Dark Gaia

[salamander]

Since I have my new game forum now, I'll start off by summarizing everything about Dark Gaia so far.

Title: Dark Gaia
Platform: RPG Maker 1
Rated: T for Teen for violence, language, alcohol, suggestive themes
Genre: Action adventure


---------------------------Main Characters-----------------------


Gene
20
Male
Gene is with a group in his city called salvagers. They go out and try to find scrap materials in the dangerous outskirts of the city, respond to bandit sightings, things like that. He is usually straightforward and confident in whatever he does, and rarely shows any fear. Not being a natural-born leader, he is best when he's got friends by his side. Tall, black hair and clothes, with a white bandana and belt.

Shika
18
Female
Shika is a healer in her small tropical village. She shows kindness to all, and is always willing to help those in need. Even though she enjoys her job, she longs for a life of adventure. Cares greatly for Gene, and gets jealous when he talks to other girls.

Alcora
21
Male
Alcora is a priest and a scholar in his northern village. He is soft-spoken, always the voice of reason, and always serious. He is the expert on all things holy and arcane, including different types of matter. Even though he is relatively young still, he has the wisdom of a sage.

Mundy
13
Female
Mundy is an extremely talented archer. Having no parents, she has always been raised since birth by her whole village collectively. She is completely blind, but can sense objects and things all around her, as if she had sight. Timid and shy, she's slow to trust people. Mundy desperately wants to have a purpose in life.


Samson
23
Male
Samson is the star fighter from his desert town. He's the kind of person who'll attack first and ask questions later. Eager to start trouble, he's a hothead. He hates it when he is made to look weak or soft/feminine.

Maria
21
Female
Maria is strong, playful, and flirtatious. She is attracted to every guy she meets, except for Samson. They constantly argue about anything. Maria is the party type and would rather spend the night on the town than fighting monsters.




----------------------------Synopsis----------------------------------



The game starts off in the 25th century. Earth is in shambles due to the countless wars for territory and profit. Among the few cities that remain, one called Palos is where we find our hero, Gene.

Gene is part of a small task force group called salvagers. They routinely go into the dangerous parts of Palos to find useful parts, respond to distress calls about monsters or bandits, that kind of thing. One night, on an otherwise ordinary bandit raid, Gene and his best friend Zane are chatting up who has to buy the round of drinks at Ruby's after their mission, when something catches Zane's eye.

They go a little bit off the path to find some kind of floating black and violet sphere. Not knowing what else to do, Gene touches it. It responds and seems to fly into Zane, and, with a loud bang and clatter, everything goes black...

Gene finally awakes to find himself laying on a beach. Barely able to open his eyes because of the mysterious encounter with the black mass, he sees Zane slinking off to go find help. Unable to keep his strength any more, Gene passes back out...

...to awaken in the small bed of a cute girl named Shika. She tells him that Zane came through the village, and that Gene should go speak to the village's tribal council.

After finding a few Island daisies (which is required for all outsiders to get into the temple) Gene finally speaks to the council. They relay to him very bad news. Zane has absorbed dark matter (the black mass they found in Palos city). They explain further: if someone of a good heart comes into contact with dark matter, they battle it, and hopefully vanquish it; but if someone with an evil heart comes into contact with dark matter, then it will only strengthen their evil.

This was the case with Zane. The council informed Gene that it will only be a matter of time before Zane is engulfed with more and more darkness, possibly threatening all of gaia if he isn't stopped. Gene's path was now clear: stop Zane. How he was going to do that was another question...

He was told of someone who knows more about the arcane than anyone else on gaia: a priest/scholar by the name of Alcora, who lives far to the north. Gene was feeling more confident, now that he had more concrete directions. Go to the northern village of Xenith and meet up with Alcora.

Not wanting him to go alone, Shika declares she is going with him, whether he likes it or not! So they set off on their long and arduous journey through the magical land of ~Dark Gaia~

[salamander]

Re: Dark Gaia

-----------------------------Gameplay---------------------------------


Gameplay consists basically of towns and wilderness areas. Below is listed some of the things you can expect to do.

~TOWNS~

1. Buy new weapons, armor, and items from shops.
2. Chat up the locals in the tavern.
3. Have a nice relaxing stay at the Inn.
4. Wander around and get yourself lost.
5. Trade your Ether points to raise your stats


~WILDERNESS AREAS~

1. Explore around to find treasure, ingredients, and other items.
2. Battle monsters to gain levels and Ether points.
3. Set up camp to talk to your party, make food meals and medicines.

Of course, there's exceptions and special circumstances, but these are the basic gameplay features in Dark Gaia.


-----------------------------BATTLES------------------------------


When in wilderness areas, you will come across little dark spheres roaming about. Touch one of these and a battle with a monster or monsters will start. Be aware this game DOES use the standard battle system with RM1. I'm not completely evil, however, because the way it is set up, you can see the dark matters floating about the map, and if you don't feel like battling anything, then just avoid them (This won't seem like a good idea once you come to the forced boss battles in the game...).

Kill an enemy, and the dark matter sphere disappears to be replaced by ethereal essence, or Ether. Just walk into it to collect the Ether points. Ether points act just like money in Dark Gaia. With Ether points, you can buy new equipment and items, or you can boost your strength, defense, magic defense, HP, or MP permanently. Choosing how to spend your Ether points adds a new layer of depth to the gameplay.

Dark Gaia doesn't use the class system. I want to keep things relatively simple. The battles don't take forever either, and you will level up kind of quickly if you revisit an area once or twice.


-----------------------------FEATURES-------------------------------


Throughout your journeys in Gaia, pick up as many ingredients as you can find. Fruits, berries, roots, plants, monster parts; all are good ingredients that can be used to make useful salves and medicines. When you set up camp in an area, talk to Shika to begin the creation process. You can also bring meat from monsters you've killed to the campfire to cook it into something edible.

There is two official endings to the story. What ending you recieve is determined by a pivotal event in the middle of the story.

Two post-game dungeons will be included for your playing pleasure. The hall of Odin is a very serious and very grueling challenge; only the toughest players will get to the end. The Dunjin of Dewm is a humorous romp filled with preposterous monsters, obscene people, and extremely offensive content; explorers enter at your own discretion.

Towards the end of the game, there is a small quest dealing with each party member that deals with either their past or future, and they're all worth doing.

Here's the world map for Dark Gaia.

[Deeth Irteen]

Re: Dark Gaia

Here's the world map for Dark Gaia.

That's an awesome rough draft and all, but won't it be a pain in the ass to transform it into a map in RPGM1? Just asking.

[salamander]

Re: Dark Gaia

That's an awesome rough draft and all, but won't it be a pain in the ass to transform it into a map in RPGM1? Just asking.

I'm not going to use the map feature in RM1; it's just too boring and has been seen too many times in my opinion. Every one of my maps will be connected to eachother with no 'world map' in the game. The above map that I made was just a visualization of all the areas.

[salamander]

Re: Dark Gaia

Well, here's some concept art like I promised. More to come soon!

P.S. I know I'm not the best at painting because I just started painting last week and am still learning the basics.



Two of the main characters: Gene and Shika in all their awesomeness.
Shika brings life and joy to Gene's stressful journey. She reminds him to stop and smell the flowers once in a while. Gene teaches her to set your eyes on a goal and never give up to reach it. He makes her feel protected and not alone. They are a great duo.

Acryllics and Pen

[salamander]

Re: Dark Gaia



Maria the spearwoman. She's the last person to join your party in your adventure, and definately the rowdiest. She flirts with almost every man she sees, but has become extra smitten with Gene. She constantly bickers with and hates Samson, however, and he reciprocates the feelings.

Maria brings some sexy spice to the party (often making Shika jealous).

Color pencils and pen.

[salamander]

Re: Dark Gaia

Due to switch limits, I had to scrap the idea of cooking meat over the campfires. But turning ingredients into potions has been implemented and works quite well. Expect to see a playable demo within the month!