Agapan - RPG Maker XP game in development.

[Kursed1771 1]

Hey all,

 

I learned how to use RPG Maker XP thanks to this awesome forum. Now I want to contribute by sharing with everyone a commercial project my friends and I have been working on in RPG Maker XP. The game just entered its production stage a couple of weeks ago and we plan to have it ready by the end of 2013. I hope you find it interesting!

 

Introduction

Agapan is the first commercial game being developed by Kursed Studios, the game design team I founded. The game is being created as we speak by four independent artists:

Ivan Mendez - Director and Lead Designer

Jiwoon Ivy Yang - Art Director and Pixel Artist

Gabriel Gutierrez - Composer

Arlm Jeon - Illustrator

 

The game started of as one of my student projects in university three years ago. It's a single-player narrative board game with very few gameplay elements, so few that I actually considered it an interactive story, not a game. The story takes place in the town of Agapan. It's based on a very special location to me, the actual town of Tizapan, located in central Mexico. It's the birthplace of my mother and it holds a deep past not even she is sure about. Utilizing its unique atmosphere, rural touch, and overall mystery as inspiration, I created the town of Agapan, an enigmatic place where people's minds have been manipulated to the extreme.



Three years have passed after the creation of the board game. Now, Kursed Studios has the task to bring Agapan back to life in a completely new medium: a top-view 2D adventure/mystery game created with RPG Maker XP.


The Story

The year is 1963 in an unknown country. A young man named David Garcia is waking up early on a Saturday. The reason: his monthly visit to the local graveyard where his defunct mother rests. David became an orphan after his mother's tragic death 10 years ago. He had no relatives or friends that could take care of him. Luckily, a rich foreign couple living in the country quickly adopted him. Since then, David's life has been full of luxuries and opportunities. However, the memory of his mother still haunts him.



Upon arriving to the graveyard, David is shocked to find somebody else near his mother's grave, something that has never happened since her death a decade ago. An old woman welcomes David and tells him something he has been waiting to hear for a long time: he still has a relative. The unknown woman tells David this person is still alive and living a peaceful life in the distant town of Agapan, the birthplace of his mother.



Moved by a deep desire of wanting to know the truth about his real family roots, David rushes to the far away village. Once there, it only takes him four days to realize the dark truth enveloping his mother's hometown. A reality so putrid, her mother's life goal was to keep it hidden from him as long as she could...

The player will come across a very varied assortment of characters. All of them have a very special purpose in the narrative development of the game. Here is a list of the characters with a brief description of each:


 

 

Lucia

This character is the first person David meets upon arriving to Agapan. She treats David well and offers him a place to stay and support in finding the person he's looking for. However, she clearly warns him strangers are not welcome in the town. Lucia's kindness toward David is unnatural and suspicious, but David is naive and doesn't think twice when trusting a kind stranger.

Hermit

A mysterious man living by himself near the lake. He barely says a word and lives a secluded life far away from the other villagers. He seems to have a connection with the two sisters Marisa and Claudia. When David meets him for the first time, the Hermit confuses David with somebody called "Robert".

Julieta

The youngest of the three teachers in Agapan. She's a reserved and smart young girl with a very open mindset. Her juvenile and modern view of the world is incompatible with the madness surrounding Agapan's education and religious system. The boy Carlos is her closest ally, friend, and the only person she can trust in all of Agapan.

Suzana

The mother of Julieta and one of the three teachers in Agapan. She's a kind and sincere woman that takes her work very seriously. Her sense of responsibility and religious belief is as extreme as that of any other villager. However, David reminds her of the past; a past that allowed other ways of thinking to coexist.

Ursula

The mother of Suzana and one of the three teachers in Agapan. She's the head of the education system imposed by the chief of the town, Patricia. For Ursula, there's nothing more important than serving the town's deity, Huitzi. She follows Patricia's orders and educates the young with fanatical ideas and beliefs. Ursula treats those that follow her same ideologies fairly, but those that don't aren't so lucky.

Enrique

The last remaining believer of a foreign religion in Agapan. He resides at the abandoned church, always fearing the outside world. He's still alive thanks to the warm and pure heart of Claudia, who supports him secretly. This poor man was witness to the terrible truth that tainted the past of Agapan. He doesn't trust anybody, not even David.

Marisa

One of the two orphan sisters that are in charge of the town store. Marisa is not even an adult, yet she is able to single-handedly manage a business. Her gaze and mature mind do not match her young age. Marisa not only spends her days taking care of the shop, she also supports her little sister Claudia.

Claudia

Claudia is a mute girl living together with her sister Marisa at Agapan's store. She has a pure and playful personality and is loved by the entire village. However, she's skilled at conceiving her true feelings. Her faith lies somewhere else, not in Huitzi.

Carlos

A young boy David meets at Agapan's school. Carlos is extremely shy and cautious with everybody he talks to, making him the anti-social kid from his class. Julieta has showed him the possibilities of the outside world and is obsessed with the idea of one day escaping from Agapan forever.

Patricia

The spiritual and political leader of Agapan. Patricia is the reason why Agapan is how it is. Her archaic ideologies have deviated from the pure and authentic religious roots the town has had for countless centuries. Her past and her ruthless demeanors are only understood by a handful of people.

Maria

Lucia tells David Maria is the nurse of Agapan's only clinic. However, you can never trust what a stranger tells you.

Ana

A classmate of Carlos and a very special girl in Agapan. Ana is getting ready for a special ceremony that will take place three days after the arrival of David to Agapan.

Vagabond

This shady individual resides at an abandoned construction site. He's just like any other villager. His mind is deeply immersed in the old religion of Agapan. David learns many aspects of this peculiar religion thanks to this humble man; a man that puts his God above his own life at all times.

Demented Governor

This unknown and crazy middle-aged man also makes the construction site his dwelling. He's completely insane, but still manages to give David valuable information about Agapan's past.

Gameplay

The player is always in control of David Garcia while he or she ventures into the foggy and occult atmosphere of Agapan. The game's core lies more in exploration rather than puzzle solving. The town will be filled with characters and details that will slowly reveal the deepness of the narrative. While there will be a few puzzles and missions for the player to solve, everything will revolve around the exploration and the interpretation of the player's surroundings.

The entire game takes place in four days. There is no time limit or anything like that. Time will only pass after experiencing certain situations in the various locations of Agapan. The player is given several decisions that impact the narrative and his relationship with the characters, opening the possibility of several endings; 15 to be exact.

Even though this is a completely new game, we wanted to keep the design style close to its predecessor. This new 2D game is still a story driven experience with heavy dialogue and limited gameplay. We are confident the narrative, atmosphere, and overall quality of the experience will be more than enough to engage and immerse players.

We have an Indiegogo campaign going on, there's more information about the game there. You can visit it here:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/agapan/x/3922113

We hope you find this project interesting and if you want to show your support, visit our Indiegogo campaign to find all the details! Thank you so much for your time. We will keep the project updated constantly and any feedback you can give us will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!
Kursed / Ivan

Edited July 19, 2013 by Kursed1771

[Marked 197]

Cool illustrations. Goodluck with your campaign :thumbsup: Btw your website is down www.kursedstudios.com :(

[Kursed1771 1]

Thanks a lot!

 

Yeah you're right.. the website is down.... I'll fix it right away :( thanks!

 

Edit: The site is back online~

Edited July 20, 2013 by Kursed1771