Locus Magici [High Fantasy]

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Anna
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Locus Magici [High Fantasy]

#1 Post by Anna »

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Locus Magici (LoMa for short) is a fantasy action story settled in a unique world. Confronted by intrigue and danger, Lloyd vows to get to the bottom of the mess he got himself into. Can you keep him alive through your choices and face the battles ahead?

The visual novel is set to be commercial with a tentative price of $15. We also recommend this game for those of age 16 and up because of some mature themes.

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Almara, a country divided among its princes and princesses in which magic is abhorred. Most fight for the throne, others merely for their lives, but all rely on so-called 'spies'; experts at discovering, protecting and killing.

One day, the spy Lloyd is on his way home to finish up an important mission. All that should be left is to return safe and sound, but things don't always go according to plan. When his trusted friends and employer start behaving oddly, it doesn't take long before his priority shifts to survival and discovering their true motivations.

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Lloyd - the protagonist
A 19-year-old spy whose high spirits and nice behaviour seem at odds with his profession. He can't wait to get back home and meet up with his friends, but fate has other things in store for him...

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Alex
A 24-year-old who is one of the princes of Almara. He usually acts carefree and a bit eccentric, which makes it hard to read his true emotions. Although Alex is Lloyd's employer, they share a close bond.

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Lina
A pretty 20-year-old spy whose tactics and strategies in work are of a slightly different and more... mature nature than Lloyd's. While she seems overjoyed to see Lloyd again, she also is unusually restless when the two meet again...

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Sirus
A young 17-year-old spy who acts as Lloyd's subordinate. While he usually has a serious and a calm nature, it doesn't stop him from making some rash actions.

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  • All art is in full HD (1920x1080), with smaller resolutions supported as well.
  • Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, with an Android version following afterwards.
  • Animated backgrounds, many poses and special effects breathing life into the graphics.
  • An original soundtrack with over fifteen tracks.
  • Keep track of who you meet and where you are with the in-game profiles and journal menus.
  • Fight battles with choices; be smart and you'll save yourself a lot of wounds and perhaps your life!
  • User-friendly return-to-last-event system should you die.
  • Fourteen unique deaths to die for!
  • Bonus content such as art, omakes and an unlock-able fun extra story if you manage to get all of the death scenes.
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We'll show you some new and shinier ones here soon~

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Writing/Story: 100%
Art: 60%
Music: 100%
Scripting: 40%
Opening Movie (YES, YES): 0%

You can also find us on our Tumblr, dev-blog, Facebook, Twitter, and website.

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If something is unclear, if you have any questions, or if you just want to say hi, go ahead~
Last edited by Anna on Sun Nov 08, 2015 12:12 pm, edited 16 times in total.

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#2 Post by ngareci »

This VN looks very promising!
Fourteen unique deaths to die for? Well, that's new for me..
I love the art! Especially for the UI, it nicely designed!
Wish a good luck for you and the team!~
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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#3 Post by Pyonkotchi »

The art, the gui it looks totes fantastic *u*
this looks awsome im looking forward to it n3n
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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#4 Post by gekiganwing »

I've been a fantasy fiction and an RPG fanboy for years and years. One of the things I've learned is that important characters don't all need to be in the same age range (in other words, the competence zone trope). Just about anyone can contribute to the plot, and perhaps even participate in combat. You may benefit by making sure your main characters' ages are not too similar.

A few of my favorite video games include characters who casually wear outfits that are impractical or a bit sexy. Sometimes it's ignored, but sometimes it's a plot point, or played for comedy. (For instance, in Persona 4 Golden, it's possible to customize the party's outfits inside dungeons, which leads to funny conversations with the party talk option.) ...I say this because Lina's vest-like top is somewhat revealing. If there's a specific reason why she wears it, let us know. Also, it's not exactly practical. It might be difficult for her to be an effective spy if she stands out in a crowd. For this reason, consider an alternate outfit.

This sounds like an ambitious game. Focusing on general plot and adventure seems like a good choice for the commercial indie scene. If you decide to add comedy, fanservice, and/or shipping, that's your call... but you may benefit more by limiting your game's scope and just sticking with a fantasy action story.
Anna wrote:Fourteen unique deaths to die for!
When you are able, let us know what sort of (bad) endings are possible. The concept of constant and varied deaths has existed in video games and gamebooks for quite a while. But if every ending includes the main characters' deaths, then the story might seem tragic or bleak, and the characters might seem powerless.

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#5 Post by Applegate »

I find the sketch-like first screenshot oddly appealing and charming. You know I'm interested in this, so I won't gush over this or whatever, but I do like you've added noses to your characters. I still long for the time anime characters had noses, rather than these noseless freaks with a dot on their face.

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#6 Post by Anna »

Thank you, ngareci en Pyonkotchi. We'll be doing our best~
gekiganwing wrote:I've been a fantasy fiction and an RPG fanboy for years and years. One of the things I've learned is that important characters don't all need to be in the same age range (in other words, the competence zone trope). Just about anyone can contribute to the plot, and perhaps even participate in combat. You may benefit by making sure your main characters' ages are not too similar.
First of all, thanks for such a thought-out comment! It's interesting to see your interpretations and questions. Let's see if I can clear some things up here.

For your age suggestion; you're right, I also think it's fun to have variation in age, but in this case the main characters turned out to have comparable ages for a few reasons. It's interwoven in the plot, and changing their age would mean changing the whole story. We have plenty of age variation otherwise though (a lot of characters are missing here) and they all play an important role. Two of my favourite guys are actually 29 and 38 and pretty cool :D~
gekiganwing wrote: A few of my favorite video games include characters who casually wear outfits that are impractical or a bit sexy. Sometimes it's ignored, but sometimes it's a plot point, or played for comedy. (For instance, in Persona 4 Golden, it's possible to customize the party's outfits inside dungeons, which leads to funny conversations with the party talk option.) ...I say this because Lina's vest-like top is somewhat revealing. If there's a specific reason why she wears it, let us know. Also, it's not exactly practical. It might be difficult for her to be an effective spy if she stands out in a crowd. For this reason, consider an alternate outfit.
Like Xenoblade? Body oil = the best armour in the game.

Haha, oh my. I was worrying it might appear too fanservice-ish for people so I tried to make the design cool at least. The reason for Lina's outfit is that she is trained as a Mata Hari-esque spy; charming men instead of sneaking around. It will be part of her story/character development, so it's not just eyecandy.
gekiganwing wrote: This sounds like an ambitious game. Focusing on general plot and adventure seems like a good choice for the commercial indie scene. If you decide to add comedy, fanservice, and/or shipping, that's your call... but you may benefit more by limiting your game's scope and just sticking with a fantasy action story.
The focus is very much on the plot and character development. There is barely anything fanservice-ish in it aside from Lina's outfit, and that has its reasons.
gekiganwing wrote: When you are able, let us know what sort of (bad) endings are possible. The concept of constant and varied deaths has existed in video games and gamebooks for quite a while. But if every ending includes the main characters' deaths, then the story might seem tragic or bleak, and the characters might seem powerless.
There is a true end and the rest are bad ends, because a big part of the VN is pretty much about surviving in disadvantageous and dangerous scenarios through creativity and wit. However, instead of a generic 'you die' paragraph, we wanted to make the deaths a bit more impactful, so it truly feels like you're in a lot of danger.

For example, in battle you might have a choice that is heavily reliant of strength, while you may have gotten heavily injured by your choices earlier. Choosing that option will have Lloyd failing halfway through, trying to quickly find another way but not making it in the end and thus dying.

Fotrunately, there is plenty of reasoning going around the choices so you won't be judged on whether you know someone's favourite dish or something. If you do die, you will get the option to return to the last scene before things went wrong, so you can try again and win.
Applegate wrote:I find the sketch-like first screenshot oddly appealing and charming. You know I'm interested in this, so I won't gush over this or whatever, but I do like you've added noses to your characters. I still long for the time anime characters had noses, rather than these noseless freaks with a dot on their face.
Haha, I said that to Kiki too. It may be the colours going well together or something in that one. And thank you, our favourite fellow nose-supporter!

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#7 Post by Blane Doyle »

Ah, I had a feeling Lina's appearance was tied into that. It's always interesting to see Mata-Hari used as a reference or inspiration point as well, she's a fascinating person to learn about.

I have to say, this looks very interesting. But the bonuses gained from PURPOSEFULLY getting the death scenes got my attention as much as the story. Personally, I love bad endings. I like seeing alternative ways to end a story, the ways things could have gone wrong, and I always aim for 100% completion if I can. Knowing that doing so will actually reward me with extra material as well as just a sense of accomplishment makes me very happy.

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#8 Post by lemuel »

Beautiful art and story, but why is it "Invite to"? it should be "Invitation to" unless it is an imperative sentence (i.e., Invite [him] to Infinite Worlds).

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#9 Post by Anna »

Blane Doyle wrote:Ah, I had a feeling Lina's appearance was tied into that. It's always interesting to see Mata-Hari used as a reference or inspiration point as well, she's a fascinating person to learn about.
Yeah, she's also Dutch so my history teachers loved bringing her up.
Blane Doyle wrote: I have to say, this looks very interesting. But the bonuses gained from PURPOSEFULLY getting the death scenes got my attention as much as the story. Personally, I love bad endings. I like seeing alternative ways to end a story, the ways things could have gone wrong, and I always aim for 100% completion if I can. Knowing that doing so will actually reward me with extra material as well as just a sense of accomplishment makes me very happy.
Glad to hear it. While you can unlock most bonus material by finishing the VN, some of it can only be seen after getting the dead ends (such as the extra story). I'll make it worth it~
lemuel wrote:Beautiful art and story, but why is it "Invite to"? it should be "Invitation to" unless it is an imperative sentence (i.e., Invite [him] to Infinite Worlds).
Actually, it's meant as a noun here. Invite can be used like that too, invitation was a bit long so we preferred this. It's mentioned here for example: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/invite

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#10 Post by lemuel »

Well, I do not like that noun. But never mind me: if it were up to me, we would still be say thou and thee and spelling them ÐOU and ÐEE, lol :)

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#11 Post by Anna »

Now that we finished our other project (a manga we did for a Dutch convention) we can continue~ So far I'm still working on the sprite sketches, where I sketch all poses of the characters first. Here are two examples:

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Kiki (my slave scripter) can use these as place-holders, so it's really useful. However, after all sketches are done, I'll finish the sprites in one go too :D. Let's see how fast I can finish our big cast.

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#12 Post by AshenhartKrie »

Oh wow, this looks cool.
I'll be keeping an eye on this.

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#13 Post by lemuel »

Gorgeous art.

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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#14 Post by teacup »

Wow, this looks fantastic! And so many poses... you are a really great artist!
I remember playing Nanolife and I thought it was an excellent game. I am sure this one will be even better since it's of commercial quality.
Yet another game for me to spend my money on, heh. Good luck!
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Re: Locus Magici - Invite to Infinite Worlds [Fantasy, Actio

#15 Post by TheOneTwo »

NICE GAME!

This game is really worth the wait. I mean, seriously. This is really awesome. I'll stalk this.
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