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[breakfastbat]

Hiya!

I'm making this game. It's called Storybook Dragon. It's an RPG.

I'm drawing everything by hand with pen, paper, and watercolor.

This is my development log.





Here's some basics about the game to help you decide if you'd like to follow along:


RPG GAMEPLAY

>This is an RPG and will be story-driven and dialogue-heavy with a strong focus on character development<
>There will be a degree of self-awareness - being hand-drawn is a key part of the main plot<
>I have an awful sense of humor and all of my dialogue uses it profusely<
>Non-human, part-human, monster, animal, and anthro cast of characters - dragons, cats, bats, owls, dryads, demons, and more!<
>There will be minigames and puzzle elements strewn throughout<
>The final game will take roughly 5-10 hours to complete with a branching storyline based on your actions<

COMBAT SYSTEM

>I'm creating my own custom combat system for Storybook Dragon<
>It can be best described as a turn-based tactical sidescrolling combat system<
>You might have to wait for me to release a prototype to really "get it" but...<
>Later on in this thread I will make a post attempting to explain it anyway<
>You will be able to resolve combat in many different ways depending on the situation<

MAIN CHARACTER & PREMISE

>The protagonist of Storybook Dragon is December the water dragon - she appears to be part human<
>She uses water dragon magic and will learn new spells over the course of the game<
>Water is especially dangerous now that a fair bit of the world has turned into paper<
>The world wasn't always hand-drawn, but something happened and now everyone's learning to cope<





Storybook Dragon

Here are my websites and social media pages if you'd like to follow along on any of those platforms.

There's also an e-mail newsletter which I will send out monthly starting in December 2017.

Website: http://storybookdragon.com
Twitter (developer): http://twitter.com/eidobunny
Twitter (game): http://twitter.com/storybookdragon
Tumblr: http://eidobunny.tumblr.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/storybookdragon
Newsletter signup: http://eepurl.com/cLDaun


((wow cool image of the first room of the game coming soon))


Current development timeline:

October 2017: Finish the first 3 RPG rooms (mostly final art, dialogue, etc.). Start prototyping the combat system
November 2017: Replace any leftover placeholder assets and get combat system feeling right
December 2017: Get the title screen together and release the first prototype to get initial feedback on the game and combat system
???: ???
Fall 2018: Release the full demo & launch a Kickstarter
???: ???
2021 (?): Release the final game


((wow I think I might be out of art but I will try to put something here eventually anyway! I mean 4 drawings is REALLY pushing it!))


Topic Navigation

1. Nothing to navigate yet!

[Stricle]

Awesome! I didn't know you have tried so many "versions" of the game before this one.

[breakfastbat]

Awesome! I didn't know you have tried so many "versions" of the game before this one.

Yeah! I dove right in with too much confidence and ended up just learning a whole bunch over the course of the year instead of making any decent development progress. I'm glad though because this is going to be so much better than my previous ideas.

[Pixel Noise]

Oh my god if this the whole game is going to look like that first image then this has all been worth it.

You've got a really tight pitch. You can tell you've really got a solid grasp on what you're making

Super looking forward to more  

[breakfastbat]

Oh my god if this the whole game is going to look like that first image then this has all been worth it.

You've got a really tight pitch. You can tell you've really got a solid grasp on what you're making

Super looking forward to more  

Thank you!

The image you're talking about is the beginning of The Storm, and just serves as an intro/promo piece. I might do an animated game intro in that sort of fine detail, but the in-game assets are going to be a bit more stylized and simple. Thicker outlines, simplified, and more of a paper cutout look to them.

[breakfastbat]

I drew a December!



Today is my first day of being freshly unemployed, we'll see what I can get done! :3

[low key sirius]

I love this. And I will e following from now on.

Your art is amazing, and I'm excited to see some progress! Keep up the good work!

[breakfastbat]

I love this. And I will e following from now on.

Your art is amazing, and I'm excited to see some progress! Keep up the good work!

Thank you! It's my goal to have the earliest gameplay footage up by the end of June. Long-term goal is to have early private alpha testing by the end of summer and a public demo by the end of the year. We'll see whether I can hit those goals. For now I'm just taking it day by day

[breakfastbat]

@Adam_C_McMakin on Twitter sent me some fan art of December! I love it https://twitter.com/Adam_C_McMakin/status/870779426505723904



Not much in development news. I started work on 4 tracks for the game, and the title screen. Still on track to have December walking around a room by the end of the month.

[breakfastbat]

Just a little something I'm working on. Not sure whether this will make it into the game or not but I like it a lot so far!

[Josh Bossie]

Definitely following this one. I'm just here to play rock, paper scissors, and I'm all out of rocks and scissors.

[breakfastbat]

Thanks man!

I'm still getting the systems together. My goal is to have most of the basic systems and gameplay in place by early September, and get a pre-pre-alpha out to start testing.

[breakfastbat]

Storybook aesthetic~

[LyricalReverie]

~ You can e-mail me at any time to tell me how great I am at explaining things ~

lol.

I am following you on twitter. I like the art of your project. Nice style and character design.

[breakfastbat]

~ You can e-mail me at any time to tell me how great I am at explaining things ~

lol.

I am following you on twitter. I like the art of your project. Nice style and character design.

(source: https://twitter.com/GetFent/status/839925977753006080)

[Xorglord]

I'm into it! Following this one :D

[Stricle]

Already hyped!
The scenarios are from the last project, the 2d/3d mechanic, right?

[breakfastbat]

I'm into it! Following this one :D

Thank you!

Already hyped!
The scenarios are from the last project, the 2d/3d mechanic, right?

I've been planning this hybrid gameplay since around the 2nd iteration of the project. It's actually a remnant of my first design, which was a true action platformer. I literally don't think a game exists with the battle system I'm making. I guess for now you could try to imagine what would happen if you mashed together Undertale's combat with Mario RPG combat (Super Mario RPG/Paper Mario/Mario & Luigi). I expect to have a playable prototype going sometime in September. Until then that's probably the best explanation I can offer in words.

[foofter]

I'm intrigued by "turn-based sidescrolling action platformer"! I always loved sidescroller aesthetics but I usually only play/like turn-based games, so that's an exciting combination! Good luck.  I like that the game will respond to multiple play styles, too. And the brush for drawing/writing/spells is vaguely reminiscent of Magic PenGel, too, which is a big plus. 

[Kryptot7]

I've been following this for a while and I'm really excited to see what that unique combat system is like! Hope everything in development's going well!