SunRider

[Samu-kun]

Many centuries have passed since the discovery of faster than light travel and humanity has spread to every corner of the galaxy. Yet even in the future, peace is all but nonexistent. Three rival powers are locked in an intergalactic war for supremacy over all of mankind. As the captain of your own rogue star ship, you will have countless run-ins with all three of these powers. How will you survive? Daring space fights! Delightful female crew mates! (DFCs) Love in space!

SunRider Questions and Answers

Q: I seem to recall an older topic for this...
A: Seeing how both the graphics and the plot have been totally re-imagined since then, I thought it would be much more fitting to just start a new topic instead of forcing everyone to read through the massively long WIP topic that I used to have again.

Q: So what exactly has changed and what has stayed the same?
A: Obviously, all the ships have been completely re-designed. They have zero resemblance to their old Raidaa no Asahi counterparts except for their names, and I think this is definitely a great step forward for the game. =3 In terms of the plot, all of the girls from the original game will be making a return (including the ship AI), although they will also be re-designed. However, while her personality remains as fiery and tsun-tsun as ever, Ikkari is no longer one of the good guys and is now an officer in the NET fleet who's determined to defeat those pesky Sunriders once and for all.

Q: So this game won't continue from where Raidaa no Asahi left off?
A: No, consider that game taking place in an alternate reality from the events of Sunrider. But the personalities and general appearances of all the characters will remain the same.

Q: What's this Raidaa no Asahi you keep referring to?
A: Raidaa no Asahi is a pilot visual novel that was released earlier this year that introduces you to the major characters and the general world of Sunrider. Consider that what the Sky Girls OVA was to its anime series. You can download that here. (NOMINATE IT FOR LEMMA 08! NOMINATE IT FOR LEMMA 08! NOMINATE IT FOR LEMMA 08! NOMINATE IT FOR LEMMA 08! =3)

Q: Will this still have full voice overs? I kinda thought some of the ones you had in your old topic were cute...
A: Hopefully. But I didn't realize how much work it was to keep 10 people organized and motivated enough to work until uhh... after I got 10 people together to voice the game. =3 So I'm holding off recording for now until I have everything else finished... Or else I'd seriously NEVER finish this.

Q: How epic will this be?
A: So epic your head will explode. SPLIT THE EARTH!!!

Q: When will this ever be finished? We've been waiting for eons...
A: Probably never. Before the end of the decade. You have exactly one year, Samu-kun!! >_<

Q: Yikes. So how can I help?
A: Leave nice comments! Believe in me! Believe in me who believes in you, who believes in me, who believes in... Ah whatever, you got the general idea...

We shall add a picture of Tsukasa at the very end for luck. =w=

[monele]

Nice ships! Seriously . Only the Liberty looks a bit too bulky/classic to me .

New question : will this be a shoot/VN as Raidaa no Asashi was?

[Vatina]

So this is still going? Yay! ^_^

[LVUER]

The project's alive again! I'm so glad, This is one of the Ren'Py VN that I'm always waiting for the release.

If it's too hard to make the game full-voiced, why don't you make only the important events voiced (just like many console games do)? Perhaps only the opening and the true ending?

[PyTom]

I have to say I'm looking forward to it. My general life philosophy is that everything is better in zero gravity.

Three suggestions, from most to least serious:

The original fighters were largely distinguished by color. Although they had names, I will forever remember them as "the red one", "the yellow one", and "the blue one". I'd suggest carrying that over to these designs, so that you can show the fighters at a relatively small size, and still be able to make out which is which.

A Stellvia-like energy trail might also be something to consider, as it makes it possible to depict motion in static images.

Homing lasers are a classic, if absurd capital ship weapon.

[Samu-kun]

New question : will this be a shoot/VN as Raidaa no Asashi was?

Nope, no shoot 'em up segments this time around. I don't think I have enough Python skills to pull that off again on ren'py.

If it's too hard to make the game full-voiced, why don't you make only the important events voiced (just like many console games do)? Perhaps only the opening and the true ending?

Mmm... Well, I'm just afraid it'd feel unnatural for the characters to have no voices 99% of the time and then suddenly have voices for some of the scenes.

The original fighters were largely distinguished by color. Although they had names, I will forever remember them as "the red one", "the yellow one", and "the blue one". I'd suggest carrying that over to these designs, so that you can show the fighters at a relatively small size, and still be able to make out which is which.

Well, that was the original plan, which explains why the Black Jack is still blue and the Phoenix is still yellow - but the red colour pallet didn't really work with the Liberty design, (red, white, and orange pallet made it look too much like a fire truck, red, white, and orange made it look like a pizza delivery ship, and red, black, and orange made it look too evil) so I just changed it so all the Sunriders are blue, white, and black, while everyone else has other colour schemes. I don't really think identification's going to be a big issue here, since there are no longer any game play segments and all the ships are going to be used in full screen CGs where you'll be able to identify all the ships pretty easily anyways. (The Black Jack and the Liberty are easy to tell apart by shape.)

A Stellvia-like energy trail might also be something to consider, as it makes it possible to depict motion in static images.

Engine trails are to come. =w=

Homing lasers are a classic, if absurd capital ship weapon.

So of course the Sunrider has them. =w=

[AlphaProspector]

heh, awesome guided laser missiles are awesome. Rayforce, Panzer Dragoon, Omega Boost, Macross Missile Massacre, etc. Insta-love.

But, man, this should totally be a STG... Those awesome models scream Thunder Force meets Gradius with some doses of epic shooting game. Do you know C++? There is a japanese doujin shooter (maybe you know it if you are into Touhou, it's called "Hollow World of God" by dixq) coded in C++. The engine is open source and you can retrieve all the source files in order to code a vertical danmaku shooting game with 3D backgrounds.

Or, seeing all those cool models, another doujin dev built a full 3D engine that's also open source and comes with the project files. The game mechanics involve lock-on guided laser missiles, huge lasers and such so it might fit. Also C++ based and it allows multidirectional pew pew thanks to the 3D environment.

God, I should be learning C++. ;_;

Oh, looking forward to this project in its VN form.

I see missile racks... I foresee great missile barrages!

[sake-bento]

But...Ikkari...;___; I'll cheer for her still anyway. >.>

Good to see this revisited. The new designs look very good indeed.

[Vatina]

I'll be cheering for Ikkari too ;_; She was my fav....

[Samu-kun]

Ikkari sure is popular, isn't she? Oh where have all those Asaga fans gone...? And what about Chigara? Isn't she so cute, chii? XD

But, man, this should totally be a STG... Those awesome models scream Thunder Force meets Gradius with some doses of epic shooting game. Do you know C++? There is a japanese doujin shooter (maybe you know it if you are into Touhou, it's called "Hollow World of God" by dixq) coded in C++. The engine is open source and you can retrieve all the source files in order to code a vertical danmaku shooting game with 3D backgrounds.

Yeah, sticking to its original roots, all the ships are reminiscent of SHMUP games. You missed one of the influences though - Ikaruga. (although only very loosely. And I think after growing up on Star Wars and Star Trek, there's bound to be some Western influences in there too.) I think I have heard of that game, although from what I know, what you can do with it is heavily limited by the original engine and I don't even know C++ so I've never tried myself.

SHMUP inspired or not though, don't expect the Vic Viper to make an appearance here... We all know what happened to Sky Girls because of poorly placed product advertisements. =w=

[monele]

No shmup then? Pure regular VN? That's intriguing . Will it even be a KN or do you have choices planned?

It's always sad to see a main character disappear or switch sides ^^;... And note that people will probably be expecting more from her replacement

[Ramidel]

When I finished the original game, I was struck by just one thought.



Seriously, I can't wait for SunRider.

[LVUER]

Cool design. Phoenix's design make it looks Phoenix could ram the enemies with its blade.

BTW, I just remember that Sun Riders is going to have mecha in it?

[Samu-kun]

Update #1: Characters released! Hopefully their new appearances are an improvement over previous designs. (they're in the first post)

Update #2: A much smaller update, but I modified the 3D renders so that they're not as bright any more. I'll see to replacing all the old renders with new ones over the course of the next week.

[musical74]

*waves, Asaga fan here!!*

After being dragged all over by Yoko and Tohko I think I should avoid the tsundere for a bit....<hopes Ikkari doesn't get too mad....>

Chigara's great but I view her more as a friend than anything else

hope this gets finished! =)