Chronicles of Gaia: The Dark Star

[nnolund 0]

Armored Fantasy Productions Presents

 

 

 

Rhaegor. Kingdom of fire and ash. For years the kingdom has been engulfed in civil war, deaf to the cries for mercy and peace. Pacts are made and broken, and as time passes, the world becomes separated into two people. Those who die by the sword, and those that wield them.

 

There are enemies everywhere, and trust is a myth. There have become two true powers in the war, the swordsman called the Windblade, Rex Harlaan, and those who oppose him. Rex is the first to create a territory in Rhaegor, using his power and his will to dominate to drive his forces throughout Rhaegor, killing any that stand in their way.

 

There are few pockets of peace left in Rhaegor. With the lords ignoring a common enemy and fighting amongst themselves, the kingdom is on the verge of crumbling.

 

But hope yet remains for the world. The province called the Vale, in the northern territories of Rhaegor stands true, and peace still holds the north. Alliances formed at the dawning of Rhaegor's great era still stand, though hope lays on the edge of a knife. Even the combined powers of the Vale are not capable of supporting a full scale war.

 

In the hearts of all men there is a light, like that of a star. And all light is combated by evil, a dark being within us all, waiting...sleeping...yearning to be unleashed. Only those who have seen the evil of their own creation and defeated it may truly dawn the name Hero.

 

And if the world has any hope of surviving, a Hero must rise.

 

 

The story begins in the village of Gaia, a town in the Vale. Gaia stands a few leagues from the Vale's borders, protected only by a few small keeps that protect the outskirts. However, with the lords of the Vale staying out of the conflict, Gaia remains an oasis to those who live there, and those trying to escape the bloodshed.

 

But even the Vale cannot hope to stay out of the war forever. Lord Hosteff has ordered preparations begin. The Vale is preparing to march, so who will protect Gaia?

 

That is the task appointed to the player, but when you awake one morning to find themselves not in Gaia at all, but atop some mountain, you must try and find your way home. When you finally reach your home, the village is empty. Though no signs of battle are visible, you worry for your people, and set off to find them.

 

In your travels, you are sucked into the conflict of the war, and find yourself deep in the conflict. Finding friends is the only way to survive, but for every friend you meet, you make a dozen enemies.

 

Realizing that escaping the war is impossible, you must make your way deep into the kingdom. The Windblade has amassed his forces, and poses to strike down the kingdom in one fell stroke. Alone, you must face him.

 

The fate of Rhaegor is in your hands.

 

 

Playable Characters:

 

Gerard

Gerard is one of two main characters players can choose from. He was found alone as a child, wandering around the Vale, and was given a home in Gaia. He recalls very little of his past, but remembers that his village was attacked by raiders. His parents died in the skirmish, and only a dozen others survived the attack. Where they are now, he does not know. He is a bit arrogant at times, and he has a strong sense of pride and honor.

Note: Gerard's name can be changed at the start of the game.

 

Gerard is a brute force kind of fighter. He is a character built on strength and endurance.

 

Alise

Alise is the second of the main characters players may choose from. She is a kind hearted and polite young woman, who wants nothing more than to give back to the village of Gaia for all that it has done for her throughout the years. She is generally soft spoken, and while she is not the strongest of fighters, she has a high level of skill with the blade.

Note: Alise's name can be changed at the start of the game.

 

Alise is a skill kind of fighter. Though weaker than Gerard, she has increased speed and dexterity, allowing her to be more nimble in combat.

 

Non Player Characters

 

Flint

Flint is the blacksmith of Gaia. He was once a gladiator fighter, but he earned his freedom in the arena and moved to the Vale to begin a new life. He opened a forge and became one of the most skilled blacksmiths the Vale had to offer. He is a man that would give his life to protect Gaia and its people, and he hopes that by teaching you how to fight, that he can leave Gaia in your hands.

 

Shrantellatessa

Shrantellatessa is a mysterious little bird, only found in your dreams. Her words are often hard to decipher, and her messages broken. There is little known about this creature, but it speaks of the Hero's Prophecy, so one must believe it is a creature of good.

 

Chi

Chi is a wandering swordsman. He is very quiet, choosing to let his blades do the talking. He does not offer much information about himself, but his actions show that he is an arrogant fighter, believing he cannot be bested in battle. He hopes that in his travels he finally meets somebody worthy of ending his life.

 

Dream

Dream is a young woman of a religious cult called the Black Roses. While many do not agree with their standpoints, the Roses are a group that fights for good. Dream has been sent out by her order to brother, who abandoned the Roses. She is told to bring him back, dead or alive.

 

 

Chronicles of Gaia, though a small project, will be anything but simple.

 

I would like to thank the authors of the following scripts and resources, for they have helped in the creation of what I hope to be a very enjoyable gaming experience:

 

- Moghunter's Animated Title Screen

- Moghunter's CMS

- ccoa's UMS

- mark1707's tilesets

- RadethDart for the logo (and the little subheaders)

 

Extensive Storyline

 

Aside from the above mentioned features, CoG will also feature an extensive storyline. Though the overall story does not change, the gameplay between the story of Gerard and the story of Alise will be very much noticeable. There will be certain aspects of the game told only by a certain character, so while the end result will be the same, how they get there will not be.

 

 

Custom Class System

 

Something that has always irked me about video games is the lack of real genuine class systems. Golden Sun and Seiken Densetsu 3 each had unique class systems, and I felt it added a great deal to the enjoyment of the game.

 

So, something I hoped to introduce in this game is a new class system. Taking aspects of a few different games, I hope to create a unique class system of my own. Players will be able to change their class a number of different ways. I hope to have a very high number of possible classes for players, but this system is in very early stages, and I have a lot still to do. I will update this when I have more information.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

This game started out as just a project for another site I am a member on. It was meant to be a small project, mostly just something I was doing for the community, adding in members to the game, etc. It's since become a bit more than that, and is maybe a little more ambitious than I would like, but hey, I can deal with it.

 

Now, some questions that might get asked, and the answers to those questions (I thought ahead):

 

What is the "Dark Star" and what does it have to do with the game?

 

As I said above, this project stared out as a community game, and one of the community members is named DarkStar. I wanted to find a way to incorporate that, and I also wanted to do it in a way that wasn't too cliche. The way I determined to do this was to use it as a metaphor. There is no evil star in the game, but instead it refers to the darkness that resides in the hearts of all men, the evil that even the purest of souls can fall pray to. It's basically using the concept of yin and yang. It's not overly original, but that's okay with me.

 

Why is the kingdom of Rhaegor in a case of civil war?

 

The history of Rhaegor is pretty vague, but it gets explained in bits and pieces as the story goes on. Basically, the kingdom was set up in provinces, with no real monarchy to oversee them. The provinces really had nothing in common with each other aside from the fact that they were inside of a common border. There were attempts to create a monarchy or a system where the greater good of the entire kingdom is looked after, but they all failed.

 

The reason that Rhaegor is currently at war, is because of the actions of the antagonist Rex Harlaan. Now, as you learn throughout the game, he's not really a "bad" guy or evil or anything, he's just a man who's ideals have driven him to madness. Rex believes that the world should be led by select few individuals rather than a democracy or any system where the people have a say in what happens. He uses the following phrases in the game, at the point where you realize the entire war is his fault.

 

"Democracy is not the salvation of this world, or its people. It is in the hearts of the strong that is given the will to dominate, the power needed to rule. If you give that power to the weak, the world will be deaf to the cries of a thousand woeful villagers, and nothing shall be done to save them. No, it is the strong that deserve to rule this world. And I will prove to be the strongest."

 

How does the main character end up on top of a mountain and not know how he got there?

 

To be honest, it's one of those simple plot devices that I felt necessary to get the story going. While there is seemingly no real reason to be placed on the mountain, you are transported there by the bird Shrantellatessa. This is meant to be a test. The bird believes that the main character has the potential to be a Hero, thinking that this is the time of the Great Prophecy (insert major cliche here to explain what the Great Prophecy is).

 

However, as the story unfolds, the main character begins to learn the truth about Heroes, and realizes that this is not the Prophecy, and that Heroes don't exist. I plan on having a pretty badass speech for this that will come into play later in the game, so I apologize if it seems a little vague.

 

Why can't Gerard remember much of his past?

 

He blocked out the memories when he was younger. He saw some horrific things, and forced himself to forget them. I don't want to say he gave himself a case of amnesia, but it basically explains it. It has no real effect on the story, and if he chooses to (and he ends up doing so a few times in the game) he can recall his past. The only thing he can't recall is how he ended up in Gaia, and that's simply because he lost consciousness and was found by a traveler who left him in Gaia when Flint said he'd take care of you.

 

What's with the cliche of the world's fate being in the hands of the main character?

 

When you first encounter the Windblade, he reveals his plan to you (as I explained a little bit above as well). Rex basically fully gives into his "Dark Star" and is completely consumed by hatred. And while (as I said above) Rex is not altogether evil in his own right, he has been so consumed by his ambitions that it has completely taken over his body and soul, and he has become corrupted and a mad man. He speaks of "purging" the world so that Rhaegor can rise to its true greatness, and so players realize that he must be stopped, for the Vale is the province that most utilizes a sense of democracy (it's not very well explained because it's not important to the game, but the Vale uses a variant of the Senate, even though in the end the king has the full rule).

 

It's your own principles, so far opposite to the Windblade's that gives that sense of "save the world" even though you're not really saving anything. Your battle is about standing up for what you believe is right. So perhaps "saving the world" is over dramatic, but that's the sense the character gets about it, so it's what I used.

 

What's with the side characters and what is their point to the game?

 

Like I said, this was a community project. The side stories are just a way to implement that into the game. While they will not directly affect the story, these side stories offer something else for the player to do, and they will play a part in determining the class structure. Plus it's just nice to have something else going alongside the main story, because that's how it works in real life. Not everything is focused on one event or action. People outside of that event or action still follow their daily lives.

 

You didn't answer my question!

 

Well, if I didn't answer the question that is rattling up in your brain, feel free to ask it! I can't possibly know everything that's going to be asked of me, but I figured those would be the big things, and since I knew the answer already, better to post them now than have to take time to do it later.

[Leon 55]

A couple tips when posting a project topic. Some people (me, for example) find more can be said from a picture than a paragraph of writing. Personally, I hate reading. Screenshots are gold to a project post like this, else you will get little attraction.

 

Not tryin to cut you off at the knees, but I just thought you should know.

[nnolund 0]

A couple tips when posting a project topic. Some people (me, for example) find more can be said from a picture than a paragraph of writing. Personally, I hate reading. Screenshots are gold to a project post like this, else you will get little attraction.

 

Not tryin to cut you off at the knees, but I just thought you should know.

 

Trust me, I'm hardly being "cut off at the knees". However, the way the thread is made up currently, the many long paragraphs are explaining things I cannot explain via screenshots.

 

However, I have every intention of uploading some images. Problem is, I had to reformat my computer recently so I lost the data I DID have. Since the rules of this section don't explicitly state that this section requires screenshots (it's helpful, but not a necessity) I figured I'd post this now and see what kind of feedback I get while I work out my actual graphical stuff.

 

Half of that post is mostly to answer any questions that might pop up. Plot clarification and things of that nature.

 

As I said, screenshots are coming. But I plan on making a few changes to this from what I originally planned. Maybe not by the end of the weekend (since it's Sunday after all), but certainly within 48 hours I should have SOMETHING posted in terms of screenshots.

 

Thanks for the tip though.

[Leon 55]

Oh, see. I know they aren't required. I am just sayin, it will help when the time does come. When you look at games in the stores (atleast, back before there were reviews, game mags, and internet. Not to mention downloadable demos) you only had 3 things help you buy the game: Cover, Images on the back, and a small snippet of info. Suprisingly, it is very effective.

[nnolund 0]

What can I say, I want to be an author on day, so I do pretty in depth into things :P

[Random_Guy5507 0]

Awesome another project in the community.

Hopefully a demo or Show some screenshots

in the later Updates :rolleyes:

[Kaylen 1]

I like the story, though it does sound a little generic. My favorite aspect would have to be how the story changes, but still stays the same depending on the character you choose. I'm looking forward to screenshots.

[nnolund 0]

I like the story, though it does sound a little generic. My favorite aspect would have to be how the story changes, but still stays the same depending on the character you choose. I'm looking forward to screenshots.

 

Certain things will change, which include dialogue between characters, certain side quests that are only available to one character or the other, battles (Gerard is stronger while Alise is more agile, each having their own pros and cons in battle), etc.