The man in the mirror, my impossible criticism of that which is within.

[RoseSkye]

Ever since a child, I had an affinity for all things literature. I could write circles around even those in a higher grade level than I. However, when introduced to Rpg Maker 95 - 2003 when I was around 13 I went the way of any rpg fan around my age.

"I'm going to make the next *insert jrpg here*, its going to be soooo cool!"

Legend of Harpine: Chapters of Time was my first game.

The original story. (Sadly I dont have any screenshots of the original LoH. Virus killed the old computer, geocities deleted any backup I once had. Just imagine RM2003 and then imagine the horrid mapping. Nova Hiwind was the blue haired emo rtp guy, Natelia was the brown haired rtp girl with the red armor. Avon was the golden haired rtp edit of the blue haired emo rtp guy.)
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The characters were...

Nova Hiwind: (FF last name.. I chose to keep that name when I came back to RM simply because I wanted to embrace the child in me.)

A mercenary that got all the "chicks". He transformed into a desin knight because he's one of the legendary blah blah blah.

Avon Hiwind:

Nova's schizophrenic side, though he's still seen as Nova to others, he's seen as Avon to Nova. He is a beserker type of fighter that stands against everything Nova stands for.

Natelia Hart:

Nova's fangirl, she was a cowgirl bounty hunter that had precise aim. She ran away from her parents because she was constinantly abused. Later on she joined with Nova

The story was basically me going to extremes (as I always did.. if I remember correctly, there were 130+ maps of one area even if they were poor, I always have been dedicated to whatever I did. Which allowed me to gain more experience in a shorter time than others. However, I am no natural.) to show Nova a cool emo guy. It was totally uninspired.

^ back in 2000 I suppose, its been a long while.
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I left rpg maker for 8 years after that, I came back just last year to find out they made a new rpg maker. RMXP.

I was bored with my life, I figured.. "Hey, why not make LoH again?"

Originally, I was just going to wing it. I had shit to do, people to see.

Legend of Harpine: Chapters of Time (step 2)

(note: Sakura Oshiana is my pen name. First name is a flower, second name is an atmosphere)

The revamped half ass story of LoH: CoT.

Nova Hiwind: Still a Desin Knight with a horribly cliche story. He transforms into this Desin Knight when near death as he did before and blah blah balh.

Murial Night: (GASP! Some originality finally.) I decided to make a play on the subtitle, and have it actually have something to do with LoH. She was a thief that after Nova died became interested in Nova's story. <-- I didn't have anything after that, because, I was winging it.

Claire Hart: (I kept Hart out of nostalgia) A wandering girl with no purpose. The traditional emo girl to the jrpg. Here is the twist, she was ALSO a legendary Desin Knight. e.e

Starlight: Murial's bird in battle. He fought alongside Murial and alerted her of the baddies that came her way.

Aluxes, Basil, and Dorothy: The comedy relief party.

Screenshots

Nova to the right: Beating up Baddies.
Claire to the left: Being a dumb *expletive*


Nova to the right: "transforming"
Claire to the left: Still being a dumb *expletive*


Murial: picking locks


Murial and starlight.


Aluxes and Party about to fight a wolf.


Aluxes and Party fighting the wolf. (Due to my past experience with Rpg Maker, I knew how to make primative battle systems.. however I was no expert)


Aluxes and Party being comedic relief.

Take note that my mapping skills were still that of a 13 year old even though I was 20 at the time. As I tried to become better at my craft I observed what techniques worked and which were disposable, for maximum storytelling potential.

I kept these screenshots for bookmarks. Each time I would develop my talents in RM I would take a screenshot and compare them.
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After the second time I took a break from rpg maker for two months. I studied other games. As time progressed something snapped and I couldn't help but to obsess over the project.. in my head I thought of many things that I could use from my childhood. I've decided that instead of making a game that is trying to be like 'other' games. I was going to make a game with originality.. something that will be playable. When I found out that I can sell rpg maker games, I decided to actually try hard to make something.

If I didn't like it, delete it.. if its unusable, exterminate it. If its half assed, get rid of it. If it is cliche, it is obsolete. I obsessed over this concept for many months.

LoH Concept:

Nova



Murial



Avon



Aluxes


Dorothy



Basil

Murial x Maurice

screenshots

I've spent days at the computer just thinking.. imagining. What can I do to make a captivating storyline?

Legend of Harpine: CoT try 3
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I decided to impliment racism, rape, and menstruation in game. This all to make a more in depth story. Every place has a backstory, every NPC isn't an NPC.. but sadly my mapping skills were up to such a task. However I did manage to recruit voice actors and spriters as well as musicians by this time.

(Notice how I kept some jrpg aspects. I know better now.)

Bio

Murial Night:

Voice Actor: ('Mippa' / Mellissa D Johnson)

Biography:

Abused as a child, and molested by her father until she was 12. Murial grew up in a rough home, where noone believed her words alone. She was made an object as her birthrite. She ran away when her mother died, never looking back. As her going away present, she burned down her house while her father was sleeping.. killing him. A fugitive in her own country she exiled herself to the country of Larnoine. In the city of Rage, she was raised as an outcasted orphan. Her skin color, made her different from the other orphans, the only friend she had was in Maurice. As she aged the orphanage was seiged by criminals from Murials country.. all of the other orphans were thought to be killed but her. Knowing that her people had a part of killing innocents, she ran away to the wild.. in time meeting Starlight. Over time she became an avian master. To survive she became a thief with her companion, Starlight.


Traits:
A swift fighter but pretty weak without Starlight to complete her combos. (Which in the beginning of the game you have to manage to fight on without Starlight for awhile.) Her weapon of choice is her bare fist, which she wears thin gloves over to avoid any visual wearing.


Age: 19

Personality: Cold, yet caring. Stuck up, loner. (Voice range, Deep yet young)

Weapon:
Fist/Starlight

Occupation:
Runaway/Avian Master

Race: Forbidden

Birthplace:
The forbidden country



Nova Hiwind

Voice Actor: (Jiffy)



Story:
A legendary Desin Knight, his mastery of the Desin Arts has turned him into a divine deity of legends. He has disappeared after his long battle with Aura, having lost touch with his long lost love, Claire.

Traits:
His Schizophrenia only boosts his already inhumane strength and speed. His speed is so amazing that when he attacks he seems to come at you from all directions when he hits you. Its almost impossible to dodge his attacks.

Age: 30ish.. (Young Nova is around 16)

Weapon:
His own Aura/Sword

Personality: Dark, lamenting, narcissistic (voice range deep, yet young [Young Nova sounds a bit younger and less deep])

Occupation:
Legend

Birthplace:
Lest' Aime

Race:
Neigi (White)


Aluxes:

Voice Actor(perfect)

Story: The underdog / hero that everyone knows for some reason. He seems to be a pretty generic fighter. His village gets burned down by the antagonist, he gets party members.. he looks for the antagonist. (Basil knows that he has no real motivation for looking for Aura but still travels with him)

Age: 18

Personality: Bright, Aloof, Enthuastic (Voice Range: Young prettyboy)

Weapon: Sword.

Occupation: Sword Wielder

Birthplace: The Village of Brice

Race: Asian (Eishu)


Name: Basil

Voice Actor: (Shintarou Inuzuka)

Story: Basically a hot head, thats a bit too rational for his own good. He hates fairytales and hates being dragged for no reason. He somehow got talked into Arshes' party and hated every second of it.

Personality: Bored with everything, alone (Voice range: Bored and young)

Age: 22

Weapon: Pole

Occupation: Pole Fighter

Race: Asian (Eishu)



Name: Dorothy

Voice Actor: (Kai-chan)

Story: Arshes' on staff fangirl.. ("self proclaimed") she follows Arshes' blindly into whatever adventure he wishes to travel into. She is amazingly hyper and corny.. and it makes Murial sick to her stomach knowing that there are actually people like this that exists.

Personality: Cheerful, childish, squeaky (Voice Range: Coy, young teen)

Age: 16

Weapon: Dagger

Occupation: Pickpocket

Race: Asian (Eishu)


(Villians)

Name: Marice

Voice Actor: (Shintarou Inuzuka)

Story: Raised in the same orphanage as Murial, he escaped by killing all of the bandits from the Forbidden Country. His bloodlust only grew from that point on.. His right eye was said to have been lost in the battle between him and the bandits, but the real reason he covers his eye is because his innocence is locked in that one eye. Once exposed to the light the eye will shed tears endlessly. He meets up with Murial a year before the story begins, but both of their memories were erased by Aura to prevent the beast inside Maurice from going dormant.

Traits:
One that is cold and will kill just to amuse himself. His very gaze brings an air of uncomfortable settings. Nothing is known of him but his uncomfortable aura.

Age: 25

Personality: Ruthless, furious, Cold (Voice Range: Dark, Emotionless. Deep adult male)

Weapon: Unknown

Occupation: Unknown

Race: Russian (Weish)




Name: Aura

Voice Actor: ('Mippa') (Mellisa D Johnson)

Story: A villian from a hundred years ago.. nothing is known but its great evil. Not even its gender.

Age: Unknown

Weapon: Unknown

Occupation: Unknown

Race: Unknown



Starlight
A bird.. nothing else to say. A voice of his heart sometimes reaches Murial's heart.

Age
3

Personality
Happy, Clingy, Loyal. (Voice range; Childish boy, cutesy, yet raspy.)




Claire

Voice Actor: (Crystalonn Quist) / MorningStarr Smiles

Nova's love, disappeared long ago. She also has alot to do with the storyline. She's basically the type that is so kind she gives a baker cavities.
Age
23

Personality
Caring, distant, motherly. (Voice Range, soft toned adult)

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This time over, I applied camera angles. However I wasn't pleased with my mapping. I wanted to transcend the limits of Rpg Maker.

Rose: This will not do!

screenshots

Nova conversing with his Tailor


Nova speaking with Ken.


Nova speaking with the traitor, John.


John speaking with Henry.


John speaking with Henry


Nova taking a bath

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Rose:
Damn, DAMN, DAMN! This wont fucking DO! How am I going to pull off such a story with such bad mapping?

I growled to myself, as the harshest critic I've ever faced emerged.

His words, harsh. As if falling into the abyss with no padding to soften the blow.
He will never be satisfied, even if I improved slightly.. there can always be room for more improvement.
He was as czar. He looked down on me from a pedestal, feasting on grapes, unmoved by my effort. He is not impressed, he will never be.

I revised the characters and personalities. Wrote a 19 page template of the game and aspects (I'm not going to post it of course.. its too large).

Revision

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Nova Hiwind:
A noble from an aristocracy, unaware of how to be free feels he is chained by tradition. He wishes to only be aware of how it feels to truly be in love. His father, a once benevolent nobel and a quite reknown leader is said to have been killed in war.

Sir Ken:
Sired as a teenage by Nova's father, Ken has served the nobels of Lest Aime ever since. Seen numerous battles, Sir Ken has aged well into an expert in strategy and warfare. Though he's always drinking he seems more down to earth than the other knights.

Lady Ky' lire:
Sired through Nova's father, Ky lire is the only forbidden as well as the only woman in the history of Poroure' to become a Knight recognized by Poroure.

Charles I:
Nova's father, not much is known about him as a person. He's reknown as a leader with a heart of gold. His last name has been changed with his rule, from Charles Monroe IV to Charles Hiwind I. This was seen as recognition to his contributions to Poroure as well as Harpine.

Claire Hart:
Heiress to be wed by Nova Hiwind, her whole life has been dedicated to being refined for marriage into aristocracy. She seems hesistant to marry but upon meeting Nova her thoughts has changed, though not drastically.

Jean Sinclare:
A woman who seems to resemble Claire Hart a little to well from the eyes of Nova.

Murial Night:
A Forbidden orphan who was abused drastically as a child, her whole life she's been made an object through molestation and verbal abuse from her father. After the murder of her father she ran away eventually becoming an orphan.

Maurice Lon:
A Weish orphan he met up with Murial and was thought to be long dead. Maurice was and always will be Murial's only love.

Arshes Stile:
A soldier from the Eishu militia. He has been ranked overseer of the Dragon Flank, yet has taken leave to find traces of Aura.

Basil Pomel:
A soldier from the Eishu militia. He has ranked under Arshes by choice, though he is normally disgusted by Arshes they've remained on friendly terms.

Dorothy Saguna:
An everyday criminal who is in love with Arshes. She was once arrested by Arshes and never asked to be released.


Personalities

Nova Hiwind: Dark, Lamenting, Narcissistic

Murial Night: Cold, yet caring stuck up loner.

Arshes Stile: Ambitious with iron clad morals.

Basil Pomel: Down to earth, bored with everything

Dorothy Saguna: Bubbly, friendly.

Claire Hart: Carefree, to herself, motherly

Jean Sinclare: Loving, concerned with others, yet unattached.

Sir Ken: Drunken, friendly, wise.

Lady Ky lire: Wise, sophisticated, loyal.

Screenshots

Rose: Impressed now, you fucker!

He gazed passively and gave sarcastic praise. His smile was condescending.

Rose: I'll prove you wrong, you fucker! I am better than you!

Unaware that I'm arguing amongst myself, my blood boiled. I was no longer interested in becoming great in rmxp. I wanted to become legend.. no matter what.. no matter how long. I will.

I took a break from RMXP, did side projects to accumulate experience in mapping. Myself, and I. An unlikely inspiration. I came up with story after story. I didn't care that they were original stories with good foundation. I only used it as footing to gain more experience in mapping and story telling.

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By now, I had started an unofficial gaming company. (Loveless Entertainment) and had recruited a few people under its roster, including amatuer game designers. I made friends with a few rpg makers and developed a nack for making original stories. However, this was all to improve "Legend of Harpine" the project I have been working on for 2 years as of now (not counting childhood).

LoH: CoT try 3 revision

Nova is more developed, his personality is more dynamic now. The characters doesn't just exist. I've created a world in which they thrive. Wars going on between four countries..

Poroure:
Sophicated world, the inhabitants are called Neigi. They're hated by the other countries because of their smug arrogance. They look down on cross breeding with any other country.

Capital: Lest' Aime (The city of commerce)
Transportation: Horse and Carriage

Ain' Muc:
A more tribal location, the inhabitants are called Forbidden. They are looked down by the other countries because of the darker skin tone. They look down on killing for no reason.

Capital:Clis (The gathering of brotherhood)
Transportation: Motive Migrant (Primative Train)

Oxa:
A rough slum of a location, the inhabitants are named Weish. They seem to want to do anything for power and an upper hand on the other countries. They live for the thrill of fighting.

Capital: Murdac (Man's land)
Mammoth Tigris (A tough cat looking tamed cat)

Nivea:
An organized yet, medieval location. The inhabitants are named Eishu. They focus on preparing for what may happen and yet advancing for the future.

Capital: Lien (Extention of Neighborly Love)
Naira (Flying Machine that only can fly a few feet above ground)

Events in all locations will alternate during gameplay. Somewhere in the middle, this stop being a hobby game and started to become a living breathing project. Gaining a team in the process, my critic has shown me why he was so harsh. As I take a step back and look at my progress, I notice.. I'm better than I was before, but in no way am I the best.

My desire, my passion, my day-dreaming has shown me how to eliminate the unneccessary, and provide only the best. Even if it means taking weeks to work out "A.I." of events or even falling back on my friends I've made in the process for help. I can make a good game with RPG maker, it just takes time and dedication.. like all good things in life.

Do you have a critic inside, or do you follow others?