Destiny's Spire [Fantasy/MMO, Friendship, GxB/G]

[Starwulfen]

Since I recently started running the scenario for this as an RPG with my group (yay for being able to test-run the plot/world to see if it works ^_^) I've started to accumulate visual aids for them, and thought I may as well make a thread~

Plot Synopsis

Kia's friend Julia convinces her to start an MMORPG named 'Destiny's Spire'.

The story seemed quite straightforward: The heroes perform various tasks around the world, building their reputation until they are deemed worthy to ascend the Spire, and receive a blessing from the Wizard who lives at the top. With this blessing they can decend to the underworld to fight the Demon Lord.

But one day, the Wizard's body dropped from the sky, and an evil voice echoed across the land.
"This is my world now, and all you mighty heroes are but my pawns"

This wasn't part of the story, right?
And how do we beat the Demon Lord without the Wizard?

Characters

Kia meets many people in the world of Destiny's Spire whom she can befriend and join with to defeat the Demon Lord.

Concept Art:
Player name: Kia (can be changed)
Character name: Kaylin (can be changed)
Class: Scout
Primary Weapon: Longbow
Kia is our protagonist. She enjoys playing games with her best friend Julia. But when she's alone she prefers watching movies, mostly fantasy and martial arts.
She's never played an online game before, and some parts confuse her.
She chooses to play a Scout due to her love of archers in movies.

Concept Art:
Player name: Julia
Character name: Lucinda
Class: Priest
Primary Weapon: Staff/Healing magic
Julia is Kia's neighbour and best friend. An athletic girl with a gaming obsession, she loves to share her favourite games with Kia.
She plays her Priest character mostly as a healer, so is glad to have Kia along to distract the monsters help.

Concept Art:
Character name: Skydas
Class: Knight
Primary Weapon: Sword and Shield
Known as the White Knight, he is a member of the guild 'Twin Knights' and one of the strongest players in the game.
He likes to help out newer players, and combined with his gentlemanly personality this has gained him a lot of fans.
His fighting style emphasises defence, using his shield to keep people safe.
He is in friendly competition with his 'twin', Kardas.

Concept Art:
Character name: Kardas
Class: Knight
Primary Weapon: Two-handed Sword
Known as the Black Knight, he is the other member of the guild 'Twin Knights' and one of the strongest players in the game.
His fanbase within the game rivals his that of his 'twin' After all, girls like a 'bad boy', right?
His fighting style emphasises offence, striking his enemies down with sweeps of his broadsword.
He is in friendly competition with his 'twin', Skydas.

Concept Art:
Character name: Peregrin
Class: Scout
Primary Weapon: Longbow
A happy-go-lucky boy who loves climbing to high places.
Peregrin can often be found perching in the trees of the game world.

Concept Art:
Character name: Darius
Class: Mage
Primary Weapon: Staff/Air magic
A mage who spends most of his time in the library at Cenbal.

Concept Art:
Character name: Spyder
Class: Shadow
Primary Weapon: Knives
A mysterious character who always wears a cloak and mask. He claims he can get you any information you want, for the right price of course.

Concept Art:
Character name: Fumo
Class: Brawler
Primary Weapon: Bladed Cestus
Fumo seems to be almost as lost in this game world as Kia herself



So, what do you think of the synopsis? (and how could I improve it?)
Any characters catching your eye so far?
And what other information would you like?

[Ran08]

The idea is pretty nice. I like the concept too. Teehee. Will this be like... an adventure game? Also, will there be an in-game game like in Re:Alistair?

[Starwulfen]

The idea is pretty nice. I like the concept too. Teehee. Will this be like... an adventure game? Also, will there be an in-game game like in Re:Alistair?

It's going to mostly be set in an in-game game, yes. I probably need to make that more clear, don't I?

[Starwulfen]

Updated with concept art for all characters now

[gekiganwing]

A few questions about Destiny's Spire, if you don't mind... You probably don't want to reveal spoilers, so don't feel compelled to say too much.

* How much of the game will take place in the MMO, and how much will take place in the real world?
* The two girls know each other in real life. Does Kia know any of the guys in reality? Will she meet them during the story?
* How many endings do you plan to create?
* It looks like you have an antagonist (perhaps the demon lord himself). Is the enemy controlled by a person, or is he just a non playable character?

[Starwulfen]

A few questions about Destiny's Spire, if you don't mind... You probably don't want to reveal spoilers, so don't feel compelled to say too much.

* How much of the game will take place in the MMO, and how much will take place in the real world?

At a guess, I'd say it will be around 90% inside the MMO.

* The two girls know each other in real life. Does Kia know any of the guys in reality? Will she meet them during the story?

At the start she doesn't know any of them in reality. I plan to have her meet them by the end of the story, dependant on how good her friendship with them is.

* How many endings do you plan to create?

At least one per major character, possibly others.

* It looks like you have an antagonist (perhaps the demon lord himself). Is the enemy controlled by a person, or is he just a non playable character?

I'd rather not answer this one right now. I have an idea in my head about it, but it's likely to evolve as I take my rpg group through this scenario.


Thanks for all the questions ^_^

[ofdawnandtwilight]

I like the fact that the main character is actually in a game itself and clearly she had no idea that things were gonna get REAL bad lol
The premise is interesting so far although quite similar to SAO but this time we could actually date the guys in there, so go GxB! xD
I'm also quite curious of the existing characters in-game. Do NPCs have any essential roles in it? Would the player be able to interact both with the players and the NPCs also? If it's a spoiler, then no need to tell, I'm all good C:
The art looks okay, the character designs are pretty cool and I don't know why but I kept staring at Kardas cause he reminds me of a character in K Project lol

Okay, last question by the way, how's the progress of this? I'll be looking forward to updates, so have fun making this game

It looks like you have an antagonist (perhaps the demon lord himself). Is the enemy controlled by a person, or is he just a non playable character?

AND THIS.
Hahaha, I knew that I'm not the only one who got curious of this xD

[Starwulfen]

I like the fact that the main character is actually in a game itself and clearly she had no idea that things were gonna get REAL bad lol
The premise is interesting so far although quite similar to SAO but this time we could actually date the guys in there, so go GxB! xD
I'm also quite curious of the existing characters in-game. Do NPCs have any essential roles in it? Would the player be able to interact both with the players and the NPCs also? If it's a spoiler, then no need to tell, I'm all good C:
The art looks okay, the character designs are pretty cool and I don't know why but I kept staring at Kardas cause he reminds me of a character in K Project lol

Okay, last question by the way, how's the progress of this? I'll be looking forward to updates, so have fun making this game

It looks like you have an antagonist (perhaps the demon lord himself). Is the enemy controlled by a person, or is he just a non playable character?

AND THIS.
Hahaha, I knew that I'm not the only one who got curious of this xD

I'm glad you find it interesting

As an idea, this has been in my head since before I started reading SAO, though I admit it owes some of it's current form to that XD (and 1/2 Prince, and .hack// ...I think i have an obsession with MMO-based stories)

With regard to interaction with NPCs, um, maybe? I'm a bit wary of overloading on art though.

Haha, Kardas does look a lot like Kuroh, doesn't he? I hadn't even thought about it.

Progress-wise, there isn't much yet. I'm still fleshing out the story by running it past people as a roleplay. So you'll probably be getting some updates as I create more materials for that. (I'd add the game map I made them, but it's WAY too sketchy right now)
I'm also working on something shorter at the moment, and am hopefully doing something for NaNoRenO with friends, so look forward to this going full steam ahead around April~

[ofdawnandtwilight]

Ah, anything MMO-based would always look awesome, SAO proved that to me so well :3
And yes, it was Kuroh that I saw in him somehow lol
Alright then, I'll be waiting for updates! Will be looking forward to your NaNoRenO project as well

[Starwulfen]

Time for an 'I'm not dead' update
I'm working on the plot outline right now, in the form of scene outlines on pieces of card stuck to my wall
It kind of helps me to see it laid out like this

I get the feeling it's going to spread beyond that wall though XD

[Starwulfen]

Gosh it's been way too long since I posted here, sorry guys.

I haven't really had anything new to report since I'm still trying to get the plot into shape. But I should be starting to write the opening sections this week. I have a couple of questions for you guys though:

QUESTION 1 - One of the things I've been struggling a bit with is when I should put the wizard's death scene. Part of me wants to put it as close to the start as possible, since that's when the plot kicks off. But I also wonder if maybe I should give you the chance to get to know the other characters more before everything goes crazy. Any ideas/preferences there?

QUESTION 2 -In lieu of anything progress-related, would people be interested in me dropping some of my worldbuilding notes/sketches here over the next few weeks? I'll start by putting an overview of the in-game classes in this post.

Classes:
Knight – User of swords, axes and shields
Brawler – User of fists and fist-mounted weaponry
Lancer – User of spears and polearms
Scout – User of Bows and knives
Shadow – User of knives, crossbows and blowdarts
Mage – User of elemental magic
Priest – User of healing magic and/or necromancy

[Seigetsu]

In my opinion, you should probably have a short prologue, just to introduce the characters. Then at the end of the prologue, have the wizard death scene to shake things up and get us completely hooked into the storyline.

I'd be interested in progress notes and sketches, because they give us a better idea of how far things have progressed, and we may be able to offer our assistance as needed.

I think you have an interesting premise here, but I was wondering if the game would affect what happens in the characters' real lives. If it doesn't, what is the incentive for the Demon Lord to kill the Wizard, and why must the characters find a way to defeat him? (feel free to decline answering these questions if you feel the answers would contain spoilers. I'm just curious XD)

[ofdawnandtwilight]

An interesting way, IMO, is by instantly showing the wizard's death scene at the beginning, then it cuts off to the time before the game even started, either when the MC is having a chat with her friend about the MMO etc. and it moves on until the 'prologue' for character introduction where it would then lead the story back to the first death scene. I always find these beginnings very interesting but this is just my general preference of course ^^

And yes, I'd totally love to see what you have as progress. It's nice to see some of your ideas visually fleshed out

[Starwulfen]

I think you have an interesting premise here, but I was wondering if the game would affect what happens in the characters' real lives. If it doesn't, what is the incentive for the Demon Lord to kill the Wizard, and why must the characters find a way to defeat him? (feel free to decline answering these questions if you feel the answers would contain spoilers. I'm just curious XD)

How do I answer this in a non-spoilery way..?
As for why the Demon Lord would kill the Wizard, that's easy. The Wizard's power, as well as the Spire he lives in, is what's keeping the Demon Lord more or less sealed. That and the adventurers the Wizard would send to face him, who require a 'blessing' from the Wizard to be able to fight the Demon Lord effectively.
For the second part (very slightly spoilery, so I'll put it behind a spoiler tag just in case), lets just say that

the Demon Lord is more than merely a collection of code, and dire consequences may befall any player who is defeated by him or his minions.

An interesting way, IMO, is by instantly showing the wizard's death scene at the beginning, then it cuts off to the time before the game even started, either when the MC is having a chat with her friend about the MMO etc. and it moves on until the 'prologue' for character introduction where it would then lead the story back to the first death scene. I always find these beginnings very interesting but this is just my general preference of course ^^

This! I love this, thank you so much~ I hadn't even thought of doing it that way.
It allows me to have the hook right at the beginning while still giving me the chance to spend a while introducing the characters.


Okay then, worldbuilding updates shall be go. The next two are likely to be a map of the in-game world, and a diagram/notes on the games control interface.