The Tasks of Messengers & Guardians [FANTASY][NON-ANIME]

[Treladon]

Ten years after the destruction of the Kingdom of Voletta at the hands of Armegadierre, the exiled princess Valemira is invited back to court. Meanwhile, Adrian Cerrieve, a mage in a small, Western village, works to re-discover the magic that got Voletta destroyed. Little does he know that Valemira and her allies will need him to help rebuild her name in the capital. And little do they both know that the capital's Volettian enemies are ready to enact their plans for revenge.

Have you ever wished that all your studying and nerdiness could actually go toward something magical and amazing! Adrian, our main protagonist, is basically the ultimate nerd/inventor in a world where magic is a technology that needs inventing!

I've just uploaded music previews to my YouTube channel! See the comments for links!

Game Features:

• 5+ hours of content

• Beautiful backgrounds and character art

• Tons of characters

• Plenty of player choices unlock special scenes and branches

• More than 15 unique music tracks composed specifically for the game

• Multiple locations to explore

30 September 2017: Hey guys! I know this project has been going on a while and is making slow progress (it is a one-man effort, after all). I have just begun my senior year of college, so things will continue to be slow for a while. However, progress will continue! This project is not dead! Thanks. -Treladon

Characters::
1. Adrian Cerrieve

Our main character. Almost revered by the tiny, poor town of Lester for actually having left to study in the capital. He never wants to go back to the capital, ever. No one truly knows why. He's been back in Lester for two years, resuming his apprenticeship with Raphael. He's basically a white mage trying to invent black magic (in Final Fantasy speak).

2. Valemira Garshadal

The previously exiled princess of Armegadierre. She has lived in isolation for ten years after being banished by her father very suddenly after the death of her mother. Her extended family had no knowledge of her whereabouts, until her half-brother Edward gets information out of the new queen. Now she is being invited back...

3. Ruseau and Sonneillon

The Volettian leaders of the Throni, self-acclaimed enemies of the capital who are bent on making Armegadierre suffer for the destruction of their country.

3. Mivennine Finley

Adrian's childhood friend and fellow apprentice under Raphael. She hopes that one day she'll get to be like Adrian and study in the capital, anything to get out of this tiny town.

4. Phillip Lemarre

Valemira's cousin and a close friend of her mother before her death. He comes to find Valemira, bring her back to court and teach her how she can "make up" for all the time she spent in her unjust exile.

5. ???

She's not supposed to be alive, Adrian thinks. A mysterious girl who appears and disappears at oddly convenient times. The Throni seem to know her as well...

6. And many others!

Screenshots:
Wish we could show gifs on here. Most of the backgrounds are animated in-game (Thanks to the Ren'Py community for the awesome ATL tutorials!):

Current Progress:

• 10 February: 7 characters completed
• 14 February: Lester town backgrounds and animations completed
• 18 February: 3 new songs added
• 16 March : Sonneillon added
• 16 March: Part 1 (including all optional dialogue) finished
• 18 June: Part 2 dialogue in process - 10%
• 30 June: Part 1 Chapter "Mrs. Mentor" added; town navigation bugs fixed
• 1 July: Ruseau added; imagebutton quick menu designed and added
• 4 July: Patroclain and Kid Patroclain added
• 19 July: Rollback bug fixed; 75% of soundtrack re-vamped using VSTi
• 30 September: Task Book/Inventory added; quick menu tooltips added; player stats added; story writing continues
• 4 January: Music previews added!! (see below for links)

[Gameer]

Wow, nice! Goodlookin character art! Should I be waiting for a demo?

[gekiganwing]

I like how the art is different. (I'm trying to think of something to compare it to... but I'm drawing a blank.) One small, personal concern: I'm not sure if I like it when the characters show their teeth. It's not *that* realistic, but I think it seems unsettling.

Have you ever wished that all your studying and nerdiness could actually go toward something magical and amazing! Adrian, our main protagonist, is basically the ultimate nerd/inventor in a world where magic is a technology that needs inventing!

That's an interesting angle. It leaves me asking things such as...

* How common is magic in your fictional world?
* How powerful can a single magician become?
* On the other hand, what are the limitations of magic? What isn't possible?

[Treladon]

I like how the art is different. (I'm trying to think of something to compare it to... but I'm drawing a blank.) One small, personal concern: I'm not sure if I like it when the characters show their teeth. It's not *that* realistic, but I think it seems unsettling.

Hey, thanks for the input! Yeah, you know, teeth are difficult to get right. I totally see what you mean by unsettling and I will see what I can do to change that.

Have you ever wished that all your studying and nerdiness could actually go toward something magical and amazing! Adrian, our main protagonist, is basically the ultimate nerd/inventor in a world where magic is a technology that needs inventing!

That's an interesting angle. It leaves me asking things such as...

* How common is magic in your fictional world?
* How powerful can a single magician become?
* On the other hand, what are the limitations of magic? What isn't possible?

These are questions that Adrian is dealing with himself in some ways. I don't know if you've ever read any novels by Brandon Sanderson, but he deals with his magic systems in a very scientific way (they have very well-defined limitations, and a lot of plot points revolve around the "what-ifs" of the systems he's created). That's something that appeals to me, and I hope to go about the magic system in a similar way here.

As for your first question, it's not common on the continent of Ellisgar but it's becoming more so. It used to be very common, but after a Dark Ages of sorts, it basically became taboo, so not much is known about it (and there aren't any mysteriously knowledgeable, millenia-old wizards running around either). The magic is inspired in part from Chinese/Japanese calligraphy as well as the almost ritualistic painting method of Byzantine religious icons. It involves drawing runes in a very specific way. All the knowledge that's really left of it is some low-key medical knowledge that has the same kind of reputation that, say, home remedies have in the real world, but there's also the awareness that it was once really powerful, so people are wary of it.

As for your second question, like I said, it used to be really powerful, so there's definitely room for growth. This is an element of the story.

As for your third, individual "spells" (called Tasks) are fairly limited. I'm not really a fan of magic systems that tend to act as easy solutions by being really vaguely defined. For example, Adrian's initial invention (which is pretty innovative relatively speaking) is a Task that can apply a strong push to an object that touches a particular location on the Task. The amount of force depends on the amount of "kriore" (the energy that Tasks depend on) in whatever area you're in. So it starts out pretty limited, besides the "home remedy"-type Tasks I mentioned before. He's been an apprentice for these "home-remedy" type Tasks, which basically makes him a white mage at the start of the story (if you've played Final Fantasy), but now he's trying to develop other areas of magic.

[Treladon]

Wow, nice! Goodlookin character art! Should I be waiting for a demo?

Thanks! Yeah, you know, I'm hoping to come out with one soon. I'm still debating whether I should release it as multiple parts (in which case, I'd be close to releasing Part 1 now) or if I should just release it as one VN. It would be pretty long as one piece. Just hang in there and I should be getting to something like that soon!

[Treladon]

I've uploaded some of this game's music to my YouTube channel! Take a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ceQcB ... e=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtajtHZvsJ8&t=20s