When I originally started planning Elibian Nights, I decided to cut several characters from the cast. They'd have cameo appearances, perhaps, but no major story roles. In the initial drafts, Bartre and Karla were confined to a house scene in Lyn's Tale, Dart was only referred to by Fargus, and Nino and Jaffar were completely missing.
I didn't really much care about their fates, and had no interest in chronicling it. However, as the project grew, it eventually encompassed the entire cast. It came to the point where Jaffar and Nino were the only characters (save Athos, who had died) that didn't have a story role. So, Jaffar and Nino were reunited in the second part of Pent's Tale, and that fulfilled my duty to somehow incorporate every member of the FE7 cast. I'll admit it, they were initially simply thrown into that tale because they needed to appear somewhere. That tale needed a few more playable characters, so I made it work.
Showing posts with label Elibian Nights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elibian Nights. Show all posts
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Gameplay Concepts & Enhancements
With Elibian Nights winding down its development, I thought I'd take the time to reflect on some gameplay concepts that haven't seen fruition. There's always a chance I could come back and add them, but after the v6 release I'm essentially calling it a finished product. Still, here's four ideas I thought I'd share.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Boss Profile: Tybalt
On a snowy Ilian night, Marshal Tybalt fell . The young champion Zealot (or Jerrot, as some call him) exposed a classic case of corruption; the good marshal ordered his men, under the guise of banditry, to steal back the supplies rationed for the villagers by the Knight's Union. Tybalt would then supply the goods to merchants—at inflated prices, of course—by selling from the union's "excess supply." He gouged the impoverished, starving citizens for every speck of gold; it never really bothered him too much, either.
With Zealot's victory, justice . It came, however, with a price; before his death, Tybalt managed to land a strong blow at Zealot's leg. He could no longer walk. Poetic, almost, considering that Tybalt himself endured a similar fate in his earlier life. Tybalt famously used a Bernese wyvern as his mount. A heated room was kept for the creature, courtesy of the homeland guard's small mage corps. The beast was fearsome indeed, but Tybalt trained originally as a footsoldier. During a year abroad in Bern, Tybalt sustained a critical hit to the right leg, a crippling injury.
With Zealot's victory, justice . It came, however, with a price; before his death, Tybalt managed to land a strong blow at Zealot's leg. He could no longer walk. Poetic, almost, considering that Tybalt himself endured a similar fate in his earlier life. Tybalt famously used a Bernese wyvern as his mount. A heated room was kept for the creature, courtesy of the homeland guard's small mage corps. The beast was fearsome indeed, but Tybalt trained originally as a footsoldier. During a year abroad in Bern, Tybalt sustained a critical hit to the right leg, a crippling injury.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Boss Profile: Onslow
As a young child, Onslow often dreamt of princedom. He grew up in Worde's poorest village and envied the luxuries afforded to these privileged elites.
Onslow, determined to escape the trap of poverty, eventually became a Lycian merchant. Nothing extraordinary. His business was average; it paid bills, but provided nothing more. With the birth of his son, Onslow resolved to create something worth passing on.
Discontent with the life of an ordinary merchant, Onslow began to explore other avenues for profit. This led him into his first dealings with criminals; he specialized in distributing black market goods to ordinary sellers. What good is theft, after all, if it doesn't translate into gold?
Unable to keep these secrets from his wife, she soon left him outright. At first Onslow despaired, but eventually he found solace by investing himself further in his criminal career. He maneuvered himself from selling the goods to stealing them himself. Bandits aren't typically an intellectual lot, and Onslow, although no genius himself, was smarter than the average brigand. He drew up the plans, his gang carried them out. His right-hand man, Warner, was in charge of the muscle.
Onslow, determined to escape the trap of poverty, eventually became a Lycian merchant. Nothing extraordinary. His business was average; it paid bills, but provided nothing more. With the birth of his son, Onslow resolved to create something worth passing on.
Discontent with the life of an ordinary merchant, Onslow began to explore other avenues for profit. This led him into his first dealings with criminals; he specialized in distributing black market goods to ordinary sellers. What good is theft, after all, if it doesn't translate into gold?
Unable to keep these secrets from his wife, she soon left him outright. At first Onslow despaired, but eventually he found solace by investing himself further in his criminal career. He maneuvered himself from selling the goods to stealing them himself. Bandits aren't typically an intellectual lot, and Onslow, although no genius himself, was smarter than the average brigand. He drew up the plans, his gang carried them out. His right-hand man, Warner, was in charge of the muscle.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Abandoned Tales Archive: Athos' Tale
Yeah, this is going to be a series of articles (I have quite a few unused tale ideas to share). In the previous article we discussed the unused gaiden tales, but my discarded ideas aren't limited simply to follow-ups to the existing tales. In case you couldn't tell by this article's title, at one point I'd developed a potential tale for Athos. Originally, I'd planned to leave a significant portion of FE7's cast out of Elibian Nights; by the time I pondered an Athos Tale, every other FE7 cast member had an appearance in some shape or form. I developed two concepts to give Athos an appearance as well.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Boss Profile: Dawson
Marquess Dawson was a staunchly opinionated man, the adamant ruler of Ryerde, a territory in the Lycian League.
He once, as a young adult awaiting succession, spent a year living as a villager in Kathelet. Dawson was determined to see the world for himself. During that time, he formed many of his opinions on governance—opinions that were often starkly different from the prevailing thoughts of his era. He firmly believes in the benefits of local-based governance, including the popular selection of officials that dealt most directly with citizens. Under his rule, Ryerde one attempted a limited system of local democracy, where the Marquess nominated officials for a popular vote of approval. Dawson took care to nominate local leaders with established reputations in their communities, in order to give those communities a sense of connection with their government.
By some measures, it worked. Dawson oversaw the most rapid growth in military volunteers, as popular support encouraged service to the state. However, without a mechanism for the reconsideration of these officials (they served until they retired of their own accord), the perks of incumbency and power took its toll on Dawson's experiment. Although Dawson nominated local leaders to government posts, the system eventually degraded into a bureaucracy typical of that era's states. The "local officials" grew disconnected, and essentially became the government officials of old. A small burst of democracy and popular support reverted. The decline became undeniably apparent nine years after the system first began. Rarely, a death or retirement would bring in a new face, but with the majority of officials bureaucrafied, they could make little impact.
He once, as a young adult awaiting succession, spent a year living as a villager in Kathelet. Dawson was determined to see the world for himself. During that time, he formed many of his opinions on governance—opinions that were often starkly different from the prevailing thoughts of his era. He firmly believes in the benefits of local-based governance, including the popular selection of officials that dealt most directly with citizens. Under his rule, Ryerde one attempted a limited system of local democracy, where the Marquess nominated officials for a popular vote of approval. Dawson took care to nominate local leaders with established reputations in their communities, in order to give those communities a sense of connection with their government.
By some measures, it worked. Dawson oversaw the most rapid growth in military volunteers, as popular support encouraged service to the state. However, without a mechanism for the reconsideration of these officials (they served until they retired of their own accord), the perks of incumbency and power took its toll on Dawson's experiment. Although Dawson nominated local leaders to government posts, the system eventually degraded into a bureaucracy typical of that era's states. The "local officials" grew disconnected, and essentially became the government officials of old. A small burst of democracy and popular support reverted. The decline became undeniably apparent nine years after the system first began. Rarely, a death or retirement would bring in a new face, but with the majority of officials bureaucrafied, they could make little impact.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Abandoned Tales Archive: A Trio of Gaidens
During the height of Elibian Nights' development, quite a few tale ideas were formed. I thought it might be fun to release some of our unused chapter concepts, since there is a handful of them to share. In the final product, there are three main tales with "gaidens," side-stories that follow up on the previous tale's events. Plans were drafted for gaidens to the other tales as well (sans the two-part tales and the finale, of course), but ultimately those plans never saw fruition.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
A Choice: Lyn's Tale Revamped
As things stand, Elibian Nights is in its final stages of development. The Final Tale is actually complete; I could, in theory, just release the thing after tying together a few odds and ends.
However, it's never that easy in my world. Recently I undertook the task of revamping Lyn's tale. Just when I'm close enough to release the thing, I just have to add more things to my plate.
Here's a bit of backstory. Elibian Nights began as a partnership between myself and Nayr, a spriter in the community. The original release contained three tales: Eliwood's, Raven's, and Lyn's. Out of the original trio, Eliwood's and Raven's had been extensively revamped. Both had been rewritten almost entirely; Eliwood's got a new map with a revamped story, Raven's got an entirely new location and plot. It's almost baffling to me, in retrospect, that I preserved Lyn's tale for so long.
However, it's never that easy in my world. Recently I undertook the task of revamping Lyn's tale. Just when I'm close enough to release the thing, I just have to add more things to my plate.
Here's a bit of backstory. Elibian Nights began as a partnership between myself and Nayr, a spriter in the community. The original release contained three tales: Eliwood's, Raven's, and Lyn's. Out of the original trio, Eliwood's and Raven's had been extensively revamped. Both had been rewritten almost entirely; Eliwood's got a new map with a revamped story, Raven's got an entirely new location and plot. It's almost baffling to me, in retrospect, that I preserved Lyn's tale for so long.
Efta: The Last Morph
If it isn't apparent by now, I kind of have a certain fondness for unused beta tidbits. I find it absolutely fascinating to know what developers were planning, and I think it's really cool to see all of the discarded ideas. So, as a person developing a game, I enjoy sharing my unused concepts and releasing those development stories. To celebrate the reconstruction of Pent's Tale (complete with a new map, courtesy of Feaw), I figured I'd release the unused concept that was supposed to end Pent's Tale: Efta.
(Note: I posted this a while ago on Fire Emblem Cafe, which was supposed to make this blog obsolete. It didn't, and so I'm just reposting this entry so that we have the complete "development diary" thing going on).
Efta, given the nature of Elibian Nights, is one of the few unused characters that was conceptualized for the project. The character's name comes from an unused text entry in FE7, the name of a suspected unused boss. When commenting on the unused content, VincentASM remarked that it "sounds like a Morph's name." Efta was supposed to be a playable morph; at the end of Pent's Tale, at Renault's burial, Pent was to hear a rustling bush. Investigating, he found a young morph created in the likeness of a child, somewhat resembling Nergal himself. Pent took Efta, a lost child, back with him to Reglay. Efta was supposed to have a central role in Pent's second tale.
(Note: I posted this a while ago on Fire Emblem Cafe, which was supposed to make this blog obsolete. It didn't, and so I'm just reposting this entry so that we have the complete "development diary" thing going on).
Efta, given the nature of Elibian Nights, is one of the few unused characters that was conceptualized for the project. The character's name comes from an unused text entry in FE7, the name of a suspected unused boss. When commenting on the unused content, VincentASM remarked that it "sounds like a Morph's name." Efta was supposed to be a playable morph; at the end of Pent's Tale, at Renault's burial, Pent was to hear a rustling bush. Investigating, he found a young morph created in the likeness of a child, somewhat resembling Nergal himself. Pent took Efta, a lost child, back with him to Reglay. Efta was supposed to have a central role in Pent's second tale.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Elibian Nights II: The April Fool's Joke That Almost Was (But Never Would've Happened)
Remember last year's April Fools FE4 Advance shenanigans? The barrage of seemingly legit screenshots, the video of the first generation's ending, recreated on glorious GBAFE, all ending with the announcement of the project's death? Well, as this year's April 1st drew near, I started thinking of a potential follow-up. Couldn't be another fake release, especially because Elibian Nights is a game that will be actually finished. So, I pondered it a bit, and I figured that a gag hack announcement would do just fine. Might be funny, but the average person would definitely see through the ruse, especially since I did something similar last year. But, whatever. I figured I'd go with it anyways, I'd announce the thing I said that I'd never announce; "Elibian Nights II."
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wait, wait, wait! Hector had a half-brother?
 |
| Mentioned briefly in a chapter of FE6. |
Yeah, he did. Lord Orun, the Marquess of Thria, was the focus of Chapter 6 in FE6. On Roy's path to Ostia, he decided to stop by Thria, trusting that Orun would aid him in his quest. Roy arrives, however, to find Wagner, the trusted adviser of Lord Orun, claiming that the Marquess is ill and cannot see Roy. The chapter evolves into a plot by Wagner, who usurped Lord Orun by killing him in his sleep, to capture Roy and earn the favor of Bern.
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Many, Many Forms of Tale 7 (Part III)
I started looking at the blog today, and I realized, "wow, I wrote this article finishing up the story of Tale 7 and never published it!" So, coming at you quite later than it ought to have, is "The Many, Many Forms of Tale 7 (Part III)!"
Going into the fourth draft, I decided to focus on something different. First off, I wanted more emphasis on Zealot as a man, rather than a figure of history. Juno would obviously play an integral part to that sort of development, so she had to be included in some capacity. The conflict would need to bring out the best in Zealot's character, that was one criterion. Second, I wanted to change Zealot's class. I added the Halberdier class, but there were no opportunities to actually make it playable up to this point. Zealot was good with lances, so I figured "why not?" But then I'd have to explain how he went from Halberdier to horse-rider. That would be the end result of the conflict, I decided, and Zealot would have to be forced to change classes.
The final draft was developed around a small-scale conflict. Zealot had been dispatched to distribute rations under Marshall Tybalt, a simple task on a year Zealot wished to remain in Ilia. This, however, escalates into conflict when it is discovered that the bandits raiding these villages are actually involved in a money-making scheme set up by Tybalt, a bitter and crippled soldier seeking to line his own pockets. Tybalt, it was decided, would serve as a character foil for Zealot. Both men were promising, young commanders. Both graduated at the top of their class, and both had very, very bright futures in the eyes of many. During a conflict with Bern, however, Tybalt was greatly wounded. His leg was shattered by a Tomahawk thrown at him by the enemy commander, he could never walk again, let alone fight. Tybalt was given his post as Marshall and tasked with distributing rations to a scarcely populated section of Ilia. It was the guild's gift to him for his sacrifice. Tybalt, however, felt robbed of his future, and grew into a bitter man. Years later, Zealot would undergo a similar upbringing, and ultimately his fate would end up in the hands of Tybalt, envious of Zealot and the bright future that he possesses.
As time went on additions were made. Sykes was pulled, seemingly out of thin air, to join the cast as a conflicted subordinate of Tybalt's (mostly because he could display The Blind Archer's new Swordmaster animation, but hey, he was worked in quite well). Niime, a hermit living in Ilia's mountains, came into the picture as a confirmation of Canas's death (and also because the party was in DIRE need of a healer). Sain was added to the tale after it was decided that he would leave Caelin in search of love. With Sain came Sigune, adding a deeper love plot of a girl lusting for Zealot, in a committed relationship with Juno. Finally we had a romantic sub-plot with some depth, and a game's worth of Sain's shenanigans compressed into one tale.
"That's more like it," I thought. Fourth time's the charm, I suppose, at least when it comes to drafting tales.
Going into the fourth draft, I decided to focus on something different. First off, I wanted more emphasis on Zealot as a man, rather than a figure of history. Juno would obviously play an integral part to that sort of development, so she had to be included in some capacity. The conflict would need to bring out the best in Zealot's character, that was one criterion. Second, I wanted to change Zealot's class. I added the Halberdier class, but there were no opportunities to actually make it playable up to this point. Zealot was good with lances, so I figured "why not?" But then I'd have to explain how he went from Halberdier to horse-rider. That would be the end result of the conflict, I decided, and Zealot would have to be forced to change classes.
The final draft was developed around a small-scale conflict. Zealot had been dispatched to distribute rations under Marshall Tybalt, a simple task on a year Zealot wished to remain in Ilia. This, however, escalates into conflict when it is discovered that the bandits raiding these villages are actually involved in a money-making scheme set up by Tybalt, a bitter and crippled soldier seeking to line his own pockets. Tybalt, it was decided, would serve as a character foil for Zealot. Both men were promising, young commanders. Both graduated at the top of their class, and both had very, very bright futures in the eyes of many. During a conflict with Bern, however, Tybalt was greatly wounded. His leg was shattered by a Tomahawk thrown at him by the enemy commander, he could never walk again, let alone fight. Tybalt was given his post as Marshall and tasked with distributing rations to a scarcely populated section of Ilia. It was the guild's gift to him for his sacrifice. Tybalt, however, felt robbed of his future, and grew into a bitter man. Years later, Zealot would undergo a similar upbringing, and ultimately his fate would end up in the hands of Tybalt, envious of Zealot and the bright future that he possesses.
As time went on additions were made. Sykes was pulled, seemingly out of thin air, to join the cast as a conflicted subordinate of Tybalt's (mostly because he could display The Blind Archer's new Swordmaster animation, but hey, he was worked in quite well). Niime, a hermit living in Ilia's mountains, came into the picture as a confirmation of Canas's death (and also because the party was in DIRE need of a healer). Sain was added to the tale after it was decided that he would leave Caelin in search of love. With Sain came Sigune, adding a deeper love plot of a girl lusting for Zealot, in a committed relationship with Juno. Finally we had a romantic sub-plot with some depth, and a game's worth of Sain's shenanigans compressed into one tale.
"That's more like it," I thought. Fourth time's the charm, I suppose, at least when it comes to drafting tales.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Who the hell is Sykes?
Sykes, Sykes Sykes. Who the hell is Sykes? An Ilian mercenary under the employ of the corrupt Commander Tybalt. A patriotic man who feels strongly attached to his country, a man who seeks to repay for his crimes against his fellow Ilians. He switches sides and joins Zealot's army for salvation in Elibian Nights. It looks like I just invented another character, right? Well, you'd be wrong for assuming so! Turns out, Sykes is already in the Elibian canon.
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Many, Many Forms of Tale 7 (Part II)
One day, as I was mulling over characters, an idea struck. "Zealot!" I quickly sent to my go-to spriter at the time, Nayr. His response, however, almost turned me off from the idea. Instead of Zealot, he sent me "Zealot's dad," which turned out to be an incredibly recognizable splice of Orson's head on another character's armor, recolored to have black hair. At that point I was ready to just say "fuck it" if I couldn't get a decent sprite. Luckily, The Blind Archer was much more accommodating. Going to him paid in spades. Zealot would become the tale's new lead, and I could finally base the story around someone that I could work with, rather than exploring the continuing military careers of already-established, non-major characters.
Zealot, in FE6, is a renown and popular mercenary in Ilia, serving as the head of Ilia's Mercenary Guild. In addition to this he is also the honorary Lord of Edessa, and after FE6's plot Zealot reforms the government and becomes Ilia's first King. For such a major figure in Elibian history, I felt Zealot was left terribly unexplored. But, how exactly did he become so famous? What made him so compelling? These were interesting questions that I could possibly answer. I began working on the third draft, this time building it around Zealot's rise.
Draft 3: The Ilian Guild is in chaos. Given its loosely structured nature, warring factions have risen to prominence within the guild. One side, a band of corrupt, profiteering mercenaries, the other side focused on the people, but terribly inefficient at governance. As the people of Ilia starve, they await for a hero to rise above this conflict and finally deliver peace and stability. Enter Zealot, the young, charismatic commander of a squadron of soldiers. Zealot's forces wage a decisive battle against Sir Ayron's camp. The tale follows Zealot's path to triumph and rise to power.
Fiora and Farina returned in this draft, as did Wallace. Florina had already been moved to Tale 3, and there she would stay. Unfortunately didn't experience a net gain of any party members, I merely traded Florina for Zealot. However, this draft began a strong new foundation on which to build the tale.
The problem of party members would come to be solved by the chapter's decided "gimmick." While chatting with Blazer one day, he proposed an interesting idea. With his permission to borrow it, I took it and ran. The idea focused around creating an epic, large battle through the use of NPCs. There would be five unit captains for the five types of units you could call: Archers, Pegasus Knights, Soldiers, Cavaliers, and Mages. Every several turns, Zealot could talk to one of the captains and that would send the orders for 5 reinforcements of that type to come to your aid. The battle would be fought in waves, and which units you called at which time could either make or break your campaign. This idea went so far that I decided to commission mugs from The Blind Archer for each captain (which can be viewed in Tale 7, I recycled the mugs so they wouldn't be wasted).
Although I was excited by the chapter's gimmick, and the plot was acceptable, ultimately I decided that, while an epic battle and Zealot seizing power would be quite cool, that I would prefer to scale things down a bit. Zealot, after all, is only in his twenties at this point in the timeline, quite early on in life to be commanding the Ilian Knights. The quota for a grand-scale epic battle was also already filled, I felt, by Tale 5. One last draft, I decided, would settle it.
Zealot, in FE6, is a renown and popular mercenary in Ilia, serving as the head of Ilia's Mercenary Guild. In addition to this he is also the honorary Lord of Edessa, and after FE6's plot Zealot reforms the government and becomes Ilia's first King. For such a major figure in Elibian history, I felt Zealot was left terribly unexplored. But, how exactly did he become so famous? What made him so compelling? These were interesting questions that I could possibly answer. I began working on the third draft, this time building it around Zealot's rise.
Draft 3: The Ilian Guild is in chaos. Given its loosely structured nature, warring factions have risen to prominence within the guild. One side, a band of corrupt, profiteering mercenaries, the other side focused on the people, but terribly inefficient at governance. As the people of Ilia starve, they await for a hero to rise above this conflict and finally deliver peace and stability. Enter Zealot, the young, charismatic commander of a squadron of soldiers. Zealot's forces wage a decisive battle against Sir Ayron's camp. The tale follows Zealot's path to triumph and rise to power.
Fiora and Farina returned in this draft, as did Wallace. Florina had already been moved to Tale 3, and there she would stay. Unfortunately didn't experience a net gain of any party members, I merely traded Florina for Zealot. However, this draft began a strong new foundation on which to build the tale.
 | |
| This guy, once upon a time, was the Archer Captain. |
Although I was excited by the chapter's gimmick, and the plot was acceptable, ultimately I decided that, while an epic battle and Zealot seizing power would be quite cool, that I would prefer to scale things down a bit. Zealot, after all, is only in his twenties at this point in the timeline, quite early on in life to be commanding the Ilian Knights. The quota for a grand-scale epic battle was also already filled, I felt, by Tale 5. One last draft, I decided, would settle it.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Elibian Nights in the NCFC
Hello everyone! I have a special announcement for all of the fans out there!
Fire Emblem: Elibian Nights has found its way into the Nintendo Community Fangames Convention! This is a big step for us in the Nintendo Community, and we would like you to support EN as both fans of the project, and fans of Fire Emblem as a whole! And be sure to check out all of the other amazing projects while you're there, such as Metroid: Project AM2R, Fire Emblem: Immortal Sword (by the fandom's own BwdYeti), and many... MANY others!
View our project, and everyone elses, here
http://www.nintendocfc.com/booths.html
http://www.nintendocfc.com/booths.html
The Many, Many Forms of Tale 7 (Part I)
When I first decided to do the project, I had resolved to include an Ilian tale. I don't know, there's just something about that country that I like. Of all Elibe's countries, it certainly has the most character. A nation of poor, starving people shaped by harsh climates and even harsher circumstance... Ripe for a good tale, no?
The question became: "what form will this tale take?" And indeed, the Ilian tale went through several radically different incarnations. The most challenging part was figuring out what sort of interesting stuff can happen in Ilia? It was certainly a long road, going from a typical "bandits are attacking" chapter to a tale following the rise of Zealot. This will be a three-part article series, going through every step of that long road that lead to the product you're playing now.
Draft 1: The typical "bandits have attacked" story. Fiora was the main character and the tale followed her recent promotion, making her the leader of Ilia's homeland defense force and followed her accepting this new responsibility to defend Ilia's citizens. Wallace was a member of the militia, and Farina was her second-in-command. Florina was also present as a member of the party.
This, however, was a rather dull route to take. Just another standard, unoriginal bandit chapter. An interesting note is the party, I actually had difficulty coming up with a playable party. The idea to use Zealot hadn't dawned on me yet, and Ilians were certainly a rarity outside of the pegasus trio. As for the chapter idea, quickly after conception it was discarded, and I decided I'd draft another proposal. What fascinated me about Ilia was the people, their lives and their suffering. The second draft was designed to focus more toward that.
Draft 2: The pegasus trio is caught in the midst of an uprising. Ilians are dying of famine, there is no food and the government is not providing any relief. Desperate, they have risen up to fight their government. Sir Wallace of Caelin, now an Ilian farmer, has turned into the populist leader of the rebel movement. The pegasus sisters are initially dispatched with a batallion of NPCs to quell the rebellion, but after speaking with Sir Wallace, they fight against the corrupt Ilian government, headed by Sir Ayron (leader of the Knight's Guild).
This draft was substantially more acceptable. But I felt it still lacked. The cast, particularly, was quite lackluster, but there wasn't much to be done except add new characters, which at the time I lacked the graphical resources to do. This draft was essentially the Ilian Tale for quite a while, but as development continued I began to doubt it. As I completed Tale 5, the Ilian Tale was bumped up to Tale 7 with the addition of Karel's tale, giving me much more time to figure things out. I considered a variety of options. I would try one more draft, and if that didn't work I was seriously going to have to seek some outside help. I pondered perhaps opening up for plot synopsis submissions from fans, or maybe getting another individual to take over the writing for the tale. Either way I was stuck, but I'd give it one more shot.
The question became: "what form will this tale take?" And indeed, the Ilian tale went through several radically different incarnations. The most challenging part was figuring out what sort of interesting stuff can happen in Ilia? It was certainly a long road, going from a typical "bandits are attacking" chapter to a tale following the rise of Zealot. This will be a three-part article series, going through every step of that long road that lead to the product you're playing now.
Draft 1: The typical "bandits have attacked" story. Fiora was the main character and the tale followed her recent promotion, making her the leader of Ilia's homeland defense force and followed her accepting this new responsibility to defend Ilia's citizens. Wallace was a member of the militia, and Farina was her second-in-command. Florina was also present as a member of the party.
This, however, was a rather dull route to take. Just another standard, unoriginal bandit chapter. An interesting note is the party, I actually had difficulty coming up with a playable party. The idea to use Zealot hadn't dawned on me yet, and Ilians were certainly a rarity outside of the pegasus trio. As for the chapter idea, quickly after conception it was discarded, and I decided I'd draft another proposal. What fascinated me about Ilia was the people, their lives and their suffering. The second draft was designed to focus more toward that.
Draft 2: The pegasus trio is caught in the midst of an uprising. Ilians are dying of famine, there is no food and the government is not providing any relief. Desperate, they have risen up to fight their government. Sir Wallace of Caelin, now an Ilian farmer, has turned into the populist leader of the rebel movement. The pegasus sisters are initially dispatched with a batallion of NPCs to quell the rebellion, but after speaking with Sir Wallace, they fight against the corrupt Ilian government, headed by Sir Ayron (leader of the Knight's Guild).
This draft was substantially more acceptable. But I felt it still lacked. The cast, particularly, was quite lackluster, but there wasn't much to be done except add new characters, which at the time I lacked the graphical resources to do. This draft was essentially the Ilian Tale for quite a while, but as development continued I began to doubt it. As I completed Tale 5, the Ilian Tale was bumped up to Tale 7 with the addition of Karel's tale, giving me much more time to figure things out. I considered a variety of options. I would try one more draft, and if that didn't work I was seriously going to have to seek some outside help. I pondered perhaps opening up for plot synopsis submissions from fans, or maybe getting another individual to take over the writing for the tale. Either way I was stuck, but I'd give it one more shot.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Eliwood's acting sorta . . . . "Hamlety."
Depression? Check. Parent recently deceased? Check. Propping up a facade? Check. Isolated? Check. Talking to himself for long period of time as a form of emotional relief? Check. Eliwood's acting sorta . . . "Hamlety" in Elibian Nights.
Now he just needs to recite the "to be, or not to be" soliloquy and he's got the part!
For those of you who don't know, Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare's four "great tragedies." Hamlet's father is slain by his uncle, who uses the death to marry his mother and seize the throne. Hamlet is deeply depressed by the death of his father and his mother's acceptance of the uncle's marriage. The young prince's depression is akin to Eliwood's, whose depression is triggered by the death of his mother.
Indeed, at the time of the extensive Tale 1 rewrites I had just read Hamlet for the first time, the Shakespearean prince was indeed a major point of reference for writing a mopey/depressed Eliwood. Eliwood is isolated from his friends a wife and pretends to be fine when confronted about his behavior. Hamlet similarly isolates himself from the surrounding characters, including his lover Ophelia.
Indeed, at the time of the extensive Tale 1 rewrites I had just read Hamlet for the first time, the Shakespearean prince was indeed a major point of reference for writing a mopey/depressed Eliwood. Eliwood is isolated from his friends a wife and pretends to be fine when confronted about his behavior. Hamlet similarly isolates himself from the surrounding characters, including his lover Ophelia.
What's really Shakespearean about EN!Eliwood, though, is the "soliloquy thing." The soliloquy is a great storytelling mechanic; a character, left along on-stage, will share what's really going on inside his/her head with the audience. Eliwood gives two soliloquies in the first tale, one at the beginning and one at the end. Hamlet, as a Shakespearean lead, gives more major soliloquies than any other lead. This is not only because Hamlet is just naturally an insightful guy, but because of the extent of the facade Hamlet puts up. The soliloquy allows us to see what's really going from the character's unrestrained perspective. Eliwood's first soliloquy functions much in the same way as Hamlet's, letting the audience in on what's really going on with Eliwood whilst Ninian, Marcus, and Natalie attempt to figure out Eliwood's behavior.
Sorta interesting to see the source for Eliwood's character . . . . right? At least, I hope it is.
Sorta interesting to see the source for Eliwood's character . . . . right? At least, I hope it is.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
"Why all the revamps?"
It's official: every main tale (except for 6), has been coded and then revamped in some major way. In the next release, Tale 4 becomes an arrive mission. Tale 3 has seen extensive rewrites for Prasad's character, and Tale 2 has seen some revamps in difficulty and enemies. And those are just the small changes.
Tale 5 had some incredibly major changes done when the chapter had hit about 90% completion. The starting positions of Hector and Dawson were basically switched, and Hector, instead of storming onto the battlefield hastily, had stormed out of Ostia just as Dawson was about to launch his sneak attack to take Ostia. The starting party was even switched from Hector, Orun, and Matthew, to Hector, Oswin, and Serra. However, some ideas for improvement came a bit too late (literally when the chapter had completed). It required major event changes, and an essentially new script. So why go ahead with these changes?
With Tale 5, it was a question of this: do I put out a sub-par, uninspired Tale? Or do I take the extra three hours or so, and make a product I can be semi-proud of? For me, the answer was clear. The time revamping a tale is a small price compared to the pains of releasing a bad product.
Tale 1, along with Tale 5, saw the most extensive revamps, an entire change in the tenor of the plot. In the original release of Elibian Nights, Eleanora was still in the process of dying. This tale was similar to Tale 5, it was uninspired. The original Tales for Eliwood and Hector were forced; they were the main characters of FE7, I couldn't just not do a Tale for them. I don't have a particular fondness for the characters either, that certainly didn't help. It finally hit me that Tale 1 was truly lacking when Markyjoe, a hacking critic, had devoted time to pointing out the flaws of Tale 1.
It was then that I decided: I'm not going to just put out some work for a character because I have to, whatever I release will have to meet my standards of quality. So, "why all the revamps?" Whatever I put out will be the best I can create, and I accept nothing less when it comes to quality.
Tale 5 had some incredibly major changes done when the chapter had hit about 90% completion. The starting positions of Hector and Dawson were basically switched, and Hector, instead of storming onto the battlefield hastily, had stormed out of Ostia just as Dawson was about to launch his sneak attack to take Ostia. The starting party was even switched from Hector, Orun, and Matthew, to Hector, Oswin, and Serra. However, some ideas for improvement came a bit too late (literally when the chapter had completed). It required major event changes, and an essentially new script. So why go ahead with these changes?
With Tale 5, it was a question of this: do I put out a sub-par, uninspired Tale? Or do I take the extra three hours or so, and make a product I can be semi-proud of? For me, the answer was clear. The time revamping a tale is a small price compared to the pains of releasing a bad product.
Tale 1, along with Tale 5, saw the most extensive revamps, an entire change in the tenor of the plot. In the original release of Elibian Nights, Eleanora was still in the process of dying. This tale was similar to Tale 5, it was uninspired. The original Tales for Eliwood and Hector were forced; they were the main characters of FE7, I couldn't just not do a Tale for them. I don't have a particular fondness for the characters either, that certainly didn't help. It finally hit me that Tale 1 was truly lacking when Markyjoe, a hacking critic, had devoted time to pointing out the flaws of Tale 1.
It was then that I decided: I'm not going to just put out some work for a character because I have to, whatever I release will have to meet my standards of quality. So, "why all the revamps?" Whatever I put out will be the best I can create, and I accept nothing less when it comes to quality.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Percival
I recently sparked some speculation that young Percival would be appearing in Elibian Night with this:
So yeah, sorry guys, but no Percival appearances in Elibian Nights. The screenshot is from Tale 7, which takes place in Ilia. It makes no sense for Percival to appear in Ilia looking no significantly younger than FE6, while Zealot is significantly younger as the main character of the same tale. However, there is a hidden Percival reference in Tale 4 pt. 2.
In reality though, it's just a bad splice I made years ago (back when I tried to sprite).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)