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Fire Emblem: Fellowship of Demons


Ryrumeli
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This topic exists simultaneously in the forums "Fire Emblem Shrine", "Fire Emblem Café", "Serene's Forest", and "Shrine of Seals". All these will be checked in a regular basis, and announcements will be made in all of them. No other copy of this topic in any other place will be supported until stated otherwise.

1. What it is.

2. Why should I contribute.

3. What can I contribute with?

4. Appendix - Of Mugs and Half bodies.

5. Character and Voice Actor Sheet.

6. Miscellaneous Disclaimers: Protection specially for contributors.

1. What it is: [spoiler=Click here to read]

FE:FoD will be in simplistic terms a short 1-chapter vanilla hack. Also, it is the consequence of a challenge I made myself a few months back, of making a hack with the biggest standard of quality as possible in a single chapter. While I am not aware of the future after this hack, if it somehow helps to set a positive tendency of search for quality in hacks from this point onwards then I do believe it has reached it's goal already.

This hack will also feature most to all of my notorious hacks, and a few people never even heard of. My plan is to prove mostly myself the true impact of the joining of Assembly hacking and good game design, in the creation of something concise and, most of all, fun. :)

2. Why should I contribute: [spoiler=Click here to read]

While I can't talk on each individual wish to contribute, I do believe, with modesty aside obviously, that this hack will work as, even if a minor, a landmark on FE hacking. It will be a challenge to make, the planning of it alone was challenging, so this "Small and paradoxically megalomaniac" project will be hopefully exciting for everyone in it.

Also, for those that are already working in a hacking project, I can assure you all that what this project will be requiring mostly is beyond the scope of anything you may be doing for another hack, so it won't conflict with your work in your project. The only really complex contribution will come from the character contribution, and even then it won't conflict with content you will be offering other hacks I believe. Also deadlines will be hopefully lax enough for it not to become a burden on the contributors; They are the soul of this project after all.

I know it may sound like "an individual hack I am publicly asking content for", I mean for the most of it I mentioned "my challenge", "my wish", "my hacks", but I see it differently; Were it just an individual project it wouldn't have as much worth as it will have being a public project. So I am not only asking for content due to being unable to do all on my own, I am asking it because if I did do it on my own, it wouldn't be as legit, as valuable. Without the fear of sounding repetitive, contributions are the soul of this project after all. :)

3. What should I contribute: [spoiler=Click here to read]

As I promised in the last section, the actual contributions will be quite apart from the usual things asked by hacks. Albeit I might have use for what most projects do need at one point in the future, what I will need mostly is:

- Characters

- Voice Actors

Here is an example of my system working with those two requests in. Please excuse my poor VA skills in that clip, but it was just a test. XD(And yeah, I have that accent naturally whenever I speak in english)

Anyways, off to the specifics of the submissions.

3.1. Characters:

First, I want characters in. I want people to submit their own personal characters with custom information, like they would for any hack. Unfortunately due to the short nature of this hack very little of your character will be able to be developed, but even then a group of cool and diverse characters will be important for the end result of the hack. ^_^

Here comes the tricky part, the only subscriptions for characters that will be accepted will be the ones that feature the graphics of the character. And I say more, not the mug, but rather...one of the main innovations of this hack, the half body.

Half_bodies_twice_the_fun-2.png

Here are examples of some done half bodies that fit in the project's specifications, along with number of colors in each.

Half bodies need to follow some rules, much like our mugs do. For more info on Half bodies, consult the differences in the "4. Appendix - Of Mugs and Half bodies" section.

To send in a character, just fill in the sheet that comes in the end of this post. It will feature a system I call "Attributive Tendency"(Instead of submitting numbers submit me tendencies to work with), and some fields with text and some questions to answer. In a generic way, I will be accepting a single character for each class(Keeping in mind it will be an FE8 hack, which features tons of classes). For a spot to be considered yours you have to be approved, and for that you have to send in all data, including half body. Keep in mind, of course, that once it is approved it can be changed at will.(Until it gets inserted, of course. Still, should take a small while for that.)

3.2 Voice Actors:

For those unable/unwilling to contribute with characters(And hopefully also for those who do help with characters and even then want to help more. Thanks in advance guys.) I request this help with another of the innovations of the hack; I hire Voice actors.

As some of you might now, one of my most recent FE hacks enables for sounds to be played during specific points in conversations, and another innovation of mine enables sounds of a higher length than the insertion limit we had up to now. All of that allied to the fact I will have a bit over 16 mbs free for the insertion of sounds in the rom made me come to realize one thing; I can't tell it exactly right now, I will need more testing than what I have done so far, but if my preliminary math isn't wrong, this 1 chapter could be fully voiced. The amount of text in a regular FE chapter, divided by characters that actually do talk, also makes this pretty a reasonably low effort to do for all but a couple of voice actors.

For each person offering to be a VA, I would ask which gender they can voice, and how many "different voices" they can make(Specify if you can do it for both genders). Also, a short clip of the voice(s) would be preferable, but that doesn't need to be posted, and could instead be sent to me in secret, if you have any qualms about making it public.

I thank you already for taking interest in contributing. :)

4. Appendix - Of Mugs and Half bodies[spoiler=Click here to read]

4.1. Basics of Half Bodies: If you're willing to contribute to this project, I believe you must be used to the concept of mugshots, or portraits, or face sprites, depending on the person writing about them. As you most likely know, they are great, our community's spriting orbits around them a whole lot, but they have a very tight structure: 15 colors + background color, it has to have a maximum of 10x8 tiles + 2 lateral boxes on each side of 4x2 tiles(80x64 pixels + 2 boxes of 32x16 pixels).

As for half bodies, the numbers increase a whole deal. One box of 18x8 tiles with two lateral boxes of 12x3 tiles.(144x64 pixels + 2 boxes of 96x24 pixels). To make it more visual this is the new box of spriting death!

Box_of_death_for_Half_bodies.png

As you can see, the darker area in the upper part of the half body corresponds to what used to be our mugs in the past. So the space which was earned with half bodies was something else, don't you agree? :)

Also, it introduces two new concepts, variable height and dual palettes.

4.1.1 Variable Height: [spoiler=Click here to read]

Variable height consists of the fact that not all half bodies need to be the same height.

Variable_Height_2.png

As you can see by this model I did when I finished the variable height systems(A few hours before I finished the whole Half Body system in fact, the body isn't even there yet.) the height of the mug goes down by 8 pixels(1 tile) for every 1 point of height of the half body. The speech bubble also accompanies it, so the whole thing works pretty smoothly. The lines under the box of death hint that, you can start from any of them to make your own, no need to make it from the bottom line.

As a rule of thumb, I caught myself spriting tall people by using the whole thing, normal people by using 1/2, and 3 down I would only recommend for abnormally short or children/old people. If the person has a head piece like a hat or just a big hair you tend to add 1 extra tile as well.

4.1.2 Dual Palette:[spoiler=Click here to read]

Virtual_Body.png

As for Dual Palette, the name is suggestive enough I believe; Since there will be lots to sprite in the half body, and it could be tricky to accomplish with a single palette for the whole thing, you will have 2 palettes at your disposal, one for the higher half, one for the lower. So what consisted of the old mugshot will have a individual palette, and the rest will have a brand new one. I believe this will serve to increase the colorfulness of our works(As in, you can for example have an eye color that is a unique color to the whole of the mug and still have enough colors for the body for example), so I believe this can be useful.

Bear in mind that if you don't want to think about this or find it too complicated, you can just sprite your half body with 16 colors; A considerable share of the examples I posted here use 15 colors + Background.(Due to an old habit I do 16 colors even for halfs and even full bodies... Yeah I am weird. XD) So if you're able to deliver inside of those bondaries, not using more than 15 colors isn't an issue to the slightest. :)

While the sound of using two palettes is something else, realistically I believe rare will be the situations that a mug will manage to have more than 19 colors thanks to that; That being said, the possibility of this brings to spriters a possibility I think will make the challenge of making a half body more bearable, and, hopefully, fun. :)

So pretty much finish your mug with those specifications, send it over like that and, if it fits those rules, passes a quick quality control and your character is accepted, soon enough you will see a video of your half body in-game. :D

...oh! And don't forget, this is still FE, so be kind and don't forget the minimug! It is part of the charisma of FE obviously. :)

4.2 Intricacies of Half Body making: [spoiler=Click here to read]

This chapter discourses a bit about the actual making of half bodies. The reason why I have disclosed many half bodies I have done in the specifications I presented was to give a parameter for spriters to follow. Not obviously a rule set in stone(In art there is no such a thing after all, and spriting is art), but as a parameter to follow in case of doubt.

The main "issue" that projects with many different spriters face is the style differences, and I believe those are impossible to avoid without abusing some boundaries and vandalizing the work of the original artist. After you get some experience, it is pretty commonplace to be able to "guess" the original author of a work based on his style alone. I believe that those who can do it already do know what I am talking about here.

Since I believe having many artists is a good thing, instead of a bad one, the style differences might bother a handful, so here I will be discoursing a bit about the style used in the works over there, and I respectfully request those either spriting from scratch or adapting an old work for this do take these words to heart while doing so.

Oh, and before I begin, while I will state this again in the disclaimers, I will make it clear now; As soon as a half body is accepted for a character or an NPC in this project, it will not be changed without permission. Only exception will be a unperceptive color decrease(Like two very similar skin tones, a common aftereffect of splicing), any other modification will be informed to the artist beforehand, and will be postponed until his/her doing/approval. Hence why it is important to let these guidelines clear in beforehand. :)

So here are some guidelines I will put here to make mugs more standard.

On Heights: Ah, heights. The issue I believe affected us the most when we had the old box of death to worry about was what I call "Box Stretching Syndrome". More commonly than not I saw many spriters trying their best to use the limits of the Box of Death to the fullest. To be honest I congratulate those that did it, since some amazing works came out of experiences such as those, but I do believe this isn't something we have to worry here. ^_^ The last pixel of the hair hitting the top of the box was something usual, for example, but in these proportions it will hint a veeeery tall person. Although it is tempting to make your character tall by going all the way up, we ought to keep in mind that if we keep the tall people say, 3-4-5 pixels away from the top, then everyone will be tall, and then there will be space for those that have history reasons to be exceptionally tall to be so, like berserkers for example, by going all the way up. So whenever you make a character and see that you're hitting the top pixel, please consider making him like 4-5 pixels lower. :)

Any doubts, just use the provided mugs for proportion reference, keeping in mind the first 2 halfs are meant to be considerably tall people.

Cut line: Those that are savvy on human body proportions will notice the torsos of all bodies posted are shorter than they would be in a full body. Specially if you compare to say the Official Artworks of mugshots in all FE games, the torsos I made will strike as specially short. The cut line for half bodies is a bit lower than the waist line, giving a hint of the hips. Some characters more, some less. Out of experience, FE9's Half Bodies do offer a good base for the spriting of half bodies, since they also have shorter torsos. But the hint for the body would be considering making it a bit shorter to get the extra pixels mentioned in the former topic(And also give a hint of some sexy hips. :3)

Coloring: This hack will be using the FE8 color system. All rules that apply over the color and style for FE8 apply here, including the "Border color is your friend" rule of using border color even within the mugshot. Reason for that pick is that out of my experience as a spriter you end up using colors in a more intelligent way when you have the possibility of using more saturated shades such as FE8's. Keep in mind that while saying that, not all mugs needs to follow the FE8's pick for the dreaded and seriousness feeling. You can also make mugs colorful mugs that look more like FE6 and 7, and use some more "anime-like" hairs and the like, this much is more than open for the artist. :) All I humbly request is the bias for saturation, and the scheme and border for FE8. ^_^

Again I say this, these are guidelines to help to normalize style, so not all works stand out. This isn't to say what is right or wrong in spriting, I am not nearly egocentric nor good enough to say anything like that, it is just so all works, even among others. The other style differences I haven't discoursed here are something in fact I am not only not going to work to normalize, but also I am interested in seeing them in action. :3

5. Character and Voice Actor Sheet: [spoiler=Click here to read]Sheet for Characters:

https://docs.google....ktMOWc6MQ#gid=0

Sheet for Voice Actors:

https://docs.google....oOEltNFVLV0E6MQ

6. Miscellaneous Disclaimers: Protection specially for contributors. [spoiler=Click here to read] ALSO UNDER CONSTRUCTION, WILL BE JUST LEGAL-LIKE MUMBLE-JUMBLE.

So use this topic to talk/ask about anything about the project, and also show any possible interest. :)

Edited by Ryrumeli
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Ryru, I would be happy to provide voice acting for this, and maybe spriting might even submit a character because this looks extremely promising. Seriously, this is quite the impressive idea, so, just let me know what you need. For VAing, I can do a few male voices, and if you need examples of what I sound like, I've got a ton of videos on my YT page. Hit me up with a PM, we can discuss this!

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Oh my god.

I am going to sprite myself a nice halfbody once I'm done with my discrete math homework. I WILL GET NO SLEEP BUT IT WILL BE WORTH ITTTT

I would VA, but I'm...not particularly cut out for it. If all else fails I'll voice my own chick, since she'd have a deeper voice than the average chick. Except my deep voice doesn't sound particularly feminine or pleasing. @___@

Signing up my boyfriend for VAing whether he likes it or not---//shot

Edited by Luminescent Kitty
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VOICE ACTING?! Dude, I'm fucking in. Please, shoot me a PM. I can send you samples of voices, or something. I have a wide vocal range for male voices, and can do various accents and whatnot. Theatre majors rule!

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Ryrumeli, this project sounds wonderful. I am definitely going to contribute a character and half-body. Is there any deadline for submissions?

Best of luck! I can't wait to see what you put together.

Edited by Kittehlaine
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I'd like to bring in a character, and my darling girlfriend has already expressed interest in making his mug. I'm an actor, and would gladly voice my own character and maybe one or two others if needs be. Making the Audacity file the moment I finish this post.

Have since completed the Audacity file. Now on Megaupload.

Oh, right, I can only really voice males, with a couple of voices I'm comfortable with and the third was mainly experimental. I can also shout, death scream and roar with BOMBAST.

I like shouting. I am considered particularly good at it.

Edited by Furetchen
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Official games might not have much voiceacting but at least this does, and it makes me happy that someone is pushing the GBA to its limits. I've already known that you're the most secretly accomplished hacker so it's good to see that you've finally gotten to the point of starting to show said accomplishments...

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Voice Tier List:

God:

Furet

Trent

Arch

Mid:

Everything else

Joking aside, I would like to try and VA, though I think auditions should be held first, just to seperate the good VA's from the bad VA's and/or people with shit for mics.

If the deadline isn't in the near future, I'd be happy to submit :D

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Voice Tier List:

God:

Furet

Trent

Arch

Mid:

Everything else

Joking aside, I would like to try and VA, though I think auditions should be held first, just to seperate the good VA's from the bad VA's and/or people with shit for mics.

If the deadline isn't in the near future, I'd be happy to submit :D

I deserve to be on God Tier, even on the bottom of it D:

I'll post something later hopefully with some voice recordings, or something. Maybe some Shakespeare.

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God:

Furet

Trent

Arch

Let's get the entire God tier in on this then, shall we? Count me in for voice acting. You can check out the Event Hacking tutorials for samples of my voice. Also have experience in theatrics, stage-acting, public speaking and the like so I figure voice acting should be no problem.

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@Seph: Good thing you show interest Seph, to be honest you're part of the reason I even thought of Voice Acting for starters; Watching so many talented people such as you and MageKnight404 and Oblivion Knight and others made me wonder "What hack could I make to use the potential of the community to the fullest?" And when I thought we have talented voices, it just clicked. :3 Inb4u ask for royalties for the idea

I will be more than happy if you could contribute in any way possible. :) For now this topic is only a teaser, but for the near future I will be already doing some of the work related to this. This is more so you guys have a notion of what I am brewing than a public request for content...for now. ;)

@Lumi: I appreciate my humble project manages to somehow excite you. ^_^ As for VA, I indeed recommend that everyone consider to at least voice their own char if anything, it will be good to give a more personal touch to the project. :)

@Octavian: I am glad you are excited for the project, and indeed we shall talk soon enough. :) Auditions should start as soon as I am a bit more free, and I will have spots open even for generic guests in houses, so I recommend anyone to try out. :)

@Astra: Why thanks a lot, dude, it was more work than it was worthy, until I stopped being stubborn and just started anew. Sometimes starting from scratch can be good, no? :)

And I would be honored if you could contribute for my humble project. :)

@Amelia: I am glad you feel this way about my humble project, Amelia, if you can also consider being the VA for at least your character. Regardless, I will be really looking forward to anything you could contribute. ^_^

@Kitteh: Call me Ryru, no need for formalities. :) And as of now not really, this is currently a "project awareness" topic. The deadlines will be defined as soon as I have some free time IRL. As soon as I post the character and VA sheets, you guys can start to enter. But believe me, as I said in my abnormally huge post, I believe in lax deadlines, so don't feel rushed please. :)

@Rey: Lol, you're one to know just for how long I have been hiding this. XD Once again, Rey, I would be truly honored if you could contribute in any way. :)

@Jealousy: Not yet, but believe me it will not be exactly free; To assure diversity I plan on being draconian, and making it so that excluding Falco Knights, all classes will be allowed a single unit, and at that it will be the first one to get accepted. If there is a good enough number of characters, which would mean a good case scenario, I might increase said limit to 2. All will depend on how things will play out. Keep in mind it will be an FE8 hack, so that will assure a great number of classes to pick from. :)

One thing is to be said, right now there will be no character sending, simply because I am too busy to handle those sheets now, but when I do post the sheet, then subscriptions will start, and the deadlines will start to appear. I haven't finished all ASMs I have planned for the hack yet as well, which will also affect the deadlines positively(Since it will be my deadline as well).

@Furetchen: It will be an honor to have an actor like yourself among the options in my hack. :) And screaming is good, very good, no joke. There might be a few text-heavy parts for the hack, so I might need someone skilled for them. I thank you already for your interest in joining. ^_^

@Luffy: AKA I am the guy that always hides the gold, in that you're right, but I personally don't see myself as such an outstanding hacker; I am only able in a field many don't venture in, that is innovation, while in more routinous tasks I tend to be mediocre at best. So this hack will also be a learning experience to me. :)

Regardless, thanks a lot for the inspiring words, they mean a lot coming from you. :)

@Joe: (Then I get to be on the crappy tier of that list. XD)

Worry not, there will be time for the deadlines. :) And I want as much people as possible in, I don't mind working extra in picking people for the non-character parts. The really tricky part will be to coordinate all that volume of text, that you can be sure of. Never dreamed of being a movie director, so it will be challenging in a great way. XD

@Arch: I know how your voice sounds, Arch, worry not, it is an honor you took an interest to my project. Please, if possible be also consider adding a character in(There is no rule against having someone doing your sprite for you, credits will be clear in the hack), and again, I think I will have fun at the audition stage, really think so. :)

@Kitty of Time: Now wait a minute, who said no maps are needed? :D I might have a huge request soon enough for a single epic map, you know. Thanks a lot for the interest in my project BTW. :)

@L95: Why do you say that? No spriting + Voice Acting skills? Even then I think you could contribute. If you can let your friends know of this project, I think that will be more than enough help. In fact, the fact you shown interest in this is already more help thank you think, thanks in advance for stopping by and posting. :)

Thanks a lot to everyone who has posted here, and keep on posting. Will keep you guys tuned to any further update. :)

Edited by Ryrumeli
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@Kitty of Time: Now wait a minute, who said no maps are needed? :D I might have a huge request soon enough for a single epic map, you know. Thanks a lot for the interest in my project BTW. :)

:0!

yay! i'd just need to know what you're going for with the map and i can get started whenever

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@Seph: Good thing you show interest Seph, to be honest you're part of the reason I even thought of Voice Acting for starters; Watching so many talented people such as you and MageKnight404 and Oblivion Knight and others made me wonder "What hack could I make to use the potential of the community to the fullest?" And when I thought we have talented voices, it just clicked. :3 Inb4u ask for royalties for the idea

I will be more than happy if you could contribute in any way possible. :) For now this topic is only a teaser, but for the near future I will be already doing some of the work related to this. This is more so you guys have a notion of what I am brewing than a public request for content...for now. ;)

Lol Ryan

Well, like I said, hit me up with a PM when you've got the chance, and you can talk to me about what voices you need, what voices I can do, etc. Anytime, Ryru ;3

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@Amelia: I am glad you feel this way about my humble project, Amelia, if you can also consider being the VA for at least your character. Regardless, I will be really looking forward to anything you could contribute. ^_^

My voice isn't exactly great, and I engrish sometimes. (I'm asian, sue me) But I'll give it a try. :3

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@Lumi: I appreciate my humble project manages to somehow excite you. ^_^ As for VA, I indeed recommend that everyone consider to at least voice their own char if anything, it will be good to give a more personal touch to the project. :)

Yay~

Oh oh oh, Imma ask a friend of mine if she has time. My voice is pretty limited to the lower registers, so it's bad for voicing most chicks, but my friend's been in theater and is a pretty skilled VA. Maybe she can help out~

SAKUSA GET IN HERE

Edited by Luminescent Kitty
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