Movie: Phantasy Star Prime

[CaptainPlanet]

Thanks for relaying my message during my absence, Omega.

Sorry it took so long but I'm back, guys. Since December I have finally moved into my own apartment and have reassembled the team and we plan on reviving our efforts within the next month or so.

Below is a sort of video blog I have created explaining the state of everything, both within Done Right Productions as well as the Phantasy Star Prime project. Please keep in mind that no matter which direction we take from here on out, updates will continue to be posted here as things develop with Prime.

http://youtu.be/EiMgkOmjQ5Q

[yoshiblue]

Gratz on the new editor.

[CaptainPlanet]

Phantasy Star Prime, the video game for PC, iPhone and Android, is under development. Please keep in mind that this is a very early build of the Prelude/intro stage. The reason the scene is so vague is because the player begins the game in an ominous dream sequence akin to that which was alluded to for Alis in the beginning of the very first Phantasy Star game for the Sega Master system. This scene was never included in the movie script. I have been revising the script to better accommodate a gameplay-driven narrative rather than an interactive pixel flick. The world that I have created has become so massive and detailed that I want to allow the player to experience the world for themselves rather than simply entering a prompt now and then just to get the story that was intended for the movie.

Production has temporarily paused so that we can move the game over to an engine that will accommodate mobile platforms (phones and tablets) as well as the PC, including an aspect ratio correction and new sprite models (we are leaning away from the chibi sprites in favor of more realistically proportionate ones, as was done in the classic Phantasy Star games, into which this game directly ties.

While this is nowhere NEAR how the beginning stage will look in the final build, it is still rather rough around the edges (complete with a missing death animation).

Anyway, enjoy this update and your continued support over the years is what keeps this project alive. We cannot wait until this story is officially out to the public on a mass scale.

- Michael, Done Right Productions


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSuO54O0hr0

[CaptainPlanet]

So while I'm programming the overall game, I want to take a minute to talk about combat. I don't want to make any assumptions and wind up delivering something outside the expectations of the community.

Which style of turn-based combat do YOU prefer? Would you like to experience the combat entirely in first-person like in the very first Phantasy Star? From a side perspective where your party is on one side of the screen while your enemies are on the other like a lot of other RPGs? Or perhaps over-the-shoulder like in Phantasy Star IV?

Opinions?

[CaptainPlanet]

Just a quick update on combat, we thought it would be cool to break the mold a little. We've done some experimenting and determined that a sideview perspective would work best for Phantasy Star Prime. Not only did it work better from an iPhone/Android standpoint but we also thought it had the best visuals for combat.

[yoshiblue]

What are your thoughts on a Chrono Trigger style of gameplay? Side view works too. I guess having the over the shoulder method would have taken up too much space at the bottom. Unless you did it in a Etrain Odyssey way or took away all the other elements to free up space per character. Then again, this is me picturing the game being played in portrait mode for some reason.

[CaptainPlanet]

Huh... Chrono Trigger-style combat... That's actually a very intriguing thought... while I don't think the overhead perspective will work very well for the art style we're shooting for (realistic proportions instead of chibi character sprites), the concept of combining attacks between certain characters actually sounds awesome! In fact, (SPOILER ALERT, KINDA) there is a scene written into the part 1 movie script where three characters, a hunter, ranger and force, combine their attacks to both pin down the enemy with a rain of enhanced gunfire while the powered-up hunter uses a move very similar to the Omnislash used in Final-Fantasy 7: Advent Children.

So yes, that is definitely a mechanic I will try to implement!

As far as the combat perspective goes, the first-person combat felt kinda... naked, as far as aesthetics go. The over-the-shoulder view was originally the first choice, only we ran into a few technical hiccups. Also, we thought the side view just looked the most pleasing to the eye, so we went with that one.

But yeah, I'll definitely see about programming a combo attack mechanic! In fact, we already have a mechanic in place called a "Photon Drive". Each character can learn at least one ultimate move unique to that character. I can probably make it to where all characters involved in the combination attack expend their filled Photon Drive gauges to attack together. That way the mechanic can't be spammed and thus would feel more rewarding when used. We're making sure that Photon Drive gauges maintain their fill progress after battle so that the player can save them up, if they prefer, and use them at their own discression.

Good idea! Thanks for the feedback!

[CaptainPlanet]

Guess who's back with fresh content?

GEEZ! I'm sorry guys! I didn't realize I had been MIA for almost a WHOLE YEAR! I legitimately feel bad about that... Then again, probs with the personal life, finances, yadda yadda. As far as PS Prime goes, I hit a snag in the code for the longest time and could not figure out how to resolve the issue, resulting in tome pretty bad bugs in the game. I recently decided that if it was to be than it's up to me and chose to spend the last 36 consecutive hours on my computer and the good news is that it paid off! Not only did I manage to fix the problem, but I was able to FULLY complete the prologue, as in, there is nothing more I can add to it besides the voiced-over dialogue that will be coming in the future.

I find it rather fortuitous that I finished my mission / personal vendetta on Christmas morning because now I have something to offer everyone: FREE DEMOS FOR PC, MacOS AND ANDROID!* As soon as I have the files uploaded to the cloud I will have them linked here so that you can play the prologue for yourself! If for some reason you can't, not to worry, I have linked a direct video to the full contents of the demo below. (Sorry about the poor framerate, my computer spazzed out while recording in Bandicam while running the game.)

*Please note, I have no CLUE of any remotely easy way to export these game files in a fully functional manner to mobile devices yet as it seems to have not yet been streamlined by the company who develops the engine to do so in the first place. Looks like it's everyone for themselves in that department. Sorry guys. Google and Youtube are our friends!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIhbc2h3ccM

[CaptainPlanet]

Today, Done Right Productions is releasing a complete demo for its most ambitious project, Phantasy Star Prime! Enjoy the epic prologue leading up to an original story that is directly tied into the universe of the original Phantasy Star quadrilogy!

How does Dark Force emerge on Earth when the Lord of Evil was previously bound to the Algol System? Are we stretching in order to have an excuse to have an Earthbound Phantasy Star story? Believe it or not, the answer is a resounding no! In fact, the story you will experience throughout the tens of hours of gameplay will piece together many things about the original quadrilogy that, until now, have remained unanswered.

So strap yourselves in and get ready to enjoy the epic prologue to our largest project to date on PC, MacOS and Android!

https://mega.nz/#F!jYdiUCya!ffh3gn-cI8YaW4AazytPpw

[CaptainPlanet]

Hello, everyone. As we are all well aware by now, my reliability to post even the most infrequent of updates is, shall we say... terrible? Yeah, sorry about that. Don't think for a minute though that PS Prime has died or even slowed down for that matter. In fact, production has picked up drastically to where it's now firing on all cylinders, being worked on at least 6 days a week for several hours a day and showing no signs of slowing down. This is a project that I have personally had in the works for nearly seven years now, most of the time of which was spent trying to balance my work/creative lives while fleshing out the gigantic story this project touts. We're now at a point where the rubber is meeting the road and we're actually seeing the fruits of our labor more and more on nearly a daily basis and I must say, it's a great feeling.

First of all, I want to touch back on the whole, 'infrequent updates' thing. I can no longer say that I'm empty handed in terms of content. In fact, I intend to post frequent footage updates showcasing different aspects of the game as time goes on without turning it into a painstakingly long playthrough of the product itself.

Today I have provided a link to 25+ minutes of gameplay from Phantasy Star Prime. It will be rather linear though and loaded with narrative, as there is a very large stage to set for all the things that are about to be in motion. You will notice a few tweeks since the demo was released back in December due to player feedback I received. I am also very excited that, despite spending most of this 25 minute video moving all the Earth-side story pieces into place, the Alisa III, from Phantasy Star III, has finally arrived in Earth's orbit. Speaking of which, if you haven't played Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom for the Sega Genesis, PS Prime takes place almost immediately after Aron's ending, which I suggest you watch to kind of help put this whole chronicle into perspective.

Anyway, in the interest of avoiding a TL;DR update, below are the links to the content I mentioned. By the way, if anyone has any feedback about what they have seen so far, I'm all ears and my mind is always open.

If you haven't played Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom or haven't completed the game with Aron's ending, a brief overview can be seen by clicking the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq9cYROvLRY&t=118s

To watch the 25+ minute gameplay footage of Phantasy Star Prime, follow the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZZ9qV-lNW0

Enjoy!