X-Tra Dimension (Calling All Help)

[jcbluejr01]

 

So, what is this?

 

"X-Tra Dimension" is an SNES-styled RPG, set in an all new universe.

 

The story goes as this:

 

In another universe... somewhere... there lies a place called the "X-Tra Dimension", a place filled with colorful characters living happily together with little to no hatred available.

Well... WAS.

One day, a mysterious, glitchy portal opened in the middle of the X-Tra Dimension, causing a barrage of unknown, corrupted, and glitchy creatures made out of exposed code, to come out of the portal, and posess everyone, in order to make them hostile towards one target: a young, Japanese cat named Miki.

Miki The Kitty was trying to live a normal life in the X-Tra Dimension, after she was driven away from her home after accidentally using her magic against someone. However, as soon as she got there, the corrupted people immediately attacked her, and caused her ship to teleport and crash land in an unknown, decrepit world that's slowly falling apart. She later falls unconscious for a bit, until the only resident, a mysterious character named Bosko, wakes her up. Shortly after helping her fix her ship's engine, and befriending her, Bosko agrees to help her find out what exactly caused everyone to go haywire, after she explains what happened to her, that made her crash land.

Shortly after, they land on a snowy town called Snowman Town, more specifically, a forest in said town. However, because of the consistently cold environment there, they pass out in the snow, after nearly freezing to death. Luckily, a brownish/red dog named Phineas takes them in and helps them warm up.

After Miki explains what happened to her, he agrees to help them out as well, seeing as part of Snowman Town has been affected by the dark creatures as well, and Phineas can't really get around anymore.

From then on out, it's a story full of crazy and humorous enemies and characters on their quest throughout the X-Tra Dimension to find the portal that leads into the mysterious, glitchy world the monsters came from. And that won't be the only thing they face there either...

 

I'm currently in the planning and dialogue writing stages of development, and I would appreciate any help I can get for it, such as spriting, map creation, programming (it'll probably be made in either RPG Maker or Game Maker Studio, whichever one's easier...) and even help for dialogue, and even making enemies and side characters for the game. If anyone wants to help me out with this project and get it off the ground, any credit I can give will be given sincerely.

 

If this all sounds ridiculous to you guys, I know the feeling. I was even hesitant on revealing it here because of how ridiculous it sounds, even to me. But, if you're willing to look past that, and are willing to help me any way you can, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

-jcbluejr01

 

[jcbluejr01]

 

So, what is this?

 

"X-Tra Dimension" is an SNES-styled RPG, set in an all new universe.

 

The story goes as this:

 

In another universe... somewhere... there lies a place called the "X-Tra Dimension", a place filled with colorful characters living happily together with little to no hatred available.

Well... WAS.

One day, a mysterious, glitchy portal opened in the middle of the X-Tra Dimension, causing a barrage of unknown, corrupted, and glitchy creatures made out of exposed code, to come out of the portal, and posess everyone, in order to make them hostile towards one target: a young, Japanese cat named Miki.

Miki The Kitty was trying to live a normal life in the X-Tra Dimension, after she was driven away from her home after accidentally using her magic against someone. However, as soon as she got there, the corrupted people immediately attacked her, and caused her ship to teleport and crash land in an unknown, decrepit world that's slowly falling apart. She later falls unconscious for a bit, until the only resident, a mysterious character named Bosko, wakes her up. Shortly after helping her fix her ship's engine, and befriending her, Bosko agrees to help her find out what exactly caused everyone to go haywire, after she explains what happened to her, that made her crash land.

Shortly after, they land on a snowy town called Snowman Town, more specifically, a forest in said town. However, because of the consistently cold environment there, they pass out in the snow, after nearly freezing to death. Luckily, a brownish/red dog named Phineas takes them in and helps them warm up.

After Miki explains what happened to her, he agrees to help them out as well, seeing as part of Snowman Town has been affected by the dark creatures as well, and Phineas can't really get around anymore.

From then on out, it's a story full of crazy and humorous enemies and characters on their quest throughout the X-Tra Dimension to find the portal that leads into the mysterious, glitchy world the monsters came from. And that won't be the only thing they face there either...

 

I'm currently in the planning and dialogue writing stages of development, and I would appreciate any help I can get for it, such as spriting, map creation, programming (it'll probably be made in either RPG Maker or Game Maker Studio, whichever one's easier...) and even help for dialogue, and even making enemies and side characters for the game. If anyone wants to help me out with this project and get it off the ground, any credit I can give will be given sincerely.

 

If this all sounds ridiculous to you guys, I know the feeling. I was even hesitant on revealing it here because of how ridiculous it sounds, even to me. But, if you're willing to look past that, and are willing to help me any way you can, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

-jcbluejr01

 

[ILOVEVHS]

Everything I've personally seen about this project looks really, really cool, I'm really happy you've put so much effort into it so far. Here's hoping we see a finished game out of it. If possible, there are things I wanna help with too! (voices, designs, etc.) 

[TheRedStranger]

I would recommend RPG Maker; I have heard its much easier. In my dabbling experience I can occur (and found it more versatile for what you are looking for) You can also get it on Steam Sell this Christmas or even early this fall - so save up and start learning some basic programming and tutorials. All the while you can look for more help on the site as more and more of the gaming community come (we just opened this section up after all. ;))

I can give advice on story, graphics, and character design - all you gotta do is ask when things seem tough. I am a DM as well - I know a lot about mechanics and pitfalls you might end up with when it comes to the crunch of a game as well as the fluff. You might want to take a whack at that (and see some future resources we will be coming up with so you can get a sense of how game mechanics impact narrative and the flow of a game. 

 

[TheRedStranger]

16 minutes ago, ILOVEVHS said:

Everything I've personally seen about this project looks really, really cool, I'm really happy you've put so much effort into it so far. Here's hoping we see a finished game out of it. If possible, there are things I wanna help with too! (voices, designs, etc.) 

Ah! You are planning to voice act? I hope to see some practice demos in the voice acting Booth! 

[jcbluejr01]

I was actually gonna mention that with how dialogue based the game will be, maybe voice acting might be possible, though I feel like that's kinda stretching it...

[ILOVEVHS]

17 hours ago, TheRedStranger said:

Ah! You are planning to voice act? I hope to see some practice demos in the voice acting Booth! 

Well, I wasn't sure if there was going to be voice acting or not, tbh, but I'm open to it. Not until I know for sure.

[TheRedStranger]

Well you be keeping to the darker themes of Earthbound, or will you be going for a different tone? Can we expect Eldricht horrors?

[jcbluejr01]

9 minutes ago, TheRedStranger said:

Well you be keeping to the darker themes of Earthbound, or will you be going for a different tone? Can we expect Eldricht horrors?

I'm planning on having a huge tone whiplash when you get to the final area of the game. Sure the game can be pretty lighthearted for most of the time, but the last area... well... let's just say that every enemy you encounter THERE, pretty much wants you DEAD.

[jcbluejr01]

So, I've got some sprites done for the characters. Wanna see?

[TheRedStranger]

20 minutes ago, jcbluejr01 said:

So, I've got some sprites done for the characters. Wanna see?

Sure - go ahead.

[jcbluejr01]

Okay, here they are. I'm not exactly sure if this fourm accepts animated GIFs, so tell me if anything's wrong. I'll also update this if more characters get done.

 

Bosko:     

[TheRedStranger]

Gifs are art. We accept art. As long as its not something uber groddy and very NSFW; we accept it. This above is completely fine.

Will this be in black and white or is this specific to the character?

[jcbluejr01]

11 minutes ago, TheRedStranger said:

Gifs are art. We accept art. As long as its not something uber groddy and very NSFW; we accept it. This above is completely fine.

Will this be in black and white or is this specific to the character?

I understand those rules. I was just wondering if animated GIFs actually worked on a site like this. Guess they work just fine.

 

And the black and white style is specific to Bosko only, as his design is actually supposed to be based off old 1930s cartoons...

[TheRedStranger]

Just now, jcbluejr01 said:

I understand those rules. I was just wondering if animated GIFs actually worked on a site like this. Guess they work just fine.

 

And the black and white style is specific to Bosko only, as his design is actually supposed to be based off old 1930s cartoons...

I thought you might but some people get worried if there are even more rules beyond that, which in most cases there are not.

 That should be interesting. You should look into sound-effects that could accompany that.

[jcbluejr01]

Okay, more sprites done. This time for Miki (yeah, I know, the side sprites aren't the best, but it's what I've got so far)

 

Miki:     

[ILOVEVHS]

They all look great to me.

[jcbluejr01]

And finally (for now), Phineas, who BTW, is essentially the Jeff of the group.

 

Phineas:     

[Ishapar]

Sounds like an interesting game.  I'm don't know much about game development, but if you ever want ideas or if you specifically ask help for something, I can try to lend a hand.  Never too late to learn a new trick.

[jcbluejr01]

2 minutes ago, Ishapar said:

Sounds like an interesting game.  I'm don't know much about game development, but if you ever want ideas or if you specifically ask help for something, I can try to lend a hand.  Never too late to learn a new trick.

I guess you can give me ideas, since I'm kinda stumped with that lately...

[Ishapar]

Well, you seemed to know the beginning of your story.  Do you have anything else planned out?  Do you know where the story will take you at the end?   Sometimes it helps to map out the beginning and the ending before you can figure out what storyline to place in the middle.

 

Also, your introduction:  is this part of the gameplay, or will this just be an introduction scene for the game?

[Ishapar]

@jcbluejr01:  Could we start off with the talk of the code.  You mention that:

On 8/22/2016 at 11:14 PM, jcbluejr01 said:

One day, a mysterious, glitchy portal opened in the middle of the X-Tra Dimension, causing a barrage of unknown, corrupted, and glitchy creatures made out of exposed code, to come out of the portal, and posess everyone, in order to make them hostile towards one target: a young, Japanese cat named Miki.

What do you mean by exposed code?  Is this supposed to be similar to codes found in games (similar to a Wreck-it Ralph universe) or is it something different?

[jcbluejr01]

Just now, Ishapar said:

@jcbluejr01:  Could we start off with the talk of the code.  You mention that:

What do you mean by exposed code?  Is this supposed to be similar to codes found in games (similar to a Wreck-it Ralph universe) or is it something different?

I meant something more like enemies/monsters made of b&w binary code or something, I dunno. I haven't gotten any ideas for designs yet...

[Ishapar]

So computer code?  These enemies are not real, but just made up of code?

 

[jcbluejr01]

1 minute ago, Ishapar said:

So computer code?  These enemies are not real, but just made up of code?

 

Oh no, they're visibly real to everyone. They're just made out of code.

[Ishapar]

Okay, so the binary code is a real substance that creates real monsters.  Right?

So these creatures made of code have possessed the citizens of the x-tra dimension.  So the code creatures main plot is to possess the creatures of the different dimensions.  And they seem to want to hurt Miki.

Do you have any reasons why these code creatures want to hurt only Miki?  Do these creatures also want to harm their hosts, or are they only trying to hurt the main protagonist?

[jcbluejr01]

3 minutes ago, Ishapar said:

Okay, so the binary code is a real substance that creates real monsters.  Right?

So these creatures made of code have possessed the citizens of the x-tra dimension.  So the code creatures main plot is to possess the creatures of the different dimensions.  And they seem to want to hurt Miki.

Do you have any reasons why these code creatures want to hurt only Miki?  Do these creatures also want to harm their hosts, or are they only trying to hurt the main protagonist?

As far as I've got, the real reason they wanna hurt Miki specifically, is that she's practically a master of "Magic". "Magic" is essentially this game's equivalent to EarthBound's "PSI". The monsters wanna take advantage of those abilities to spread their reign across the X-Tra Dimension, or from our eyes, corrupt ALL of the game.

[Ishapar]

So is the setting a game (like Wreck-it Ralph)?  Is the X-Tra Dimension a game world, or is this an entirely new world.  I am trying to understand if this game is about a character in another dimension or if it's about a character in a game-like world (because you mention binary code and their purpose is to corrupt the game)?  Do you understand what I am asking?

[jcbluejr01]

1 minute ago, Ishapar said:

So is the setting a game (like Wreck-it Ralph)?  Is the X-Tra Dimension a game world, or is this an entirely new world.  I am trying to understand if this game is about a character in another dimension or if it's about a character in a game-like world (because you mention binary code and their purpose is to corrupt the game)?  Do you understand what I am asking?

I'm kinda split on both to be honest. It feels scripted like a game, but at the same time, for most of the game, the characters aren't exactly aware of it, until the last area at least, if that makes any sense...

[Ishapar]

I think so.  To us the players, we can recognize this world is made up of codes found inside of games, but the characters themselves do not know this until they progress through the story.

 

As for your reference to Earthbound, I would have to do some research to become more familiar with the game.  I can't help too much until I have an understanding of Earthbound as you are taking references from this game.

As for Miki, do you have anything else about her story?  How do the monsters know about her magic?  What abilities does she have that will be used in gameplay?

[jcbluejr01]

1 minute ago, Ishapar said:

I think so.  To us the players, we can recognize this world is made up of codes found inside of games, but the characters themselves do not know this until they progress through the story.

 

As for your reference to Earthbound, I would have to do some research to become more familiar with the game.  I can't help too much until I have an understanding of Earthbound as you are taking references from this game.

As for Miki, do you have anything else about her story?  How do the monsters know about her magic?  What abilities does she have that will be used in gameplay?

Unaware of EB's mechanics, I see? I can explain that.

PSI in EarthBound is essentially what magic spells are in regular RPGs. Basically, they're special abilities, such as a fire attack, an ice attack, to defensive maneuvers, like a shield or boosting your stats for a bit. You know, the good stuff.

How the monsters know Miki uses magic though was kind of an accident, as in another world, she accidentally used her magic as self defense against someone, and suffered the consequences, such as the people she knew before, driving her out where she lived before, all the way to the X-Tra Dimension.

[Ishapar]

So you already have a back story for Miki fleshed out.  That's a good start.  I still need to look into earthbound before giving any suggestions for her magic.  

Does the gameplay start with Miki coming into the X-tra Dimension or after the creatures are possessed by the code and turn on her?

[jcbluejr01]

4 minutes ago, Ishapar said:

So you already have a back story for Miki fleshed out.  That's a good start.  I still need to look into earthbound before giving any suggestions for her magic.  

Does the gameplay start with Miki coming into the X-tra Dimension or after the creatures are possessed by the code and turn on her?

I'm thinking of having the game begin with her coming into the X-Tra Dimension through a rocket ship, with the already possessed residents successfully shooting it down, causing it to bring her into Bosko's world through SOME means of "re-programming". This is also how she meets him BTW...

[F07E]

On August 24, 2016 at 1:32 PM, jcbluejr01 said:

Okay, more sprites done. This time for Miki (yeah, I know, the side sprites aren't the best, but it's what I've got so far)

 

Miki:     

They're not that bad, a few tweaks and adjustments here and there on the side views and she'll look fine.

[Wulfsbane]

JC I like what you are doing so far, keep it up.

 

Also I merged the two X-Tra Dimension topics together as they seemed to have been started as an accidental double post. Should be streamlined now

[jcbluejr01]

23 minutes ago, Wulfsbane said:

JC I like what you are doing so far, keep it up.

 

Also I merged the two X-Tra Dimension topics together as they seemed to have been started as an accidental double post. Should be streamlined now

Thanks for supporting me, man. If there's any role in development you wanna help me out with, let me know.

Huh... I honestly thought I was the only one that noticed that I accidentally started a double post. Thanks for fixing it!

[Wulfsbane]

Just now, jcbluejr01 said:

Thanks for supporting me, man. If there's any role in development you wanna help me out with, let me know.

Huh... I honestly thought I was the only one that noticed that I accidentally started a double post. Thanks for fixing it!

I know some RPG maker if that helps out. ALways wanted to learn game development and I can do VAs if you ever do that.

I noticed it a few days ago I was just double checking it so it wasnt two separate topics. Dont worry about it

[jcbluejr01]

2 minutes ago, Wulfsbane said:

I know some RPG maker if that helps out. ALways wanted to learn game development and I can do VAs if you ever do that.

I noticed it a few days ago I was just double checking it so it wasnt two separate topics. Dont worry about it

I was actually considering using RPG Maker for the game, since it looks easier to work with. Not exactly sure how to kinda replicate EarthBound, without being EarthBound though...

 

As for voice acting, seems like you and VHS are pretty interested in doing that for the game, so I'll let you know if I ever plan on including voice acting...

[F07E]

Ah what the heck, i'll throw my hat in with the others for VA work, as well as being willing to help in the art department if need be! I've always been interested in this kinda stuff, and I'm willing to learn!

[jcbluejr01]

1 minute ago, F07E said:

Ah what the heck, i'll throw my hat in with the others for VA work, as well as being willing to help in the art department if need be! I've always been interested in this kinda stuff, and I'm willing to learn!

Like I said, any help would be appreciated!