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About the Project

Horizon to Crinoa: Prototype is a stylish action RPG with inspirations mainly from the character action genre and from Japanese RPGs. With this project we hope to present our talents as developers in regards to combining fun, high paced, stylish action game combat and the depth and intricacies of a traditional JRPG style system for stats, customization, mechanics, gameplay and so on. While this project is not a full game, we plan to have a small wealth of things for the player to do, just to give them a taste of every aspect and idea that we’d like to achieve when we begin development for our main project.

We’d like every part of our design, systems, gameplay, ideals, aesthetics and musical talent to show through as we would like this project to represent our abilities and what we can create! From the story, to the worldbuilding, to the art and so on, please take in everything we have to offer and feel free to share your opinions on the project! Please look forward to it! Thank you!

Gameplay

Combat Features

Battle Overview:

Combat in Horizon to Crinoa occurs after the player has touched or been touched by an enemy on the overworld, or after a battle sequence is triggered through an event, cutscene, or dialogue sequence. The player is set to one of several designated areas around the map(usually the closest possible zone), where they are then encircled by a barrier and made to engage in combat against enemies. The Combat Scenario consists of 1-4 active party members plus a ‘Comrade’, and 1-6+ enemies for the player to fight against, usually of a variety of predetermined enemy groups. Depending on the selected difficulty, the enemies that can and will show up, as well as the group compositions, may be altered to better facilitate more advanced combat scenarios.

The Player party consists of up to 4 playable party members on the field of combat at once, with players given the ability to switch out their current member with any “reserve” party members at any time. This function allows the player to have every playable character available for use whenever they need them, rather than limiting their options.

When the player is controlling a party member, all other party members are controlled by AI, with skills and combos to be used based on how the player has built said character over time. By utilizing certain combat actions, the player can marginally control the behavior of the party members to allow for more direct conjunction with their playstyle.

Typically, a player controlled character will have several actions they can perform in combat:

-Normal Attacks: Regular, non skill based attacks that do not cost EP to use. By pressing the attack buttons consecutively, a combo is executed. By pressing the attack buttons with different timings, different combos can be achieved.

-Flair Skills: Skill based attacks that can be chained with normal attacks or other flair skills. They cost EP to use, but have a much more varied amount of utility and damage compared to normal attacks.

-Guard: Hold the guard button to decrease oncoming damage. By tapping it right before an attack lands, a parry is executed.

-Dash: Tap the dash button to dash backwards away from the direction you are facing. By pressing a directional input and the dash button at the same time, you’ll dash towards the direction pushed. When certain conditions are unlocked, you can dash consecutively!

-Jump: Tap the jump button to jump into the air and gain altitude over an enemy. When certain conditions are unlocked, you can jump consecutively! Furthermore, an additional ability, “Strive Stride”, allows you to use enemies as a springboard to jump off of, resetting your jump and dash count while midair.

-Lock-On: By tapping the “lock on” button, the player will lock on to the closest enemy target and have the camera follow them. Tapping again while locked on will unlock the camera from the target. By pressing in the “Switch target” button, the camera lock on will cycle through all of the active enemies in combat.

-Item Wheel: The item wheel is on the bottom left hand side of the battle window and consists of four directional arrows attached to corresponding consumable items that are equipped to the current active character. By pressing the corresponding direction, that item will be consumed, allowing the player to use items effectively without affecting the flow of combat. When more than 4 consumable items are equipped to the character, by holding any of the directional inputs, the item wheel pages will cycle to show up to 4 of the next set of additional items.

-Style Change: By pressing the “style change” button, the player will switch from their currently active style to the next style in their list. By repeatedly tapping the button, the player can cycle through the active style list until they land on the style they want to switch to specifically, and upon releasing, will switch to said style. The order that the styles show up in on the wheel can be altered in the character menu.

-Character Switch: By pressing the “character switch” button, the player will switch to the next available party member in order of party composition after releasing the button. By repeatedly tapping the button, the player can cycle through the active party until they land on the character they want to switch to specifically, and upon releasing, will switch to said character. The order that the character’s show up in on the wheel can be altered in the party composition menu.

Flair Meter:

Although the name is a tad different, rest assured that if you’re familiar with stylish action games then you’d no doubt be familiar with the term ‘style meter’ and what it entails. For us, our ‘Flair Meter’ functions largely the same as a style meter with a few minor differences and applications in combat. The style meter is situated towards the upper right of the battle screen.

For those unfamiliar with a style meter, it is essentially a combat grading meter used to evaluate how stylish the player is during encounters. By performing various actions, such as not taking damage in battle, parrying, jumping to avoid an attack, taunting, dodging right on time, varying the moves and skills you use consecutively without repeating them too often and so on, the meter rises in conjunction with a letter grading and flavor text that determines your current rank. In our case, the Flair Meter judges your “flair” in combat and assigned you an ‘Active Testament’, your ranking, that goes as follows: D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, S4, BS. D, being the lowest and the starting rank at the beginning of combat, and BS being the final and highest rank.

While the style meter increases and grades your performance, it will also decrease when you perform poorly in combat. Repeating the same skill or attack consecutively within a certain timespan will eventually begin deteriorating your meter, pushing the player towards more variety in their movesets. Not attacking at all will slowly deplete your flair meter, so you want to remain aggressive against targets to ensure your meter rank remains high. And most important of all, taking any damage at all will automatically drop your flair meter by two ranks on hit, removing your progress in an instant if you aren’t careful. Furthermore, if you are hit while performing a taunt, your flair meter automatically falls back to the lowest rank as punishment for failing to live up to your own hubris! All of these actions are not “stylish”, so if you’d like to perform stylishly, with flair, pay close attention to these things in order to succeed.

As for differences between our Flair Meter and the typical Style Meter, for Horizon To Crinoa, we wanted the flair meter to tie in directly to the more RPG focused elements and as such, we allow for Flair Meter type selection that provides various bonuses and boons to the player depending on their flair rank! More specifically, there will be different Flair Meter “types” that the player can equip to their party, which alters what the different flair meter ranks do for the player during combat. First, we’ll have to explain about the “Base” flair meter type, the typical, bog standard flair meter that the player uses by default.

Due to the game being an RPG as well as an action game, we wanted to tie these two mechanics in such a way that it drives the player to actively want to engage with the system. In this way, we designed the base flair meter to provide some rather straightforward bonuses based on the current active testament the player is on when they defeat an enemy. When an enemy is defeated in combat, depending on your testament at the time of defeat, the EXP, RP, Money and item rarity rates, that the enemy rewards the player with, will all increase. The higher your active testament at the time of defeat, the higher the increase in gains you will receive! A simple system, but rewarding to those who play skillfully and stylishly.

As mentioned prior, we extended this system even further by allowing the player to unlock, find and swap the base style meter with other style meter types with other effects! Although the prototype will only have a handful, there are plans for various types of style meter, such as though that increase stats depending on rank, those geared to more specific needs such as taking into advantage only monetary gains to get even more money from enemies, performing different abilities or buffs at different active testaments, and so on. We hope that this system serves player customization and variety well, to allow for players to produce a variety of individual playstyles and builds that fit to their liking!

Performing a wealth of stylish and varied actions is the key to increasing your style meter and attaining higher active testaments, so be sure to battle with flair if you want to succeed.

Enemy Flair Meter:

Another new addition to the idea of a “Style Meter” is a form of style meter that enemies will use against you! Certain enemy types will also be able to utilize a flair meter in battle, and they will be judged similarly to the player in how stylishly they perform in combat. However, while mostly the same as the meter the player has, conceptionally and mechanically there will be some differences in how they are judged for gameplay.

The enemy flair meter functions similarly to the Player flair meter, in that it depletes slowly over time and increases based on properly executed skills/attacks and techniques. However, just like the player flair meter, enemy meters also provide boons to the enemies in combat so long as they remain stylish. Typical actions that the player can use to increase their style meter such as parries, perfect blocks, enemy steps and so on are also usable by these opponents, effectively also giving them a way to increase their style in combat whilst fighting against you and reaping the rewards.

With each rank increase of the flair meter, the enemy gains an increase to their stats and abilities during battle, meaning the player must constantly stay on their toes to ensure that the enemy does not become too much stronger over time. Enemies may also sometimes perform a specific technique or skill that allows their flair meter to instantly increase a rank or more, if it hits/is used, and it is up to the player to deplete it after this fact to come out on top.

The enemy flair meter does not deplete and increase at the same rate as the player, as per the differences in gameplay and mechanics associated with them. An enemy with a flair meter will have their meter slowly and steadily increase over time as the battle continues, rising up their ranks even if they do not take action. This is meant to discourage players from sitting back and doing nothing in combat against these enemies, as they are supposed to be stronger and more advanced combat targets. However, just like with the player, whenever an enemy is hit, their meter will decrease with each subsequent hit, allowing the player to effectively lower their ranks easily and painlessly, so long as the player remains active the enemy flair meter will never get high enough to be a problem. The player cannot be complacent in these scenarios or the enemy may become stronger than they can handle!

Enemy Boosts Per rank are as such:

D Rank = No Boost

C Rank = 5% Boost

B Rank = 10% Boost

A Rank = 15% Boost

S Rank = 25% Boost

SS Rank = 35% Boost

SSS Rank = 50% Boost

The flavor text, as well as the appearance for the enemy flair meter will generally match the player’s in such a way that it acts as the opposite to player’s visual to show that these two combatants are fighting against in other in a battle of style and flair.

Hope Meter:

The Hope Meter is the meter at the top left corner of the battle screen, and is an integral mechanic to be used during combat. It is a meter that increases as the player takes or deals damage, rising until it reaches a maximum amount. The base Hope Meter is split into 4 separate chunks, that are used to determine how much of the meter the player has available during combat. There are a myriad of actions the player can use in combat that will spend a chunk of the Hope Meter so that they can be performed and without it, those same actions cannot be used at all. Some of these actions are, Active Switch, Character Assist, Imagine Cancel, and Beyond Flair Skills.

Active Switch:

Active switch, or character switching, is a feature that allows you to immediately switch your controlled party member with another member of the party. By performing this action, you expend 1 Hope Meter chunk, and the character being switched to appears at your current position, giving you control over them. By using this feature correctly, you can further extend combos and the variety of skills and attack that can be used to further build your Flair meter!

Assists:

Assists are performed by holding the character switch button, or by holding the character switch button and performing a directional input combination at the same time. When performed, the designated party member will utilize a flair skill set by the player at their current position, allowing the player to further extend their combos without having to switch characters or styles. Depending on if the target is in the air or ground on use, different assists can be used. Just like character switching, using an assist costs 1 chunk of the HOPE meter.

Imagine Cancel:

A technique executed by pressing the IC button in certain contexts. Using up a chunk of your HOPE Meter, the player can perform a specific type of attack cancel at any point during the execution of an attack, skill, movement options or otherwise, even if the attack hasn't hit the enemy. Timestop will occur for a brief moment and player will have a short moment to perform an action before time begins again.

There are 4 different contexts that an IC can be used, each with a corresponding color and utility to denote its usage:

-Red Cancel

-Uses up 2 chunks of your Hope Meter and will be used if the player is not actively attacking, is attacking, is moving or using any movement action or at any point during an attack WHILE the target is in hitstun(Blocking or Not).  The enemy slowdown lasts 2 seconds here.

-Yellow Cancel

-Uses up 1 chunk of your Hope Meter and will be used if the player is not actively attacking, is attacking, is moving or using any movement action or at any point during an attack WHILE the target is NOT in hitstun.  The enemy slowdown lasts 1 second here.

-Blue Cancel

-Uses up 3 chunks of your Hope Meter. Defensively, if the player inputs the Imagine Cancel while blocking or parrying an attack or while in normal hit stun, time will slow down for a very brief moment and they will escape hitstun and return to the normal state, allowing them to escape dangerous scenarios at the cost of most of their meter or take the short opportunity to close in and attack an enemy. This only occurs for a brief moment while the player is in the "Parried" or "Blocked" states, or while they are in a hitstun state, allowing skilled players to take advantage of enemies who can still act after being parried. he enemy slowdown lasts 3 seconds here.

-Purple Cancel

-Uses up 4 chunks of your Hope Meter. Offensively, the player can utilize their Purple Cancel to cancel a Beyond Flair Skill after it has been executed(outside of the cinematic) as all Beyond Flair Skills will have a brief moment in which they can be cancelled. Using this would allow certain impossible actions such as chaining Beyond Flair Skills together with one character or starting a new combo after using a Beyond Flair Skill as they are typically combo enders. Enemies are not slowed down when this is used.

Beyond Flair Skills:

Beyond Flair Skills are exceptionally powerful Flair skills that can be utilized by the player or enemy to deal massive damage to a target or targets. Providing the player has at minimum, 75% of their max EP, by pressing the Beyond Flair Skill button, a Beyond Flair Skill can be unleashed at any point during a combo. Depending on the Beyond Flair Skill used, a cinematic may play in order for the skill to play out before finishing the attack. After using a Beyond Flair Skill, the player is momentarily disabled, preventing them from immediately performing any actions for at least 2 seconds after using a Beyond Flair Skill.

Testament:

Testament is the overall flair grade received after a battle, and ranges from D-BS, similar to the Flair Meter. It is judged based on various factors of the battle, such as whether or not you took damage, if you healed yourself, maximum time spent in a particular rank and so on. Although your rewards for combat are automatically adjusted upon defeat of an enemy, your Testament Grade further increases certain rewards at the end of battle. The amount of RP and AP received after a battle concludes are increased in line with the grade received. The higher your grade, the more of each point type you receive, so try to aim for a high flair ranking!

Comrades:

N/A

Overworld Features

Overworld Chat:

While traveling outside of battle, characters in the party may sometimes strike up conversation with one another and begin talking about various things. Through this feature, you can learn more about the character’s lives, emotions and about the world itself as they travel throughout it. Each area has specific dialogue associated with it, to help build upon the world and reveal interesting tidbits and information from them! If you listen to them, sometimes new entries in the glossary can be unlocked, thus providing you with even more information!

Furthermore, in some special scenarios, unique, event conversations can occur related to specific items, enemies or quests! When you see the chat icon appear on the map, press it to trigger a unique dialogue!

Story and Worldbuilding

Main Characters:

-Yellette Blues Slanade: Yellette Blues Slanade, the main character of our story! A young woman without memories of her past, thrust into a world of which she knows nothing about and made into a ‘Hero of the World’. Though she has lived within this new world for ten years and with that time has made many a friend and family, there is some measure of uncertainty about what she wishes for in life and her dreams of the future. On a small request for her sister, Ria, who she has not seen in some years, Yellette journies to the Island of Ezelpor to procure some curious cooking ingredients while her mind remains occupied with her own dreams. Perhaps, having some time to herself to think and realize can she eventually come to terms with her own desires.

-Rialyn Slanade Blues: Rialyn Slanade Blues, affectionally called “Ria” by her friends and family, is Yellette’s older sister from her adoptive family. Though not related by blood, the familial bond between the two is no less strong than those who come from the same loins. The daughter of a previous Hero of the World, Grantes Grande Slanade, Ria constantly had to live her life in fear of meeting the expectations of being the child of a hero. However, she has since moved beyond her father’s name and instead made a name for herself as a member of the prestigious “Blues” family, from her mother’s side. With it, she has pursued the art of cooking, food culture and understanding the world through food and drink. In order to pursue her dream of conquering the Master Black Hand tournament, a large scale cooking tournament, Ria sends Yellette on a quest to Ezelpor to procure specific ingredients so that she can test her own prowess.

-Mysterious Jeletan: A mysterious Jeletan Yellette rescues from other bestiant on her quest around Ezelpor’s ‘Highleaf Heights’. As a result of being saved by her, it has decided to follow her around for the duration of her journey, quickly becoming a cute and adorable companion that Yellette cares for. Naturally curious, excitable and always happy, the Jeletan appears to be no more than a young child and in a sense, may even view Yellette as it’s mother. It is quite unusual for a wild bestiant to follow a person, but to Yellette, a regular bestiant aficionado with a weakness for cute things, it doesn’t seem to be too big of a problem.

Setting:

-The Crimson - Ezelpor: Faith of the King: Ezelpor is one of three islands that make up “The Crimson” a large, expansive land of foliage and vegetation that are colored red year-round. This particular island, ‘Ezelpor: The Faith of the King’, was once home to an ancient Kingdom that ruled a portion of the Return Continent prior to the rise of “Royal Forest”. The main story of our prototype takes places in one small area of the island, “Highleaf Heights”, a seaside area overlooking the “Pairing Bridgepeak” and “Bay of Faith” that was said to be the final resting place of the King of Ezelpor and his family.

Music

All of the music in the project is handled by our wonderful composer: Acua-Piece!

Please check them out on their various socials here:

https://acua-piece.com/

https://soundcloud.com/aaer

https://twitter.com/acua_piece