Prime Play

The information of this game is coming soon...

[primeplay]

Lunarii's Box

Lunarii's Box is a mod of Slarmoo's Box that aims to advance Beepbox's capabilities.

Because I had too much trouble with importing specific soundfonts with Advanced Mario Sequencer, I decided to look for an ALTernative.

I picked Lunarii's Box, since Beepbox is a popular tool these days. This mod has a good UI while carrying th extra functionality of Ultrabox and its fork Slarmoo's Box. I can even export songs to formats that OHRRPGCE can use! The only trouble is my only being able to use soundfonts that already come wi the tool.

[primeplay]

This game is not dead.

Things have just been rather quiet.

[primeplay]

Game Gear Style

Because OHRRPGCE started in around 1998 and was programmed in QuickBasic, th engine still has a lot of 'retro' aspects even today. Some traits are tha the graphics use a 256-colour master palette, map tiles and overworld sprites are 20*20 pixels, all sprites use 16 colours from the master palette, portrait sprites are 50*50 pixels, player sprites are 32*40 pixels, and enemy sprites could be 34*34, 50*50, or 80*80 pixels.

More information is here: https://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce/RGFX

In light of these conditions, I decided to look to Game Gear games when referring to sprite style, since thei restraints fit wi the above conditions. I have been specifically looking at Donald Duck - Deep Duck Trouble and The Jungle Book, though Desert Speedtrap looks good to me... pretty distinct from the other OHRRPGCE games, too.

(The odd thing is that OHRRPGCE natively uses .ogg files in audio, which do not have those conditions.)

[primeplay]

Some cultural inspirations

The left-wing reat power would be based off a mix of Western Europe (mayb emphasising the Nordi Countries) and Elláda. Appropriately, its medical system would be public single payer. Also, its name should mean ‘peace through equity’, though I have ye to finalise a proper name.

The right-wing reat power would be based off The United States of America nd Yisrael. Appropriately, its medical system would be its respective range of public and private insurance. Also, its name would be ‘Beth-Cherút’ (‘House of Liberty’).

However, the country that would represent compulsory public insurance would be based on the 50s to 70s Middl East, notably Afghanistan d Iran.

The country that would represent a completely free market would be based on the Gauluhng (Kowloon) Walled City and maybe Chungking Mansions.

The other four are pending.

[primeplay]

Non-magic

The magic point system is typical regarding magic abilities, but how are you going to give physical abilities? Being restricted to plain attacks is boring.

I thought of how the Persona games provided physical abilities, but casting from HP scares me. I decided on giving them special equipmen that bequeaths a special ability.

I considered a defencive counterpart, but spells already have that covered.

...though that is not out of the question.

[primeplay]

Fonts and stuff

This project having, despite the heavy worldbuilding, a ludic and casual development, I used this game to be an excuse in using some tools that I honestly always wanted to use.

I shall be using the Famicube palette in the sprites.

The music will use a fan-made Spyro Soundfont in Advanced Mario Composer.

Speakin o fonts, the font is the square Amstrad PC font, though I made some modifications in distinction between symbols.

The game itself uses O.H.R.R.P.G.C.E.

[primeplay]

Modifications on leadership and language

I recently decided on a few modifications:

The right-win great power is now a pragmatic, musclegut ram named 'Josiah'.

The left-win great power is now a charismatic, muscular Stiefelgeiss goat named 'Jotham'.

The right-win great power would use the Phoenician Alphabet purely... without matres lectionis.

The left-win great power would use an tiquated version of the Ancient Greek Alphabet, but its use is closer to the Phoenician Alphabet and modern abjads, instead. This version of the Ancient Greek Alphabet is mainly written with consonants only, but its implementation of matres lectionis is odd. Users of this alphabet mark the top-right corner of the consonant wi the matres lectionis, meaning that you are supposed to pronounce that vowel of the matres lectionis before pronouncing the attached consonant. Consecutive vowels are lumped together and written righ-to-left. Vowels that have no attached consonant (say, a th end of a word) use a 'blank' letter. Th is on purpose; there i supposed to be a one-to-one correspondence between the right-wing power's alphabet and the consonants of the left-wing power's alphabet. I am still figuring ou the details of this use of Ancient Greek, bu the abov explanation is the underlying principle.

[primeplay]

Nonintentional appropriation

In light of this post, I fel the need of revising my previous plans on languages.

The fundamental part is tha the languages in the land of Prime Play are different; they do not have to be any specific language, hence fictional replacements are acceptable.

On the specific languages:

Sabaean or South Arabian are long dead languages, meaning that I might be safe using them here (the same way others use Latin or, which I shall say later, runes), bu there i still the risk of appropriation.

Samaritan... I should have expected tha this language i still used... in religious contexts, a that! While I can say that my world has a large Judeo-Christian basis, using such a language in this way would be offensive.

Runes are used in long dead languages and in fact are in use today in plenty o fantasy uses. They would be reasonably safe, but I am still a bit concerned abou the appropriation here.

I planned on making up my own logograms.

Shorthand is just a shorter way of writing regular text without any cultural connotations and should be safe.

aUI is a constructed 'space' language and should be safe.

My current plan is replacing Samaritan wi the original Phoenician Alphabet, which functions imilarly and is of a long dead script, anyways. That would make Jehoshaphat's name written the following way: 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤐𐤈

I might use Ancient Tamazight, though.

I wonder how I am going to deal wi the diacritics, too, given how Jehoshaphat's region i supposed to use an impure abjad...

[primeplay]

Bonus Day: What is the cycle of life and death in your world?

I noticed tha the last prompt of World Building June had changed between the las time and this time. Because the original blog no longer sent out prompts, I decided to make an extra post dedicated to this new prompt.

The continent of Prime Play defines the Life Cycle (or the 'Circle of Life') this way:

Birth

Growth

Maturity

Senescence

Death

Decay

Feed

Gestation

The Circle of Life is a fundamental concept of the continent of Prime Play. The continent uses an 8-based number system and time system. Each week has 8 cycles which are divided into 8 'hours', but daytime and nightime are considered separate cycles of the week. Characters have a total of 8 fingers and 8 toes.

Notably, the time of day determines the strength of some magic; gestating magic i strongest during foreglow. However, some spells can 'change' the time of day temporarily.

From a legal standpoint, there are laws against murder (of course), bu the more interesting observation is the cultural stigma against murder. The strongest stigma is against abortion because you would be usurping the Circle of Life. Meanwhile, the weakest stigma is against killing the old; they usually rely on 'this has to be bad because the law and culture say so'. The culturally acceptable solution is aiding others in the path of the Circle of Life. Instead of abortion, they support both the mother and the unborn baby... even after the baby is born. (Gestation flows into birth which flows into growth.) Meanwhile, instead of killing the old, they help with palliative care while trying to fulfil any wishes and even just being with the old. How this care is provided depends on the land; there may be a form of the United Kingdom's National Health Service, or there could be volunteers.

In short, the land of Prime Play would be a Pro-Lifer's (and a less-extreme Pro-Choicer's) dream come true.

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 30: What’s the weather like in your world?

Finally, we’re here… ending the month with a cheesy ice-breaker.

Like the Sky prompt, it’s fun to consider what things would be like on a planet where it’s always cloudy, or constantly raining, or drastically windy. Consider doing a bit of research on uncommon weather phenomena on our planet, too - or just making very rare phenomena a common thing on your world, like… fire tornados, I don’t know.

Thank you for joining us for another June, we’ll see you all again next year!

[primeplay]

I think the weater is actually quite cold. The continent is partially based off Scandinavia. The warm areas would be the costal areas, of course, but those who prefer cool weather would be right at home here.

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 29: How do people communicate with each other in your world?

No, this isn’t the Language prompt again. This is more of a “does your world have telephones” prompt.

Depending on the tech available, the way people contact each other changes. Mainstream communication has advanced from letters, to home phones and payphones, to cell phones, to smartphones… and online communication through emails, chatrooms, and forums, have been a constant for a good 20+ years. And hey, if you want to make pigeon mail a normalized thing in your world, nothing’s stopping you.

[primeplay]

Once again, I think tha the curren technology in the real world would match the technology of Prime Play. There is a television broadca station and igital storage, after all.

I wonder how magic would work other than a source of energy. Maybe growing and ecaying magic would work with encryption while mature magic would protect information. Gestation magic might convert information to different forms. Then again, gestation magic might be the charge of conversions in general.

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 28: Who’s important in your world?

Politically or otherwise. Who’s the King, the Queen, the President???

Tell us about the people in charge in your world, or even just relevant historical figures. Who’s making history? Who’s changing the way the people in your world live?

[primeplay]

I frequently mentioned two great powers that ar essentially in charge of the current continent of Prime Play. They actually rule thei respective countries, bu they joinly are the final overseers of th entire union.

Th emperor of the left-wing power is Jehoshaphat (ࠉࠄࠅࠔࠐࠈ), a muscula ram. Thoug he has plenty of physical strength, his main strength is his eloquence and iplomancy. In fact, he places importance on elegance, leading to a rather fabulous æsthetic. After all, he is a leader and has to be respectable, especially since he represents his country. That does not mean that he fakes out of serving his country; he just can deescalate a problem.

Th emperor of the right-wing power is Josiah (𐩺𐩱𐩦𐩺𐩠), a musclegutted goat. While he does take an importance in being professional, he has more a 'Viking' æsthetic and can be an effective war leader if necessary. He would rather demonstrate things than simply speak, even though he alway speaks with sincerity. After all, he still has a job to do in th end, plus his people are depending on him. He has to ge things done.

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 27: How do people get around in your world?

Let’s talk transportation!

What kinds of vehicles do the people in your world use? Are they mechanical, do they have engines? Are the only vehicles in your world sea-based or airborne? Or are they just carriages drawn by beasts? And what’s public transit like?

If the people in your world don’t have vehicles, do they ride on the backs of creatures? What kind of creatures, what kinds of saddles, how many people can ride at a time?

You can also take this prompt to talk about travel routes, and where people have to travel to get to where they need to be.

[primeplay]

I think railways are very popular in the continent, bu there i some dissonance from some countries who have a mentality of 'Where we're going, we don't need roads.' I think those countries would have some sort of 'compatibility connection' wi the other countries... maybe just one or two big rails that connec the other countries with each other.

However, I also wan to do some kind of catbus-style character. There might also be someone who would have an all-terrain vehicle...

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 26: What sorts of art exist in your world?

Art represents a window into the culture, ideas, and heart of the people in your world, from the paintings they create, the music they compose, or the dances they choreograph.

Remember that art does not exist in a vacuum, and is determined by the forces in your world that exert themselves on the creators. A creator who is comfortable and privileged has a much different approach to art than someone who struggles to survive and may be forced to look at art as a means to survive, either financially or spiritually and these effects bleed into their art, through the chosen mediums, through the subject, through the scope.

Also it’s worth considering is how art effects everyone else in your world who simply interacts with it. Traditional dances may link generation to generation in a family just as easily as an heirloom passed down from mother to daughter might. Propaganda drives opinions, architecture becomes the face and personality of a city, songs carry stories. 

[primeplay]

In accordance to the Four Tribes of Scott McCloud, the continent of Prime Play is overwhelmingly classicist. They would not shame anyone who is honestly poor at art, nor do they forbid experimentation or even the unconventional, bu the continent puts a heavy premium on making beautiful, skillful works of ar that have clarity. The visual arts, in particular, really enjoy playing with colour, some works having a boon playing with monochrome, paying attention to contrast and texture. The fiction in Prime Play likes to make worlds that are imaginative and at least a little whimsical, yet you never seem to lose your sense. Finally, they like to invite participation... sometimes the authors outrigh telling you this. Your contributions matter.

Why this premium exists is mainly cultural. The left-wing reat power believes that, becaus every piece of ar tells a message, excellent art skills is eloquence. The right-wing reat power simply loves beauty, though there is also the appeal of tradition ('Tradition in itself does not make right, but traditions tend to be traditions because they endured the trials of time. Besides, why bothe reinventing the wheel?') and the value of hard work.

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 25: What do people carry with them on a daily basis in your world?

AKA “The Backpack”, but this could easily be “The Purse”, or “The Messenger Bag”, or any other kind of bag people use to take things with them that they use every day.

It doesn’t even have to be bag-related; plenty of people IRL go about their daily business with a smartphone and wallet in tow, house key and car keys as well, since those are the things the average american citizen needs when leaving the house.

That being said, the journeys we go on are usually just to our jobs, or to the grocery store, and not on a grand adventure to slay a dragon. By all means, take this prompt to explain what gear the average adventurer needs to make it in your world! If you’re on a long journey, then a weapon, shield, and magic potions are going to end up being what you carry on a daily basis for the entirety of your journey!

[primeplay]

Once again, that is a big question. I am not even sure on the relationship magic has wi th everyday backpack; magic is a raw material, but I am not sure how prevalent magic would be compared to, say, electricity... if ther even is electricity. Even then, you do not need to know electrical engineering if you simply need to use a smartphone.

On what would the main characters bring, I think tha they would bring some receptacle of magic... they are not professional miners, but maybe a few later party members could be?

Because they are going throug hospitals, I think tha they would, in additional to medical protection gear, bring some safety receptacles and disinfection tools... though I think that the protagoinst would not need to bring much of those because he is of the Death element and can bring death to any infections, but I am not sure of that. I am not sure how far anyone can go with medical equipment; the protagoinst deals with fiction and boats, not medicine.

While the protagoinst is effectively immune to the disease and can therefore care directly, the other two main characters are jus tagging along on behalf of the local network that wants to report on the epidemic. Aside from cameras and protection of cameras and other broadcast equipment, I think tha there would be some directions to the broadcasting stations of all the countries... mainly because the footage has to be stored and backed up somewhere.

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 24: What places are still unexplored in your world?

Hey, let’s talk about where your intrepid adventures might have to go, where adventurers before them have been unable to chart!

… Or you can talk about places nigh unexplorable, places like the bottom of the sea bed, or an abandoned kingdom above the clouds… building the desolate corners of the world is still world building!

[primeplay]

This place focuses on the capitals and hospitals. There are a lot of areas that I can explore in later games, though I think tha the current continent already has a rather thorough coverage.

However, the area of Prime Play is actually just one continent. I keep imagining tha the continet is pretty much in a very big river that i surrounded by other continents that, thoug having the same access to magic, do not necessarily follow the same rules the current continent has.

[worldbuildingjune]

Day 23: What’s the sky like in your world?

Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high~

Honestly, changing the color of the sky in your world can do a lot to change the atmosphere, story-wise, and I can’t decide if I intended that pun or not. Consider the Earth and the Moon: the sky on Earth is blue in daytime because the sunlight gets scattered when it goes through our atmosphere, leaving blue light more visible than reds or yellows. Meanwhile, on the Moon, there is no atmosphere, so the light isn’t scattered, but reflected - the sky on the Moon is black and clear, though the moon itself is lit up. Perhaps your world has similar conditions, or different conditions entirely that give the sky a completely different color?

What’s also important to consider is the weather; if your world has no water, then there most likely aren’t any clouds, and your sky would be clear every day. Inversely, if your world is completely covered in water, it may have a lot of cloud cover, or at least is very foggy.

[primeplay]

...honestly, I think the sky is the same the way ours is.

I wonder if the magi comes from the sky, though. I find fascinating how the real-world Sun is giving us a functionally infinite resource. Maybe the Sun of Prime Play combines wi the atmosphere and naturally makes crude magic. After all, the Sun is the source of the generation of photosynthesis and vitamin D, not o mention all of the special properties unlight has.

Then again, those might not be the only factors. Magic might be degenerate matter or post-plasma. The atmosphere and sunlight would have to do something that makes this matter in an at least relatively pure form. Maybe there i some substance in space that sunlight and the atmosphere turns into crude magic.

Either one is possible.