fangame Verdant Tales: Symphonic Horizon

[Caz]

This is unfortunate, man. Being in debt that isn't good debt sucks. I hope things look up soon. Guess the Horizonmobile was not all that it seemed.

[Dylanrockin]

This is unfortunate, man. Being in debt that isn't good debt sucks. I hope things look up soon. Guess the Horizonmobile was not all that it seemed.

It is more of an inconvenience than unfortunate, I would say. For as long as I've lived, I've had to pay debts upwards to 4 times the amount that I owe her. And the people that I owed it to weren't nearly as forgiving. Otherwise known as college tuition's. It's more of a minor set-back, but no matter, there are many ways around situations like this. Where's the excitement in life, if there isn't any dire consequences, and challenges to overcome? The only thing that I will be worrying about is paying my spriter, who has been patient up to this point, with me continuing my education further. Progress with sprites and artwork will be a tad slower, but it's nothing that can't be easily mended.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Masquerain]

Tell your aunt you'll pay her back when you're done not starving.. What kind of relative demands you paying back while you're trying to juggle school and a job and that already doesn't come cheap? Why does she offer things without letting you "read the fine print" anyway? Seems like some agenda. But either way, you already stated that your spending habits won't change despite being told to be careful so , wellp. Nothin to add apart good luck and get out of that asap

[Dylanrockin]

Tell your aunt you'll pay her back when you're done not starving.. What kind of relative demands you paying back while you're trying to juggle school and a job and that already doesn't come cheap? Why does she offer things without letting you "read the fine print" anyway? Seems like some agenda. But either way, you already stated that your spending habits won't change despite being told to be careful so , wellp. Nothin to add apart good luck and get out of that asap

Well, I may have the option to give it back, since... I also felt like I really didn't earn it, in the first place.

Also, hi, it's been a couple days. That's good. Anyways, new map, new stuff, new events, blablablabla. This be the Shadowed Forest, also known as a forest that bears many secrets. What kind of secrets? That's for you to uncover in the near future

[Dylanrockin]

So, big update for today. Like I mentioned in the past, well... more like a week or so ago; I mentioned several new characters, yeah? Well, I always keep my word, however, the art that you will be seeing has no different poses, and that's because budget constraints, this month. And because of said budget constraints is the pretty much the reason why the poses for all 5 of these characters are the same, but I think that the pose that they all share gets the point across. But, if you notice, 3 of them have halos and the other 2 do not. This was intentional, as the ones with halos signifies that they are in fact deceased Trainers, while the other 2 are in-fact alive. All 5 of these Trainers are super plot-crucial to the core development of all 6 protagonists, especially the ones without halos.

Anyways, these 5 characters will be debuting in "The Next Dimension Tournament Saga" of the game, which takes place after the Monochroma Siblings Saga, in The Next Dimension (or The Other World, whichever way you want to call it, it makes no difference.) Basically, what I can say about these characters is very minimal, mainly because their disguises will only be revealed, during the course of the game, and during the tournament.

What is the Next Dimension Tournament, you may ask? Well, simply put: The Next Dimension is a place that resides between worlds. You can think of it like the afterlife, or a place where the dead reside. There is the Pokemon equivalent to heaven and hell, which... I'm not a particularly religious person, but I do enjoy those themes in fiction, and how they can be portrayed, especially in anime. And where a Trainer and their Pokemon go is determined by their "Life's Resume" which is essentially a record of all the good and bad that they've done, while also keeping record of the Trainer Class and Sub-class, which is bound to the Trainer, spiritually.

This tournament is mainly exclusive to those who have already perished, along with their Pokemon, and the only reason why the main characters are able to access this tournament, and the reason for them competing is for this reason:

The Celestial Island (see map on main thread) can only be accessed through special permission by the higher-ups of The Other World, and is only able to be granted access to by people who have won the tournament. It is a sacred island that is kept hidden away from human civilization, and is a true sanctuary in every regard, which is why special permission must be granted. In the tournament there are 2 things that can be wished for, upon winning: the first is being able to visit the island for a whole day, or be brought back to life ONLY if the person who died, died of an unnatural death (i.e. not dying of old age, and was caused by external means). Obviously most people would choose to be brought back to life, however, the Celestial Island is something that only deity Pokemon can gain access to, and there are some humans that prefer the life that they live, being dead and all, so they prefer to get a glimpse at what a true sanctuary really is. A land filled with only Pokemon, undisturbed for eons, and was recently visited by the 4 previous heroes of Lumia, to hide away 2 of the most powerful fragments to the Arc Stone: Heaven's Fragment, and the Draco Fragment. However, they were given special permission, and were on a much tighter time limit of 4 hours, compared to the usual 24 hours.

Lastly: The rules for the tournament are as such: Most of which don't apply in-game, and are mainly used for the sake of the manga adaptation, and for some choreographed scenes in-game.

• There are human teams that are comprised up to 5-6 Trainers, each can use 1 Pokemon of their choice, making the battles quick, and decisive, yet being able to rely on teamwork as much as possible.
• Trainers can agree upon the battle structure before the matches start, such as: If both teams agree upon Single Battle Rules, Double Battle Rules or very unique Single Battle Rules, then these matches will take effect, thus increasing the need in a change of strategy and teamwork.
• If a Pokemon is knocked out of the ring for more than 10 seconds it is counted as a disqualification by one of the Trainers. And the teams must defeat each of the Trainers on either side in order to consider their team a win.
• If a Pokemon does not get up within a 10 second countdown, then it is counted as a disqualification as well, since the fights are 1-1, unless the battle rules are decided before the matches beforehand. In which case: If a Double Battle is present, the ring out, and knockdown timer does not take effect, unless both Pokemon are knocked out/down.
• Trainers are allowed to use any innate, born ability that they possess, such Krista's powers or Hiro's Time Manipulation, etc. Trainer abilities are allowed, since this a tournament that is based on both Trainer and Pokemon skill.
• Items are not allowed for these types of fights, since it is considered cheating. Held items are a different story, as they are allowed.

The tournament is also only held once every 10 years, and for the Trainers and Pokemon that have already died cannot age, yet are still able to increase their skill, IF those specific Trainers were allowed to still have a body, while dead; since not every Trainer who dies gets to keep their physical form, and would otherwise reside as a disembodied ghost.

The last thing I wanted to make note of was the Trainer Classes. No, not like Ace Trainer or whatever, I mean skill level classes. As in ranks in the universe that I created. Basically every Trainer has a class, which is completely separate from their Trainer Class "Title" (i.e. Ace Trainer, Youngster, etc.). What this Class denotes is the overall skill level and prowess that a Trainer possess, and this class also has a separate Sub-Class, which denotes their Team's overall potential. What I will list below is Trainer Class Levels, and their Sub-Classes.

Trainer Classes and Sub-Classes: Note, Trainer Classes can improve, since this is purely skill based, and with any kind of skill, can be improved as time goes by, as Trainers improve their battling abilities even further. That said, this is a spiritually gauged skill based system, and is not determined by some mundane measuring system. This is precise down to the Trainers innate skill and abilities, spiritually.

• E Class - Generally the very beginning, novice Trainer class. Most likely attributed to Trainers who just started out their journey and know literally nothing about battling. Their skills in commanding their Pokemon, as well as their potential is at it's lowest.
• D Class - Trainers that possess more skill than their E class counterparts, yet still inexperienced in the ways of Pokemon Battling. These would be equivalent to what you would see from Trainers that would reside in a Gym, for example (even though Gyms are not present in my game, this is just used as a measuring point.)
• C Class - This would be... equivalent to what you would expect from Ace Trainers, much more powerful and skilled than your average, run of the mill Youngster. But, not nearly as skilled or as strong as a Gym Leader.
• B Class - As mentioned previously, this is the kind of potential that would be expected out of a certain Region's Gym Leaders. More powerful than their Gym subjects, yet not nearly on par with the Elite Four. This can also be considered the kind of prowess that would be expected of Veteran Trainers.
• A Class - Elite Four and Pokemon League equivalent Trainers. They possess skills that are far more well rounded than any other, and have the statistics to back it up. Most of them being able to hold their own, possibly, against the Champion of the Pokemon League/Elite Four.
• S Class (Or Super A Class) - This is usually attributed to the Champion's of a region. Trainers that have far surpassed any other, and being able to hold their own against many different types of Trainer Classes at once. Generally, this kind of potential is considered god-like, and extremely powerful. Most of the S Class Trainers possess innately born powers, like Helena's powers to use Mega Evolution almost infinitely.

As for the Sub-Classes: This level denotes the average level of power the Trainer's team possesses, in sequence with the Trainers' main class of skill. This way of determining a Team's power is denoted from Yellow all the way to Black, which is the highest level of skill possible.

• Yellow
• White
• Red
• Black

The Dark Fang Grunts would often times be labeled as Class C Trainers, while their superiors rank at around the Upper B Class range, sometimes even Lower A Class Range, in Aria's case. However, Nero Cresthart, being one of the 4 previous heroes of Lumia, possesses an Upper S Class Level, while having the Black sub-class. Which means that he is one of the most powerful Trainers in the entire region. So powerful in fact that he, along with several other characters throughout the game, can suppress their own Pokemon's strength, in order to measure the opponents power; generally being able to increase their Pokemon's strength at will. That kind of ability is attributed to Helena Brennan, Nero Cresthart, and several other characters. Even the True, main villain of the game, who I will not spoil at all, has a Trainer Class that is S Class: Black.

The main characters progress their Classes as they progress through the story, and you can even view their Trainer Class, once you reach the Next Dimension Tournament, which will note to the audience what their Trainer Class and Sub-Class are. (I may even add their classes to the Trainer Card if people are really interested.)

That said: A Trainer's "Title" does not equal their Trainer Class Rank. Their title is just that, a title which is a characteristic of the skill, where their Trainer Class Rank denotes their overall Trainer abilities and skills as a whole. So basically, a Ace Trainer isn't always a C Class Trainer, that is just an average that was measured out that way. MOST Ace Trainers are often times attributed to that skill level, since that is where the average lies. But, just as a reminder: Trainer Class Ranks denotes their overall skill, not their self-proclaimed titles, since it is a part of themselves.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Masquerain]

Wall of text I shall shamefully admit I was too lazy to read, but I'm sure it's interesting stuff

[Dylanrockin]

Wall of text I shall shamefully admit I was too lazy to read, but I'm sure it's interesting stuff

That bodes poorly for when the game is actually released XD

[Dylanrockin]

Last thing I wanted to mention today was this:

I will be making a very VERY specific focus group of people to play test my game, since I am now pretty much done with where I want to be in the game's story. Those people will be determined based off of a dice roll, no bias here, and will be chosen based off of the people who most actively watches the thread. Simple enough. Also, I have 2 people who have been already pre-determined, since they are kind of a given, based on the kind of stuff they do for me as a whole.

The selection will be done, within 2-3 weeks.

[Pandalex12]

If I'm even on that possibility list, I request that I am crossed out.

I am not worthy (plus I have exams starting in that period so yeah )

Hopefully I was never considered in the first place or else I would feel bad about missing the chance. ^.^

[Dylanrockin]

Update: For those of you who read the first 3 pages of the manga adaptation of my game, see main forum page, 10+ new pages for the manga will be worked on, starting next week, once my manga artist returns from her vacation.

Also, if anyone lives in the New York area, or plans on heading out to AnimeNEXT, my manga artist and I will be hosting a manga panel, for my game and her other works. So, for those of you going to AnimeNEXT, I will be hosting a panel with her, centered around the manga of my game, and her other projects

[Masquerain]

Hype material incoming.

I'm European so , far far away we are !

As for the text, well you know, in the game, text is presented in smaller blocks as opposed to a giant wall ;o the visual difference often can stimulate or put people off from something. Worry not though, The game text itself shallt not be an issue for me

[Dylanrockin]

Update: For those of you who read the first 3 pages of the manga adaptation of my game, see main forum page, 10+ new pages for the manga will be worked on, starting next week, once my manga artist returns from her vacation.

Also, if anyone lives in the New York area, or plans on heading out to AnimeNEXT, my manga artist and I will be hosting a manga panel, for my game and her other works. So, for those of you going to AnimeNEXT, I will be hosting a panel with her, centered around the manga of my game, and her other projects

Hype material incoming.

I'm European so , far far away we are !

As for the text, well you know, in the game, text is presented in smaller blocks as opposed to a giant wall ;o the visual difference often can stimulate or put people off from something. Worry not though, The game text itself shallt not be an issue for me

That is indeed hype worthy material, for those of you who are unable to play the game, but would at least like to have some way of reading it

That is a shame, but you could always find a way to get overseas XD But, AnimeNEXT is like... next month, soooo chances of that would be very slim XD

Well, here is a shorter version of it:

Trainer Classes determine a Trainers skills and abilities, and is extremely precise at measuring it. The ranks are below this. New 5 characters are important, and appear in the Next Dimension Tournament, in Other World/The Next Dimension.

New characters, bam, now you may speculate at who they are XD

Trainer Classes and Sub-Classes:

Trainer Classes and Sub-Classes: Note, this is a spiritually gauged skill based system, and is not determined by some mundane measuring system. This is precise down to the Trainers innate skill and abilities, spiritually.

• E Class - Generally the very beginning, novice Trainer class. Most likely attributed to Trainers who just started out their journey and know literally nothing about battling. Their skills in commanding their Pokemon, as well as their potential is at it's lowest.
• D Class - Trainers that possess more skill than their E class counterparts, yet still inexperienced in the ways of Pokemon Battling. These would be equivalent to what you would see from Trainers that would reside in a Gym, for example (even though Gyms are not present in my game, this is just used as a measuring point.)
• C Class - This would be... equivalent to what you would expect from Ace Trainers, much more powerful and skilled than your average, run of the mill Youngster. But, not nearly as skilled or as strong as a Gym Leader.
• B Class - As mentioned previously, this is the kind of potential that would be expected out of a certain Region's Gym Leaders. More powerful than their Gym subjects, yet not nearly on par with the Elite Four. This can also be considered the kind of prowess that would be expected of Veteran Trainers.
• A Class - Elite Four and Pokemon League equivalent Trainers. They possess skills that are far more well rounded than any other, and have the statistics to back it up. Most of them being able to hold their own, possibly, against the Champion of the Pokemon League/Elite Four.
• S Class (Or Super A Class) - This is usually attributed to the Champion's of a region. Trainers that have far surpassed any other, and being able to hold their own against many different types of Trainer Classes at once. Generally, this kind of potential is considered god-like, and extremely powerful. Most of the S Class Trainers possess innately born powers, like Helena's powers to use Mega Evolution almost infinitely.

As for the Sub-Classes: This level denotes the average level of power the Trainer's team possesses, in sequence with the Trainers' main class of skill. This way of determining a Team's power is denoted from Yellow all the way to Black, which is the highest level of skill possible.

• Yellow - A Trainers team utilizing 25% of their innate potential.
• White - A Trainers team utilizing 50% of their innate potential.
• Red - A Trainers team utilizing 75% of their innate potential.
• Black - A Trainers team utilizing 100% of their innate potential.

[Masquerain]

I'd say the chance is below 0% since I have my finals around then But hey, one day

The 3rd dood looks creepy with his mask. As of now I feel like no form of speculation is actually possible for us since we hardly know anything, but you can probably expect that to change once your game has a demo?

[Dylanrockin]

I'd say the chance is below 0% since I have my finals around then But hey, one day

The 3rd dood looks creepy with his mask. As of now I feel like no form of speculation is actually possible for us since we hardly know anything, but you can probably expect that to change once your game has a demo?

Perhaps maybe next year you will be able to (maybe) *cough* buy an issue of the manga *cough*

Their masks and designs were meant to be very unsettling This is just confirmation on that I probably won't confirm a demo, since I'd rather release the game, in it's entirety. The demo would mainly be given to testers, of course

Edited May 3, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Dylanrockin]

A little update for today:

I inserted the Trainer Classes into the characters Trainer Cards, so now it will display what that characters Trainer Class and Sub-Class are, now. It's an aesthetic thing that changes as the story progresses. So, at certain points in the story, if you check the card, your Trainer Class will change. However, the Sub-Classes are actually not determined by the story, and are instead determined by the average levels of your team. So, if your team is <=25, you will be at the lowest Sub-Class. <=50 and you will be at the middle, <=75 and you will be at the 3rd tier, and >=75 and you will be at Sub-Class: Black.

Also, I may go offline for awhile, since I've been experiencing internet problems here at my house, because Time Warner blows massive shlongs (trademark). And because I upgraded to Windows 10, which I am regretting immensely, my computer is having a lot of network related issues, just because it's Windows 10 and not 7 :L I never had those problems with 7, but noooooooooooooooo, when I upgraded a whole slew of network problems occurred, and I had to sit at my computer on a command prompt, in order to get things working right. You know what: It's getting old, Windows 10. Also, dafuq is netBios and why should I care to disable it?!

Ending note: My phone is the only thing giving me internet, and I have to rely on my 12GB of data, before I get my internet back up and running properly. In short, life sucks.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Caz]

I'm so glad I opted to stay on windows 7 if this is a common upgrade problem. I like this sub classes thing, it allows you to actually feel more like a veteran when you're at 75+.

[Commander]

I went from windows 8 to windows 10. I have a love hate relationship with it but Windows 7 and XP are so, so much better. My only issue were some random crashes that happened for no bloody reason. Then there's my janked up internet in which is probably more or less my actual laptop and not windows 10's problem. My biggest gripe is that my windows app randomly closes which is very annoying. Hang in there.

[Masquerain]

I've been hearing windows 10 is only a better option if you had 8 before, but 7 seems to be best. I hope you don't end up losing your work or something

[Dylanrockin]

I'm so glad I opted to stay on windows 7 if this is a common upgrade problem. I like this sub classes thing, it allows you to actually feel more like a veteran when you're at 75+.

Yeah, the only reason why I upgraded, was because I a Disk Optimization for my main SSD failed, and when my computer restarted, a lot of graphical problems were occurring, because of the amount of system damage that was caused. So, I had no choice but to upgrade.

Also, I'm glad you like the Classes and Sub-Classes. Even if the Main Classes are fixed, based on story, the sub-classes can be adjusted, based on the average level of your team.

I've been hearing windows 10 is only a better option if you had 8 before, but 7 seems to be best. I hope you don't end up losing your work or something

Windows 10 is essentially what Windows Vista was. But then again... I actually liked Vista, however I wish I could say the same for 10 :L But, I now have my internet back, after doing 3 hours worth of CMD prompts and adjusting the network registry files, just to get it working again. Seriously... Windows 10 sucks.

[Dylanrockin]

Also, last update for today:

Since I've made a lot of headway with the progress on my game, I'm going to be taking a week or so break from development, so that I can focus on one of my YouTube projects that I've been meaning to do for awhile now. I will most likely get all the work for that project done in about a week or soish. But, once I finish editing and recording my side-project that has nothing to do with my game, I will be picking up my development again.

Why am I doing this you may ask? Well, it's because when I was doing a lot of the story eventing, each time I ended one event and started another, I could feel myself getting more and more burnt out. So, to avoid burnout, I'm going to be taking a break, because I've spent many hours and many days doing what equates to 20 in-game hours of content without a break.

[Masquerain]

I always hated Vista with a passion, didn't care for 8 so I stayed with Win 7. 10 is nothing better atm, maybe if they fix all the bugs :x

And dood, you don't need to justify yourself for taking a break you deserve it

[Dylanrockin]

I always hated Vista with a passion, didn't care for 8 so I stayed with Win 7. 10 is nothing better atm, maybe if they fix all the bugs :x

And dood, you don't need to justify yourself for taking a break you deserve it

I've definitely been needing one. And while I'm taking a break, I can think about what I can do next for my game, as well as thinking of ways to change the new mechanics that are in place, among other things.

Also, as a little update:

For those of you who are currently thinking, when I showed off the 5 masked characters, "Why are there so many characters? Don't you think you have enough, now?" And the answer to that is... nope, if you thought that was all that there will be, in terms of characters, you'd be wrong XD There are actually TWELVE more characters, that are left in the script that need designing, and spriting. This wouldn't be a full-on Tales-Pokemon J-RPG, if it didn't have a full cast of characters. The average Tales game has, at most, 30+ characters, and my game currently has 34 original characters; so it's right on the average point. All of them are plot crucial, all of them are important from one character to another, and each of those characters has their own backstory, characteristics, and their own story to tell. I'm going all in, on the level of authenticity for this game.

So in short: There be more characters that will be coming, this summer ;D

[Commander]

Well that's more than Legend of Heroes Cold Steel. They had around 20 main characters but like a bloody 120 side characters all with stories to tell. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but there are quite a number of them. I think at least 40 characters were voice acted though. It's been a while since I played it but oh boy it's not a small number. So in other words, this could be considered tame.

[Dylanrockin]

Well that's more than Legend of Heroes Cold Steel. They had around 20 main characters but like a bloody 120 side characters all with stories to tell. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but there are quite a number of them. I think at least 40 characters were voice acted though. It's been a while since I played it but oh boy it's not a small number. So in other words, this could be considered tame.

This would be considered quite tame, except for one thing: All 34 of these characters are forced, and are a part of the story, and are in no way optional. If we are talking the main story of the game and not optional content, 34 or so characters is quite significant; especially for a Pokemon game, which hardly scratches that kind of number. And those are 34, original, human characters. If we are talking Pokemon characters like Ninetales, and several others, they too can be added into the list of 34, but since they're Pokemon, they are their own separate list; mainly because they are talking Pokemon that have their own personalities.

[TheMadHatter]

This looks extremely well thought out and I really do hope to get the opportunity to play the game.