Ragefest Ragefest: Revenge of the Emblem

[Maritisa]

_(kinda?)

CANCELLED

Thread is still here for archival/reference purposes. I am no longer on remotely amicable terms with Markyjoe enough anymore to continue this project... Sorry for all who were interested.

So... I've had this project going on at least since early March or February, and it was intended to be entered into Ragefest IV, but due to problems both personal and mechanical, I was unable to meet the deadline. And now, Marc has basically implied that Ragefest V won't exist, and honestly even if it does, it won't happen for at least over half a year, and if I had finished by then it'd still take forever to get played.

I don't want to wait that long, so I've decided I'm going to finish this thing up on my own time and then release it to the public, and I'll likely have TheMoniker play it part-by-part as I finish them, and release it to everyone when it's finished. Marc's obviously plenty free to play it on his time too, but given the circumstances I doubt he'll get any opportunity.

So, about this game. I decided very early on that there was absolutely no way I would best Pwnagekirby in the sadism department, so I instead directed my efforts into winning the Artist award, with some attempts at my own version of humor too. As a result, the game uses an extensive amount of original graphics (or those taken from other, free resources) and generally attempts to be as unique as possible.

Thanks to being a beta tester for FEXNA, I have access to quite literally the most powerful fangame creation engine there is, so plenty of features are completely one-of-a-kind. I know the community has been pretty excited for the engine overall so I also felt that this could be a good opportunity to show the sheer power of this thing off.

Its gameplay has been thoroughly tested by myself and has ended up rather tight, while still allowing plenty of wiggle room and plenty of choices for the player. In fact, this was also something I decided I wanted to do; instead of making a game that was essentially a giant puzzle, I wanted to make a game that gave plenty of freedom to choose. However, due to Ragefest giving me the freedom in design decisions it does, there's still some hints of rather "mean" mechanics. I'll probably say it would have been the easiest entry in the contest, but also possibly the most satisfying, if I do say so myself.

But enough rambling! I'm sure what you all REALLY want to see is some proof of my words, so lo and behold, I present unto you, TEASER SCREENSHOTS.

Fully Custom Tilesets! kinda, they're from a certain resource that's detailed in the credits.

An entirely different style of dialogue presentation!

Don't mind the strange position of the advance arrow, that's a bug with the Testing Text.

Brand new item icons for literally everything, and tons of new items!

With descriptions for all of them!

And new descriptions for literally everything else!

Entirely new music! Some of it original! Just... take my word for it on this one.

An official "Nobody's our friend" team, Team4! Courtesy of YEtiCOrp.

(By which I mean this is a built-in feature in FEXNA, but I use it quite extensively.)

Copyright infringement! Energy Sabers!

Arcane Defense Mechanisms of Doom!

Lance-wielding Catgirls!

A purple UI! Green isn't a good color, go cry somewhere else.

Shipping!

Extraordinary fixed growths! I know the bars don't fit properly, I'm still working on stuff. >.>

Gargantuan Maps, Escape missions, and a TRUE battlefield, all in one package!

A unique Battle Save system!

Meager amounts of Money!

But most of all, a Rabbit who met a terrible fate!

That ##, Name thing is part of the debug testing info, pay it no mind. It's used to identify Unit IDs and their Identifier strings, and shouldn't be present in the final product.

Screenshots are of a product in development and all assets are subject to change. Some more likely than others, such as how the Status screen overlays are still Yeti's dragon and stuff.

Part 1 ("The Escape") really only lacks dialogue and some final polishing, so if ^{_{wannabe Saleh}} Moniker is ready for it and you guys want it, we can probably get some actual gameplay up pretty soon! From there onwards I just have to wrap up Part 2: The Battlefield, and then finish the rest. Part 3: The Pursuit, Part 4: The Iron Ruin, and then lastly The Grand Finale.

Part 2 has playable functionality but no eventing, Part 3 has a map but no unit data whatsoever, Part 4 doesn't yet exist, and the Finale is planned and has a basic map but nothing finished.

Yeah, if it wasn't obvious enough, this thing is LONG. So long, in fact, that it might have even gotten me disqualified from Ragefest due to the fact all four parts sans the Finale are basically entire chapters on their own. So maybe it was a good thing I didn't make it? I honestly don't know how lenient Markyjoe would have been with its extraordinary length compared to everything else!

Honestly, though, the actual reason why I didn't finish in time wasn't overambition, it was due to numerous problems cropping up and impeding my progress along the way. I'm still sort of dealing with one of them... But I've got confidence and motivation, so I think with a little push I might be able to pull this thing off.

^{_{Before I finish this post, though, I'd also like to make a public request to the community. One of my particular struggles with this project has indeed been assets, and my puny little "Team" hardly has been enough for it all. I've made by fine for now, but I'm still using plenty of tentative pieces. Marc's portrait, for example, or a large number of NPCs who aren't actually playable. Then there's stuff like the scrolling "CGs" used in the intro, which are optional and I've been largely getting by just using Anime screencaps for, for now, but lack the ability to, uh, represent Marc. (Puush link. Probably dead, if you're reading this a long time from the original post date.)}} No longer applicable! I've actually got myself a wonderful artist now who's doing more or less all the art work for me, although battle animations are consistent enough in style that I can probably accept multiple people working on them.

And lastly I also lack certain animations, such as literally everything related to Kichy (The lance catgirl).

The thing I'm finding myself most in-need of is actually music. I don't really have a reliable composer at this point in time... I think I probably need musicians more than anything at the moment.

The music style I'm using is kind of more an orchestral style. I'm not using traditional FE music, since FEXNA allows you to just plop in an Ogg and play it. For reference, the song I'm presently using for the majority of Part 1 during Player Phase is below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-JcQSjFXmA

I do have a composer on my "team" already, so at present I'm moreso looking for artists. ^{_{I can do some degree of battle spriting on my own, so my first priority is art for character portraits. Second come battle sprites. CGs are optional, so I can live without them if need be.}} This is also mostly N/A now!

I am, however, still in need of battle spriters, and could also use somebody who knows how to do map sprites, if possible...

This said, if anybody has skills they can offer, be it musical composition, artistic ability, or perhaps something I didn't list here that you feel may help, feel free to say so! Feel free to post here or PM me, whatever suits you.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Ritisa

[Klokinator]

Finally, it got posted. Kinda disappointed it won't be ragefest for Marc first but eh, I just wanna see it in action >:D

[MrNight48]

whoa, this thing looks like a beast. from what I have seen so far, I definitely want to play this at some point.

those custom map tiles HNNNNNNGGGGGHHHH

[Avraxas]

"If anybody has any means to aid, be it musical composition, artistic ability, or in the case of the CGs, just good screenshots to pull from, then it'd be appreciated!"

Artistic ability for what kind of work? Sprites, portraits, battle animations?

[Maritisa]

Artistic ability for what kind of work? Sprites, portraits, battle animations?

Battle Animations are mainly what I'm looking for in the sprite area.

I don't use traditional portraits, so I basically just need an artist who's particularly good at copying styles and has plenty of free time. It's mostly the latter rather than the former that I've had trouble finding. I'm also looking for help with those "CGs" I mentioned. I do have a friend who's probably willing to cooperate with me but I don't want to overwork just one person, since it's not like I can offer money, you know?

Edited August 11, 2015 by Ritisa

[Avraxas]

I think I could help with battle sprites from time to time, if it's needed.

Here are some of the battle animations I've done, if you'd like to check the quality (or lack thereof) of my animations.

Some of these are actually from my own Rage Fest submission, though given how it's been playing out and the standard of quality they've had (Emblem Warriors/ Painful Places), I doubt I'll be getting any awards or special mention. xD

also tweaked the stats so that they could show off crits or skills here but whatevs

http://postimg.org/image/8q3th5o59/

http://postimg.org/image/gd0ngogux/

http://postimg.org/image/vsv2x4rjl/

http://postimg.org/image/hxbxkv7vd/

...I don't know about CGs, though. I don't think I can imitate the styles of those screen caps you're using.

[Amiratasiru]

This is fantastic, really. I'm glad FEXNA is exceeding my expectations by a long mark. Incidentally, though I'm not a big fan of what appear to be Anime girls with bunny/cat ears (I know, my avatar would suggest otherwise but to put simply I don't really watch much Anime) everything looks really well-done.

Also, if music can be inserted without it having to be a certain file or have certain restrictions I am able to provide some musical compositions. I have an FE-styled boss theme sitting on my computer that I did months ago already, but I can do more.

[Lance Masayoshi]

<Alphes design

Wooooooah, this looks amazing. I really like it.

[TacticsEmblem]

Holy hell, this is beautiful. That map is especially impressive! It would be interesting to see everything you improved and added!

[Mr. Mister]

But can you Aether doors?

[Melissa]

That was gold

[MarkyJoe1990]

I'm sure I'll get to this at some point. It would be a disservice NOT to.

[Kylo Drumman]

This is really amazing, Wow, take a bow..**aplause**

I would love to play this..

All i have to do now is wait.

[KoolioKenneth]

I clicked on a link in your signature area, and it brought me here. This looks awesome. When can I play this?

[かベリー]

Aesthetic and radical, great job Ritisa-sama!

[Crazycolorz5]

You had me at lance-wielding catgirls.

...

...

But purple UI is also nice.

Because purple.

I should finally figure out Team 4 loading so the only thing not doable in GBA shown here is the dialogue presentation.

... at least, until Circles decides to recreate Ryru's halfbodies hack

[EclipseXIV]

I'm glad to see that other people are doing this as well! I have a great idea for a Ragefest submission, and I've made an absurdly long page of notes detailing everything from the characters to the descriptions, to dialogue, and a story overview. Of course, it's full of inside jokes. I like seeing that other people are as enthusiastic as I am with making Ragefest submissions, whether the contest is done or not.

[EclipseXIV]

I just saw that the project was cancelled. I'm sad that it couldn't be completed, but it has still inspired me to continue with something of my own.

[BBHood217]

What does it matter anyway? It'll be a millennium before FEXNA and any games made with it are ever gonna be released.

[EclipseXIV]

What does it matter anyway? It'll be a millennium before FEXNA and any games made with it are ever gonna be released.

I'm aware FEXNA is still in development, but I wasn't planning on making the hack with it in the first place. I was thinking of either using FEXP or something like Nightmare.