Early Design for The Phoenix of Rebirth

While not a mainline game (still waiting and tweaking), The Phoenix of Rebirth (this is Project Rebirth, will be calling it Rebirth for short) takes place on the planet Regalis. Unlike most of most of my side stories, which all take place right around the time of the mainline games, this one follows history's first pair of Renaissance Twins (Renaming from Lunar, because I realized the Blight would kill these moons way before this part, so a name recalling ushering in a new era seems better), and the elf Meria (and her guard Deton). Meria has a dream after she fled from a battle that destroyed her village. The dream claimed to be a "prophet of Rebirth", and Meria was the key to unlock the Phoenix of Rebirth. In order to activate the key, she was told she needed to take ones who could wield the key to the top of  a pillar that reaches toward the heavens.

This is the origin of the Renaissance Twins Legend that is what Alicia and Aries are considered in the main The Emerald World series. I wanted to try writing a tragedy and I always wanted to do a tower climbing game in turn based RPG form. I got the idea mostly from Y's and Diablo 3 (or 2, I can't remember which one I played now...).

I mentioned the legend in another post (but I called them Lunar Twins at the time), and the Blight is in the Aries game.  

Story

Over four hundred years ago, Planet Regalis was dying. A country called Adamas had managed to gain control over all the lands. A great war broke out all over the planet when the people learned Adamas was mining out the crystal core of Regalis.

Adamas used these crystals to perform horrible experiments on the people, and unknowingly started the decline of the planet. While war raged, rivers were drying out, mountains were crumbling, fields became gray and empty, and monsters roamed freely. While the people fought to loosen Adamas’ grip on them, nothing seemed to be done to save Regalis herself.

Meria, a forest elf in Viridis, receives a vision from what could be the Prophet of Rebirth:

Meria, you are the vessel of my power.

You must bring the ones who can wield my power to a pillar so high, that it touches the Heavens.

Only then, can Regalis be reborn.

Meria, and her guard Deton, find the ones in the vision (Ismene and Taro Jadeite), and then the four set off for the tallest structure in the area. Right now I'm thinking 8 floors, including a ground floor and the roof. I don't want this game to become too big for browser play... The objective is to get to the top of the tower.

I don't really know what else to write here that doesn't give away the whole thing... 

While anyone who knows about Project Emerald knows they succeed, I am still going to warn everyone this story is a tragedy. Nothing this large comes without cost. Also, this is not about the fall of Adamas. This is about healing Regalis from the Blight Adamas caused.

Design Progress

I have written an outline, and so far I have a script up to the entrance of the tower. Level design, I have done all maps before the tower and some of the floors. Here's a sneak peek:

Regalis is tearing apart, and the land is barren:

The tower looks clean and new, how?

Every floor is different... Is this even real, and how did this traveling merchant get in?

What is the purpose of these floors? Surely, no one would want to live and work in such a toxic environment...

For the character designs, I'm trying out drawing them a bit closer to their sprites (in the main series I will be altering the sprites, not my designs, but for this, it is a little less work to match the drawings to unaltered sprites)

Here is Meria and Ismene to show my progress (and if I'm getting any closer to matching):

Meria

Ismene

And just from looking at this, her dress is green not white. I'm so glad I haven't finished this drawings yet... Please let me know if anything else looks extra off.

With the exception of some tweaks and a couple more CGs, I'm ready to program events up to the tower start.

Gameplay

Other than being a turn based system, I haven't decided much about gameplay yet. I'm leaving this open until I am happy with the art and writing (I'm not going to be picky like with Project Emerald, but I don't want to add more moving parts before I work on my weakest area, gameplay). I love RPGs, and this game is an opportunity to experiment. I want to approach this with an open mind. If you have any advice, I would love to hear it. I came to itch.io not only to show my work, but to get advice, guidance, and criticism. My gameplay is in a brainstorming/ experimental stage.

What's Next?

I want to do a few more maps, and I want to try to polish my character art. I also want to write out a script for the full ending. Hopefully while doing that I'll learn a good gameplay system idea. I will keep everyone updated as best I can, and I will consider any feedback or suggestions. Thank you so much for reading and joining me on this incredible journey!

PhoebeJ