Aether Skies [Dark Fantasy/Mystery/Dual Protagonist] [Demo]

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wyverngem
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Aether Skies [Dark Fantasy/Mystery/Dual Protagonist] [Demo]

#1 Post by wyverngem »

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"The Exalt of Idwall once dedicated her life to the study of Aether, but now has more pressing matters; a mutilated king, a throne that was never meant to be hers, and a man who is the last of his kind. Her story was burned to ash and the pages are all but smeared across lies and rumors. Yet, I still remember..."

Demo can be downloaded here: https://castingdreams.itch.io/aether-skies
Summary
Aether Skies tells the story of the destruction of Idwall. A kingdom paying for their use of aether during their war of conquest. They have few allies and are in a weakened state with the recent attack on their king who was delivered to them in a blooded crate. Though he survived the assault he was deemed unfit to rule and his older sister inherited the throne. As the memoir unfolds you choose to witness the story as the inheriting Exalt or as the Scion Eir, a man who is the last of his kind haunted by aether.

Character Profiles
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The Exalt
It was never meant to yours. That’s what even the people of your court tell you to your face as your parade in the game of politics and lies as their ruler. This wasn’t meant to be your life. Your younger brother gave you the freedom to choose your passion and your love. Now, it’s all gone. You’re left on your pedestal holding the broken and shattered pieces of your country from a war tormented by the Scion’s curse, while emissaries from the north threatens to take your crown, and your brother’s mutilation and mental retardation is left unsolved. Now there’s him, the Scion, the last of his kind.

Scion Eir
Running, that’s the only thing you’re truly good at. You spent your life living in fear of your “gift”. Yet, “Aether is a curse”, it always has been. The way it also seems to find you and torment the ones you care about keeps you ever drifting. You were tricked in believing from the nomads that there was a way to control the aether. Stop it from destroying everything that you had ever grown attached too. The warm arms of the oracle Sophea were just another face that you scared. Keep your feet moving and your head low. That’s the only way to survive.

Gameplay
Aether Skies has choice driven game-play, where you choose a character to start with. As you play the memoir not only do your choices influence one character, but both in dynamic ways. There is a default game start that each character begins with. If you choose to start the story with Eir you will make choices that influence his life. When you finish the story and go onto the Exalt's side you see how the choices you made with Eir affect Reina and provoke difference responses. You can always choose to replay with a blank slate or you can import your play through after finishing the story. The focus isn't on different endings, but on different journey to the same destruction of Idwall. The kingdom is doomed. Do you play to save one character, save each, or save the kingdom? The end results are all tied up in choices you get to choose.

Features
Aether Skies: Scion currently contains over 40,000 words and over 100 choices and counting.
CG's in game (4 in first chapter alone)
4 Romance Options (Previews to come)
An alternative reading font
Choices can be selected with number keys
Quick Save and Load option

Progress: Post Last Updated Oct 28, 2018

End Notes
The game can be split into two different releases Aether Skies: Scion and Aether Skies: Exalt where the playable character is in the name. I'm working out the details on how to import the data from each game.

Talking Points Suggestions
Which is your favorite character so far?

Did you play the original demo, and if so what were your thoughts?

What drew you to this post?
Last edited by wyverngem on Mon Oct 29, 2018 8:06 pm, edited 24 times in total.

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Zelan
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#2 Post by Zelan »

What caught your attention about this project?: The bit at the very beginning, right before the synopsis, especially this part: "Not the ones that fell in love... but the two that walked side by side?"
Which character’s background were you drawn to the most?: Probably Reina's. It's always interesting to see trusting characters in an untrustworthy world.
Is the movement in the title screen appealing or should I go back to static images?: I like the title opening! ^_^ The spirals are pleasing to the eye.
Any other comments or questions?: Not now, but I'll definitely be looking out for updates on this project!

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#3 Post by wyverngem »

Thank you Zelan! :D The game's going well enough. I've gotten 15,000 words on the game so far and it's almost ready for editing.

I'm curious. For the demo I planned only to showcase Eir's side. He's very dynamic of a character, as the choices you make in game influence not only his personality, but how his environment interacts with him. He can try to help another person and be seen as attacking them if he's considered too brash of a person. In contrast the Exalt is a little more static, there are plenty of choices in the game on her side as well, but her character doesn't truly change.

Would a demo merging the two sides be more fun or should I go with the mimic of the actual game where you could continue the game from a demo save?

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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#4 Post by Zelan »

wyverngem wrote:Would a demo merging the two sides be more fun or should I go with the mimic of the actual game where you could continue the game from a demo save?
Hmm, that's a good question. Since being able to play from two perspectives is an integral part of your game, it might be a good idea to show off that mechanic. On the other hand, you want to give a good representation of the game experience, so I think it might be best to go with the mimic of the game. It may be a good idea to get some other opinions besides mine, though. ^_^

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#5 Post by wyverngem »

Zelan wrote:
wyverngem wrote:Would a demo merging the two sides be more fun or should I go with the mimic of the actual game where you could continue the game from a demo save?
Hmm, that's a good question. Since being able to play from two perspectives is an integral part of your game, it might be a good idea to show off that mechanic. On the other hand, you want to give a good representation of the game experience, so I think it might be best to go with the mimic of the game. It may be a good idea to get some other opinions besides mine, though. ^_^
:) Thanks for the feedback.

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#6 Post by wyverngem »

Progress Update 11/14
My issues with the main menu have been fixed! Yay! :) Also no game crashing errors have been found in the testing. I've been using python to test my game with random choices.

Code: Select all

init 999 python:
   config.auto_choice_delay = 1
This bit of code auto selects a choice, so instead of getting into a rut of picking choices the game decides for me. ^_^ It's actually helped me a lot in catching errors with conditions for the game; such as talking to people you’ve never met before! Most use this feature in other games to make a time limit for choices, but I have no plans to do that to you.

I’ve found it more valuable to use in balancing the game. Using my auto plays to actually collect data on the different combinations of choices.

Anyways, moving on, my wishlist still remains the same this week. I didn't get a chance to look into a trailer or working on choices in the game.

On a happy note the first previews of Eir's sprites arrived on Friday and I have sent them back to the artist for revision. =) I'm exited to share when I can.

Also, I've hit the goals I wanted in writing. :D The demo's branches have been completed and I've started on more of the plot! :) Great news because I feel like there's enough to keep my busy writing this month. The word count hit under the goal for the week, but I still managed to improve from 11,090 to 17,029 words.

:) Have a great week everyone!

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#7 Post by wyverngem »

Eir's sprite was finished Friday! :)
I caught the Flu, so I haven't been able to do as much as I wanted, but the game is still going on. :D A few more to go.
Last edited by wyverngem on Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#8 Post by wyverngem »

A new background for the game, I was able to finish it between holiday times with my family. Demo backgrounds will be the next priority for the game. Going to hand paint them again, might as well, I really want more practice with interior scenes and I like painting landscapes.
Last edited by wyverngem on Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#9 Post by Zelan »

I love Eir's sprite! He reminds me of the characters in Pokémon Conquest for some reason. cx

And that background is gorgeous, as usual. ^_^ I love the fiery sunset and the way that you drew the clouds.

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#10 Post by wyverngem »

Thanks Zelan, :)

I finished another background for this one, used it to test out the new menu buttons. Not sure I'm sold on them, but thinking about coding an animation of the buttons moving when shown.
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Last edited by wyverngem on Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#11 Post by Zelan »

Oh, wow, you're really going all out on the GUI. I like it a lot! ^_^ Even if you don't use that exact design, I like that you've moved away from the usual "bar across the screen" choice button.

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#12 Post by wyverngem »

I've customize to make my own main menu for this game as well. I'm still working on it, but wanted to at least try.
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New background, caves in the demo. :) I love hand painting, it's very relaxing for me.

^_^ I’m so excited to share the sketch of our new sprite for Percival! :) This is Reina’s personal guard. The two of them appear cordial enough on the surface, but often argue and bicker usually over Reina’s trusting nature. Percival's sketch was finished by our artist. :) Handsome, no? (Though I might be just a little bias. ^^;)

This will probably be the last update for a little while, because of school and the holiday season coming up. :) The demo is on track to be released in January and I've been working on the full game as well.
Last edited by wyverngem on Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#13 Post by Zelan »

I love your background so much. <3 Every single one is absolutely stunning.

I like Percival's sprite sketch! ^_^ He looks like a cool character.

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama/Dark Fantasy]

#14 Post by wyverngem »

Thank you. :)

Slow work this week. Had to give my attention to life and threw out my back so I haven't had the energy to do much. These coming weeks should be more productive even with the holiday.

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wyverngem
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Re: Aether Skies [Drama] [Dark Fantasy] Updated Feb 4!

#15 Post by wyverngem »

First post updated! ^_^; Fixed some minor errors and finally updated the sprites from J.Whit for the characters? What do you think? Reina is still a sketch, but I'll update it again when I have her final sprite. There's been more progress on the demo from where I started a few months ago. I've been working hard on getting backgrounds painted and getting the game functioning. I wanted to really customize this time around so things have been an interesting journey.

As for updates, here are some new updated screenshots for the game as well as new stats.
Screenshots:
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Currents Stats

Alpha Build 1.0
Demo Released to be Announced
Writing E.K. 25%
Programming 100%
Music from Alacaknight
Character Art J. Whit
Last edited by wyverngem on Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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