As there is no better place yet, let's discuss the new RPG here.



I just read the blog post http://www.winterwolves.net/blog/2013/05/dont-rest-on-your-laurels/ and the first thing I thought: Oh, someone is biting up more than he can swallow There should be 4 RPGs under active development: Loren 2, Stronghold 2, Roger Steele, and now the "Unknown RPG".



So the game is in the world of Aravorn as well, according to the blog, but not a Loren sequel. There is no better way to invite speculation than this.



Hmm, Artwork seems to be taken from other games for now, the party not from Loren. So it's like there is no common story with Loren involved, except the world Aravorn. Which seems a pity, considering the sexy Nagas. But as it is a Winterwolves game, there will be some other romanceable characters. Hopefully. Maybe even the demon girls of Spirited heart.



Background for this one combat is mountain and snow. Will the game be in some kind of frozen wasteland? What story could be in a frozen wasteland?

Ahah and I hoped nobody would notice/ask...



The party sprites were temporary placeholders, I reused the discarded sprite from Spirited Heart 2



It will take place in a far away land from Loren's one, though I plan to include some references to that setting. I don't want to say too much now about the story, and just to be clear will be NOWHERE near Loren's length. Is crazy to say but I'm doing this in my free time, "for fun". Not that I don't have fun doing the others, but in this case I'm totally experimenting new things modifying Loren's framework.

It was since last year in Summer that wasn't doing any "serious" coding stuff (dating sims are much easier to code) and so thought to do this so I don't forget completely how to code Besides, since I don't know yet if for Roger Steele will use Loren framework or the new one being made for PS2 (but probably the new one) I thought was worth it anyway.



Some random hints about the game:

- party will be of ONLY (mouahhaha) 7 characters, including your MC. A bit because is smaller scope game, a bit because want to have more character development having less of them in party (when you have 13 like in Loren, it gets hard! unless the game is huge, but this must NOT BE!)

- game starts frozen place, though not exactly wastelands

- there will be an Arena

- none of Loren's character will be present, but could be known by others

- there will be BIG wolves

- a brother and a sister

- Loren's artist will do all the art

- will have ONLY 4 romances, one for each combo (BxG,BxG,GxG,BxB)

- it has a BARD in it



ok that's enough info. I have no estimate release. I want the writer to work and finish the plot fast, so I can commission the art, but as for when will be able to code it, have no clue. Basically, if there's dead time between projects I work on this!

Ahah and I hoped nobody would notice/ask...

Well, that's what a blog is for But many thanks for the details.

party will be of ONLY (mouahhaha) 7 characters, including your MC

This will not leave a lot of space for getting rid of characters I dislike. Except if I make the party intentitionally smaller, something I avoid where possible.

it has a BARD in it

A bard with a beard?

Ah, well, never mind, as long as the bard will compose great songs about whatever the MC (= ME) accomplishes, I am fine.

Having fun with the bards songs (which are in practice his spells). How's the title "Draco's Fire Dance"?

http://24.media.tumblr.com/5a7794d5406b475c97ece4ce70417ecb/tumblr_mmu4n7ZPvR1qhts2bo1_500.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

One of the game characters, Sebilis. I like her design She is the GxG only romance.

Having fun with the bards songs (which are in practice his spells). How's the title "Draco's Fire Dance"?

Hmm, let's see what you wrote before:

- none of Loren's character will be present, but could be known by others

So they know about Loren, and sing songs praising a party member. Will they also sing songs about ME ... ehhmmm ... about Eleanor/Saren?

One of the game characters, Sebilis. I like her design She is the GxG only romance.

Nice. Really really nice. This is the same artist who drew the art for Bionic Heart 2? If so, in this picture (s)he is back to the old form. (Or maybe it is the coloring of BH2)

The Saren/Elenor thing is tricky... since varies depending who the player played in Loren's game so a bit hard to refer to him/her

The artist is the same, I think is just the BH2 coloring even if to be honest the sprites of BH2 were indeed a bit different from the usual style.

Yesterday I also coded a cool new feature in my RPG experiments, which will illustrate in next blog post. Suffice to say that Thief in the front line will have some use again!

What? No songs about Saren/Elenor?



I usually had Karen in the frontline, even on "hard" difficulty. But I did not buy the extension, maybe with the extension I would choose differently. Oh, and when I played Elenor as Thief, she was in the front as well. But I will read the blog with interest.

Well this is when added the MC to the story in some way would benefit you so you could write about them

In the latest update, Karen is much more powerful even in frontline. After all she was the Amazon Queen so couldn't be a weakling

The songs about Saren/Elenor is one of those cases when having a previous game in which you choose the MC is a "problem". What should it say, that Saren was on Loren's side in the battle against Fost? or wait, it was Elenor? it could be done with some clever writing though, in a way so that the player chooses it.

Bard: "Let me tell you the story of... Siren? ah no wait it was a woman, Lenor?"

MC: "It was (choice) Elenor!"

Bard: "Ah yes, the ballad of Elenor the half-elf who helped the Amazon Princess Loren defeat Fost bla bla bla EPIC SONG!"

Not sure I have the latest patch, I played the game back when it was new. Even before the extension was released. But even then Karen was useful on the frontline (but the healer was healing full-time )



"I play you the song about the slave who helped Loren defeat the evil Fost. Unfortunately, the slave was slave of the amazons, and they are always a be ... spotty ... when recording the names of them. Anyway, it is said that this slave was even stronger and whiser than the great Loren herself."

Yes I agree if this is in the future and on another continent then who's to say that the stories (songs) don't change or get mixed up. Was the slave a man or a woman; an elf or a human? I don't think it matters in a song as long as the essence is there. People can't expect you cater for everyone so a happy medium it is

I can always use the "drunk bard" cheat mode in the story

Well, the blog post is out, and the secret about the thieves is out now as well It is that they can hit enemies anywhere (front or back) without penalities.



I think I will put three Thieves in the frontline, each maxed out on speed. This should give me a good chance to put paid to the wizard in the backrow, and THEN the rest of the fight should be a cakewalk. I tried this in Loren, but (hard difficulty) the wizards survived long enough to heal themselves, and the bows take much too long before the next attack. (But only on hard, on medium the tactic worked fine.) If melee works anywhere, it will be very, VERY strong.



The idea about bonus/malus tiles on the battlefield is quite nice, actually. Possibly better suited to stronghold, maybe. A big stone would hide me from arrows (or plasma rifles ), but the defense against an enemy swordfighter would not be much improved. Maybe something which buffs or prevents certain kinds of magic? (Like ... quite old, but anyway ... Master of Magic and the Elemental nodes there?)



Oh, and before I forget, some lines for the song:

Who was strong where there are no sons?

Who fought beside Loren, through hills and plains?

Whose name is lost? But fame remains?

The slave of the amazons

...

Haha nice song



But of course having all Thieves won't work, because I'll also add some special abilities to the Warriors. Or simply change the fact that the thieves cannot sustain much damage in the front line. Or something else, but of course that needs to be tested and balanced.



The tiles with bonus/malus is good too, though maybe a bit hard to represent on the screen, which is already quite cluttered. So maybe I'll just have a generic battlefield setting/theme, like a fight on the swamp=bonus death magic, slower movement, and so on. Even if is a "global" thing should be already interesting I think!

Eek! So excited to see the main characters and the rest of the crew I love this artists art! Wish I was that talented.

Got more sketches, but want to wait before showing them. We have a bearded magician guy (BxB), a muscular female barbarian (BxG) and other interesting characters. I am trying to have more variety of faces and body shapes/sizes in this game and so far I think is going well

How interesting can't wait to see them. Just the GxB romance to go then... I wonder. GxG was cute but don't know any details. so hard to guess.

Will do a proper introduction to them (some details will need to be left a bit uncertain though) once I have all the sprites colored, since some characters have particular hair/eye/skin colors

So I'm starting to get the colored party members. Taleweaver already wrote the character intros, so starting this Sunday will post a new character each week