I wanted to post one of these to get interest (or maybe even a little help) going for my game project Song of the Earth. It is meant to be a 5 part series somewhat in the vein of the Final Fantasy series, although the games are part of one larger story unlike the Final Fantasy games. I've been working on the first one for a while and have an 80% complete script (I need to write some dialogue for side quests, minor NPCs, and edit what I have already) lists of all the enemies, spells/abilities, and items/equipment and have implemented much of that into a rapidly growing text only 'tester' version of the game (basically the bare bones fighting engine with the ability to use shops, learn new abilities, and do other essential features of the game). This is where I will continue to post updates and requests for assistance on non-pressing issues (for serious bugs and technical help, I will post threads in the appropriate forums). So far the player can fight enemies from the first two areas of the game, use the game's first shop, change equipment, use items, and level up. I will soon begin programing enemy AI (at the moment enemies simply do a standard attack) status effects, and the skills system. I am currently encountering bugs with the loading system which I've asked for help with on another forum. Introductory details and plot: The game begins with an opening scene showing two young men (16 and 17) stowing away aboard what appears to be a merchant ship. They disembark the ship, escaping the angry crew, and sneak into a mine near the city. They make their way to the lowest level of the mines, steal a fortune in valuable materials, and a shiny black stone, but are seen by guards and begin to escape. Back outside the mine, another figure approaches, smiling as though at the conclusion of a long journey that will bring great profit. The younger of the two boys, Daniel, runs ahead of the elder boy, Lucent, yelling back, "Hurry or the guards will catch us!". At this point, the player is given control, lead through some tutorials, and confronted with a puzzle. Once solved, the exit is in sight... but guards are waiting to ambush them there. Lucent and Daniel manage to take out the guards, but as they're about to finally make their escape, they are confronted by a shadowy figure dressed in black who demands that they give him the black stone. After Lucent and Daniel give it to him, he leaves them practically dead and attempts to 'use' the stone on them. His plan backfires, and the man in black vanishes before their eyes, taking the stone with him. A number of guards rush in and carry the unconscious heroes to their king. The conversation with the king reveals who the two heroes are. Lucent and Daniel are two orphans from the opposing nation of Helena. Lucent was adopted by Daniel's mother at a young age, and the two of them have been orphans since robbers killed Daniel's mother years ago. The two of them finally grew restless and tired of their lonely life in the woods and concocted a plan to steal from the mines in the nation of Maragord in order to have the money to move into the capital city of Helena and live comfortably for many years to come. The king of Maragord listens to their story and has pity for them. Instead of having them killed, he commands them to carry a letter to the king of Helena. To be continued... Gameplay: Song of the Earth plays much like an older Final Fantasy game. Enemies are encountered randomly on the field and battles are turn based, with battle order being based on the characters' speeds. Over the course of the game, the player acquires fragments of the Gaia Stone that enables them to learn new spells and abilities. Most every spell and ability can be leveled up to become more powerful. There are 8 styles of weapons: one handed swords, two handed swords, axes, staves, knives, bows, spears, and fists. Every character begins with the same ability with each weapon, however by using weapons they become more proficient with them. Every level of proficiency with a weapon raises that characters attack with that weapon by 20%, however each character has two weapons for which a level of proficiency raises their attack by 25%. Some weapons and armor have "enchant slots" where spells can be equipped. Any character may enchant certain pieces of equipment with any spell that they have learned to add certain effects, such as additional damage/defense, elemental damage/defense, status attacks/protection, more speed, the ability to drain HP with attacks, and others. This makes it important for non-spell casters to learn spells as well. Good combinations of enchantments can make the difference between victory and defeat, especially in the later parts of the game. If there is interest, I will definitely post more. I was on this site years ago with another username (RichardMV) but since then my e-mail address has changed, and with the password thing that they implemented, I had no ability to access my account again. If you've been on here for years (like, 4 years, I think) this project may be familiar to you, although then everything was in my head, and now it's all in my computer ^_^. I would like to take this game into the realm of 3D and maybe someday publish it, but I'll definitely need help for that. I've been writing my own music, I wrote my script, and I've been writing code, but my artistic skills are lacking, so while I have pictures in my head of how I want things to be, I'm having trouble making 3D models and maps and stuff. I tried using a program called 3D game studio, but the interface seems designed to make games that aren't RPGs. If anyone wants to help me with my project, I would be glad to repay the favor by helping you with yours, or, if you want to join my team, I'd totally pay you if I ever make money. I'm trying to prove, now, that I'm serious about this project, which is why I'm working really hard to make some sort of public demo. The tester I'm making now is part of that effort, but it's not quite what I want for public viewing... Anyways, that's my project, how it's going, and a modest request. I hope I didn't bore you too much ^_^. Thanks for reading.