Strange...

Destiny.
A word with a lot of meaning behind it. To be guided into your path, rather than deciding it for yourself. It is one of Square Enix's most dealt with issues.

But, in my own world, I like to think I am the creator of my own path. The choices I made are what brought me here, rather than being guided by some force unknown to me.
Or was it?

I was watching Kuroshitsuji just recently. I finished it tonight. As I did, somethings clearly rang home to me- or rather, a sense of deja vu.
If it weren't for the angels, the backstory of Kuroshitsuji- the demons, the setting, the way the demon is portrayed, could have very well been a story from Atrum Somnium Terra.
I'm not joking, here. I never touched on it much because of the story centering around the Seven rather than other demons, but it is very possible to sell your soul. In fact, souls are mentioned in AST- it is the Seven's job to regulate them.
Plus, Terra maybe a modern world, but what time is Atrum set in? The Steampunk era, aka Victorian.
(how did I point this out, you wonder...I found an old picture of Blank. Guess who he looks like. Just go ahead and guess.)

It's happened before with FF8. My original fangame draft had the same plot twist as FF7- and the first time I played 13 years ago, I named Squall Zac. ZAC.

But meh. Dismiss my blathering. I've started a 'bridge' comic, Fangs, which is set after the second arc of Vivian and Visus's stories, while Blank is nursing the two back to health with the help of the two Lex's, Egaile and Zacharya (new character, will explain later).
After coming home from work, he and brunette Lex have a conversation as to how exactly Lex became a werewolf. Lex only agrees to tell Blank on the condition that he tell his own story.
If you've read this post in its entirity, you can probably guess what Blank's job is while he is in Atrum. Teehee.

Libra

So, I've been working diligently on Cosplay Crisis but I have occasionally been working on a project codenamed 'Lucidity' for now. I'm not announcing any dates, I'm not confirming ANYTHING- this project has just as much likelyhood to be dropped as any other side-project I've started away from CC (excluding DS:R of course, but including DS:RR)
Right now the cast list is:
Lex Crawford, 16, Terran
Blank, 19, Atrumian
Alice, ???, Unknown
I'm using Yanfly's Battle Engine Melody for it and I'll be adding more features as I progress. Right now I have a few different sprites done but nothing like walks. :c I've only started Lex's.
This is an ATRUM SOMNIUM TERRA~DARK DREAM EARTH game, in case you can't tell. There's heaps of information on it in the sidebar.

There are several stories/games I would like to tell that tie into AST, which are(all are codenames):
-Lucidity(Terran Lex's Beginning)
-Night Howl (Blank's Beginning)
-Rising Dusk(Atrumian Lex's and Vivian and Visus's beginnings)
-Moonlit Hearts(Blank, Lex, Lex, Vivian and Visus's meeting)
-Fangs (would would, ideally, be a totally seperate OVA that would come with Moonlit Hearts, shedding more light onto Atrumian Lex)
-Darkseed
-Darkseed: Revival Redux (Revival already being released in its shitty state)
-Darkseed: Awakening
-Catastrophe (Introduction of Kaira and Harrison, probably more characters)
-Convergence (The final battle!)
These stories all have their seperate meanings and plots but everything eventually ties together to create the Convergence (once known as Inversion). The Convergence is a result of the onset of the apocalypse, which is what Catastrophe is about. Once all key characters are established, they will come together in a final game to either save Terra...or destroy it.

I'm never going to get all these games/stories/ideas done, so I might make basic plots of all of them and just put them together. Once I end up dropping my ideas, I'll post the stories here.

Virgo

Hello everyone, just updating. Been busy with real-life issues and things, musical and whatnot. Still managing to fit in CC work though, ha ha.

Anyway, some Vivian art to the left. I'll be updating the CSS of this site soon, just recently messed with CC's.

Anyway, if anyone has any questions, comments or blah blah related to my game-making, artwork, etc, not something personal, please email sorceressstudios@hotmail.com, the 'official' email for my gamedev work. I can have one if I want dammit, my normal account gets enough as it is.

I'll definitely be doing more work on this site soon, and I might try and keep it restricted to game work rather than personal crapola.

Till next time!

Leo

EDIT: What the F**K how could I not remember what starsign comes after Cancer?!
*changes blog title*
All of my usual blog haunts (DH, SEM, and lately mindless) have updated recently so I thought I ought to.

As for working on games and things, I've been working on Cosplay Crisis solely though I do have other little things on the side. I don't want to join too many things because of the fact I'm in my final years of high school and I want to get decent scores.

I'm not going to my mum's this holidays because of H/W. I've started parted of it, which was reading Antigone, and I plan on working on my Art theory tonight. Art prac? Probably Sunday, along with reading a 'Doll's House' and finishing off some maths exercises.
I also have to do an analysis on jumps racing (I hate analysis! Grah!) and read three chapters of Generals Die in Bed, but I left the novel at school by accident. Whatever.

Ahh, the thought of having CC done is a good one.
Remember, release date is aimed at 16th of September! Keep an eye out ;)

Lol Supanova

I'm bored so I'm uploading some photos and a video from April. It was hella fun, I met lots of great people and got to nag people. Teehee.
It also teaches me to have a larger pain threshold- do you have any idea how hot and uncomfortable that costume is with my measurements? DO YOU?!
A couple of the photos (the last two) I found on Facebook and other places.
I am the Squall, and my friend who went with me is the one with the dopey face and more bluish Zack costume.
I really enjoy wearing that costume though. Maybe if I find a good friend who does photography we could do a photo shoot or something.

Atrum Somnium Terra blog up~{Cancer}

Ok so yesterday I posted up a blog called 'Atrum Somnium Terra'.
http://atrumsomniumterra.blogspot.com/
It's the name of a collective set of three worlds that crossover with each other. Each of them have different roles within the collective.
In any case random storyline stuff like the post 'It's the Beginning' won't be posted here. Game development posts will be mostly posted here but stuff like tentative character profiles, etc, will be posted on AST.

In case you're curious, CC is not part of AST- not at all. However, DS:R IS. DS:R takes place in Terra, though Somnium crosses over with it.

The ending spiel by Brean relates to Somnium, so there! P:

In other news, Ness just posted up her website http://divisionheaven.com.
It's pretty cool looking! I remember having to design a website for my Creative Industries class, unfortunately we couldn't set it up properly because we were meant to host it and our teacher obviously read the hosting rules wrong. Plus we weren't using Dreamweaver at all, which we should've, and he made us create the page as a single image and cut it up, which resulted in black gaps.
I was so pissed >=|

Ok AST's up, enough of the analogy, tata :D \o/

Gemini

Alright so I'm going to leave behind Darkseed work and finally get back to Cosplay Crisis.
Yeah I'm going :O too.
(IRC joke ;) )

In anycase I'm working on spriting my graphics for the cutscene and doing some stuff I've been leaving out, such as Kumo's dash for his Cloud outfit and Kumo's Cloud hair.
I'm also going to be drawing new facesets for Kumo (cloud hair) and Levi (because Levi's is hideous *shudder*.)

I've been sick the entire weekend and I'm still sick, I've been in my pajamas all day and I have a bad headache but I'd much rather be working than lazing around right now.

Hopefully I'll have the cutscene done in a few days and actually be able to progress further in the game =w=.

Taurus

Alright. Back to work, back to focus, back to actual page titles.
I'm gonna run out of these fairly quickly but meh~

If anyone happened across my previous two posts, it's because I've been procrastinating again, however it's an old, nostalgic story and I enjoy writing it. Without it I'd be a much more horrible writer description-wise.

Anyway I should be getting back to Cosplay Crisis fairly soon. I've been thinking about the next cutscene, which is possibly the most epic cutscene in what is currently in the game. Actually, I'm sure of it. It occurs right after the Jenova BIRTH fight, involves the entire party fighting a bunch of enemies (cutscene, not actual battles), the Tempest and Hardy Daytona...well, it's going to be pretty big. That's why it's been hard for me to get around to eventing it.
I just have to make sure I do it. Because once I do, I'll be way past where I got up to in the last version.

Oh, and I got a USB today- this means I can work on Cosplay Crisis pixel work at school during lunchtimes. My old ones busted more than six months ago, so you can probably assume I'm very happy~

To leave off I might post some stuff:

Darkseed: Revival is finished

I had to post it SOMEWHERE!

(Sorry to all people I've scarred with this image)

Annnywaaayy I finished Darkseed: Revival in time for the original deadline let alone the extended one.

You can get it here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/2081/ for now.
Tomorrow after I finish doing my h/w I might draw up an omake pack with some Lydia pictures in it since though she's mentioned heavily you don't get to see her.
I actually have a firm grip on her character, too. She was a main character in the original Darkseed.
As I have mentioned almost everywhere, one of my biggest drives to finish this game was to SPITE MY MOTHER.
Apparently I'll never finish anything.
AHAHAHAHA~!


To leave off, I'll give you Lydia's character description. The original Darkseed, which was a short story, didn't give Jackson a 'proper' description because it was in 1st person POV. But he did end up describing Lydia fairly early into it.

"I stopped paying attention to the weird new guys and glanced over towards the school gate. My heart skipped a beat as I laid eyes on the goddess known as Lydia.

She had platinum blonde hair that was hanging around her waist. She was wearing a plain white turtle neck jumper with blue-grey jeans and a pair of moccasins that came up to just under her knee. She had porcelain skin, and sapphire blue eyes that sparkled as if they were lit by an inner light. Her lips were naturally cherry-red, and she was wearing a pair of gold studs in her ears today- normally she wore peridot studs, since they were her birth stone."

Some small updates

So...I've been working on Darkseed, of course. I have a week left to complete the game.
I have, of course, been absolutely dedicated to working on this, even if I don't realize it. I have done nothing else the last week.
The faceset on the left is of Harry Peterson, the second main character of Darkseed: Revival.
I have the 'first' floor technically finished, quite a lot of dialogue done...I still have a ways to go so I'll be working my ass off for a while yet!

I find it hard to explain Jackson and Harry without using the term 'cannibal'.
They're kind of like vampires, but not. It was how I described them in the original story this is based on.
In any case...
When I finish this game, I will, of course, be releasing it here.

Brief Hiatus...of sorts.

I'm participating in Games Gale 2010 for www.rpgmaker.net.

Thus I will be dropping everything to work on the project, which is titled 'Darkseed: Revival'.

For now I'll leave the details obscure but I have begun working on it in earnest.

It'll be graphically original and if I can somehow wrap my head around musical theory in a day...well...we'll see.

Details soon! ;)

Graaahhh (Rants)

Charlie Lee's CTB is freaking ANNOYING. Let's just say rather than modding the way turns work and etc, it's like he's posting an entire game demo, complete with a SWITCH SYSTEM, which is pretty damn useless in a ONE MAN GAME.
And not only that, he MESSED WITH THE BATTLE ALGORITHMS. So magic now does NOTHING. WHAT THE HELL?
PLEASE explain the point of rendering an ENTIRE SECTION OF GAMEPLAY utterly useless. I wanted to go for a customization system where you could turn your character into a full mage, a full physical fighter, or a mix of the two, but what on earth do I do now?

The WORST thing is that he's made it close to impossible to remove a lot of his changes, especially battle algorithms. And you can't get the Switch option out of the menu even if you REMOVE THE SCRIPT. WUT?
I'm not a scripter but he's releasing this out to the public and it really makes me wonder why. He just released his 'Gaming Arena' revealing the possible reason behind this scripts development in the first place.
As a user of this system I find I have little to no options into changing what I want my player to be able to do. I do realize this is meant to emulate FFX, but there's a lot of good stuff and some really redundant stuff. Redundant, as in, I don't need it, but I can't get rid of it.
Look I think I could survive with the whole dodging the summon system, switching, and a bunch of different skills, but the battle algorithm changes drive me up the wall. He hasn't explained how they work properly at all and basically is just telling his users 'Uh, yeah, this is how my game works, so yours has too to. And I'm not explaining.'

(From this point onward, life issues, so...yeah).
This is on top of a very bad day, where my dad, two weeks before Supanova (cosplay convention) decides to say 'You're not going as Tifa, too revealing.
TWO WEEKS. IT'S THE ONLY COSTUME I HAVE!
(that isn't a crossplay -.-).
The thing is I have been working on this costume since October. The day after Armageddon I began working on it!
I've spent close to $70 on this costume, which could've gone to other costumes or better yet, THE TICKET FOR THE DAY. But no, after six months, he says no TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE DAMN DATE.
He's SEEN me wear this costume before! AND HE SAYS NO NOW?!
Also, I won't be online from Saturday until Thursday, I'm going to my Mum's. Unwillingly, mind you. The idea of doing nothing for nearly a week almost brings me to tears.
AND WE'RE GOING CAMPING.

(Normal, un-life related stuff)
Unless I can figure out a good solution to my algorithm dilemma without blowing a gasket in Charlie Lee's face, I don't know if I'll be able to work on Reaper.
Toldya I often quit early in development =p. I would like to work on it more it's just I'm sick of scripts and bending over backwards just to get the whole thing to even WORK. I did it with Cosplay Crisis and it ended in a 2-3 month HIATUS. I don't know what else I'd use for a battle system (IRC said CTB was the best option...) so continued work on Reaper is a huge maybe.
Sorry guys =/

Announcing: Reaper

Don't panic, I'm still working on Cosplay Crisis.
I like to have two projects on at the same time and this is intended to be a quick project (I always say that =P)

If anyone has been following my game development closely you'll know this is the title of a previous game of mine.
The story is totally different, though a few of the old characters are returning.
If you know the name of the main character, don't reveal it here! His appearance and name are a 'mystery' up to the third level, which is the 'wind' level, where his hood gets blown off.
The characters returning in this game from the original Reaper are going to be the ones I liked. If I didn't like a character, they won't be here.
In any case this is going to be a one-man game utilising Charlie Lee's CTB (vers. 2.10 to avoid the Switch function). It will also focus on equipment skills rathering than learning them through levelling up.
Your MC can equip many types of scythes with many different abilities however it is up to you to focus on which realm of attack he'll focus on. I haven't decided on what menu system to use yet, but a lot of things are already decided.

Here, have a screenshot.

Oh, and I haven't completely settled on a windowskin yet, either.

Sprites!

Well...one sprite ;).
If used please credit me, this sprite is all my work :)
(Btw, I suck at spriting hair from the back- someday I'll figure it out, I swear)

Hopefully, I'll have the final demo version of Cosplay Crisis released soon.

Oh, and if anyone is absolutely desperate for a Zidane animated battler, Zidane's is finished. Gimme a buzz if you want it. Keep in mind it's pretty tall and probably only fits with my sprites D:

(Kumo and Levi's gun battlers will not be released).

It's the Beginning.

Every story has its roots. I've finally found something I'll stick with.
Why? Because I love every character. I love the story. I love the setting.
IT HAS WEREWOLVES.

(Kyrsty's ultimate formula: werewolves=instant win).

The premise: A girl is disguising herself as a boy in order to attend the prestigious academy, where she is studying battle skills and alchemical properties. Her Uncle and only remaining relative, part cyborg, works to create new inventions, including the robot that holds up Vivian's hair.
During a gathering and a study on plants and there alchemic use, Vivian is literally swept off her feet by a daring and courageous young man named Visus. Vivian flies into a violent rage since her hair had come undone, revealing her gender and ruining her plans for study. She tries to storm off but she ends up being stopped by Visus's younger brother Lexerian, or as he's commonly called, Lex (yes, blue haired guy in the previous few posts). They explain that they just want to talk to her about a family issue and Vivian reluctantly agrees. She brings them to her house in the 'Slums' of the city where they discuss matters with Vivian's uncle. It is revealed that Visus is in fact a wanted man for lycanthropy and the murder of his family, however there's a problem- Visus isn't a werewolf.
Upon the revelation of this, Lex becomes enraged and begins completely contradicting the statement. He then falls into a sort of stupor and Visus has to give him medicine.
He explains that he was framed for his family's death, but the second part- that his youngest brother was left alive, but cursed to be a werewolf, was true. Lex apologizes for his outburst and explains that the potion that they use to restrain his werewolf side has been diminishing, and they came to the city to obtain the herbs needed to brew the potion (Wolfsbane and Daffodil [also known as Toe of Frog]). Lex explains they'd understand if she didn't want to be around him that's fine, but she gets really excited and starts quizzing him about being a werewolf. She explains that she finds all walks of life interesting- her two best friends are a Chimera (a creature combined with a human through alchemical means) and a Homunculus (an artificial human). And her Uncle is part cyborg- she can't help but accept others.
She says she doesn't really care that he's a werewolf, but Visus explains that maybe she should. Visus says they're also in town to track down the werewolf who attacked and killed his family- and Vivian's.
Vivian's Uncle explains that he didn't want to tell Vivian about her parents' death yet(the way they died). Vivian says that she'll help track down the killer for answers, but she still doesn't care that Lex is a werewolf.
They start by returning to the University and sneaking into the Gardens to obtain Wolfsbane and Toe of Frog, which are endangered herbs. Visus carefully stores them away.
They then head to the library records where they're stopped by a particular crazy looking woman named Alice (same Alice as before, too). She is a chimera of sorts however she has been fused with a magical essence instead of a creature which makes her slightly insane.
She first of all blabbers nonsense, then goes into a spiel on how their true enemy, a master of deception, deceit and monster-making, has a hidden agenda that will soon become a major part of their lives.
Alice then forces her way into the party. They research a little and find articles related to the death of Visus's and Vivian's parents are stored along with notes about werewolf origins, creation of homunculi and the theory that a powerful member of a species can control others with a special object.
They take the book, and Vivian gets her stuff from her dormitory. They leave quickly because Visus's wanted status could get them into trouble.
They leave and return quickly to Vivian's uncle's house. Visus brews up Lex's potion. Alice has another coherent moment where she says that Vivian and Visus are the key to all that has happened to them. The just do not realize it yet. She also says their enemy will not stop until he has Vivian and Visus in captivity.
Visus decides to press on with the leads in his possession and heads for a house in the middle area, taking Vivian, Lex and Alice with him. They head out in the morning.
They end up spotted by guards who recognize Visus. They end up getting cornered and Lex decides that if he and his friends are going to figure out their problems, they have to embrace them. Lex changes into a werewolf and beats up all the guards. They quickly head for the address in their links.
They find the place deserted, but Vivian finds a few notes pointing back to the University.
AAANNNNDDD....I'll add more later~

Characters to come soon: Kari and Blank!

Aries

Look it's a post~

I've realized that despite the fact I've been stressing over the holiday homework I received and blatantly refused to do, this year is going to be alright homework wise. Tomorrow, I'll get out my Maths work and do the calculations. We were working on Trig and I didn't have a calculator. All the basic calculations are finished, I just need to do the answers.

Game wise, I've decided to rethink my system for my original game (which I'm either calling Memories of Dreams or Dreamscape, I'm leaning towards the latter myself). I know it's unoriginal to copy systems, but in the long run it'd probably be easier on myself. I'm no coder, and I spent half a year looking for someone to script for LOTSL way back when. That headache has made me extremely reluctant to even consider looking to actually recruit a scripter.
On another note, I have been working extremely hard on Cosplay Crisis since the weekend started. My save game is at 16 minutes, and I'm inside the Reactor at a false savepoint. The actual save point for the area will be in the same place it was in Final Fantasy VII.

On that note, I wanted to say something about add-ons. Personally, I think light effects/shadows give the maps a hell of a lot more depth, and the fact I have a single song file for a cutscene, area and a battle gives the game a sense of continuity. I'm using GubiD's song loop and Sandgolem's battle music, coupled with 'The Landing' from FF8 to replace 'Opening- Bombing Mission', the song used in the FF7 Reactor mission.

So anyway, I have a ton of playable content in CC, I just need to link it all up. I'm assuming its going to be more than two hours of time...=/.

So I'm going to leave with a couple of CC screenshots. Tiles are from one of the trial games made with RMXP. Had something to do with Kerobos or something. I don't know where I got them from, though.

Pisces

Hey guys! I thought I'd update with something though I don't have much orz. This weekend I'm going to be really busy doing my holiday homework at the last minute. I did get some of it done, but unfortunately, they handed out worksheets. WORKSHEETS?! Jesus, people, they obviously don't understand how much paper we use at home. And my Dad just throws everything out. If he doesn't, it ends up in my bedroom...lost forever...

Keheh, on that note I haven't done a lot of game making lately. Procrastination is my worst enemy.
I did some stuff towards Memories of Dreams, though (the one with Lex and Alice? Yeah)

Did a Lex animation, thought about the system...

Alright, here's the scoop.

If I can get hold of a Dressphere system, that'd be ideal, though in MoD it will be called Dream Change. Dream Change enables the user to change how they dream of themselves, a difficult task in reality, made simple within Wonderland. I don't have a concept of how yet, but it'll probably be through differently coloured Mushrooms.

Lex's default Class- Warrior. Uses a heavy blade he found upon entering Wonderland to slice through foes.
Skills. Power/Metal/Magic/Armor Breaks, Eject Slice, Piercing, Cutting Turn, etc.
Alice's default Class- Time Mage. Controls and manipulates the space/time continuum.
Skills- Demi, Haste, Slow, Stop, Confuse, Mind Crush, etc.
I'll create a proper skill listing later~

Also, each character can only use classes assigned to them. So Lex can't become a Time Mage, and Alice can't become a Warrior.
These are heavily based off of FFX-2's listing, but I shall create my own in time. These will be added to as I continue my development.

Lex's Classes-
Warrior
Thief
Healer (capable of using healing magic and mixing medicinal herbs)
Gunner
Red Mage
Dragoon
Ninja
Berserker

Alice's Classes
Time Mage
Black Mage
Duelist/Monk
Dark Knight
Blue Mage
Chemist (Able to create massive damage through mixing of dangerous/unknown items)
Dancer
Trainer (Cheshire Cat)

I'm planning to use Charlie Fleed's CTB if I can get it working the way I want...mmm. Dream Change will be controlled by Dream Catchers, complicated webs linking dreams together (aka, Garment Grids). Skills, though I haven't decided how as of yet, will be learnt differently to FFX-2, in order to make it different. Then I won't be completely ripping it off ;).
I liked the Dressphere system, I just thought the story was a bit tacky and the fact it was all girls was BORING. And there was a BATHING SCENE. I'M A GIRL. GOD.

Like FFX-2 though, there will be 'Special Dresspheres' known as Dream's End, that reveal the true and final forms of your two main characters. Lex's won't be obtained until near the end of the game, while Alice's isn't far before that. They're powerful, but they leave the character in critical after use.

Well, it's quarter past one, I'd better finish this off and display some images.




His hair won't be as poofy when I'm done colouring and fixing~ (This image is mirrored, by the way. I like posting my images flipped so I can see my mistakes and see if I'm getting anywhere with my drawing skills =P.


Oh and some Alice stuff~