Soulshine [RPG] [Fantasy] [Near-future] [Mystery]

[TaoistFruitbat]

Soulshine
Genres: RPG, Fantasy, Near-future, Mystery
Estimated Playtime: 20-30 hrs
Endings: 3

Features

• A modern Earth soon after magic was discovered, with an underground world to venture into.
• A grand mystery to unravel.
• Story and character first gameplay.
• Tactical RPG-style combat that rewards knowledge over stats.
• Friendly monsters?
• Made in Ren’py. <3

Story

Subterrania appeared in 2060, fifty years after the discovery of magic. It originated in northern China, and within hours formed a network of massive tunnels spanning across the eastern hemisphere. Nobody knows who created it or why, but inside stretched endless fields of farmland, caverns the size of countries, and strange monsters who claimed to be humanity’s friends.

Now it is 2084, the surface is at war with the underground, and humanity’s greatest magician Kay-Chan has vanished into the northern reaches of Subterrania. It is your job to enter Subterrania as a spy, befriend the monsters within, and learn what happened to her.

But along the way you will unravel Kay-Chan’s real motivations, the hidden reasons behind the war, and the true purpose of Subterrania.

Creatures and People of Soulshine

Now this is not the final art for the game, rather just my amateur sketches. Eventually I’ll either hire an artist or redo the art enough times that it'll become usable. The current art does give a general sense of the style I'm going for though.



Characters

Pictures coming soon?

There are around ten major characters. Here are the ones you meet early on.

Benli Terrace

This is you, one of two magicians in the world with healing magic. By faking your own death you are able enter Subterrania as a spy, and through your healing powers you are to survive and discover its secrets.

(Gender/Name/Age/Appearance changeable.)

“Om nom nom.” -- Benli eating food because, let’s be real, healing magic requires a ridiculous amount of energy.

Pip

A young Gobli and your first friend in Subterrania. The fact that monsters don’t have souls bothers him, and he spends all his time learning about the surface world and its life to figure out what he is missing.

“So you’re a boy right? I just want to make sure because I haven’t really seen a human up close before okay?” -- Pip soon after meeting you.

General "Naptha" Wonn

One of the generals heading the war in the north. Earned the nickname "Naptha" because she makes excellent use of fire. She is the one who ordered you into Subterrania, and your sole point of communication with the surface.

“Hey, be careful, yeah? And don't let them feed you too much curry down there. You'll come back reeking of it.” -- Napatha, right before your descent into Subterrania.

Katherine “Kay-Chan” Shen

Without a doubt the most powerful magician alive and the only human to defeat a Sperah single-handedly. She is known by many names (”Sword of Heaven,” “Vancil’s Dog,” and her favorite: “The Blade behind the Stars”), but calls herself Kay-Chan because that's the nickname she gave herself when she was eight and convinced that she was Japanese rather than Chinese.

She vanished into Subterrania with a elite team of magicians. You must follow her footsteps and track her down.

“And you know what? You know what down there I bet I’ll actually find a few decent fighters. Ones better than your highness poop-head at least.” -- Kay-Chan to Hegemon Kaya before entering Subterrania.

Hegemon Kaya Vancil

The undisputed leader of the world, the second greatest warrior among humans, and the only other healing magician. She heads the war against Subterrania and the countries that support it.

Kaya is the third World Hegemon, the first being the inventor/discoverer of magic Alturi Childs and the second being his daughter Alita Childs. The world is still trying to understand why Alita willingly gave up her power to Kaya.

"It is unforgivable murder, but it will save so many." -- reputed last words of Kaya before ordering the destruction of Shanghai.

Gameplay


As for gameplay, there are three main modes, with about equal gameplay time each. These modes are heavily intertwined, and are often inseparable from each other and the story.

Early mockup of a combat screen.

Combat

Combat resembles traditional RPG combat, but where the most powerful tool is knowledge rather than your stats. To defeat even a weak foe you must know the capabilities of both the enemy and of yourself, along with the enemy's mindset. Half of combat is understanding of the world you’ve fallen into.

The combat is loosely modeled after my research on real life fighting. I hope to capture the efficiency and tactical metagame of it while at the same time keeping it fun and allowing for silly things, like characters monologueing during a fight.


Exploration

Every day you may explore, searching for clues and resources. As you explore you will discover new places and meet new characters which you will have to befriend, decieve, or fight. You can also send your party members off to do certain jobs, such as gather food or spread rumors.

At the same time you are being chased by a team of hostile Raben who know you've snuck into Subterrania, so you must constantly be moving forwards, deeper into the underground.


Character Interaction

What is there to say? Here lies heart of the game.To track down Kay-Chan you must be able to talk to the people of the underground and make allies and hear rumors. Breakfast and dinner are spent with your party, who will become your best friends and train you in combat and the Subterranian way of life.


Music

Soulshine will have it’s own OST. I have perhaps twenty tracks in various states of composed so far.


Development Status


I've been working on this for two years now, with focus on the plot, world, characters, music, and game play design. A fair amount of the behind-the-scenes code is also complete (inventory, combat engine, data-structures, etc) and I'm moving towards more exciting things like enemy AI and UI design. The current goal is to have a playable demo that shows off the combat and exploration system by the end of this year.


Launch Date

Hmmmm lets not talk about that.

(I tentatively estimate the game to launch in 2024, maybe as soon as 2022. Now the demo -- that might be ready within the next year.)


Questions

Here are some questions that'll help me refine the direction of the game and decide how to divide my time. Answer as many as you want, or just post a comment instead!

• What parts of the world would you most like to learn more about?
• Who is your favorite character?
• Out of exploration, combat, and character interaction, which do you care most about? Least?
• Out of art, music, and gameplay, which do you care most about? Least?
• Are you okay with black-and-white only art style and minimalist backgrounds? (Something like what is in the combat screen mockup.)
• Any other questions or comments? (Constructive critique is always welcome.)

Thanks for checking this out, and double thanks if you comment or answer any questions! This project is close to my heart, and it feels good to share after working so long on it in isolation. I'll be trying to update this thread every now and then when I have something to show.

[Zelan]

Does the premise interest you? What part grabs you the most?: It does! The war itself is what intrigues me the most; I'm curious about what started it?

What parts of the world would you (least) like to learn more about?: None, I guess? It all seems cool.

Who is your favorite character? Why?: Kay-Chan. The story behind her name is cute, and hey, I have to be curious about the most powerful magician alive.

Out of exploration, combat, and character interaction, which do you care most about? Least?: Probably most about character interaction, least about about exploration.

Out of art, music, and gameplay, which do you care most about? Least?: This is pretty hard for me to answer, since I think they're all important. If I'm talking about a straight VN the least important would be gameplay - all I really need is a compelling story - but with so much already defined here I think it's important that it's done well.

Are you okay with black-and-white only art style and minimalist backgrounds? (Something like what is in the combat screen mockup.): Yup! It's minimalist but it looks nice. However, I do also really like that cover image, and would love to see more art like that in the game, but I think the styles contrast too much to be used side-by-side.

What parts of this project do you really like? Dislike?: It's awesome as a whole, and I can definitely tell that you put a lot of heart into this. Least favorite part... probably the map. It looks way too confusing for my tiny brain to handle.

How do you feel about this post? Is it too long? Is there anything you'd like to see changed?: It's a bit long and I only skimmed some parts, but other than that it's pretty good. I like the informal tone you took when introducing the characters and world.

Any other questions or comments? (Constructive critique is always welcome.): Concerning Benji's customization options: are the genders only male and female, or will there be some sort of non-binary option as well? Is the age chosen from a given range or something? (I have to say - never seen age choice before, that's new.) Is the appearance going to be reflected in the art, or is it just referenced by the text describing the main character?

[gekiganwing]

What parts of the world would you like to learn more about?

You've already provided some information about your world's magic. My first thought is "that's creative, could be amusing." If you have time, read about Brandon Sanderson's first, second, and third laws of fictional magic.

Who is your favorite character? Why?

Kaya Vancil sounds like a character who's already had life experiences and challenges. How does she manage to be both a warrior and a political figure?
How does she currently lead humanity? Do some people take an issue with a woman as the World Hegemon?

One small thing: if the player can customize Benji Terrace, then will this character have a pre-determined personality?

Are you okay with black-and-white only art style and minimalist backgrounds?

It's not a big deal. That might help separate your project from other games and VNs.

What parts of this project do you really like? Dislike?

I like the story's scope. It sounds like real-world locations that rarely show up in major motion pictures might make an appearance. Turkey, Sudan, and Iran all have Expanses on the world map!

You mentioned how you've completed projects and a small game. That is encouraging. Think about whether you will need to sell Soulshine, crowdfund it, or monetize it.

[TaoistFruitbat]

Thanks for the feedback, it means a lot to me and is a great help! For Zelan,

Does the premise interest you? What part grabs you the most?: It does! The war itself is what intrigues me the most; I'm curious about what started it?

Yes, the war is exciting! It was put in motion when a group of monsters massacred some human settlers in Subterrania on "Jihi's orders." Some Enlids saw this and being huge gossips went and told everybody. Over the next few months this situation cascaded into the hegemony declaring war. A few, mainly Asian, powers sided with Subterrania, causing it to escalate into a full blown world war. It is officially called "The Second Magician's War."

I do also really like that cover image, and would love to see more art like that in the game, but I think the styles contrast too much to be used side-by-side.

I agree with you about the cover image. If I had my way the game would be filled with custom backgrounds. But you journey though so many locations that it's just not feasible for me to make all that. So cover art like this will remain that: cover art.

Now, if I ever get my hands on an artist...

What parts of this project do you really like? Dislike?: It's awesome as a whole, and I can definitely tell that you put a lot of heart into this. Least favorite part... probably the map. It looks way too confusing for my tiny brain to handle.

Yeah, so far the map has gotten the most negative feedback and I'd like to redo it at some point. Right now it's the second image in the post and I'm considering moving it to a less prominent position.

Any other questions or comments? (Constructive critique is always welcome.): Concerning Benji's customization options: are the genders only male and female, or will there be some sort of non-binary option as well? Is the age chosen from a given range or something? (I have to say - never seen age choice before, that's new.) Is the appearance going to be reflected in the art, or is it just referenced by the text describing the main character?

Yes, there will be a non-binary option. Right now the plan is that eventually Pip asks you what gender you are and you tell him that you consider yourself male/female/non-traditional. If I add romance to the game (toying with this idea) then all romanceable characters will be player-sexual.

Age will be a range, probably that of teen/young adult/middle age/old. It mostly effects flavor text, and some character reactions. (For example, if you choose to be a teen or old person, General Naptha will get really hung up on if it's okay to send you on such a dangerous mission.) If there is time I'd love to add a child option, just to see how the world reacts to an overpowered little kid adventuring around.

The main character has no art, so appearance is also text and character reactions. (For example, if you have long hair some monsters who've had little contact with humans will think you are female, regardless of your gender.)


______________________


For gekiganwing,

If you have time, read about Brandon Sanderson's first, second, and third laws of fictional magic.

These are great guidelines, and I've referenced them since the creation of this magic system.
In fact, the blast spell may or may not be shamelessly stolen from Sanderson's Mistborn series.

Soulshine's magic is soft in that nobody really understands the fundamentals of magic, but it is hard in that humanity (and the player) only has access to a small handful of specific spells and equipment with clearly defined laws.

Kaya Vancil sounds like a character who's already had life experiences and challenges. How does she manage to be both a warrior and a political figure?
How does she currently lead humanity? Do some people take an issue with a woman as the World Hegemon?

Kaya is one of my favorite characters (there is a potential prequel game/story outlined where she is the main character), so forgive me if I give a small info dump on her and the Hegemony.

Kaya is around eighty years old at this point, but being a healing magician her body and mind has stayed that of a twenty year old. She's mainly a political figure now, maybe practicing combat for an hour a day. It's just that a lifetime of constant practice, combined with a young body adds up.

The Hegemony has always been hands-off, except for when it comes to magic and world peace. Right now Kaya tightly controls magical research/education, and has an extensive spy network to watch this. She also pushes the world away from violence and war, controlling the distribution of magical equipment and openly assassinating leaders that incite violence.

The Hegemony also holds strong -- but usually unused -- military control. This is mainly through "The Armada", which is scary for three reasons:

1. It can cleanly vaporize any location on earth, from a single building to an entire city.
2. It is invulnerable to attack because of its magical shield.
3. Oh, it's literally a bunch of floating islands with towns on top. Floating a single island would require unreachable amounts of magical energy, so floating a bunch is the hegemony showing off just how much power they have access to.

Kaya has taken tighter control as the war ramped up, no longer being so hands off.

As for people who have problems that she is a woman? I'm sure they exist, but it's a minor issue when she's openly assassinating people and such.

One small thing: if the player can customize Benji Terrace, then will this character have a pre-determined personality?

I've been thinking hard on this. I originally envisioned the character as a blank slate like many video game characters. But that has its own problems, so I might do a mix where the character is mostly blank but has a few quirks and beliefs that slowly get developed. I'd like to get the motion of a character arc while keeping Benji as a stand in for the player. Hmmmm I'll add this in as a question.

[TaoistFruitbat]

Update 1
Minor update this time as the last two weeks hit my freetime in the face with a baseball bat. I did manage a [small musical loop for a friendly fat raben who you meet towards the end of the game. Soulshine will follow in the footsteps of other RPGs and giving each character their own unique musical motif.

Update 2
Yeah I'm no good at keeping this thing updated... but steady progress is made on all fronts. Maybe I'll post a detailed update this week.