Author Topic: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread  (Read 82895 times)

TheMage

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #150 on: June 30, 2016, 03:02:40 am »
small little things are going well update :)

Not much to say really almost all graphics have been churned out and Maps are trickling in. Plot is finished. :)

TheMage

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #151 on: March 13, 2017, 09:03:37 pm »
Little we are alive update! There's not much to say. We are in the meat of it. The story is done, the graphics are almost done its just putting the pieces together now. Enjoy these random screenshots.








The real question here is, why aren't there naturally any elder man and woman sprites in the original game for Zeal? Every other era has man and woman elder sprites. Well okay maybe not the future except for Doan but that makes sense they live post apocolypse. Same to be said about Ayla's era, its prehistoric, humans didn't live as long. But Zeal? There had to have been some elders besides the three Gurus right? Where did they go? Was there a mass serial killer on the lose killing older magic users? Were they banished to Mount Woe?
« Last Edit: March 13, 2017, 09:08:24 pm by TheMage »

Atharyne

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #152 on: July 08, 2017, 02:51:42 am »
The people of Zeal age differently then the earthbound ones. There are sprites of elderly people in the earthbound villages.  Or Zeal may have the rule that once you reach a certain age or are unable to contribute to society anymore due to ones age causing mental and physical restrictions then they are banished to be an earthbound one. Kinda like, "Dune"... a little. Except, you may not immediately be banished from Zeal for being blind as long as your still useful somehow.

xcalibur

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #153 on: July 08, 2017, 03:46:17 am »
pardon me for just jumping into the discussion.

Zeal was an advanced civilization, and its people lived in opulence and luxury. Most importantly, they were magic-users. The game makes it clear that they went to considerable lengths to achieve what Greek philosophy called "the good life". In Kajar, they researched magic and worked to accomplish ever greater feats. In Enhasa, they turned inward, seeking enlightenment and higher states of consciousness through dreams and meditation. Of course, their downfall was hubris, which fits the ancient Greek theme.

The main reason they sought ever greater power from Lavos was to achieve immortality. Most likely, they had already fought against mortality, making many attempts with some degree of success, and the Ocean Palace was the culmination of this campaign.

Based on this, it's safe to assume that they slowed the aging process, retaining their youth and achieving much longer lifespans. Maybe they still look young after centuries, and not enough time has elapsed for anyone to be elderly. Or maybe Zealians have died, but they looked young to their dying day. Who knows, with a culture like Zeal, these things are possible.

Same to be said about Ayla's era, its prehistoric, humans didn't live as long.

btw, there were elderly in prehistory e.g. the elder of Laruba.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2017, 12:18:00 am by xcalibur »

TheMage

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #154 on: October 05, 2017, 06:01:22 pm »
Heh, interesting. So either the Gurus are really, really, old with a slowed down magical aging process, or Zeal does some questionable things to their Elders.

TheMage

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #155 on: January 13, 2018, 11:33:22 am »
*cough cough*

Still working on this AKA my 6 monthishly general not dead post.

It's a going but its a going slow!

If anyone is interesting in mapping PM me <3

EgyLynx

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #156 on: January 21, 2018, 02:24:03 pm »
 :D
Anyway... good there at all...

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #157 on: April 01, 2018, 01:36:11 pm »
Fuck. I miss you all.

PrincessNadia78

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #158 on: April 02, 2018, 07:37:04 pm »
I understand what you are saying. I know I'm new here, but I sometimes read through the old threads and I think how I would have loved to have gotten to know those people. EVERYONE COME BACK!! WE NEED YOU!!

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #159 on: April 02, 2018, 08:08:32 pm »
We worked hard on this fan game and became pretty close friends. I don't think most of us have worked on it in like two or three years, although TheMage has done a little mapping here and there.

I fear this project will never see the light of day.

I take part of the blame... It was originally a small project and supposed to be a fairly short fangame... then I got involved and rewrote the plot, and I made it too big and grandiose. Then, when real life kicked in for us, it died.

:(
« Last Edit: April 12, 2018, 11:36:34 pm by Boo the Gentleman Caller »

PrincessNadia78

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #160 on: April 04, 2018, 07:35:01 pm »
It happens. Sometimes I hate real life sometimes, it can inhibit and get in the way of our dreams. Sometimes I hate adulting. *sigh*

EgyLynx

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #161 on: April 12, 2018, 04:58:59 pm »
What!?

Oh i am sorry ...  :oops: .


Feeso

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #162 on: May 05, 2018, 04:18:37 pm »
Darn I've been looking forward to shift for years : (

But I understand how hard fan productions are. Real life always comes first. Is there anyway to release what was already made? Maybe condencing the story to being something brief the length of Prophet's Guile? Or heck just release an out line of where the story is going, I really wanna know how norstien ended up like he was in Chrono Trigger.

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #163 on: May 06, 2018, 02:10:27 am »
So the story took on a more political theme and showed how villains often see themselves as the heroes and vice versa. There was a lot of subterfuge and we based a lot of the game on unused elements from Crimson Echoes. Although we didn't directly rely on Crimson Echoes, we did make sure the plot elements fit (such as subtle references to King Zeal and the Atash Kadah, amongst other things).

The plot followed Norstein Bekkler, who was a teacher at a magic-based place of learning in Zeal, his younger brother (and a student at the school), Wellsville, as our protagonists. Long story short, they meet up with an Earthbound man named Wazuki and several other characters and get involved in a cold war involving Zeal and another isolationist nation called Calaspera that has closed itself off on the ocean floor.

Early on, Wellsville is accidentally killed by agents from Calaspera. Norstein pledges himself to Queen Zeal and vows revenge, and he subtly manipulates the party to help him stop Calaspera. It takes the party nearly 1/2 of the game to get to Calaspera, but once they get there they realize that Calaspera are actually the good guys and Zeal are not as good as they seem.

A short time later, Norstein's betrays the party and accuses them of being enemies of the state for turning their backs on Zeal. We also learn that he has been aiding the Queen to try and manipulate magical genetics, essentially furthering the genetic magical traits of the Zeal citizens (and further subjugate the Earthbound) using the a captured Frozen Flame.

Norstein's research bares some fruits, which indirectly creates the Mystic race as seen in Chrono Trigger. Later, Norstein himself interfaces with his machines and his body is torn asunder, rendering his face and hands from his body.

We then learn that the two nations of Zeal and Calaspera are descended from those who first came into contact with the Frozen Flame in 3 million BC. One sister founded Zeal, the other founded Calaspera. Both earned immortality and near-godhood by their contact with the Frozen Flame and have secretly been in a cold war for eons. Zeal and Calaspera have risen and fallen in multiple cycles, and the current incarnation of the countries we see are actually the seventh such iterations of the civilizations.

The two sisters - viewed as religious icons by the citizens of each country (as seen by the goddess statues in Zeal as seen in Chrono Trigger) are then tracked down and killed by Norstein, their powers used to help raise Zeal into the sky and crush Calaspera.

Although the heroes cannot stop Norstein and Queen Zeal in raising Zeal out of the ocean, they are able to stop Norstein, who by this point has been possessed by a dark creature called the Black Wind - a literal conscious universe that feeds off of death and destruction and plans to use them Frozen Flame to destroy our world and use it to feed itself.

Calaspera is finally defeated by Zeal, and it's ruins at the ocean floor are later re-utilized to become the Black Omen.

Meanwhile, the party members, the Gurus, and the leader of Calaspera (who is essentially a fourth honorary Guru) use Calaspara's secret prototype weapon - the Chrono Shift. It is revealed to be an experimental device that can shift time and lock it away in a temporal loop.

The heroes storm Zeal's Elemental Palace, where Norstein Bekkler (possessed by the Black Wind entity) readies to harness the Frozen Flame for nefarious purposes. They are unable to defeat it, so instead use the Chrono Shift to lock it away for eternity in a time paradox. To do so, however, they are forced to sacrifice themselves.

Some of them are locked within the temporal loop along with Norstein. Wazuki are his pregnant wife Marge are the only ones to escape, but are thrown into the far future, where we later meet them as characters in Chrono Cross.

After centuries within the temporal loop, Norstein is able to manifest his arms and head and floating entities, but he has been driven mad and seeks only entertainment...

That's essentially the super condensed version.

Feeso

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Re: Chrono Shift General Progress Thread
« Reply #164 on: May 06, 2018, 11:08:41 am »
wow thanks for sharing that. The first demo you guys made captured my imagination with the snow bound kingdom of Zeal. I also loved the magical academy and seeing the kingdom in it's prime.

But yeah that's not what I expected haha.

You say that it's meant to be compatible with Crimson Echoes but what about with Prophets' Guile? Cause in that it's said by an NPC that Zeal rose to the sky many generations before the downfall of Zeal.
The demo started with Norstien teaching a class at the academy when Calaspera attacks. They evacuate the school but Norstien's brother dies there. Then he is given a task by the gurus I think, and we had to track down the terrorists. I spent a lot of time exploring Zeal tho. I loved the details like the End of time being based off of a waterfall area near Zeal palace.

Anyway, I didn't expect Norstien to heel turn like that, I thought he'd be like Melchior, stranded in 1000 AD with no way back, so he makes the most of it by putting on a magic show.
I do like the backstory of the two sisters and the mystics being created via Zeal experimentation.
 
I figured the game was building to the rediscovery of the Frozen Flame and that's why the cold war accelerated. Like there would be a battle over it and Zeal wins, cementing their dominance. Then King Zeal would touch it and disappear as shown in Crimson Echoes.  I guess it could also send Zeal skyward granting his wish for the county before his wife’s greed dooms it. I had assumed that Queen Zeal only became 100% the villain after her husband “dies” and that the protagonists would object to the Calasperans being enslaved to build the ocean palace.

As for the playable characters, I really loved the 3 we got in the demo. I didn't expect Norstien to become an antagonist tho, I thought he'd gradually learn to let go of his brother's death, become a calmer and see the truth of Zeal Corruption. Only to be cursed by Queen Zeal and thrown into the future by the chrono shift.

Either way it’s cool to get some closure on this game. It’d be amazing if anything could be released but either way I appreciate the effort so much.