Lunar: Eternal Sapphire [Some New News]

[Royce]

Honestly I prefer XP. VX just seems too kiddie-ish for me. Plus the tileset is limited, and Lunar sprites on VX tiles don't really match well.

[Zophar]

The Demo for Lunar: The Eternal Sapphire, has been completed and uploaded. You can find the RTP (which you need to download and install in order to play the demo) here:

http://tkool.jp/rtp/vx_rtp102e.zip

You can find the demo here, there are two places that you can get it from:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZFQ9UO5O

http://rapidshare.com/files/117386306/L ... _.exe.html

Please, post your thoughts, comments, and anything else after playing the demo. Enjoy!

Oh by the way, if you have a Facebook account, feel free to visit our group: Lunar: The Eternal Sapphire.

And here is a list of things that will be changed:
- NPCs in the final version of the game will be replaced by sprites from Lunar 1 and 2
- There will be a side view combat system (hopefully)

[Sadrin]

Neat! Ok so I finally downloaded your demo. I got to the boss within the cave. I died so I stoped there. I played for 34.01 mins and all 3 characters are level 8. I found the battles to be a nice challenge but that boss was a bit much. I think the front view battle system would work really well as long as you make your own magic animations, and maybe keep the monster sprites smaller. The dungeon was really well put together and I really liked the water fall. The only thing I didn't like was the way the town and building maps were set up. Because VX uses simple gfx style you should keep the maps smaller. Other than that I really liked the music ^_^ and what the NPCs had to say... it felt very lunar like. I also liked the item descriptions. I also think that the RTP fits very well with lunar. I would like to see your character sets in the style of the rtp. The lunar sprites clash with the nice detail of the maps. Overall I really enjoyed this demo and I really want to play more.

[Bravo 29]

Man, I agree, those bosses were HARD. I would've smoked that beetle if I was level 10. But man, those Phantoms are a MAJOR pain. I can see how much of an annoyance they're going to be in the game, if they're as indiscriminate as you described at the meeting. I can't wait for the finished product. Until then.

[PrettyGirlJean]

I know I told you what I thought already Zophie, but I forgot to mention a few things. One tip for ppl playing is to level up in Larpa, keep refreshing your hp/mp at the althena statue and then go back into the well... I went up a few levels there before going into the cave (which I incidently skipped wondering if there were big baddies that would kill me- I'm such a paranoid rpger :p lol ).

Also, do the monsters get stronger as the characters levels go up? I'm thinking the HP doesn't so I guess the rest doesn't either but I was just curious.

I played it for about two hours, most of which was leveling up and trying to make sure that I got every chest... oh and I actually got a random item from the sand in the town too! I think it was a silver light but I can't remember now. ^^;

[Alex_Pwns_Hiro]

I LOVED the demo, I thought it was awesome, good job. I cant wait till its all done!

[GhaleonOne]

Not sure how much publicity you want, but would you want an update for this on the LN homepage?

[Zophar]

Not sure how much publicity you want, but would you want an update for this on the LN homepage?

An update on LN homepage? Sure, why not. Thanks!

Also, thank you Alex_Pwns_Hiro, PrettyGirlJean, Bravo 29, and Sadrin for posting your comments and thoughts about the demo. I'm glad you all enjoyed the demo, and I've organized a list to comment on all the things that you guys brought up (which I'm glad you all brought up, feed back really helps).

-Yeah the boss inside the cave is a little more difficult than I had intended, that will be fixed during development.

-I'll keep in mind the scale of the towns and inside buildings, that was the first town I've ever designed. So feedback on that sort of thing is highly appreciated and always welcome.

-All default NPC sprites will be replaced with Lunar Sprites, I only used them to save a little time for the demo.

-Unfortunately I don't know how to make the enemy's stats change depending on the leve of the player. If I knew how, I'd love to do that.

-There will be some items hidden in the sand in towns like Larpa. I'm glad that people were able to find one of them.

Also, in the next week or so, I'll be officially opening a new, but vital section of Surreal Visions that will focus entirely on the development of Eternal Sapphire. In other words, I will be creating a beta tester group. Next week, I'll create the application and I will send it to anyone who wants to join in on the testing. If you want to join, send me a message at: ganon21@comcast.net

[Omega]

I've only got one beef with it... Are the monsters SUPPOSED to know you're there when you enter the place?

[Zophar]

I've only got one beef with it... Are the monsters SUPPOSED to know you're there when you enter the place?

The Monsters aren't supposed to do that. They were doing that because I hadn't implemented a system to prevent that from happening in the Alpha Build. That's fixed now.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

THE BETA BUILD IS COMPLETED AND NOW THERE ARE POSITIONS OPENED FOR TESTING

If you want to be a tester, read the Terms below and email it back to me at ganon121@comcast.net after you have typed in your name.
---------------------------------------------
SURREAL VISIONS

Terms of Employment

Thank you for your interest in applying for a position in Surreal Visions. This application is for joining the testing team. Before you are sent a link to the build you must read over and agree to the terms below.
----------------------------------------------
When you are done playing the build, send all your thoughts, concerns, and suggestions all to me at ganon121@comcast.net

Feel free to use any of the resources from the game (Music, Graphics, Sounds, etc) for anything you are working on.

You are allowed to let friends, family, spouses, etc, see and play this game. Though keep the amount of people under control.

DO NOT hand out the link, or the build on other public Internet websites without my consent.

Have fun and enjoy! Oh and remember, that while testing can be fun, it is the job of testers to try and break the game and find bugs.
--------------------------------------------
If you agree to the terms above, type in your name below and send this back to me.

Sincerely,
Paul Woodward (CEO of Surreal Visions)

I hereby agree to the terms above: (Your Name Here)
--------------------------------------------

Once the Test Team has had time to play the game, to give their feed back and log any bugs that might exist, work on the Gamma Build will begin immediately. Thanks, and hopfully I'll be posting more screenshots soon.

[Silver Phoenix]

Did I download the Alpha or the Beta demo?

[Zophar]

Did I download the Alpha or the Beta demo?

It depends. If you downloaded the demo that was realeased several months ago, that was the Alpha. If you sent the application to my e-mail then you would be sent the link to the Beta.

[Silver Phoenix]

I just clicked on the link in the thread, so apparently I have the Alpha. Obviously I'd prefer the Beta, so I suppose I'll have to fill out your form.

Btw, where is your email address?

[Zophar]

My e-mail address is mentioned in one of the middle lines of the application, it's ganon121@comcast.net

[Silver Phoenix]

Just wasn't looking closely enough. I'm getting over being sick for the past two weeks so my head is not on straight.

[hamguy]

hey is it still to late to beta test this or is it out now? cous i got a virus on my comp and lost this page till now...

[hamguy]

I've only got one beef with it... Are the monsters SUPPOSED to know you're there when you enter the place?

no thats just in the demo its not compleate yet...yeah that did suck about it in the demo hua...

[Bravo 29]

Not that I know of, you can probably still sign up by filling out the application form in this topic and sending it to Zophar's email. I doubt it should be a problem. Enjoy it, I definitely did.

[Zophar]

Hey,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a long time. I've been really busy with stuff. Anyway, I figured I might as well update everyone on what's going on in the world. I really have had no time to work on the Gamma Build, but that may have to wait as I make some changes to the overall project.

Due to Size Concerns... and the fact that RPG Maker VX sucks, I have decided to break up the game into episodes. Kind of Like what valve did for Half Life 2 Episode One and Half Life 2 Episode Two. I'll be working on tweaking the current build of Eternal Sapphire so that I can release episode I in the near future. Hopefully before Christmas.

UPDATE: EPISODE I WILL BE RELEASED ON DECEMBER 13TH, 2008.

That's all for now,
~Zophar

[Zophar]

Guess what? Episode I of Lunar: The Eternal Sapphire (the Game) has been released! You can download it at one of these sites:

http://rapidshare.com/files/172841256/L ... _.exe.html

(or)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QX99Q2U1

Also you will need the RTP for RPG Maker VX to play this game. You can find that here:
http://tkool.jp/rtp/vx_rtp102e.zip

Enjoy!