I started this post here (I think) but it was moved to general programing as it also dealt with the programs used to develop it. However, this time I will only deal with the story and game system here, starting from where I left off... Introduction movie scene: The player sees a vast, green field, covered by tall grass, spreading as far as the eye can see in all directions. Ahead, a cavern looms in the center of a small mountain (perhaps more of a hill), where it seems there is no activity. This serene scene is broken by the arrival of a man dressed entirely in black. He walks toward the cavern, smiling with the satisfaction of finding something he has been searching his whole life for and dissapears into the mouth of the mountain. Within the cave, which also turns out to be a mine, two young men run toward the cavern enterance, pockets bulging with valuable crystals, followed by many guards. The two men are outrunning the guards as the game begins. One of the men, Daniel, rushes forward, yelling behind his back toward the main character (AKA: you), "hurry or the guards will catch us!" You take over from here, fighting random battles (for those not used to RPGs with random battles, as you are walking across the floor, enemies will, at random times, attack the party. These monsters aren''t on the world map, and usually battle takes place on a ''battle screen'' which features an appropriate background, the enemies, and the characters you have in your party). You will run through a series of caverns, with each room containing tutorial information, such as how to battle, how to explore, etc. As the caverns mouth looms before you and Daniel, and freedom looks just within reach, a dark shadow looms before the two men. He walks forward to show himself to be the man in black. He speaks in a voice combining malace and pure evil glee, "give me the crystal, boy!" At this point you have the option to decline or accept his request, although not doing it results in him taking it from you using force, in the process killing you. If you choose to give him the crystal, you take a fist sized black crystal from your pocket and place it in the man''s hand as his smile grows across his face. He fights you even though you did as he asked, but he leaves you barely alive. He then procedes to hold the crystal into the air, examining it with an evil grin of pure elation. As the crystal begins to glow, his grin changes first to a confused frown, and then a scream of agony as his body slowly fades away, along with the black crystal. At this point the guards rush into the room and take the unconsious boys away to be tried by the king. The soldiers bring you and Daniel to the king, where he interogates them personally. Through the questioning, it is revealed that you come from a rival kingdom (no name yet, kingdom B for now) which has been seperated from kingdom A (another placeholder name) for centuries. You, practically a mere peasant, have been surviving along with your friend Daniel, who''s parents are long dead, by stealing. You snuck on board a merchant ship which was coming over to kingdom B and headed to the most successful crystaline mine in the world in order to make enough money to survive without stealing. Unfortunately you were captured and brought before the king. The king tells you and Daniel that he will pardon you if you take a letter to the king of kingdom A, a dangerous journey which tests even the greatest knights of the kingdom. The man in black has all but been forgoten as you and Daniel begin your long journey toward the capital of kingdom A. Along the way you are forced to pass through many towns and other, encounter oriented areas. It is only a short way into your journey when you find that you must pass through an inticrite system of underground tunnels in order to get to kingdom A. These tunnels have a town on their exterior, where you stop to rest from your journey. The town''s leader gives you a crystal to protect you on your journey, and teaches you how to use crystals to cast spells and use abilities. As you rest for the night, the crystal given to you by the leader begins to glow. You fall into an eerie sleep, in which you dream of a bright light, and hear a mysterious song (the Song of the Earth). You then see a temple, and a group of people tending to a baby. You then see Daniel, holding a bloody knife, and a voice in his head laughing and saying "I have awakened. Hello, Daniel. Remember me?" I do have plans in my head going four games beyond the first, and another which may or may not connect in a sequal type manner, so Song of the Earth is a continuing story, constantly evolving in my head. The rest of the games take place about two hundred years after the first, as there are important events which need to take place in the meantime. The second game involves the ''living planet'' theory that the Earth is a living organism (in this series known as Gaia). The third game will take place after a cataclismic event which has plunged most of the Earth underwater. Only a few small islands reamain, so most of the game takes place in underground tunnels. The fourth game is about one of the characters involved in the war durring which the crystals were created, but it will involve some of the series'' major players on the side of good. The (probably) last game brings back two major characters in the first game for a grand final battle, and has most of the characters from the three proceding games (as most of the characters in the first game died out durring the two hundred year time span). These games will all have different systems of character development, as I''m sure people don''t like doing the same thing over and over again in games. The other project takes place in a modern setting, and involves the dark, more sinister side of our subconcious emerging through use of technology. It will use a two world system, in which the main character not only passes through the real world, but also his mind in an attempt to rid himself of an evil force within. I know I''m getting a bit ahead of myself, but when I get ideas, I like to connect them, and this is how they connected in my head. I didn''t decide to make sequels; the ideas came and I incorperated them. Now, back to Song of the Earth... Magic - As I said before, magic and abilities are learned from crystals. Each crystal has different abilities which it can learn, and some abilities have prerequisites, which must be learned before you can learn the new abilities. Also you can only learn one ability at a time (Final Fantasy VIII esque). You can only equip one crystal at a time, having access to only that crystal''s abilities. However, once a crystal has learned an ability, you may learn it so that you can have access to it at any time (Final Fantasy VI/III esque). Each ability and spell must be equiped, however you can equip unlimeted spells... as long as you can play the costs in status losses incurred from equiping them (Final Fantasy VII esque). All spells have unlimited multiple levels (after all, if someone wants to play forever, why should I stop them from benifiting their character), however each level gets exponentially harder to learn, therefore making it difficult to get above certain levels. There will be MANY crystals (enemies can be turned into crystals, so that you can learn enemy abilities and other hard to find things). Also many abilities cannot be learned until other abilities, often on other crystals, are learned. One of my favorite features is the Dispell ability, which allows you to cast two spells at once. Sometimes, they are cast individually, however, certain spells mix and become super-spells, which can then be learned by the proper crystal. these multi-elemental spells can then be cast with Dispell with other spells. Casting two multi-elemental spells (fire + earth = volcano and water + air = hurricane, as a made up example) can create a quadra-elemental spell. By the way, there are eight elementals: Fire, earth, water, air, good, evil, order, and chaos. Therefore, there will be at least two quadra-elemental spells, which can be cast Dispell to make a panelemental spell, the most powerful spell in the game. this spell, of course, can be learned only by the most powerful crystal, and also the hardest to get. Crystals will also have summon abilities (once again, Final Fantasy VI/III esque), which they will learn. however, once learned by a character, other crystals may be able to use that ability, perhaps making them stronger than the one you originally learned it from. The crystals will fit into the plot MASSIVELY, as they are what the villain seeks, and also the whole reason the events in the story occur, as you will soon learn. There, a good copy and pasting job, if I may say so myself. I will continue soon, but I just want to know what I should post next. Here are some options: The battle system more story stuff other things that will be in the game I hope I get some responses soon. Richard Veysey

I have a feeling the bottom part kinda belongs to the Game Design forum, but anyway.
Still, there are nice elements there.
I am a bit confused about the crystal given to you by the village leader and the one you give to the hooded man at the beginning. Are they the same ? The chronology kind of eludes me as well. Are you telling the king who captured you what you have done so far ? It''s not very clear.
Same with "hello Daniel, remember me ?". I would assume the voice is that of the hooded guy, but to be honest it''s not clear at all either.

Still there are some good elements in there, it gives me a feeling of something like Golden Sun (a fabulous japanese RPG for the Gameboy Advance).



Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

Few questions/points of confusion:

- When the figure in black demands the crystal at the cave entrance...why doesn''t anyone question what he''s asking for? I just ran through a mine with dozens of various crystals in my pockets, as did my friend Daniel. Who is he talking to? "Get your own old man!", or "Sure, whatever, here - just move!" as I toss some random crystal at him while running past are pretty much more appropriate responses.

- Specifically regarding the two choices, you say if I decline I die. Is that it, game over? I''ll tell you, I''m much more likely to tell the guy to kiss my butt cheeks than just hand over what he wants - and if my game ends right there because of it that CD would become a new coaster for my drinks. If I''m dead, then I can''t exactly be taken to the King, either.

- Along the same lines, if I''m left barely alive please tell me I get medical attention before I''m dragged before the king

- Being the chaotic type that I am...do I get a choice of a) accepting the king''s assignment, b) declining it and probably being executed, or c) accepting it with no intention of ever delivering a message or making the journey? I mean, who''s gonna know if I move to some other remote part of the kingdom? Color/cut my hair? Change my name? I''m suggesting that a guard be sent on this journey to ensure that the thieves - me - actually start on this journey. He can always bail later, or die painfully to ensure my safety.

- Speaking of...at any point will I get to read this letter? I mean, for all I know it could say "The deliverer of this message is a traitor to your kingdom. Kill him", or "Your kingdom suxxors". Kings have a sense of humor, too.

- I also just realized that even if I make this incredibly dangerous journey and deliver the message...how is anyone going to know? Do I have to make the journey back with another message? Cuz, I''m thinking, Kingdom B is a nice place to settle down in.

- After you fall asleep and get the dream...I''m confused on this part. I dream of a bright light and mysterious song - okay. Now, am I still dreaming when I see the temple and the group of people? Am I still dreaming when I see Daniel holding a knife? Whose head is the voice in - mine or Daniel''s, and is this still part of the dream (in which case, its really just a disembodied voice)? Why is the dream/disembodied voice saying hello to Daniel, whether its in my head or his head?

Sounds interesting, although I''m seeing a FF-type linear storyline where my only participation is to push buttons and watch the story unfold. Not my cup of tea.

Yes it is an FF type of storyline, and if you look at the response to the forum I recently revived on "are linear storylines really that bad?" or something like that, you will see my opinion on this type of game. Also, this is a game writing in general forum, so I feel that the game''s system can be stuck in here as well, as long as the main focus is on the story. I just want to give some other information so that you know more than just the story of the game. For all you know, it could have been a FPS or a RTS.

Now, the questions:
No, the crystals are not the same
Yes, you are telling the king of your past
No, the voice does not belong to the hooded man
I will work on the wording given by the main character to answer the man in black''s request.
You are right, the player is likely to decline, therefore I will make it so that both ways the result is the same, you will fight and be left barely alive
I will add a guard to the party, who will quickly (although at first reluctantly) begin to become friendly, and eventually decides to aid the group as they journey.
yes, you get medical attention
I suppose you could get a choice regarding the king, but... in order to progress the story line, you must deliver the message.
You will see the contents of the message when you reach Kingdom A. I will put its contents in the spoilers section.
The king of Kingdom A does give you a mission which requires returning, but that will come later in the story
The dream will be better explained in the spoilers section, but for now, Daniel is dreaming of the voice, the main character is dreaming of the temple.

To better answer your questions, I will include a spoiler section, don''t read if you don''t want to, it goes fairly in depth and way ahead of where I am now in telling the story.
(spoilers):








Thousands of years ago, many people had the power to manipulate the energy known as magic, which flowed freely from the branches of the tree of Gaia. However, a few very powerful mages put the prosparity of the world at risk by banding together and trying to take over the world. The various leaders of the various kingdoms of the world came together and brought all the good powerful mages together to come up with a solution. Head among these mages was the great Ultimos, who decided that, as they didn''t know the identity of the leader of the opposing group, they should try and seal the mages in crystals to keep them from causing the havoc they wished to... cause. The powerful mages, along with an army of numbers neverbefore seen in the world, rounded up the evil mages, suffering casualties which some report to be in the millions, and brought them to the great temple of Gaia. There the great mages on the side of good used their combined power to seal the mages in crystal, as killing them had proven imposible (this had been tried many times before. Although they could be killed, their leader always managed to revive them). The crystals were brought together, to further seal them, into a great crystal known as the Time Crystal. However, someone had discovered that one of their own mages was the one leading the group of evil mages. In order to protect the world, without causing chaos by alerting the Great Evil Mage of his knowledge, he secretly created a magic artifact, known as The Teardrop Crystal, to seal away his power over the other mages, and seal the crystal with the leaders own power. Therefore the time crystal contained both the great evil mages and the Teardrop Crystal. However... the imbalence in the force of magic caused by all the power contained in the crystals and the power of the mages caused the Time Crystal to shatter into many shards. Each one of these shards contained the essance of one of the sealed mages. However, the magic of the Teardrop Crystal remained infused equally within each of the crystal shards. The shattering of the Time Crystal caused something else to happen, something which even the wisest of the wise failed to explain. Magic itself failed, and could no longer be used by all but the most powerful of mages, many of whom had died in the fight against the dark mages. The only way for people to use the power of magic now was with the help of one of the crystals. Most of them were small and weak, but two of them remained stronger than any could have imagined. The Crystal of Light and the Crystal of Darkness were eagerly fought over in the days following the sealing by mages seeking to win power for themselves. Ultimos himself disapeared, and the other crystals became collected and then their locations were forgotten. However, the two powerful crystals always were a source of strife, and eventually two ancient mages, in order to end the years of warfare which had occured over these crystals, stole them and hid them away. Years later, most of these stories have been forgotten, and magic is limited to a very small number who are simply able to move things and create sparks and such. The two major kingdoms of the world have settled down after decades of war due to the creation of a magical barrier between the two nations, and peace seems once again to be at hand. This is where the game''s story begins.

The voice Daniel hears in his head is the voice of the inner demon which has been haunting him since the death of his mother. The battle against this demon takes place near the end, as Daniel''s side quest, but will also reveal a great deal about Daniel''s past. Throughout the game, the reawakened (by the power of the crystal) demon will continue to manipulate Daniel, and cause him no end of irritation. The main character will try to comfort him, but Daniel is to be haunted until the demon is driven out.

The letter says:
Dear King X,
I know relations between our two kingdoms have not been good recently, but now I fear that something is amiss. These two peasants here have been good citizens of your nation for some time. The fact that they have reached your castle safely proves that they are also good adventurers. I believe that these two boys have the potential to bring down the cursed wall which has seperated our two kingdoms for centuries, as the time for reaching peace is at hand. As I said before, I fear all may not be right in the world. Send these youths to the wall to prove themselves.
This letter obviously isn''t finalized, but you can see the point.

(END SPOILERS)












So, if you still have questions, or if I have raised more, bring them up with me here. Hope I get some good responses soon.
Richard

THIS IS NOT IN ANY WAY FFIX!!! I DISLIKED THAT GAME VERY MUCH, SO DO NOT EVEN BEGIN TO ASSOCIATE MY GAME WITH THAT ABOMINATION UNLESS YOU HAVE GOOD REASON. THE CRYSTALS ARE NOT THE SOURCE OF LIFE, THE TREE OF GAIA (ALWAYS SINONIMOUS WITH THE LIVING EARTH) IS NOT THE IIFA TREE, THE WORLD HAS NO NAME, AND ZIDANE AND KUJA ARE STAYING OUT. AND THEY WERE DEFINATELY NOT GAY. Thank you.

Are you implying that because I named the only game I can think of in which there is an IIfa tree, a planet called Gaia, and a Crystal which is the source of all life on Gaia, that means that my game MUST be directly associated with those things? That is the most ludicrus claim I have heard since... I won''t get into politics here, but anyway, Just because you put those things there and I say the name of the game you are thinking of doesn''t mean that there can be any connection made between the two games. That''s like saying Greek Mythology is directly related to Morse mythology in that there is a place where all the Gods get together, and some of the Gods are somewhat similar. Or saying that the Matrix is just like Star Wars because they are both sci-fi movies/series, both began as trilogies, both have battles against machines... the list goes on and on. Don''t look for little things, because there are so many assosiacions I can make with today''s big industry games. So many people say that Jak II borrows heavily from GTA (I haven''t played Jak II yet, though) that there must be some truth to these rumors. Even Capcom, in their infinate wisdom, released Breath of Fire shortly after the release of Final Fantasy III/IV, and Resident Evil (the movie) was released shortly after Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Hmm, major idea borrowing going on there, me thinks.