Stirling [BxB][Fantasy]

[myapple]

Auric had everything he could ever want. He was born a human, but discovered early on that he was one of the rare few to be gifted with the ability to wield mana. In his teens he was accepted to a school on the magical land of Hashiten. But paradise is not always as it seems... With an innate ability to wield flame magic and a temper to go with it, Auric had a knack for getting himself into trouble back on earth, and things haven't changed.

The story takes place in the Winterlands, where Auric has been exiled to. A place of perpetual twilight and a lot of rocks and snow, the Winterands serve as a prison of sorts for the law-breakers on Hashiten.

As you progress, Auric will relive parts of his past through a series of dream sequences. You have the opportunity to make important choices in these sequences that might even change the dreary future that he is currently headed to.

Features:
- story based
- five + possible endings
- original soundtrack and story
- multiple CG events per path
- 100% original artwork and GUI

***Some of the sprites are being redone/reworked slightly, and as such will be replaced by promotional art for the time being (as I can no longer bear to look at them >_<) Sorry for the mess!

MC

Auric Kastil, Earth
A young mage with a bad temper (though he usually tries to hide it), Auric is exiled to the Winterlands of Hashiten for an undetermined amount of time for inciting a duel.

Obtainables;

The Real World


Baloncoris (Balon), demon
One of Auric's fellow law breakers, Balon was actually someone's familiar once upon a time. He isn't saying what laws he broke or why.


???
Someone that Auric knows from the past...

Dream Sequence; (Though you can play through the dreams without actively going after anyone)

Caelor Pestas, the Sky Realm
A fellow student of magic. Due to his upbringing, he can be an asshole from time to time, but he really only has good intentions.

Other Characters;

Left to right, Crane, Estheros (Theros); Crane is the homeroom teacher, Theros is his demon familiar (and the teacher's assistant).


Kestrel Singer and Taika Takenaka, classmates.

Progress:
Outline: Prologue 100%, Paths 100%
Writing: 10%
Sprites: 10% CG: 12% Backgrounds: 35%
Programming: 15%
GUI: 30%
Music: 40%

Promotional Art! (Click for full size)


Team:
Art and GUI Design/Story Concept: myapple (with textures by cloaks)
Writing: Brevity
Programming: Nairu
Music: mindbattery
Logo: ShojiAmasawa

[SilverHyena]

Oh yay! Another BxB project! And the art is so lovely! I hope you follow through with this so that I can one day play it!

[Victoria Jennings]

Hehe, I saw your sketches in art dumpage, and I must say, I really am partial to your style. :D

I might try and recruit you for a future project in a similar vein, so consider yourself warned!

Good luck! <3

[Razz]

The character designs are top notch! Wow i seriously cannot wait to play this.

[Ginger]

asdfg;jkfldg

So beautiful ; A ;

Yay, some beautiful BxB! I'm really loving your art, therefore this is definitely something I'm gonna keep an eye on!

And are Crane and Theros in a romantic relationship? I totally ship them

[Arowana]

This looks awesome! Love the cool outfit designs, the snow backgrounds, the pretty logo - everything! The dream sequence idea sounds pretty cool. Might all the fantasy elements just be part of the MC's dreams, then?

I haven't decided to soft or cel shade the sprites yet... any thoughts?

I like the shading on your devart avatar (pokemon ftw!), but I think either one would look nice. Though maybe you could choose a style similar to that of your backgrounds?

[Obscura]

This looks beautiful. Love the artwork. Will be keeping an eye on this!

[Auro-Cyanide]

Ffff, hot headed mages and demons with horns *melts*

Ahem, you have my attention.

The character art looks great! Both your colouring styles are nice, but I'm thinking the soft cell that's kind of painterly might go nicely with the backgrounds? Hard cell would be nice to though since it would look very clean and crisp and does complement your overall style. I would also get rid of the Japanese in the logo design unless it has a point since there doesn't appear to be anything Japanese about the story?

Good luck with this project, it's looks awesome so far ^_^

[Victoria Jennings]

I would also get rid of the Japanese in the logo design unless it has a point since there doesn't appear to be anything Japanese about the story?

It could be there for stylistic purposes. Several games I've seen (on this forum, even) have had French in their titles and yet have nothing to do with French culture or France at all. U:

[Auro-Cyanide]

I would also get rid of the Japanese in the logo design unless it has a point since there doesn't appear to be anything Japanese about the story?

It could be there for stylistic purposes. Several games I've seen (on this forum, even) have had French in their titles and yet have nothing to do with French culture or France at all. U:

But if it doesn't mean anything, what's the point? It just confuses communication. Especially since as far as I can tell it's just repeating the title, so it says Stirling Stirling.
Though there could be valid reasons, like it's going to be in Japanese at some point for a Japanese audience, but if it's an English game for an English audience and has nothing to do with Japan, it might seem a wee bit random XD

[Victoria Jennings]

But if it doesn't mean anything, what's the point? It just confuses communication.

Ultimately, I don't see it as much of a big deal, but I won't debate you on this, at the risk of derailing myapple's thread. I'm sure s/he has his/her reasons. 0:

[Deji]

Ahh~~ Your character designs are lovely <3
I'll be looking forward to this!

[myapple]

Oh my goodness ;A; I didn't expect to wake up to all these comments :''D

About the Japanese in the logo (which isn't actually the final logo design eheh....), it's just there for stylization at the moment. Sometime in the future I might translate the game to Japanese, but the final logo (for this version at least) won't have any non-english in it :)

Thank you for the thoughts on sprites as well~ I think i'll try a couple versions of soft cel shading and then overlay them with the backgrounds to see what goes best... need to run to school now though :'|

@Tori, i'm always open to BL ideas ^^

[MiSi]

Keeping an eye on this. The characters look cute and it's an interesting story

[myapple]

Updated the first post with Taika's sprite mock~

I'm working on trying out different shading now.