The Silent Princess [GxB] [Backburner WIP]

Ideas and games that are not yet publicly in production. This forum also contains the pre-2012 archives of the Works in Progress forum.
Message
Author
User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

The Silent Princess [GxB] [Backburner WIP]

#1 Post by sheetcakeghost »

Image
All art put up here is conceptual.

Image The Silent Princess is a fantasy otome about a princess who saw the regicide of her parents and lost her ability to speak. She is rescued by her father's most loyal knight and taken to his home in a small town under the guise of her being his youngest son (the actual son having been killed in the attack along with his mother.) Only he and his eldest son know of her secret and the princess grows up in the village happy and relatively normal.

However, on her fifteenth birthday she (like all the boys of the town) is drafted into the King's Army to train. Her brother had already been drafted two years before her and was placed as a cleric. Her best friend is also drafted and his sister (who has a crush on her) joins voluntarily in order to be with the man she plans to marry. The princess is assigned to the court magis since she has a natural ability with magic and the magis (having had a hand in assassinating the former king) suspects that she may be the princess. There are several possibilities for romance including her best friend, her best friend's sister, and the court cleric who her brother works under and wants to overthrow the current king (he believes the kingdom will fall to ruins if the magical bloodline is not restored,) and the youngest son of the King himself. Plus one to be unlocked after you've completed the game.

You can just finish the game without picking a romance at all. There are three ending options for each suitor. A royal ending where the one you pick runs the kingdom with you, a peasant ending where you don't take up the crown and return to your home, and death. Since the characters in this one are underage by modern standards this wont be an h-game. (Not that it would have been if they were of age.)

I want to go with a childish look and feel. The story is being told from the perspective of the princess and she, despite what happened to her, is a pure maiden. The sort that attracts unicorns (not a planned plot in the game.)

WARNING: The following info will likely contain spoilers. If you don't want to partake in the construction of this game then don't read any further than this line. Once the game is developed more I'll make a spoiler free version of all the info below.


Background

The alliance between Orthera and Sylgard shattered during the reign of the new King and Sylgard has been under the control of Orthera for five years. Orthera has enforced its own traditions in Sylgard including the drafting of men into the King's Army to learn basic battle skills and various fields of potential trade. After one year the drafted man is allowed to return home, but under the reign of the new king gaining permission for this is nearly impossible. Women are allowed to volunteer for the King's Army, but it is very rare that they remain in service long. It is rumored that regulations against the mistreatment of women in the King's Army have become lax since the reign of the new King. It doesn't help that there are rumors of a possible revolt from within their own ranks.


Characters

Princess Callista of Orthera: Daughter of King Faramond and Queen Ledana and single heir to the throne. As a girl the princess was happy and playful. She spent much of her time outside playing in the garden and often escaping the court yard to play in the forest. Her pretty dresses would go to tatters as she did this and her silky golden curls would look rough and untamed. She was fearless and kindhearted to everyone, and had she been given the chance to grow out of her tomboyish behaviors she would have made a coveted princess.

Marcus Cordale of Sylgard: Second son of Sir Nicolas Cordale knight to the departed King of Orthera. He is a happy and quiet young man who is known to help anyone in need despite who they may be. He is thin, but far from frail, and is an exceptional runner and climber. His features are as delicate as his disposition and his eyes are known to shift from green to blue depending on what sort of clothes he wears. They are usually tinted a teal color due to his need for wearing glasses in order to see. His clothes are ill fitting hand-me-downs from his older brother. His hair is short, curly, and the color of chestnuts.

Nicolas Cordale of Sylgard: First son of Sir Nicolas Cordale knight to the departed king of Orthera. He is a strong young man with a deep devotion to his family. He's dependable and protective, but a bit cold to those he does not know. It is difficult to gain his trust and easy to break it. The only person who can convince him to do anything he does not want to do is his younger brother. He has a sturdy build and dark hair. His eyes are a deep muddy brown. He was drafted into the King's Army and placed under the service of the court cleric because he has his father's name. He takes his duties very seriously and it is rare to see him crack a smile.

James Coliar of Sylgard: Marcus' best friend since childhood. James has always taken it upon himself to make sure Marcus gets to have fun once in a while. Without him Marcus would have spent his days indoors with a book and under the steely eyes of his big brother. Adventuring is in James' blood and he grew up on stories of bandits, dragons, and knights told to him by his grandfather. It's only natural that James spend most of his time at the Cordale household where a real live knight spent his retirement cobbling shoes. James always had a penchant for inventing so when he was drafted he jumped at the chance to join the mechanist division of the King's Army. James is usually pretty dirty and his clothes always suffer from some wear despite how new they may be. He has hair the color of dirt and eyes that shine through his bangs like amber buried in stone.

Joanna Coliar of Sylgard: Joanna is just as (if not more) adventurous as her brother. She's never had much of a ladylike lilt to her. She likes girly things, but not any of the other girls in town. She finds them to prim and proper and she can never talk them into going out to the river in the woods at night to see if there really is a troll living under the bridge. (There isn't.) She absolutely loves to cook, but she's easily distracted and often forgets what recipe she's trying to make. She's also practically attached to her brother's hip so when he was drafted into the King's Army she volunteered. She has a great head for tactics but she joined the mechanist division to be with her brother. It also helps that just an hours walk away in the castle is the man she plans to marry. Though he doesn't know that yet. She looks a lot like her brother but with a little more red to her hair. She keeps it tied up most of the time because it's long and gets in her way.

Brevan Bourchier of Orthera: Cleric Bourchier is a serious man who has recently been assigned to train the son of the former knight to whom his father had pledged his life. A debt the man never got to pay after the King and Queen's death. Bourchier has a strong distaste for the practices of this new King, but has too much pride in his duties to do much about it. He works his new apprentice Nicolas incredibly hard as the job itself is not an easy one. Bourchier is a solumn man with deep blue hair kept in a long ponytail wrapped tightly with a white ribbon like it's a bandaged arm. His eyes are only slightly lighter than the hair and there are rumors about the castle that his mother is the Ice Queen of the Fae due to his resemblance to the pictures and statues of her that litter the castle library. Bourchier, of course, thinks this is hogwash.

Prince Alasteir de Montchrestien: Most agree that while Prince Alasteir is a womanizer with a taste for peasant women and harlots he's a better man than his father King Kenrick. He seems to honestly care about the affairs of the people and has even outwardly declared his distaste for the manner in which his father does certain things. Prince Alasteir takes a lot after the late Queen Grace who was often opposing her husband's appetite for war. There are many rumors about that the King killed the Queen in a fit of rage, but no one knows if the Prince himself believes this to be true. Along with his mother's ideals he also took after her looks. His hair is white, nearly snowy in fact, his skin is fair and his eyes are incredibly light. When he was younger he was often confused for the ghost of the child princess Callista.


Mechanics

I'm still working this out. So far it's going to play very similar to Princess Maker 2 or Spirited Hearts. I have absolutely no idea how to make this sort of engine so progress will be slow and clunky.


Jobs

The focus will be, of course, magic, but there is more than one way to use a spell. There will be different jobs in the King's Army that you can take that will raise your stat in a specific skill. The stats in the game not only determine what romance characters will be attracted to you, but will also greatly influence your ending.

Assistant: You can simply do research for your instructor. You'll be sent on errands all over the castle and will be put to task to sift through a lot of books in the library in order to find out exactly what ingredients are needed for what spell and then how to go and fetch them. This will bring up your overall book smarts.

Alchemist: Being a medic does not necessarily mean being adept at magic, however, magic is certainly useful in the healing arts. You'll be sent to task to infuse reagents gathered for salves and elixirs to make them more potent. This will bring up your magical healing ability.

Mechanist: Technology is not dependent on magic, but it certainly helps get the ball running. You will be using your magic to help create machine parts and generate fuel sources needed to keep things running. In the process you'll learn a lot about how machines work, but more importantly, how to fix them with things go wrong. This will bring up your improvisational skills with magic.

Cook: It's not the most glamorous task, but every army needs to eat and magic is the fastest way to do so. You'll be using your talents to make meals stretch further and be more nutritious than they could on their own. You can also infuse dishes to bring out certain attributes in the person that consumes them. Being able to mix a cocktail that can keep a wizard up all night and make them smarter without giving them a nasty hangover in the morning makes you a very popular person. Being a cook brings up your charisma and overall social skills.

This is by no means the entire list, nor is it the set one. If you have any ideas let me know.


Notes

Medieval Hair Dying - While magic is a common enough practice in this game, it's generally meant for war and using it to color your hair is very silly. Since the princess keeps her hair a dark color (in order to match that of her family) she has to use a more chemical method of coloring. She takes one part of Lead calcined with Sulphur , and one part of quicklime. She tempers them somewhat thin with water and puts it on her hair. After scrubbing it in well she lets it sit for half and hour before washing it out. She has to be careful about her timing though because the longer she leaves it in the more brown it gets. No one really knows she does this and having her hair suddenly a different color would be pretty noticeable. As you can imagine this would leave her hair pretty course and rough. After it's colored she'll wash it in hot water with powder of natron and vetch to make it gradually soft again. This tends to dry out her hands which causes her to use lots of oils and lotions.

Picking a Font - I've always liked the idea of a fun font to dress up the name tabs as well as provide logo flare. In Enrapture Mode I use computer modern roman because it's a font commonly used in math books. For this game, however, something a bit fluffier seems in order. So far I'm leaning towards chantelli antiqua since it has a medieval look and remains readable.

Dandelions - You've probably noticed my use of dandelions. Not only are they the princess' favorite flower as a kid, but there is some symbolism at play here as well. The dandelion is an incredibly useful plant. The leaves are edible and better for you than spinach and it breaks up hard earth with its deep tap root. The roots also bring up nutrients from below the reach of other plants. It even has medicinal uses. It detoxifies the liver. Not to mention that the flower is very important to both bees and butterflies. There is also the fantasy element with the seed and fluff. Remember when you used to make a wish and try to blow all the seeds off? So let's mix all that information together, shall we? Dandelions protect and heal your garden and your body, it breaks up tough dirt to bring nutrients to flowers that can't reach as deep, both bees and butterflies need it to survive, and before it dies you get to make a wish. AKA PLOT!

Hwacha - Inspired by some research but just solidified by Mythbusters S08E13. The mechanist division of the army is working on something top secret and James is having to struggle with his fantasy fueled sense of morality to continue working on it. The mechanists are keeping the project a secret even from the heads of other divisions and this is causes a lot of unrest in the ranks. Especially with the royal magis. Most of the mechanist division consists of residents of Sylgard. Could they be planning on a revolt?

Panacea: I like the idea of a single magical potion that could cure anything that ails you. Despite this being a world that has magic, it isn't magic heavy. Certain items would require powerful magic and only really be available to those that can afford it.


[0]Opening Cinematic

[1] Introduction
[1a] Eat the cake
[1b] Pretend to eat the cake


[0] Opening Cinematic

n "Once there was a royal garden,"

n "and in it played a royal little girl."

n "The little girl would play in the maze."

n "The little girl would play by the pond."

n "The little girl would play with the animals."

n "But there was one thing the little girl liked the most."

n "The little girl liked to pick flowers."

n "But the little girl wasn't allowed to pick the flowers in the royal garden."

n "So the little girl would climb over the tall, tall fence, "

n "and play in the garden on the other side. "

n "In this garden the girl had a bigger maze to play in.:

n "She had a bigger pond to play by."

n "She had bigger animals to play with."

n "But best of all..."

n "She could pick all the flowers she wanted."

n "One day the little girl came on a flower she'd never seen before."

n "It was fluffy and yellow and had thousands of petals."

n "It smelled sweet as summer and it left funny yellow dust on her hands."

n "\"This flower must be magical,\" thought the little girl."

n "So she took as many as she could and carried them home."

n "First she took the flowers to the cook."

n "\"I found a magical flower,\" said the little girl."

n "The cook looked down at the little girl and smiled."

n "\"Ah, you have just what I needed,\" said the cook."

n "She took the little girls flowers and picked off all the leaves."

n "The cook then washed the leaves and put them in a bowl."

n "The little girl took her flowers to the royal doctor next."

n "\"I found a magical flower,\" said the little girl."

n "The royal doctor looked down at her with warm eyes."

n "\"That's just what I needed.\" He and took the girl's flowers."

n "He cut all of the stems and mashed them in a bowl."

n "Next the little girl took her flowers to the royal magus."

n "\"I found a magical flower,\" said the little girl."

n "The magus looked down at her and frowned."

n "\"There is what I was missing.\" He said and took the flowers."

n "He hit the flowers against a bowl and shook out all the dust."

n "Last the little girl took the flowers to her mother and father."

n "\"I found a magical flower,\" said the little girl."

n "But her mother and father did not look at the little girl."

n "The little girl waited like the good girl she was,"

n "but her mother and father still would not look at her."

n "It was then that the knight came in."

n "He was red head to toe and his eyes were big as plates."

n "He looked down at the little girl and picked her from the ground."

n "\"I found a magical flower,\" said the little girl."

n "The knight's eyes filled with tears and he smiled at her."

n "\"We're going to play a game,\" said the knight."

n "\"Is it a good game?\" asked the little girl."

n "\"A very good game,\" said the knight. \"First you hide. Then you are quiet as a mouse.\""

n "\"I like that game,\" said the little girl. \"I can be very quiet.\""

n "\"Go now,\" said the knight as he put down the little girl. \"Do not come out until I say.\""

n "The little girl then hid under her mother's throne."

n "She watched the knight take out his sword as a man all in black came in."

n "She watched another man come in while the other two played."

n "This man was also in black and he did not look interested in the game."

n "Instead he looked around the room as he talked to himself."

n "The girl was good and stayed perfectly quiet."

n "Then the man walked over to where she hid and pushed the throne. "

n "The throne and her mother fell to the floor."

n "The little girl thought this odd as her mother would surely get up."

n "Then she saw that the red on the knight was also on her mother. "

n "The little girl looked up at the man's eyes."

n "They swirled and danced and she wanted to scream."

n "She was a good little girl and she didn't make a sound."

n "The man said some words and the little girl felt sleepy."

n "She was about to close her eyes when the man let out a yell."

n "He fell to the floor and behind him stood the knight."

n "He picked up the little girl and carried her away."

n "Soon they were in the little girl's favorite place. "

n "They stopped at a wagon where sat an older boy."

n "The knight put the little girl down by the older boy."

n "\"We are going to play another game,\" said the knight."

n "The little girl tried to speak, but her throat was cold and no sound would come out."

n "\"We will pretend you're my son. My family never had chance to meet him and I cannot tell them who you are,\" said the knight."

n "The knight looks at his son and his face grew stern."

n "\"This is your little brother now. You will have to protect him,\" said the knight."

n "The older boy nodded and took the little girl's hand."

n "The knight got on the wagon and they all rode very far away."

[1] Introduction

B "Hey."

Fade to black

B "Hey!"

Shake screen

Fade out of black

B "Get up. We have a surprise."

N "You get up slowly as your mind is still foggy from the arduous journey out of the land of nod. Your best friend watches you and his foot taps softly against the wood."

N "You can smell something in the air. It's faintly sweet and somehow very ominous."

N "Then you remember. It's your birthday today. Your fifteenth in fact. Fifteen is a big number. It means you're a man. Or as much of a man as you can be, given the circumstances."

N "It also means that you're going to be drafted into the King's Army. Something you are not at all looking forward too. Luckily your best friend turned fifteen a week ago, so he'll be going with you."

N "Your best friend. He's still waiting on you to get dressed. This has been becoming a problem as of late. When you were younger it was easy to slip out of bed and change in front of him, but last year you started to develop certain womanly signs that were getting harder and harder to hide."

N "Why you had to hide them you were never told. It was just made perfectly clear by your father many times that no one find out who you really are. That your very life depended on the world believing you are a boy and, most importantly, you are his son."

N "Your friend is still waiting. He looks unhappy."

N "You swish your wrist and nod your head. Your friend rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue in annoyance, but he turns around."

N "You keep your back to him as you remove your night shirt. The strips of cloth you use to keep certain areas down and in place shift and make you itch. You adjust them and scratch then put on your baggy shirt."

N "You've been able to use the excuse of only being able to have your brother's hand me downs, but soon you're going to have to get real clothes made to fit you. You're not sure how you plan on keeping your assets hidden."

N "Your brother was the one who always managed to make sure you were never discovered. He and your father are the only ones to know your secret, but your brother was drafted three years ago and didn't return like he promised."

N "He probably doesn't know that your father passed one year after he left. If your brother is even alive himself."

N "Your best friend's tapping grows louder and it snaps you from your thoughts. You offer him an apologetic smile which cools his anger if only a bit."

N "The two of you then proceed to leave the room."
Last edited by sheetcakeghost on Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:10 pm, edited 14 times in total.

User avatar
Riviera
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 660
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:39 pm
Location: Somewhere
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#2 Post by Riviera »

Oooooh. It ought to be really interesting to play a mute protagonist. All your choices will be actions, right? Does she use sign language or just gesture and use facial expressions to get her thoughts across?

This could be really neat! Image
Will edit/proofread for cookies.

Image
I do free voicework! Click here for samples

User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#3 Post by sheetcakeghost »

She has signals that she uses with her friends and brother that could be considered a sort of sign language. Other than that, yes, all your options are actions and expressions. How she feels about something is not always crystal clear to the person she's trying to communicate with as well.

I'm open to ideas and suggestions on things I can do with this story. I don't have a solid idea of how the characters really act yet, nor have I thought out much story wise.

I do know that I plan on having her save an injured cat that then follows her about and even acts as a guardian. I plan this because I got an adorable image for one of the endings.
If she doesn't choose a romance option and takes the job as queen the cat is sitting in the king's thrown wearing an ill fitting crown. Was too adorable to pass up.

dstarsboy
Veteran
Posts: 461
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:58 pm
Location: Phoenix
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#4 Post by dstarsboy »

Sounds like a great story. Especially the part about the best friend's sister having a crush on her (because she thinks she's a guy). Definitely a VN that would have no problems keeping my interest peaked. Good luck to you!
Current Projects:
The Isle of St Marcus

User avatar
MaiMai
Yandere
Posts: 1757
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:04 pm
Completed: [Phase Shift]
Projects: [ None ]
Organization: Paper Stars
Tumblr: maiscribbles
Deviantart: maiscribble
Location: USA, Southern California
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#5 Post by MaiMai »

You have a pretty cool sounding plot, but just one thing (and this is just me being incredibly nitpicky)
The Silent Princess is a fantasy otome about a princess who saw the genocide of her parents
I don't think genocide is the correct term in this case since that word is used when referring to a mass murder of a group of individuals. "Murder" would be more appropriate unless you are referring to the murder of her whole blood-related family.
Image COMMISSIONS AVAILABLE (check Tumblr sidebar)

User avatar
Riviera
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 660
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:39 pm
Location: Somewhere
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#6 Post by Riviera »

Regicide would work... murder of royals.

Or just murder.
Will edit/proofread for cookies.

Image
I do free voicework! Click here for samples

User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#7 Post by sheetcakeghost »

MaiMai wrote:I don't think genocide is the correct term in this case since that word is used when referring to a mass murder of a group of individuals. "Murder" would be more appropriate unless you are referring to the murder of her whole blood-related family.
Ah! You're right! That's what I get for writing up that summary in the wee hours. I'll fix it. Thanks for pointing that out. It was the murder of her family, but her family is pretty much her parents.

User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#8 Post by sheetcakeghost »

I've gone through and given a touch of background info as well as added some character description to the main character and her brother.

User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#9 Post by sheetcakeghost »

Tossed in a little more info on things at the top under the Random Bits header. Let me know what you think. Am I being a bit too pretentious here? Also, feel free to suggest another font.

User avatar
emihaumut
Regular
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:19 pm
Projects: Rynspyr.
Tumblr: emihaumut
Github: yeewai
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#10 Post by emihaumut »

Haha, I see you finally figured out the symbolism for the dandelion. Good job. :)

I think I'm in love with the alternate, adorable ending, lol.

User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#11 Post by sheetcakeghost »

Aw, thanks. I'm in love with it too.

machinist
Regular
Posts: 179
Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 7:41 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#12 Post by machinist »

i love the set up... T_T plz meet a good artist...!!!
anyway's here's my fanart...

Image
Callista > Marcus > Nicolas
sorry i suck at coming up with clothes...lol

User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#13 Post by sheetcakeghost »

Aw, that's adorable! Thanks! Is the one in the middle meant to be Marcus aka the Princess in drag? He'd need a few more hidden curves and his facial structure would need to be the same as the Princess'. It's okay if you didn't know they were the same person. I don't exactly make that clear in the character roster. The clothes are fine, and I like the watercolor look too. I may have to steal those character designs.

User avatar
sheetcakeghost
Veteran
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:19 pm
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#14 Post by sheetcakeghost »

I have just finished adding in all the romance eligible characters to the roster. There are five to choose from and each one is (I hope) drastically different. I've always felt that with a romance game you need to try and appeal to a large range of tastes. Anyway, as always, tell me what you think.

User avatar
Riviera
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 660
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:39 pm
Location: Somewhere
Contact:

Re: [Artist Needed] The Silent Princess

#15 Post by Riviera »

I dunno, I think the clothes is great. The art itself is great, you need to have more confidence! ^-^

Any VN'd be glad to have you on. :)
Will edit/proofread for cookies.

Image
I do free voicework! Click here for samples

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users