the menu. I'll focus on the menu for this update.

It's all done now. The menu can be called and exited smoothly, all numbers and windows are in the right coordinates, and you can move the choice marker around freely.

Now I have to get into there and start actually creating the code so that the numbers correspond to the character's actual LF/EP values as well as SP and LP. With the framework down, it should go pretty smoothly.

I really am not looking forward to creating dynamic scrolling lists and dynamic party changing. I wonder how how Aten and Vanit manage to pull that crazy crap off. Oh well, just another learning experience I guess.

In closing, Here is a little video demonstrating the menu framework. You can also hear a bit of the music of resident composer Di Rodrigues in there. Apologies for the lag. I have a crappy machine for recording, but it doesn't lag in unrecorded play.

I'll also leave off with some artwork as usual, courtesy of Joon Kim and Meawsy this time.

Media Update + Short Hiatus

2009-01-13T23:17:00.000-08:00

SEB2 will be going on a short hiatus and will continue in March. I'm participating in a two month fangame contest, so my attention is going to be fully directed towards that.

In the meantime, have an assortment of random media and concept art.

Recoloring

2009-01-05T00:08:00.000-08:00

I've been going back and recoloring the old portraits. They were done rather shoddily with my limited skill back then, but I think it's been way overdue for a recolor. Sooo we'll start with Veili.

Main Menu Design

2009-01-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

The preliminary design of the main menu. Any opinions, suggestions, objections? I'm sure people read this thing, so now's the time to say something before it's set in stone.

And yes, this menu is possible to make without going over 50 pictures.

P.S. Vote in the poll. The one that wins is what I'll go with!

Video

2009-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

Media Update

2008-12-23T10:41:00.001-08:00

Assorted artwork, sprites, and screenshots.

Character: Gallen Valeria

2008-12-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

Age: 31

Gender: Male

Race: Eltian

Weapon: Ignatius, a sentient sword of fire

Likes: No one is brave enough to ask...

Hates: Cowards, Bandits, Sweet things

Profile: Gallen is a rather strange individual. He can be a bit hard to deal with for most people. He travels the world with seemingly no real destination in mind. He does seem to be searching for something however. Gallen takes it upon himself to defeat cowardly and dispicable people like bandits and thieves who don't have the drive to make an honest living and prey on normal folk.

Gallen tends to treat most things less seriously than others, saying that 'things will work themselves out eventually'. He also has a habit of never really taking opponents seriously at all. No matter who it is. This usually serves to anger others to a great extent.

Gallen's sword, Ignatius is actually alive and can speak at will. Ignatius is...irritating, to say the least. He likes to preach to others, give lectures, and constantly badger others about faults in themselves. If Gallen allows him to, Ignatius can fight on his own by merely floating and swinging himself. Ignatius also says that he has a true form, but no one believes him. He's been saying that for years and has never used it.

Character: Mireille Baldwin

2008-12-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

Age: 13(32)

Gender: Female

Race: Angel

Weapon: Spear of Flashing Lightning, Jaswinder

Likes: Being treated her age, Exploring, Poking fun at people, Beef Stew

Hates: Being treated like a kid, Her height, Meryl, Fish

Profile: Mireille is a young girl(In angel standards), who travels the world of Miltiades in search of adventure. She also travels from village to village as a healer, helping people by healing wounds and curing sickness wherever she goes. She has gained a reputation as some kind of savior maiden for her actions.

Too bad they don't know that Mireille is loud, and pretty bratty. She hates the fact that she's so small, and flies into some pretty childish and humorous rages when anyone pokes fun at it. Even more, she absolutely hates it when people treat her like a stupid kid. But the thing is, she pretty much still is a kid according to angel age standards. But despite this, she does manage to win some success at being treated like an adult. Of course, beating up anyone who refuses into submission usually helps...

But in the end, one can't help but find it comical to see a midget sitting at the bar getting roaring drunk...

Battle Specifics MK II

2008-12-06T04:35:00.000-08:00

--- SEB2 DBS ---

In this battle system there are absolutely NO items. Ever. To support this, the party recieves a bit of EP back each turn and the Focus Command restores LF.

--Two Battle Styles—

You can set which style your characters use in battle each style has it’s own unique command and benefits.

Striker: With the Striker Style, characters can use the special E.X. Burst Skills command. When used singularly, it takes 60 of the character’s EP and executes a powered up version of their Rank 5 Strike Chain.

Guardian: Under the Guardian Style, characters can use the Analyze command to check an enemy’s stats at no EP Cost. KNW is also doubled in this style for more effective Ether Arts.

--Strike Chain System—

Each Character has a Rank 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 attack. Rank 1 being the least amount of hits, and Rank 5 having the most. You can set what Rank their attacks are in the menu. However, the higher their Strike Rank, the more EP it costs to attack. And if you don’t have enough EP, then attacking will start taking away LF. You can’t get killed by this though.

--Outburst System—

Each Character has 5 outburst skills. These are a culmination of each character’s most useful skills placed under a lock. Just like SEB1, you must attack three times to be able to use an Outburst.

--Dual E.X. Burst—

Powerful dual skills with increased damage and hits involving two characters. To use one, you must first designate two characters to have their E.X. Burst Set in the menu. Then merely use it in battle. It costs 100 EP for both character’s involved. E.X. Burst is only available to those who have their style set as Striker and have a Dual E.X Burst Designated.

--Sacred Will—

Powerful Secret Skills that each character has one of. Each character has their own invisible SW gauge. It increases when a any kind of action is taken and it increases a large amount when an outburst skill is used. There are 250 points in the SW gauge. Basic action gives 10 points and OBs give 50.

Character: Kell Miria

2008-12-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Race: White Wolf Beast

Weapon: Dagger of crystalline memory, Itotz. Martial Arts

Profile: Kell is Zuleika's younger sister. She along with Zuleika were found by a woman from an eastern village, they were abandoned by their real parents. Kell doesn't remember them, and Zuleika refuses to tell her about them. Both Kell and Zuleika received sword training from the woman who found and took them in. Kell took up the dagger and Zuleika took up the Eastern Longsword.

Kell is a stony ice queen. Showing little emotion, or so others think. She can be a bit hard to deal with as she never really thinks like how common people think. Always saying or doing weird things that no normal person would. She may just be misunderstood.

She is horrifyingly efficient with her daggers, able to move at untold speeds and strike enemies down before they realize what hit them. Her hand to hand skill is also extremely high. To the untrained person, Kell seems like she has no weaknesses.

The gourd on her waist contain a form of alcohol called 'sake'. Kell has never actually been seen drinking from this gourd though. No one has ever thought to ask why she carries the thing with her either.

Character: Itzal Verunius

2008-12-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

Age: 24(341)

Gender: Male

Race: Demon

Weapon: Eastern Sword of Engulfing Shadow, Feardorcha

Likes: Facing a strong opponent, Cherry Pie, Exploring

Hate: Cowards, Idealistic people, Asparagus

Profile: Itzal is a mysterious man, traveling the world of Militades in search of something called “The Relic”. His reasons are unknown. Itzal is actually a pleasant man and can be seen humoring children in towns and helping people out with mundane things. Because of this, his name has become rather well known among people of the world.

However, there are also stories told by people who have managed to end up opposing him. They place him as a ruthless and efficient fighter who can take down his enemies in mere moments. Surely it can't be true, right?

Character: Melodia Akkakios

2008-12-01T04:59:00.000-08:00

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Race: Demon

Weapon: Martial arts, Cards

Likes: Picking fights with people, Seeing how far she can push people, Curry Rice, Getting her way NO MATTER THE COST!

Hates: Conniving and opportunistic people, Weaklings, Losing fights, Meryl

Profile: Melodia winds up separated from her brother and sister and owing a favor to an opportunistic Crow Beast. She's going along with her for now in hopes of finding any information about Veili, Gunnar, and Maron.

Melodia is pretty much an ass. She speaks her mind, caring nothing about whether or not she offends others. She also tends to whine about things that don't go her way and she loves picking fights. Despite this though, she does care about her brother and sister, Gunnar and Veili. Though she would never admit this out loud.

Media Update

2008-12-01T04:34:00.001-08:00

Screenshots, videos, etc

Character: Maron

2008-12-01T04:15:00.000-08:00

Age: 15

Gender: Female

Race: Wind Wolf Beast

Weapon: Claws, Destruction Ether Arts

Likes: Experiencing new things, Asking questions, Learning

Hates: Nothing in particular~

Profile: Maron is a weird girl that Veili and Gunnar happened to meet in the Tower of Souls. After what they all went through, they decided to take her with them. Maron has no memory of family or even living anywhere else besides that tower. Due to apparently living alone most of her life. Maron lacks any sort of social experience and is incredibly clueless about most things. She cannot read or write, yet she can count money...

Despite all her shortcomings, Maron is the reincarnation of The God of Destruction, and as such, has an otherworldly amount of power not only with Ether Arts, but with Physical Strength as well. Fortunately, Maron wouldn't harm a fly, otherwise, she would be one hell of a villian...

Character: Gunnar Myyrine

2008-12-01T04:07:00.001-08:00

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Race: Half Human/Demon

Weapon: Bow of Raging Wind, Zephyr. Energy blades

Likes: Reading, Studying, Archery, Practicing Ether Arts, Pineapples, Pears

Hates: Impulsive people like Veili, Melee combat, Being unable to figure a problem out.

Profile: When the group gets separated, Gunnar ends up alone. Not sure where to begin, he sets out to find information and leads as to the whereabouts of his sisters. This journey may be just what Gunnar needs to grow as a person.

Gunnar is the quiet type who spends far too much time analyzing situations and coming up with pointless solutions to trivial matters instead of taking action. He gets away with it though since his sister does enough fighting for the both of them. He's a bit of a coward when it comes to combat though, which is why he prefers to use a long range weapon rather than having to get up close and personal.

Though after what Gunnar had gone through in the Tower of Souls, he has been entertaining thoughts of using a secondary weapon...

Character: Veili Myyrine

2008-12-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Race: Half Human/Demon

Weapon: Ice Crystal Sword, Glacier Song

Likes: Stuffed animals, Fried Dumplings, Seeing new things and meeting new people

Hates: Pigeons, Books, Having to stay still, allergic to cats

Profile: Veili winds up separated from her siblings and has to find her own way to meet up with them again. She doesn't seem to be too worried about it, calling it a 'new adventure' to go on.

She's the type of person to who prefers to get things done quickly rather than draw them out with pointless talking. Ideally, she and her brother make a good team. She does most of the fighting and her brother does most of the thinking. It all works out somehow. Gunnar tends to nag at Veili about her impulsiveness. Veili says it makes him sound like an old man.

Veili ends up meeting with and following Mireille. Mireille is a friend of the family's so such a outcome is pretty favorable. Veili calls her 'Aunt Mireille', which drives her crazy.

~ Story Overview ~

2008-12-01T02:19:00.000-08:00

" A few days have passed since the siblings Veili, Gunnar, Maron, and Melodia traversed the Tower of Souls. Now, they have found out that their parents are sending them to a prestigious magic academy halfway across the world. All was well and good, they generally thought that it was an interesting prospect and took it up.

On the AirCraft ride however, things don't go so smoothly, due to a stupid engineering mistake on part of the crew, an engine is blown, which rocks the AirCraft. Throwing the group overboard to freefall through the open skies.

Veili wakes up in the wilderness much later. Not exactly sure of where she is. She seems to be alone as far as she knows. What's worse is, they lost their ship! Now they'll be late to the schools opening ceremony and could face being barred from attending!

With her goal set in mind, Veili checks herself and then rushes off. One, to find her siblings and friends. Two, to rush halfway across the world to Valdis Academy before the opening ceremony takes place in three week's time. Will they make it? What silly escapades will they face?"