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[icycalm]

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/05/08/fi ... completed/

Fire Emblem Creator’s New Strategy RPG Project Will Be Free Once Completed

Kaga Shouzo is considered the father of the Fire Emblem series, as he was involved in the development of various titles in the series prior to leaving Intelligent Systems in 1999. He revealed on his official blog that he has started a new strategy RPG project.

On his blog, Shouzo says that he and a group of acquaintances have begun a new private project using a recently released doujin software called SRPG Studio, and once it’s complete, they will distribute it free of charge.

Currently, the team working on the private project consists of 10 members, ranging from acquaintances to professional developers, and he mentions that they might be able to get a certain “wonderful artist” to be in charge of the character designs. As far as music goes, he says that he has some ideas on this front, and isn’t worried about it.

In addition to using SRPG Studio software, Shouzo and his group are currently looking for assets to use with the engine, including the following: “Unit Chips,” “Battle Animation Material,” “Effect Material,” “Map Chips,” “Parts Chips,” “BGM, Sound Effects,” and “Background CG”.

He also makes note on his blog post that if anyone has any of the above materials that they’ve made, or have received permission from producers, that he’d gladly work with them.

At the moment, Shouzo and his team are short on Unit Chips and Battle Animation Material, so until they get their hands on some of those assets, he says that it looks like it’ll be a little while until they’re able to release the game.

After leaving Intelligent Systems, Shouzo went on to create a game called Tear Ring Saga; however, he faced pressure from Nintendo, who felt it was too similar to the Fire Emblem series. Ultimately, however, the game was released in Japan.

More details on Shouzo’s new project will be revealed as they advance through the development.

The image that accompanies the blog post is from Fire Emblem, and that's why I am not posting it here. I hate it when bloggers use images from other games when they have nothing appropriate to use. Just use nothing, retards!

[icycalm]

More details on NeoGAF: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1041955

Shouzou Kaga (Fire Emblem creator) developing doujin game with SRPG Studio

Shouzou Kaga, the creator of Fire Emblem, hasn't made a commercial game in 10 years. Back then, he had just completed Berwick Saga, his second game after leaving Intelligent Systems around 5 years beforehand.

However things could be changing very soon.

On his purported blog, he has announced plans to develop a free doujin game (fan game) using the recently released SRPG Studio, used to create strategy RPGs like Fire Emblem.

This might be a bit sudden, but I decided to start making a doujin game with some friends, hahaha.

Already, he has a staff of around 10 people, including professionals and is currently negotiating with a character designer–potentially an “amazing artist”. Music-wise, he already has somebody in mind (and even tells readers to hazard a guess).

We're still negotiating with a character designer, but we might just get an amazing artist here.
Music is a future issue, but I already have a name in mind. (Take a guess, haha)

Despite that, he is lacking a number of resources, mostly graphical.

In order to increase the game's quality, we're looking for runtime graphic contributions we could use for free: unit sprites, battle animations, effects, map tiles, parts, background music, sound effects, background images, etc. Those who have made or obtained (with permission from the original author) such resources, please give us a hand.

Notably, we're in serious need of map sprites and battle animations, as they are sorely insufficient at the present.

To resolve this, Kaga is requesting users to donate assets to his project, so long as they abide by his rules and do not infringe on other peoples' copyright.

Kaga stresses that he and his staff have limited time to work on the game, so he can’t provide an estimated release date. But if everything goes smoothly, he will post about it on his blog.

His thoughts on SRPG Studio:

These tools seem to be very solidly designed. I've only fiddled with them for around 10 hours, but the test map I made didn't leave me a bad impression. We should be able to do interesting things once we add scripts into the mix.
I exchanged some mails with the creator(s), they were very polite and friendly. Of course we're completely unrelated, this is by no means stealth marketing, hahaha.

His final comment:

This is basically a project with friends and acquaintances, but we’d welcome a sprite artist. It’s our biggest weak point, so we’d warmly welcome you if you’re enthusiastic.

Translated blog entry
Summary here

[icycalm]

Might as well post the original blog post translation: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.p ... try3751174

This might be a bit sudden, but I decided to start making a doujin game with some friends, hahaha.

We'll use the recently released doujin soft SRPG Studio (© SapphireSoft), and once it's done we'll distribute the game for free.

In order to increase the game's quality, we're looking for runtime graphic contributions we could use for free: unit sprites, battle animations, effects, map tiles, parts, background music, sound effects, background images, etc. Those who have made or obtained (with permission from the original author) such resources, please give us a hand.

Notably, we're in serious need of map sprites and battle animations, as they are sorely insufficient at the present.

So, to those benevolent folks who have made such resources or are bored enough to look around for them:
- I might adjust some things to match my world view and solve technical issues.
- Material copyright follows the terms and conditions established by SapphireSoft, but otherwise they belong to their creators.
- Their use will follow the terms and conditions established by SapphireSoft.
- Their use will be allowed for future sequels.
- Absolutely no material infringing a third party's copyright (eg. taken from another game).

If you undertand those conditions, please compress the file folder and send it as a mail attachment. Use that opportunity to write usage conditions/explanations and wishes, if any. Once I check the content, I'll reply telling whether I'll make use of it or not. (You'll be credited nominally in the credits roll.)

Our staff - myself included - has limited time to work on this, so we have no idea of when we're going to finish this. Should we finish, I'll post about it in this blog. Please look forward to it if you like retro games (though it'll be hard to get it done if we don't get the materials ^^;).

PS: If you have any questions or whatever, please reply tot his post.
Unit sprites and battle animations must come in a set (exceptions may occur).
Please use colors freely. We intend to use Berwick Saga as reference in that regard.
We're in particular need of a large number of enemy units.
Dragon knights and the like might require a high level of ability to be made.
I tried looking for the sprite artist, but he went kaboom. Well, I guess it can't be helped...
These tools seem to be very solidly designed. I've only fiddled with them for around 10 hours, but the test map I made didn't leave me a bad impression. We should be able to do interesting things once we add scripts into the mix.
I exchanged some mails with the creator(s), they were very polite and friendly. Of course we're completely unrelated, this is by no means stealth marketing, hahaha.

I heard there's already a 2ch thread around, and that people are already uploading material to it. I haven't seen it, but I wonder if it's generally high level?

Currently we have 10 people in the staff, pros included. We're still negotiating with a character designer, but we might just get an amazing artist here.
Music is a future issue, but I already have a name in mind. (Take a guess, haha)

This is basically a project with friends and acquaintances, but we'd welcome a sprite artist. It's our biggest weak point, so we'd warmly welcome you if you're enthusiastic.

[Hanged Man]

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/07/16/a- ... g-project/

We previously reported that Shouzo Kaga, who is widely considered the father of the Fire Emblem series, is working on his own strategy RPG project. announced as Vestaria Saga. Kaga updates us on how it’s coming along on his official blog page.





As previously reported, this project began with Kaga and a group of people with a desire to work on a private project using the doujin software SRPG Studio. Once it’s done, the game will be available to play for free.







The above shows some more gameplay screenshots, and it looks pretty reiminiscent of the older Fire Emblem games.

In an earlier post, Kaga mentioned that he gathered 10 staff members that range from acquaintances to professional developers, and while he considers it a small yet excellent group of members, he says that it’s been exhausting to work on Vestaria Saga through the hot summer.

That said, Kaga is currently looking to increase the staff number by two or three additional members from people that are reading his blog. Here are his requirements:

Someone that loves strategy RPGs and would like to try making one.
Be polite and proper.
Must have some endurance and time to spare.
Someone that really wants to participate in the project.

Those who wish to participate can leave a comment on his blog page. Kaga updated the page adding that they’re having trouble getting a character designer, so that certain “wonderful artist” he had in mind before may not have been available.

He notes that he’s willing to pay for a character designer (as long as they’re not too expensive) and jokingly asks if there are any people out there that can draw characters the way he likes. The character designer will be required to draw about 100 characters faces at 96 x 96 px resolution. Kaga hopes to have it figured out by this fall.

We’ll have more details on Vestaria Saga as it becomes available.