MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2014]

NaNoRenO is an event where creators make a game from scratch during the month of March.
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ficedula
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MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2014]

#1 Post by ficedula »

Evening all.

We're doing another MorningStar game this year, so it follows on in a sense from MorningStar and MorningStar Zwei, but it is separate from the previous games; no shared characters or locations.

This time we'll be setting it in Europe; our main character is a Venus (magical girl, for those of you that haven't played through the previous games) who reluctantly has to take the throne in England as the sole remaining heir. Naturally many people take exception to this and then hilarity war ensues.

While the system will be completely different from the previous games, there will still be many magical girls to interact with* and hopefully recruit to your side.

Our artists who are clearly insane have, I suspect, not slept at all this weekend given the amount of sketches and graphics they've made over the past two days. Although I'm still coding we do have things running; sorry, haven't had time to make smaller versions to embed.

Academy Screen (rough character and background);
https://rqib0w.bn1302.livefilestore.com ... jpg?psid=1

Some characters (rough background & maids, clearly a high quality/awesome version of the main character);
https://rqjkdq.bn1304.livefilestore.com ... png?psid=1

(Dialogue not yet final)

We have plans for 8 or so characters [other than the main character], but some of those are definitely optional if-we-have-time-not-sure-how-much-writing-they'll-get characters... ;)

Our scripter who is also possibly insane is planning what sounds like a great many abilities to use in the SRPG/battle section of the game, but in fairness he can concentrate almost entirely on that for the whole month so I guess he probably will be able to write them all in...

*Note that if things go badly, fights to the death are still a kind of interaction


Game characters (not a complete list yet - more to come);

Image
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Victoria is the main character; the only heir to the British throne, she reluctantly has to assume power. It turns out the other nations aren't happy with the idea of a Venus [magical girl] holding a position of power, and declare war, so she is forced to defeat them (and, perhaps, recruit their Venuses to join her).
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Susan is the royal advisor to Victoria (and was advisor to the last monarch before that). Somewhat older and more experienced than Victoria and the other characters, she sees her role as helping to guide them (and hopefully prevent them making any mistakes that are too bad!)
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Arielle is a captain in the French forces. She's very concerned with etiquette and make sure Things are Done Properly, so while she's not overly fond of the (invading!) British forces, she realises it's her duty to honour the surrender and ensure the defeated French forces are treated in the best way possible.
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Delphine is also a captain in the French forces, and Arielle's twin sister. Unlike her sister, Delphine is very easygoing and sociable, and is mainly just concerned with making friends with Victoria and avoiding any work that looks too difficult to deal with ;)
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I wasn't aware, but apparently your head mechanic is called Janica. As the leader of the Vehicle Maintenance Club, it's her job to ensure all your military vehicles remain in top working condition.
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Morag is the leader of the Cornish Separatists, a rebel group fighting for independence from Britain.
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Naturally, as the head of the military and now having ascended to the throne, you have many maids ready to serve you. Clarice is merely one of them.
Last edited by ficedula on Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#2 Post by Jake »

ficedula wrote:sorry, haven't had time to make smaller versions to embed
What Fice is trying to say here is "sorry, I don't really understand how images work on the Internet". Look, he doesn't even have a working avatar, poor chap.

I'm working on the background art for this project, and have spent most of my afternoon today referencing and laying out and drawing a Rococo drawing-room. I have never had more sympathy for the French Revolution in my life - those aristo bastards totally deserved beheading for their terrible taste in interior decor!
berlin2.jpeg
(Note: the character artist insists it be mentioned that the sprite on the left is just a pre-NaNo test sprite to get a feel for the character and the rendering approach and all that, and won't be in-game. The maids are just costume design mockups and while they will be in game, they probably won't be in such weird poses. But now Dave has posted this the Maid Battalion is canon, so: victory for good taste!)
academy1.jpeg
Untitled-2.png
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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#3 Post by Googaboga »

I haven't been around long enough to know of your other two games but this certainly sounds like it'll be an impressive project. And it looks great so far too. I look forward to seeing more ^^.
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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#4 Post by sake-bento »

Oh SNET. I'm so happy to see you guys in action. MorningStar was one of the first VNs I read, and I will never not like magical girls. Eagerly looking forward to this one~

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#5 Post by ficedula »

Jake wrote:
ficedula wrote:sorry, haven't had time to make smaller versions to embed
What Fice is trying to say here is "sorry, I don't really understand how images work on the Internet". Look, he doesn't even have a working avatar, poor chap.
Bah; I understand images, it was the forum that was causing me grief. Although since you mention the avatar...

Anyway; have a graphic of a vaguely working map screen. Berlin isn't ready to be invading yet, but France is another matter.
map1.png
(As with everything else so far, the icons and UI are, um, basic. I suspect at some point the artists will demand they be changed for the sake of their own eyes.)

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG] [GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#6 Post by Jake »

I have been authorised to counteract the ugly work-in-progress images with some pretty work-in-progress images, courtesy of our character artist:
Aurelie Pose Sketches.png
Sofia Pose Sketches.png
As you can see, by "magical girls" we mean "magical twenty-somethings with excellent figures"! Both of these two are potential long-term-meaningful-relationship*-endings for the protagonist, naturally.





* This may or may not be a euphemism.
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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG] [GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#7 Post by ficedula »

Updated the first post with information on some of the characters.

(Man, but phpbb makes it a faff to do, well, anything...)

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#8 Post by The Scribbler »

Image

And here's the final protagonist's sprite. Working on the other ones bit by bit, I'm re-discovering the joys of being so tired working on sprites for hours on end that I end up merging layers that weren't supposed to be merged, destroy anatomy without even noticing and drawing completely silly expressions!
Will I finish all of the sprites by the end of the month? Will they look pretty? Will I cry next time I waste 3 hours of work due to me overwriting a file without noticing? Who knows!

*Goes back to work, or sleep...*

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#9 Post by Rinima »

Ghah!
It looks so pwetty!
Looking forward to this :D
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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#10 Post by The Scribbler »

Thanks! Trying my best! :D

I've been feeling a bit rough the last couple of days, but today I'm a fair bit better and I've got some progress: all the characters are lined, the characters that have only one haircut/set of eyes all have flat colours and I've shaded the first pursuable character, Arielle.

Image

I might go over her hair a bit more, I'm not sure right now - for the moment I'll work on her expressions. Although, I'm really tempted to shade Delphine first and work on her expressions instead...

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#11 Post by marimo »

ahh everything promises to be amazing! ^ q ^ Very fond of all of the character designs so far~ esp that Sofia<3
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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#12 Post by The Scribbler »

Thanks so much!

I've seen a fair few of your things in the past and I really like your style (chins and noses FTW!), so I'm particularly happy to hear you like the designs. :D
I've changed Sofia's a bit since those were posted (on her torso), but I hope you still like her once I finish with her sprite!

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#13 Post by Jake »

I couldn't bring myself to do the full-on hardcore Rococo for this background, because it's already tasteless and tacky enough (and it would have taken all month). I guess it's twenty-xty-six-era Modern Rococo Revival?
French-Int.png


(The German office was designed by Gropius' and van der Rohe's secret lovechild's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild who has an obsession with the eighties and acrylic, so that one will be nicer.)
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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#14 Post by DaFool »

I swear I heard a Rococo joke somewhere... some shoujo anime from a few years back, the protagonist goes 'Rococo~ Rococo~ Rococo~ :3'

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Re: MorningStar: Grand Tour [VN/SRPG,GxG,Magical Girl][NaNo2

#15 Post by Jake »

DaFool wrote:I swear I heard a Rococo joke somewhere... some shoujo anime from a few years back
I think the only anime series I've ever heard mention Rococo at all was Honey and Clover, so if it wasn't that, I have no idea. Although there was plenty of it in Gankutsuou for historical accuracy reasons, of course.
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