Rubicon. 
Hi there. I wanted to pitch something that had never been done on Graal before, but was also really simple. As a result, I combined my best ideas and came up with a project X. I have dubbed this project, "Rubicon". I will present my ideas in an easy-to-read-manner.
-Classic gameplay
-3D cell-shaded environment
-2D characters, complete character freedom (no block on heads, bodies, etc)
-Possible 20 hearts and level20 sword
-NPC-based baddies with unique ganis and cell-shaded sprites
(these baddies can have an incredible amount of health and speed)
-High levels of difficulty for certain areas
-swimming will be the main transportation between islands
-Stamina and breath will stop you from swimming too far 
Also I want to make a special point of saying, I want a swimming system where you press a different key to control each arm, and the faster you do this, the more speed you have, but the more stamina you use.
-Boats can be taken to different gmaps
-These gmaps will be known as "expansion packs"!
-No PKing in towns, noobs can be slaughtered in 1 hit with level20 sword
-If the alignment is below 40, user goes to hell. If above, user goes to heaven.
-Heaven would grant the user a temporary halo that leaves when the user hits another player. Halo grants invulnerability.
-Hell will be difficult to escape. So level20 sword guys will need that sword, and will think twice about mercilessly pwning nubs.
-Audio dialogue for all townspeople with subtitles
-Musical score composed by me? :x
-Possibility for 50+ quests or sidequests
-Also I should say that the expansion packs would house most of the extra power you get -- we don't want to shoot it all off in one go, do we? People need a reason to play now and on into the future.
And now for my most exciting feature.....
-Flash or MPG-based FMV for cinematic events, storyline
As I mentioned above, the graphic style is going to be cell-shaded. You can look at the two attached screenshots at the bottom for a general idea. I wanted to combine the 2D and 3D elements to make a world that felt like a modern world, but with classic gameplay.
There won't be custom bodies or swords, or anything like that. You can do your basic "setsword" or "sethead" to get what you want. The focus is more on fun and not advanced or unnecessary systems. Baddy sprites will be new, but I'll also throw in the classic baddies just for fun. The graphic style is really going to be a celebration of the things that made Graal great with a nostalgic feel while pushing into somewhat of a "next-gen".
The videos for the storyline were planned to be presented as very old footage, like something that has been found in an old archive and is telling the story of you, the main character. I haven't yet figured out what would be easier -- real video, or flash... but one will be chosen at some point.
This is probably the most important part of the world's development, and I have put a good amount of thought into an idea for a world over the last year. That is why I ultimately decided that the video would be a great and unique way to express the storyline on Rubicon... The entire story hasn't been written (I usually like to write as I go along with production, to match the world) but here is the jist of it:
It is a time in the future when the government and educational systems have failed this world, and society has fallen into stupidity. As a result, people fight with sticks and swords instead of the logical "gun" or even "large rock in a slingshot." Furthermore this characteristic of the society would be reflected somewhat in the landscape. It also explains why the story is being shown at a future time on an old-timey video projector.
The player will interact with townspeople who will give assignments that all lead up to a major event. In other words, you might get 5 side-quests that are all linked to one major quest wherein you would really gain most of your power. The side-quests might include a sword level here, a heart there, or maybe even glove or shield power, hehe... When the player completes one "gmap", he can take a boat to the next world -- or expansion. The expansion would be like flying from New York to New England (for example) and would have all new people and new quests for the player to have fun with.
The ultimate goal of the player will probably revolve around defeating evil, and trying to regain some intelligence in the society by removing those who are trying to keep everyone too dumb to see what is going on behind the curtain! *oooh*
I really do not intend to hire a large staff. I have been working on this for a couple days offline. Really, not a long time at all, but I've got a large 3D overworld generated and the tileset is pretty much done. It was super easy considering it was just cell-shading, and the actual Graal engine adds depth due to the deepness or highness of land on its own.
...however, if anyone wants to pitch in with cell-shaded graphics (houses, baddies, etc) and scripting (for jobs, baddies, etc) please contact me. I'm going to try to find out if... maybe.... Stefan would be kind enough to help out a bit on this project... I would really like it to become "the next big thing" if possible.
You can contact me like this:
email:
[email protected]
aim: Oinkness
msn:
[email protected]
Or forum PM would be great.
I am not stepping down from any other position. This is a side-project I am doing for fun. I'm working offline with it, so there's no world to produce on. If anyone's interested in... providing one... whether as a gift wish or perhaps you gave up on your project... do let me know.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate it. Screenies below.
08-26-2008, 02:38 AM
Rubicon
Linear Mode
