Above & Below

The official dev blog for the indie game, Above & Below

[aboveandbelowgame]

The official trailer for Above & Below is now up! Check it out here!

[aboveandbelowgame]

Update v1.3 is now live!

The most notable part of this update is the new intro. It adds a new quest and encounter type along with expanded lore and story dialogue. The demo now will take between 50mins-1hr 20mins to explore and complete everything. Other changes include: -Added readable bookshelves -Added Adventurer Coins (these have no use in the demo) -Updated save menu scene -Fixed a couple of misspelled words -Certain NPCs and events don't appear in Shasla Village until Colette is in the party -Fixed hit detection with the Piercing Strike skill -Changed multiple lines of dialogue to fit the new intro

Get it here:

 http://gamejolt.com/games/aboveandbelow/236992

[aboveandbelowgame]

Working on an area known as the Cave of 10,000 Depths. More of this dungeon will become accessible as the player purchases passes from the Adventurer’s Guild with Adventurer Coins found by... well adventuring! Sidequests award coins along with them having a random chance to drop from enemies at the end of battles! How far down does this cavern really go?

Update 1.3 of the game demo will be out in July with an overhauled intro, and look for the first build of the early access version out in November!

[aboveandbelowgame]

Old concept art of Colette and Arietta done by my battler artist, svarn. It’s always interesting to see how your own characters change over time.

[aboveandbelowgame]

Hey just wanted everyone to know I’m not dead, I’ve been focusing more on schoolwork and I just got back from Colossalcon! Work on the game is picking up again and to show it, a map! If you’ve played the demo you’ll know that soldiers blocked off the road going north and you could only venture west over to Twin Pines. This is the road beyond that blockade! While unaccessible in the demo, this road will be the first area added with the early access version (coming eventually)! Also look forward soon to an official game trailer!

[aboveandbelowgame]

Above & Below v1 demo is now live! It’s been out for a week I just haven’t updated the blog….

Download it here!:

 http://gamejolt.com/games/aboveandbelow/236992

Above & Below is a semi-open world, story-driven RPG about how a search for one girl’s lost memory becomes a desperate struggle to defy prophetic destiny and uncover how the after-effects of a thousands-year-old war reshaped the fates of two intertwined worlds. Geraria has always been known to the people of Calindor as the land of angels, a world where the goddess they worship resides. The people of Calindor believe that one day their goddess will send her child, the Harbinger, to the world to cleanse it of the Fallen, angels who have committed wicked acts against the goddess, and who create evil monsters to destroy the humans of Calindor. What the people don’t realize is, just how skewed their perception of the two worlds really is. Join Colette, an angel fallen from the heavens above; and Arietta, a girl who fits the criteria of the Church of Calindor’s savior written of in their holy text, as they soon start to help Colette regain her lost memories, and Arietta learns that just maybe, the world really doesn’t need purged of “evil”…

Features

-Embark on a 20+ hour story deeply rooted in themes of self-empowerment, genetic modification, and the political effects of nuclear war. All while traversing the handcrafted lands of Calindor and Geraria!

-Semi-open world means the player is allowed to explore the world how they please! (Barring exceptions due to progress on the main story.) -Side quests litter the game, and you’ll need a nice quest log to keep track of them all! Also experience Project Orionis, the largest side-quest in the game which runs parallel to the main story, allowing the player to learn much more backstory of the worlds as they traverse it.

-Four factions exist for the player to delve into and join! Experience faction-specific quests and content for the Adventurer’s Guild, Church of Calindor, The Fallen, and the Knights of Geraria. Join all of them, or none. (Seriously, I’m not stopping you.) Did I mention three of them will majorly affect the game’s ending? -Speaking of endings, eight drastically different endings will exist for players to experience. Even those endings will vary slightly depending on smaller decisions throughout the game. -Gather a colorful cast of potential party members! Each has their own drives and desires that relate to the main story, and spending time with them will start up a character-specific personal quest!

-Turn-based? What’s that? Based off the original system found in Tales of Phantasia, Above and Below features a linear motion battle system! Lay the punishment down on your enemies in real-time!

[aboveandbelowgame]

Above & Below v1 demo is now live! It’s been out for a week I just haven’t updated the blog....

Download it here!:

 http://gamejolt.com/games/aboveandbelow/236992

Above & Below is a semi-open world, story-driven RPG about how a search for one girl’s lost memory becomes a desperate struggle to defy prophetic destiny and uncover how the after-effects of a thousands-year-old war reshaped the fates of two intertwined worlds. Geraria has always been known to the people of Calindor as the land of angels, a world where the goddess they worship resides. The people of Calindor believe that one day their goddess will send her child, the Harbinger, to the world to cleanse it of the Fallen, angels who have committed wicked acts against the goddess, and who create evil monsters to destroy the humans of Calindor. What the people don't realize is, just how skewed their perception of the two worlds really is. Join Colette, an angel fallen from the heavens above; and Arietta, a girl who fits the criteria of the Church of Calindor’s savior written of in their holy text, as they soon start to help Colette regain her lost memories, and Arietta learns that just maybe, the world really doesn’t need purged of “evil”…

Features

-Embark on a 20+ hour story deeply rooted in themes of self-empowerment, genetic modification, and the political effects of nuclear war. All while traversing the handcrafted lands of Calindor and Geraria!

-Semi-open world means the player is allowed to explore the world how they please! (Barring exceptions due to progress on the main story.) -Side quests litter the game, and you’ll need a nice quest log to keep track of them all! Also experience Project Orionis, the largest side-quest in the game which runs parallel to the main story, allowing the player to learn much more backstory of the worlds as they traverse it.

-Four factions exist for the player to delve into and join! Experience faction-specific quests and content for the Adventurer’s Guild, Church of Calindor, The Fallen, and the Knights of Geraria. Join all of them, or none. (Seriously, I’m not stopping you.) Did I mention three of them will majorly affect the game’s ending? -Speaking of endings, eight drastically different endings will exist for players to experience. Even those endings will vary slightly depending on smaller decisions throughout the game. -Gather a colorful cast of potential party members! Each has their own drives and desires that relate to the main story, and spending time with them will start up a character-specific personal quest!

-Turn-based? What's that? Based off the original system found in Tales of Phantasia, Above and Below features a linear motion battle system! Lay the punishment down on your enemies in real-time!

[aboveandbelowgame]

Title screen image done for the game by eadgear. It is also available for download as a full wallpaper here.

http://eadgear.deviantart.com/

[aboveandbelowgame]

Demo video of the battle system for Above & Below is finally up! Also look for the official public demo release date on February 23rd!

[aboveandbelowgame]

I’ve updated the blog. You can now find a synopsis of the game and list of features here: http://aboveandbelowgame.tumblr.com/about

The full cast of party members is here (will also include other main characters later on): http://aboveandbelowgame.tumblr.com/characters

[aboveandbelowgame]

I love the whole old-school JRPG vibe you've got going on with your game, and that battle system! I love the Tales games! It's so cool to see a little indie game with the same thing! I remember you saying somewhere that this was a commercial project, any chance of it getting on Steam?

Actually, yes! I’m hoping to submit it to Steam Greenlight sometime after the demo is released! I’ve thought about my options, and currently I’m looking at it being an early access title. That way I’m able to constantly get feedback from the community. It would obviously be at a far lower price point than the final release, but you’d be able to play it as its developed. There’s also negatives with releasing it that way, mainly the stigma with Steam early access, but I’ve been consistantly developing this project for almost a year now, and I know that after a series of updates on the early access version, people will start to know I’m not going to abandon my project partway through. (Which I don’t plan on doing). 

[aboveandbelowgame]

Congratulations on being awesome. I really look forward to your project.

Thank you Anon! You’ll be happy to know I’m hoping to release the demo between February 8th - 12th. Almost all the programming is done, I’m just waiting for my artists to finish some things.

[aboveandbelowgame]

LMBS System now in place!

With the use of Moghunter’s LMBS plugin for MV, and my battler artist, svarn, I can finally say the framework for the linear motion battle system is in place!

Based off the original system from Tales of Phantasia, turn based combat is thrown away for a preferred real-time action system. Both the player and enemies are locked onto a linear field where skills, items, and magic can all be used instantly at the press of a button.

Along with that, the game’s intro is completely finished, and quests are starting to be implemented. The busts for two characters, Riley and Jade, have also been finished. 

[aboveandbelowgame]

WIP screenshot of the game’s main menu screen. The border is most likely going to be different, but I really enjoy this layout. It’s so different from the regular RPG Maker menu. This menu is made possible by Moghunter’s Scenes plugins.

[aboveandbelowgame]

I’ve got two things to announce to everyone today. First off, I’d like to announce that all 39 maps shown in the demo are officially completed! The most time-consuming part of the demo is now over with! Phew! For reference, the mapping in RPG Maker MV started on August 25th.

These are the final 2 maps I finished today.

And in other news! Colette and Arietta’s full busts by my new artist are now completed! It’s just amazing seeing this demo actually start to become a reality.

[aboveandbelowgame]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Please be careful this holiday season and make sure to eat lots of delicious food!

-Michelle

[rpgmaker-love-blog]

that feel when you’re not even 20 minutes into your game and you’ve already managed to screw up your collisions…