Fanime Castle Development Blog 🏰

A love letter to fanime. Pixel RPG featuring your characters is currently in the works! 💖

[fanimecastle]

Chapter 1 is now playable!

Thank you for waiting! The new update can be downloaded through Google Drive or Mediafire.

We tried our best to get this chapter all wrapped up in the same year. Apologies if it feels a bit clunky to play through. We hope you have fun watching the story unfold!

For those who want to skip the prologue and jump into the new update, rename the chapter1.rvdata2 file to savestate.rvdata2

Read more below to see the list of new features.

Alongside chapter 1, the new build [Alpha v2.0] has:

23 additional maps (for a total of 40)!

New castle NPC!

Characters Carrot, Yaro, and Ai are now recruitable.

All second wave recruitable characters can now be interacted with in game!

Added a Sandbox Mode at the end of the first chapter (you can test the early version of the fishing minigame, and a tentative feature, the comedy act skits using this mode!)

Minor features include:

60 conversations are now accessible through Party Talk (keep in mind that this may be buggy or semi-functional right now. The conversations change depending on your location and the characters on your team. We hope it's fun to get to know them this way!).

Small sprite animations for some characters have been added.

Replaced Taliesin's portrait with an updated version.

Removed Yanfly's party management script, as it was conflicting with Moghunter's ATB script.

You can now pet the roaming cat in the castle's overview map.

Thank you so much to everyone playing and testing this game. We're hoping to put up more content next year. For now, enjoy the new update!

Have an early Merry Christmas!

- Sana

[sanaku]

Fanime Castle 4th Anniversary Illustration (2024)

[fanimecastle]

Welcome to the third wave of Fanime Castle's character recruitment! 🏰

The game is going to be a small, story-focused retro role-playing game (PC only) heavily inspired by Fanime Quest, which was also another fanime game published in 2017. Your character can appear in-game as a potentially recruitable side character! How cool is that?

Keep reading this post for the rules.

Rules, Notes & Permissions

Same as last time, the character you submit through the form listed below must be yours in ownership. If you'd like to enter a character made by a different creator, permission is required (+ screenshot as proof when asked for).

The main story has been set in stone, and we're only looking for cameos. Please don't request any of your characters to become central to the plot!

Only send us 3 characters at maximum. The people who can edit this form have the right to delete your newer entries if you spam more than that!

Your character must have appeared in at least 1 published preview of a fanime episode. Works in progress are also acceptable, but do have sufficient proof on hand that you are currently working on said project (scripts, final character designs, storyboards, etc. are good enough).

You retain the rights and ownership of your character. The reason why there's so many questions in the form is that we want to portray their traits in-game as best we can!

Our current team is small and the final game will be FREE so please be patient with us if work takes way too long!

Any applicant who is rude or disrespectful to our staff, have forged false proof of content, or have submitted someone else's character without their permission will be blacklisted.

Please fill up this form to sign your character up!

Applications close at March 1st, 2024 (EST). We will choose over 10 entries.

(Note: Anyone who has sent a character in previous waves may submit new OCs again! This is exclusive to the third wave.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us!

[sanaku]

Taliesin from Fanime Castle [OC]

[sanaku]

Fanime Castle 3rd Anniversary Illustration (2023)

[fanimecastle]

Welcome to the third wave of Fanime Castle's character recruitment! 🏰

The game is going to be a small, story-focused retro role-playing game (PC only) heavily inspired by Fanime Quest, which was also another fanime game published in 2017. Your character can appear in-game as a potentially recruitable side character! How cool is that?

Keep reading this post for the rules.

Rules, Notes & Permissions

Same as last time, the character you submit through the form listed below must be yours in ownership. If you'd like to enter a character made by a different creator, permission is required (+ screenshot as proof when asked for).

The main story has been set in stone, and we're only looking for cameos. Please don't request any of your characters to become central to the plot!

Only send us 3 characters at maximum. The people who can edit this form have the right to delete your newer entries if you spam more than that!

Your character must have appeared in at least 1 published preview of a fanime episode. Works in progress are also acceptable, but do have sufficient proof on hand that you are currently working on said project (scripts, final character designs, storyboards, etc. are good enough).

You retain the rights and ownership of your character. The reason why there's so many questions in the form is that we want to portray their traits in-game as best we can!

Our current team is small and the final game will be FREE so please be patient with us if work takes way too long!

Any applicant who is rude or disrespectful to our staff, have forged false proof of content, or have submitted someone else's character without their permission will be blacklisted.

Please fill up this form to sign your character up!

Applications close at March 1st, 2024 (EST). We will choose over 10 entries.

(Note: Anyone who has sent a character in previous waves may submit new OCs again! This is exclusive to the third wave.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us!

[fanimecastle]

FC RPG Update 1/10/23

Last month's pile of content was a big one! Let's talk about a few things before I jump into making new progress, shall we?

What’s next after Chapter 1?

Chapter 2, of course (kidding, don't torch me)!

I estimate that the next chapter will be slightly longer than the first one, as that's when the story starts to pick up! It's going to be made with more mechanics and a brand new story addition. However, to avoid burnout, I'll have to announce a short break from huge updates for a while. Instead, I'll focus on cleaning up code, rebalancing classes, and writing character quests for the first and second wave recruitables! I felt like I didn't give them enough love in Chapter 1. Yes, there's Sandbox Mode in the latest build, but that just doesn't cut it!

I'll come back to seriously coding again in a few months to show some cool things! But for now, here's my plan:

Make more NPC sprites

Optimize code for Party Talk feature

Add simple cooking system

Implement proper fishing minigame

Like last time, I'll only show off a new build whenever there's a huge new thing to check out, or if a bug severely hinders gameplay.

Libera is my favorite castle NPC, if you can't tell...

That said, did you like the story so far? Feel free to send this blog an ask whenever, or join our Discord server if you have free time! I'll always be around to answer questions!

For now, I say ciao. Thanks for reading this blog post 'til the end!

- Sana

[fanimecastle]

Surprise! Here's another video before the year ends.

Merry Christmas!

[fanimecastle]

FC RPG 2.0 Hotfix

Sorry, everyone! Many testers have encountered new bugs that affected gameplay, so here's a hotfix! These are still the same links, but please download the newer version instead to ensure a smoother playthrough.

Google Drive | Mediafire

What changed:

Returned the old party management script. We've discovered several animation bugs that heavily affected cutscenes and gameplay. This change may cause your game to crash if a character slot in your party is left vacant, though. We're looking to fix this bug in the future!

Disabled camera movement at the prologue.

Adjusted the first puzzle in Chapter 1's dungeon.

Good news: You can transfer the old 2.0 save you have to the newer version! There won't be any issues (I hope) as long as Specter is the leader of your party.

Apologies again, and thank you for playing!

- Sana

[mintdeagon]

It's him! The funny! For @fanimecastle

[fanimecastle]

FC RPG Update 10/31/22

Happy Halloween! Here's a surprise update since I'll be a busy bee for the rest of November. Not to mention the amount of previews and updates I want to show you!

Progress:

✦ Main Storyline: 33% done  ✦ Character Classes: 12/21 done ✦ Sidequests/Recruitment Quests: 10/21 done ✦ Recruitable’s Sprites: 20/21 done ✦ NPC Sprites: 10/11 done

Chapter 1 is now entirely implemented! The second wave character sprites are nearly done as well. Close friends who've tested the game for me have determined that the new average runtime (from the prologue to the end of the first chapter) reaches over 2 hours. That's a ton of content to go through!

Speaking of content, all 55 conversations for the party talk feature have been implemented, too. Newer chapters will have different conversations, so our team will add new ones as the story goes on. It was very time-consuming to code, but it was worth it!

I plan to elaborate exactly how it works once the December build comes out.

Semi-unrelated to the game, but Taliesin's voice actor has been cast recently as well! This does not mean that FC RPG will have voice acting. Rather, I've been planning to introduce some characters from the game in video format.

There will be fun little skits, and there will be lore to unpack!

Here's a preview thumbnail for an upcoming video:

I hope you're prepared for this wave of content! For now, I'll retreat to my cave and start working for the rest of next month.

When I come back, I'll have the build ready! See ya on December~!

- Sana

[fanimecastle]

FC RPG Update 10/10/22

The character portraits for the second wave are all done! Here they are in all their glory!

Progress:

✦ Main Storyline: 32% done  ✦ Character Classes: 11/21 done ✦ Sidequests/Recruitment Quests: 9/21 done ✦ Recruitable’s Sprites: 15/21 done ✦ NPC Sprites: 9/4 done

Most of chapter 1 has been implemented. All it needs is reskinning of some maps, making sure the puzzles work, and letting the boss fight(s) get a bit more challenging! Sprites and sidequests for the new characters are still in progress.

Our team has written out a total of 55 conversations for the Party Talk feature as well! We'll be adding them in the next build along with other minor features and adjustments.

New build goes up sometime on December! Here's a sneak peek:

Stay tuned!

- Sana

[fanimecastle]

We're looking for a voice actor for one of our main characters, Taliesin! More information in the video. Casting call page is here!

Auditions will close on October 30th, 2022 (EST).

[fanimecastle]

FC RPG Update 9/10/22

Second wave character portraits are currently lined out, coloring and shading are the only things left to do to finish them! Do you recognize the characters based on silhouettes alone?

In total, there are now 21 playable characters, so I've expanded the list of things to do!

Progress:

✦ Main Storyline: 26% done  ✦ Character Classes: 10/21 done ✦ Sidequests/Recruitment Quests: 7/21 done ✦ Recruitable’s Sprites: 15/21 done ✦ NPC Sprites: 9/4 done

Our team is currently working on minor features and writing for character quests, and we're planning to add a new important NPC in the next build!

Hope you enjoyed this tiny update!

- Sana

[fanimecastle]

FC RPG Second Wave Recruitment Results

Hello, everyone! It's about time I reveal the characters that were accepted into Fanime Castle RPG's second recruitment wave!

Out of 14 entries, the ones that have been accepted as recruitable in-game are:

Umi from Ocean Kiss

Dillon Brody from Boku no Akuma

Zink from Iroha Song

Mariko Takahashi from Our Seaside Days

Yaro from Angel of the Sea

Ai "Ai-Chan" Hoshikawa from Sweet Parfait Love: Ai no Tankyū

Luna from Into The Stars

Congratulations to the ones on the list, and thank you to everyone who submitted their characters for this round! It was so hard to choose, especially since I had to cut down the entries to half for a more manageable workload. The third wave of character recruitment will reopen next year! See ya then~! - Sana

[fanimecastle]

FC RPG Update 8/10/22

Hello! I wish I could update this blog at a consistent time and date, sadly I'm terrible at keeping track of that sort of thing. Once a month is good enough, right?

I'd like to talk about future plans and updates after the alpha, as well as how and when new builds will be released. Before anything, here's a small progress report!

Progress:

✦ Main Storyline: 26% done 

✦ Character Classes: 10/15 done

✦ Sidequests/Recruitment Quests: 6/15 done

As you all may know, the second character recruitment wave for the game had closed more than two weeks ago, and applicants are now being interviewed! Results will be released later this month. There will definitely be new faces in the game, some that a lot will recognize. Excited? I know I am!

To those who missed the second wave, there will be more in the future! Please refer to this post for an estimated date of the next wave.

What's next after the alpha?

I originally thought to upload new builds and make bugfixes on a biweekly basis. However, it may be too daunting for me alone to manage, as I'm the only one who holds the source code of the game and I can be too busy to update sometimes. For now, I'll only upload a new build whenever there's a big feature to test out (story addition, new characters, systems, etc.) or if there's a bug that needs immediate fixing.

But don't fret if updates are slow! This is a game I want to pour my heart into making, and the team and I won't quit that easily.

After the recruitment results are made public, we will start looking for more volunteers to help with the game. The progress list will also be updated. Please look forward to what we have in store! 💖

- Sana

[fanimecastle]

Uhhhh hi Will there be any more recruitment rounds for the RPG? And is there any way to guarantee getting your chara in or is the choosing random? Love the progress on the game so far btw

Hi there, anon! Thanks so much!

For your first question: I can now confirm that there will be another recruitment wave in the future. No specific date yet, but possibly late this year or sometime in 2023 depending on the game progress? We'll see!

Your second question is a tricky one to answer. The characters added aren't randomly chosen in any way, and I can't guarantee getting just anyone in due to a lot of things that should be factored in beforehand.

For example, people can submit too many characters that share the same role (DPS/tank/support) so our team will have to pick only a few among them. Or the person who submitted the character can't be reached (either sent in the wrong contact info in the form or had no time for an interview/discussion about the character, etc.), or perhaps a staggering lack of content surrounding the submitted character. These can greatly affect the chances of getting them accepted.

A character could also be rejected due to story reasons, or if the team is uncomfortable writing around them. Our solution to this is to have everyone submit more than one character, diversifying if possible, therefore we have a lot to choose from!

I know the form is closed now, but I wanted to explain in case it's needed in the future. So thank you for asking!

- Sana