“Memoirs of an Angel” Getting RPG Style Remake

Upon being framed for the murder of the mighty Emperor Osirus, the princess Zuleika is forced to rely on the help of a mysterious elven assassin to escape her doom and find the real culprit. All the while, she watches as her precious nation is taken over by Osrius’ sadistic younger brother, Nefferon, who seems intent on watching the empire crumble beneath him. Tensions mount as more people become dissatisfied with the new regime and call for Osrius’ “true heir” to return to the throne, sparking rebellion and pitting the provinces of the east against those of the west.

As the empire succumbs to a bloody revolution, both sides seek the former princess to lead them to glory… but which side will she choose?

On her quest, she’ll meet and befriend Chael, a mysterious former assassin from the elven nation; Kirile, a playful, light-hearted thief from the demon nation; Nefferon, the newly ascended emperor and the man everyone loves to hate; Duren, the well-mannered young man who serves as the emperor’s right hand; Ahzi, the spunky, self-proclaimed “Keeper of the Forest;” and a host of other characters.

Gameplay

First half of the game will focus on going around to the different provinces and recruiting allies, solving problems and accumulating fame, gathering information, and finding out who killed Osirus. At this point, she’s only concerned with what directly impacts her; she hears rumors about a possible rebellion, but doesn’t want to get involved.

Second half of the game will focus on the aforementioned rebellion, which is then in full-swing. Knowing what she does after the first big confrontation with Nefferon, she can no longer remain on the sidelines; there’s no way she can avoid the upcoming battle and must instead prepare for what is to come.

Battle System

Here’s a basic run-down:

• Battles will take place at pre-determined places within the story, and will consist of two parties battling against each other in a 4×3 grid (each party has six slots). The position of party members is meant to be strategic since attacks will have specific ranges.
• New attacks are learned by leveling up or by buying scrolls from different shops. However, only six attacks can be made available for battle at any one time.
• The angels in your party (Zuleika, Chael, Kirile, Duren) can transform into their “beast forms” when their “rage meters” are full. Rage accumulates every time an angel is attacked and takes damage, but dissipates when the danger has passed (so it starts over each battle). This “beast form” gives a whole new set of powerful special attacks that can turn the tide in desperate situations.
• Throughout the game, you’ll have five “permanent” party members (once you recruit them): Zuleika, Chael, Kirile, Duren, and Ahzi. These party members will, when leveled up enough, change classes according to your alignment (see below). Depending on where you are and what part of the plot you’re doing, you may also have additional party members at your disposal. Within your battle formation, you can use as few or as many of these available party members as you like.
• Battles can be turned off following the initial tutorial or at any time from the Preferences menu. So if you don’t want to bother with all this and just want to play for the story, you can do that, too. ;D

Alignment

• There are two main forces in Egea (the continent this all happens on): Order and Chaos. While these two forces are generally related to light and darkness, they don’t necessarily denote good or evil.
• The elves of Nalan are highly attuned to Order and, as such, are nearly colorless in their appearance (pale eyes, pale skin, pale hair, wear all white or light blue). They are a very strict, stoic people who communicate with thoughts rather than words, because words are inefficient and can be misinterpreted.
• The demons of Pyralis, on the other hand, are highly attuned to Chaos and, as such, vary widely in appearance and personality. There is very little order or hierarchy among them, except that the strong are respected while the weak are thrown out or killed (or eaten, in some tribes…).
• The humans of Tyraca, then, are somewhere in the middle and are the most varied in that regard. Some humans, such as priests and scholars, are more attuned to Order; others, specifically fighters, are more attuned to Chaos.
• Generally, a person’s alignment is relatively stable throughout their life, but may change after a dramatically life-altering event. This is what has happened to Zuleika, which gives the player the opportunity to shape what her new alignment will be in a way similar to the “Paragon-Renegade” system from Mass Effect, but on a single linear scale. Either way, she’s still a “hero” with fairly good intentions, but her methods and priorities will change depending on the player’s choices.
• Your alignment will also affect your party members. When they change classes, for instance, your alignment will determine whether they change to a “light” class or a “dark” class.

Purpose of this Remake

For those who don’t know, this is a remake of my first game (or should I say only, since it’s the only one I ever actually finished). I took to heart many of the comments about it feeling rushed and not feeling like you were actually doing anything, and have come up with this monster in response. However, while I call it a remake, this game is completely different from the original. It starts out relatively the same, but past that, it’s a whole new story.

I’ve been working on it for a long time now, with still very little to show for it, unfortunately. I have most of the graphics done, the programming framework built, and a fairly thorough outline of the story, but very little of the actual writing done because I’m not confident in my writing at all and keep going back and redoing it.
…So…anyone want to be my writing slave and help me finish this faster? ;D Just kidding……..or am I?

Despite the lack of showable progress, I am still working on this, and damn it, I will finish this thing, even if it kills me.

Download Now Available

I called it a beta before, but apparently, that’s not the right terminology… so it’s not even a demo or a beta, just a “download.”

It’s the first 5-10 minutes or so of the game, leading up to the battle tutorial that I haven’t made yet. There are still some issues, but it shows what the game will generally look like.

Let me know what you think!

Originally posted January 14, 2012 on Lemma Soft Forums.