[XP] Sunrise

[Ranquil]

Sunrise






The Story

A girl wakes up late at night in her bed the night before turning 12 only to discover that, with the exception of her room, her home is burned down, with blackened ruble lying everywhere and her parents nowhere to be found. The moon is oddly huge and bright, illuminating her completely deserted hometown with its ominous, silvery light. The only pieces of clothing the girl can find in her wardrobe are her fancy dark blue dress with a golden butterfly embroidered onto the chest; a long, pale pink ribbon and her shiny, black shoes: the outfit she wore a few weeks ago in her uncle's wedding. Even though she's not feeling very well, the girl steps out from the ruins that once were her home to find her parents. The oddly quiet town makes the girl recall many past memories, both happy and sad. But the girl is not alone. The shadows hide terrifying secrets that desire to trap her eternally into the void.




Gameplay

The game is a simple survival horror game that contains no battles. As you take the role of a weak little girl, you're absolutely defenseless, meaning enemies must be avoided or outsmarted. The emphasis is on the story, atmosphere and puzzles. The game will be rather short, ten hours being the absolute maximum. This doesn't make the game small in content though, as there will be many unlockable scenes, secrets and diary logs, and it's not possible to unlock them all during just one playthrough. If nothing, it's at least one of the games that will make you cry. You have my word on that.




Progress so far

Right now all concrete stuff I have on the project is concept art, failed attempts at spriting, a few maps and a short story written by me from which the game is based on. The story is almost completely done, meaning small details are to be developed here and there. At the moment I have two artists in the team.






I'll inform of anything new here when I get to make progress here. Any questions and constructive criticism is welcome.

//

Concept art yay: ShowHide

[PhoenixFire]

Sounds good, and yeah, a little unique. Survival games have def been done before, but this sounds pretty good. I look forward to playing it, and if you need testers, lemme know!! I'm not a spriter, but I'm an eventer, if that helps at all.

[Ranquil]

Sounds good, and yeah, a little unique. Survival games have def been done before, but this sounds pretty good. I look forward to playing it, and if you need testers, lemme know!! I'm not a spriter, but I'm an eventer, if that helps at all.

I'll keep that in mind. I'm pretty sure I'll need testers someday in the future.

[WhiteRose]

This sounds awesome. There have been some really great horror games done in RMXP, so it can definitely be done. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not much of a spriter or a scripter, but I can help with event systems, story, or anything else where you just need some extra hands.

[Ranquil]

Hooray, this project hasn't died from the get-go! Here's a screenshot, the first that is.

You know what to expect.: ShowHide

Thanks again for the tree, Zexion!

Yay, so much work done already! (or not)

I'll add screenshots as I make progress, so be patient.
And if anyone's willing to make me one small charset that's really important for the intro, please PM me. I'll give a few materials for it, all you have to do is make a simple set of clothes lol.

Ttfn o/

[Zexion]

Wierd, I've never seen anyone else actually use "ttfn" besides a friend of mine irl lol. *Is suspicious* I would help on the charset, but idk how reliable I will be with my new minecraft addiction. Anyways, the game looks good for a first so keep up the good work

[Ranquil]

Wierd, I've never seen anyone else actually use "ttfn" besides a friend of mine irl lol. *Is suspicious* I would help on the charset, but idk how reliable I will be with my new minecraft addiction. Anyways, the game looks good for a first so keep up the good work

Lulz I use ttfn sometimes but not often.

A relatively simple request: ShowHide

Please give her pajamas/pyjamas. The color and design is totally up to you.

[Ranquil]

A relatively simple request: ShowHide

Please give her pajamas/pyjamas. The color and design is totally up to you.

Because bumping is cool.

[Zexion]

Oh yeah totally forgot about this lol did you want like a dress type of pajama, or one of those with the giant zipper in front lol? Also, any particular color?

[Ranquil]

Oh yeah totally forgot about this lol did you want like a dress type of pajama, or one of those with the giant zipper in front lol? Also, any particular color?

Hmmmm, I was thinking about the design being something like this:

Spoiler: ShowHide

However, the color and pattern are totally up to you. Nothing too flashy though lol.

[Blizzard]

That looks delicious.

[Ranquil]

That looks delicious.

If you're looking for a game that's very psychological, possibly also scary, and makes you cry hysterically in the end, it'll be very delicious indeed.
that'll be if I find any cool modern town tilesets or something I can compile them from though lol

[Blizzard]

Lol, I meant the pajamas with the cakes.

[Ranquil]

Lol, I meant the pajamas with the cakes.

LOL
I feel dumb now :'DDDD

[WhiteRose]

I think they both look delicious.

EDIT: Also, I want cake pajamas now.

[Zexion]

Hey, I'll probably finish this charset tonight, or first thing tomorrow. I'm sorry for taking so long, I'm just really busy studying and what not. I've been focused on school and I don't really want to fight that lol. But yeah, I already did the top half, all I need is the pants and add the pattern then done.

[Ranquil]

Hey, I'll probably finish this charset tonight, or first thing tomorrow. I'm sorry for taking so long, I'm just really busy studying and what not. I've been focused on school and I don't really want to fight that lol. But yeah, I already did the top half, all I need is the pants and add the pattern then done.

I don't want to be impatient or anything, but...

[Zexion]

Finally forced myself to sit down and do this.

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's not as nice as I'd like, but I don't really have time any more to art. Maybe christmas break, but Idk.

[Ranquil]

Finally forced myself to sit down and do this.

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's not as nice as I'd like, but I don't really have time any more to art. Maybe christmas break, but Idk.

Don't worry, it looks great! Thank you! ^___^ Now, time to edit the intro-->

[Ranquil]

I added a poll about the name of the project.
I realized "To The Dawn" as a name is a bit too similar to the indie games "To The Moon" and "Until Dawn", former being an RPG Maker game with a touching story and similar themes (fug dem spoilers) and latter being a horror game. What do you say, keep it or chance it?

[Zexion]

The rising sun sounds like a bar in runescape lol
But I think no change is necessary

[Ranquil]

Liek OMG, I'm still actually working on this game! I've made a few more maps but I haven't been able to make a lot more progress because of the lack of good tilesets and, well, life (especially school) got the hold of me. Nevertheless, the project is progressing.

Here's a little something to show that I've actually done something for this. Here's a "battler" for the main character, showed in the pause menu:

Spoiler: ShowHide

I just suck at coloring. ;___;

[WhiteRose]

Liek OMG, I'm still actually working on this game! I've made a few more maps but I haven't been able to make a lot more progress because of the lack of good tilesets and, well, life (especially school) got the hold of me. Nevertheless, the project is progressing.

Here's a little something to show that I've actually done something for this. Here's a "battler" for the main character, showed in the pause menu:

Spoiler: ShowHide

I just suck at coloring. ;___;

That looks awesome! I don't think your coloring is bad at all; I really like the shading style. It looks organic - not realistic, but stylized. Very cool.

[Jadak]

Hi there Ranquil, while I can't commit to a lot of spriting, I can however do a couple for you. Also, if you'd like I could provide you with the custom/recolored RTP tiles I'm making for my current project.

You can find samples of said tiles in the resources section.

...

On a more related note, I really love the concept of this game! And your coloring looks amazing, much better than when I attempted it haha

[Ranquil]

Today is a special day.
As of today, I shall now actually devote myself for this project!

I've had a lot of schoolwork for a while (two Finnish courses worth of essays 'n shit and a completely full timetable) so I haven't been able to do much for the project. Now I don't have nearly as much schoolwork as I had for a while, so now I'll really get to work on the project. So far all I have are still a few maps and sprites, but the story is completely ready and designed.
For now, I'd be really happy if someone wanted to help me with mapping. When it comes to visual arts, I'm a lot better at people than locations so I can't really make good-looking maps lol.


Btw, here's a question for everyone: what were some of your childhood fears? By answering you might be making this game itty-bitty scarier than I originally designed it to be. :3

[locowhiteknight]

My take on the "heroine". Good luck with the project! Not sure if I should be using smilies or not.   

Spoiler: ShowHide

[Ranquil]

My take on the "heroine". Good luck with the project! Not sure if I should be using smilies or not.   

Spoiler: ShowHide

Heh. The clothes are a bit too simplistic but it looks okay. However, I already have a good sprite of the character.
But still, thanks! I take it that you're at least a bit interested in this.

[WhiteRose]

My take on the "heroine". Good luck with the project! Not sure if I should be using smilies or not.  

Spoiler: ShowHide

This is a great sprite! It could do with a little bit of shading, though. Spriting is a really valuable skill around here, so it is great that you are off to such a good start already! Take a look at a couple shading tutorials and you could be a master spriter in no time.

EDIT: On topic, I'm still really excited for this project too! It's a genre that I really love, and my curiosity is peaked already. I'll be keeping an eye on things.

[locowhiteknight]

Heh. The clothes are a bit too simplistic but it looks okay. However, I already have a good sprite of the character. But still, thanks! I take it that you're at least a bit interested in this.

Sorry, I didn't realize it was already made. I saw the battler pic and read the opening description, and decided to give it a shot using the sprite model you posted for somebody else. I'm always interested in RMXP projects people are working on. I wish you good luck on this on!

This is a great sprite! Happy It could do with a little bit of shading, though. Spriting is a really valuable skill around here, so it is great that you are off to such a good start already! Take a look at a couple shading tutorials and you could be a master spriter in no time. Happy

Thanks! I used a model female sprite he posted earlier and just added the clothing. I'll definitely need to get better a shading, so thanks for the advice on the tutorials, I'll be looking them over (and of course practicing).

[Ranquil]

It's been a while, eh?

Believe it or not, I've actually been working on the project! And the prove it, here's a screenshot of the main menu:

Cointains epic content suitable for awesome people: ShowHide

I, with my absolutely non-existent programming skills, modified it from AJNR95's (?) menu script from his horror template. KK20 has also been a huge help with this!
The windowskin, the background, the drawing and the clock icon are all made by yours truly.

By the way, it'd be super-duper fabulous if someone wanted to answer this small request.

[Ranquil]

Wow. I said I'd make an announcement as son as I got a working Internet connection buuuuuuut it kinda slipped lol. Anyway, here goes.


As of the beginning of October, this game has once again started being in active development. That's because this game is no longer just an eternity project of mine.
It now has a team of three working on it! I now have two talented artist with me who volunteered to join the project. One of them has finished art school and is currently studying with me in a game school. The other one is still on her final year in art school  but she has experience with the RPG Maker engines. And both of them really like horror.
Now there's also enough motivation to actually work on the game. As I'm studying in a game school I need stuff for my portfolio and what'd be better for it than a complete game? As there are also at least two people counting on me to finish the game, I'll definitely continue making this game.

So what I'm saying is... the game has now two dedicated artists and it's definitely still getting made.
Feel free to look forward to it. :3

Here's something to keep you interested.: ShowHide

Also, the name of the game has now been changed to Sunrise. To the Dawn was simply too similar to To the Moon and the word "dawn" is kinda overused in similar contexts.