Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

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Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by GyroVorbis »

Our official website is http://elysianshadows.com

I've just uploaded the latest chapter in our game development series (the Dreamcast version plays a huge role) here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZZ8bivCfRg

Hey, everybody. I know that it's been awhile since I've really contributed or done anything useful around the DC Scene, but I've been off working pretty damn hard in the last few months.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a part of a team (with my little brother and a few friends) working on a 2D RPG for Dreamcast and PC. Unlike the unveiling of my other projects, I decided to wait until we had much more meat to show off this time. Our engine is just about completely finished. It's completely independent from the actual "game," so developing our game with the engine is a matter of writing Lua scripts, and designing worlds with our level editor.

Here are a few random screenshots:
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Testing the in-game Lua debug system.

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Messing around with the (still not final) menu system.

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Random cheap little Lua-based healing tile that abuses the particle system a little too much (you should see that running on Dreamcast on the Youtube vid).

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Nintendo might deny it, but Mario always supported the Dreamcast.

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Really fake, extremely simple, Lua-based temporary battle system created by our scripter. It was created to demonstrate that Lua can manipulate almost every aspect of the engine, including completely breaking from the main logic and doing weird things like emulating a battle system.

And there are many more screenshots on our site. Keep in mind that none of these graphics are going to be used. These were taken during the development of the engine, so we popped some ripped sprites into it for the time being. We now have a few dedicated artists who have already made some very nice art for the game (that we aren't going to show off until we have an equally cool area to display them in).

We've been releasing videos on Youtube of our game development for about a year. We've actually become pretty popular in recent times (800+ subscribers). If you're interested in seeing the game development process from the perspective of our team, or even if you just want to see some in-game footage (PC and DC), I encourage you to check out my youtube channel:
http://youtube.com/gyrovorbis

I uploaded our latest "chapter" in our development series last night. The Dreamcast build is a pretty big focus.

Our official website is http://elysianshadows.com, and there's lots of content and information on the project there. Please come check us out. :D

As for the Dreamcast build (I'm sure that's what you all care about), it's going to be the exact same as the PC. There's no downgrade or anything being removed. But you do get a VMU, and you do get to be a badass for playing it on DC. I've wanted to release a game for DC ever since I first started coming here (when I was 14). I'm now 19, and I'm finally getting closer to fulfilling that dream.

As for release, demo, and all that crap, I don't have any. But you can definitely see how we're progressing based on the Youtube videos. That'll give you a good idea for how much longer it'll take.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Maturion »

This looks really, really good. Do you plan on making the engine open source?

The videos are very interesting and I wish you good luck with your project. I'm really looking forward to a release!
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Quzar »

I'm so glad you've finally decided to bring this here. It feels like just yesterday you looking for a 'mentor' heh.

Good job.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Nico0020 »

i had no idea this was going on, amazing!
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by emptythought »

Looks good, keep the work up!
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Christuserloeser »

I've been following your progress. Looks very promising. Keep it up! :grin:
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by GyroVorbis »

Thanks, guys. I've really learned my lesson about "announcing" things like this early. I did it with Null when I was 14 and Viva La Samba when I was 16. Both of them flopped.

This time I waited until we had a huge amount done. If the entire team were to just completely give up, we would still be able to release a multi-platform 2D RPG engine that's able to be fully modified through Lua scripts.

Not only that, but you can disable the engine and give Lua complete control. So even if you don't want a 2D RPG, you would have a 2D library with access to lower level 3D hardware acceleration for any 2D application with Lua.

I'm not saying that we're going to release the engine (yet at least), I'm just trying to show that this project is going to contribute something whether we finish or not (But we are definitely going to finish!). We are more motivated than ever and have every intention of finishing, but I see too often 2D RPGs for DC abandoned or disregarded as some vague, overly ambitious project. I'm just trying to show that you're getting something no matter what beyond this point.

Honestly, I grew up here. My first ever graphical application was on the Dreamcast. I got into game development because of Dreamcast. I remember asking BlackAura 5 years ago "what programming language do I need to learn?" I'm now in college, I'm much older, wiser and all that stuff, and I still cannot die happy until I bring something worthwhile to the Dreamcast.

As for open source, I'm not sure yet. I want to release our game first, so that if we go open source, people will understand what our engine is capable of. And I also don't want to release anything until we're all thoroughly convinced that this is commercial quality.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Guaripolo »

i've readed about this rpg somewhere in google, and was about to ask you about it when you post the lua questions. Congratulations for the project, in the youtube videos the team seems to be very motivated.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Nico0020 »

just subscribed to your youtube channel. LOL I totally remember your samba de amigo video. lulz
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by GyroVorbis »

Nico0020 wrote:just subscribed to your youtube channel. LOL I totally remember your samba de amigo video. lulz
Glad to have you. Welcome to the drama of Youtube. Have you seen the latest with team nub and their XNA project bashing on ours? It's like DC vs Xbox out there. And actually, DC is winning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YVkLEWMgOw
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Quzar »

They almost won me over with the Miami-native rap stylings of Rick Ross, but I think I'll have to go with the Falco. How do they expect to get their game done with all that husslin' every day?
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by GyroVorbis »

Oh, hell no, Quzar. Your fate is sealed to the 'Cast whether you like it or not!
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by toastman »

Nice work GyroVorbis.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by emptythought »

KTSC
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by GyroVorbis »

We responded to team JFail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRC5NNv5L8U

...and we made them their own custom level (a gay bar). Icing your ignorance with a thick layer of arrogance isn't a game development ideology that I support:
Image

While the video was captured on PC, the entire gay bar runs on Dreamcast. Assume that anything from this point runs on DC unless I do something stupid and break the build (in which case I will admit to it and immediately work on fixing!)


And on a muuuuch more serious note, here's a screenshot of a level that one of our pixel artists is working on. The shot is taken from the level editor, that's why the resolution is so high:
Image

So keep in mind that a lot of the things we are showing off is just us screwing around with the engine (trying to show what we can do with it). We still have original graphics on the way.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Christuserloeser »

GyroVorbis wrote:And on a muuuuch more serious note, here's a screenshot of a level that one of our pixel artists is working on. The shot is taken from the level editor, that's why the resolution is so high.
Not sure about the character sprite, but I think that th background tiles and objects are lookin' great! Keep 'em coming! :)
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by GyroVorbis »

We aren't sure about the character sprite yet either. Still testing styles, and that was drawn by a different artist than the one that did the background.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Nico0020 »

I love the constant updates on this project.
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by GyroVorbis »

Thanks, man. The only problem is how much effort that it requires. I'm having to "put out" pretty much every weekend. Then it also requires a lot to have something worthwhile to show off on Youtube.

But it's okay, I love what I do. ...I just have less time to get me a piece of ass these days...
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Re: Announcing Elysian Shadows DC

Post by Sir Savant »

Congrats GyroVorbis, and the Elysian team (is that how I should refer to your team?). I know the strain of the development cycle, I've been through it with Web Development for about a year now.

I must say, the engine, as far as YouTube videos are concerned, looks quite capable. And that level looks superb. Look at the RPG Maker for some inspiration (I'm sure you've seen it once or twice).

Again, great work. Hope I can burn/buy a copy sometime!
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