Quick Description


Name: VHEL - Courier
Genre: Real-Time Tactics
Players: 1
Intended Audience: Girls 16+ (Teens and up)
Development Phase: Pre-Alpha


General


VHEL is a 2-D, story based, stealth focused, real-time tactics game set in a science fiction world known as Nor Prime. It follows the exploits of a young Bhacrio girl named Khana Faust, a courier in the southern region of Ivara, who undergoes strange metaphysical changes from a parasite known as VHEL, originally used as a means to power a destructive anomaly known as Skull over 13 years ago and also a parasitic commodity amongst mammoth-like hydrozoans known as Ragnic. As Khana, the player will explore the continent of Ivara in a rudimentary day to day simulation of her life as a courier while also engaging in confrontations with Ragnic -- usually within an evasive fashion -- in heart-stopping confrontations periodically, using alien tactics and strategies unique to this world alone.

Players are also introduced to a wide array of characters, situations, and events that not only challenges the player’s own modern perception of life, but also the player’s own morality, fortitude, endurance, loyalty, diligence, and problem solving skills. As with this, the player will learn about the world from many sources, slowly understanding the rapidly changing events taking place in Nor Prime (e.g. the fall of the Reaver Society, EDOC‘s deterioration, the true purpose of VHEL in the masses, etc.). With a focus on player driven progression, involvement, and immersion, VHEL eliminates the lesser commodities such as menus and the use of a traditional HUD system, to minimize the relapse in continuity from situation to situation. Needless to say, VHEL is the near equivalent to playing an animated movie -- the forefront of VHEL’s design and uniqueness -- using it’s cinematic presentation as a tool to captivate it’s audience with a distinct focus on timeless details and durability.

  • High definition, 2D art and animation.
  • Voice overs
  • A deep, lengthy storyline, with over 40 unique characters, and 20+ hours of playtime
  • An ever changing economy system that's 100% player dependent
  • Pure, real-time tactical gameplay, unlike any known previously
  • Well over a dozen lush, alien environments, unique to anything seen before
  • Real-time day and night simulation
  • Dynamic weather patterns
  • Limited HUD, creating a vastly immersible experience
  • Calender driven game progression
  • 3 difficulty settings: Novice, Acolyte, and Demon
  • 2 game modes: Story and Conquest
  • Procedural Narrative (the story and gameplay unfolds dependent on how you play)
  • No "Game Over"s (except on Demon setting)

For many reasons, VHEL was meant to serve as a game with an indiscreet point of view about good or bad, saintly or demonic, morality or logic, etc.. People, in truth, aren’t branded as pure evil or never being the type to do bad things. Although these stereotypes and archetypes do exist, its not uncommon to know someone who’s gone down a bad road and has changed for the better. Likewise, it’s possible to find someone with a good heart forced or willingly doing bad things to others. This is the preconceived notion behind most of the characters and their motives within the game; everyone in the game falls in the “gray area“, comparable to the gray overcast that filter the skies of Nor Prime. To add in player driven gameplay that actively allows the player to alter the point of view of other characters therefore breaking the line between logic bound decisions and emotionally incentivized choices. This is VHEL’s entire aim and goal: to allow the player and the game itself to be affected by the choices and decisions one makes to the other. Its with this and the attention to player driven narrative, that allows VHEL to be not only a game you can play, but a game you experience and grow with.


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The World -- Nor Prime


VHEL takes place in a world known as Nor Prime, a waterlogged planet with rainfall almost ¾ of its orbital year. It pertains two moons: Eroda, a turquoise moon 0.3 times smaller than Nor Prime, and Raa’Corda, a reddish moon fairly 0.8 times smaller but closer to Nor Prime in comparison to Eroda. According to EDOC’s historical documentation, Nor Prime is almost 2 billion years old; a relatively young planet within the Yox Krim’Ba solar system. The people of Nor Prime are a collection of 3 diverse races who have created many formal and traditional customs around the planet’s overabundant source of water and Ragnic infestation. These races have slowly evolved various attributes due to their origin of birth. Due to Nor Prime’s distance to it’s star (sun), Sy Ra, Nor Prime’s surface temperature is fairly low, allowing it to be a hospitable world to various vegetation, although greatly populated by fungi. This is fact because of the overcast lingering within Nor Prime’s atmosphere caused by excessive precipitation; the clouds literally block out the sun from hitting the ground very often. Nor Prime is governed by a one-world governmental chain known as "EDOC", short for Evolve, Develop, Ostracize, and Control. EDOC's purpose is to rid the world of Ragnic, the hydrozoans who roam the skies, the seas, and the surface, in search for food of all kinds.


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Ragnic - Geist [v.8.15.09 - game model] Kender Seth [v.7.21.09 - game model] Iberian Sable [v.7.21.09 - game model]
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0 comments by Mr.12 on Nov 5th, 2009 digg this super bookmark


Sorry AGAIN for missing last weeks update. I simply had no time on my hands to deliver an update. Luckily, you're all getting twice the serving this time around along with goodies you may enjoy.


The life of a courier is complicated...

Many of you are still wondering what kind of storytelling is in VHEL - Courier. "Is it classic Sci-Fi?", "Is it fantasy?", "Is there a lot of redundant Anime/RPG jargon?", etc., etc..

The answer to the above questions: "No", "No", and "God, no". Think of the VHEL - Courier as a murder mystery engulfed in it's own science and ideology. When you're talking about a world that's almost literally 100% run by it's peoples' status and notoriety, it's not hard to imagine syndication wars and double crossing to get to the top -- this is on any front in Nor Prime, even on the brothel level. 

As far as story events -- and this is just me skimming the surface of a lot of stuff that goes down -- the story arc follows Khana Faust in her life in Nor Prime after a significant revolution in the world; the fall of the Reaver Society (R.E. - Reaver Epoch era) and the years after it (A.R. - After Reaver era).

In the beginning of the game, we find Khana and Nolan in a bit of depressive slump after only realizing that their company, Faust Courier, is in the midst of a notoriety struggle (a struggle to keep respect, so to speak). It's main chieftain, Mace Faust, has all but run out of couriers to help stabilize Faust Courer within the Trade. For him, he wants to insure that his company can last even longer without his couriers dying off left and right. With Khana and Nolan being the last of what he has, he looks into help from a Bhacrio Juun gambler, Don Tokun; a long time friend and business partner of Mace's. Don's noteworthy connections within the Trade help land the company a special donor by the name Ruj Black (a company), a type of illegal arms manufacturer on the outskirts of Ivara near Jin Yhat.

Skipping ahead several moons later, we find the chancellor of West EDOC, Orin Reynoldia (Casie's and Floressia's father), dead from unknown causes. His death soon elevates the level of security in and around southern Ivara to new heights. In the world of Nor Prime, especially in southern Ivara and Darmus, whatever seems accidental, isn't. No sooner afterward, North EDOC's chancellor also falls victim to an unexplained death. Many people within this short period of time begin to talk about a possible extremist group hoping to crippling the remains of the great EDOC syndication. The many heretics on everyone's minds: possible Ban'Tien survivors, biomurrologist from the long since rumored Clandestine faction, heretics from within the Trade, and even former Reavers from the Reaver Society itself.

Yes, both the courier company situation with Khana and the deaths of the chancellors of EDOC are connected, but probably not in the ways you may think at first based upon all I've written right here. You have to remember, this isn't a story the about good guys beating the bad guys. Quite honestly, I feel more like the story is a look at all the bad situations created by the Reaver Society back when Nila Faust, Floressia Reynoldia, and Kender Seth were in charge it before it dipped into obscurity, and how they're still trying to do things their own selfish way -- dead or not.


...And in case you wanted to know what the script looked like...

Iberian
"Hello everyone. I hope you all have been fine this good day."

Nolan
"Decent."

Khana
"Can‘t complain."

Mace
"Aye."

>Iberian takes a second to look at her cast of characters: her couriers, and her co-founder. She has a determined look on her face.

Iberian
"Ahem, so to my understanding, our company is now on the verge of isolation. We’re down a courier, we’re out of donors, our Darmus branch isn’t fairing too well, and we aren’t bringing in the same amount of resources we once were. Once we’re in full isolation, this company won‘t be able to sustain itself in the Trade, therefore destroying our own personal values in EDOC and elsewhere where prestige determines our own wealth, etc., etc.. I don‘t know about you folks, but now is the time to put on your game faces and hope to God we don’t fail."

Nolan
"Agreed."

Khana
"With ya." 

Mace
"Aye."

Iberian
"I have a few ideas I wish to present, but first, I‘d like to know what you all think. [turns to Nolan] Nolan, seeing, as how you’re the one who handles most of the business around here, as well as being the only Humari in my company-...[chuckles] ignore my smile, I’m trying not to laugh on the inside...okay...would you mind being the first to give your opinion?"

Nolan
"Heh…sure. We‘ve had a few solid couriers come into Faust Courier since I‘ve been here. I don’t need to point out the ones who didn’t make it since they‘re either dead or some other place -- doesn‘t matter really. Either case, my opinion: we should probably find some new recruits. We ain‘t gonna get much done with just the four of us, that much I know."

Mace
"Same with gettin’ donors, yah?"

Nolan
"Good donors. I’ve had enough of Ruj Black‘s crap."

Iberian
"Aye. Do you have anything to add, Khana?"

Khana
"Nope."

Iberian
"Anything informative?"

Khana
"Nope."

Iberian
"Even if it‘s criticism?"

Khana
"Nope."

Iberian
"Destructive criticism?"

Khana
"Nolan could be a better courier if he didn‘t always try and take shortcuts all the damn time, yah?"

Nolan
"Who are ya tryin‘ to start stuff with, minga?!"

Iberian
" - Alright, alright. At least we’re all in the right spirit for the job. As far as my proposal goes, I’d like us to pursue more couriers, like Nolan mentioned before. We‘ll move on to new donors once we have a team ready."

Mace
"No other plan?"

Iberian
"Not with our notoriety. There‘s too much unwavering trust within our clients to make any bold moves we can‘t support."

Mace
"Humph…"

Iberian
"What? The problem is solved. We find new couriers, then we move on."

Mace
"Don‘s boy dies and the next thing ya wanna do is find a lad to replace ‘em? See less point in gettin‘ fresh meat when we could just go for the prize right now."

Iberian
"As in…?"

Mace
" - Let‘s find a brand new donor and fix up all the confusion behind recruits and whatnot later."

Khana
"That‘s the Ban‘Tien way of thinkin‘, if I didn‘t know any better."

Iberian
"It‘s also the ignorant way of doing things."


Everything else going on

(Me experimenting with certain environmental objects...like grass, lol.)

Just read the following:

  • Tiji finally got his hands on the full Master Design Document to VHEL. Yes, this is actually important to mention because out of every other person alive, he's the only one with the original copy outside of myself. That's several hundred pages of coding you'll have to go through, buddy. =D
  • Though art has been coming out slower than normal, several new characters are currently being finished up: Flo Kor'Normah, Don Tokun, and a few brothel whores.......yes, brothel whores
  • If I'm not mistaken, Tiji is establishing all the in-game variables (system intergers, arrays, magic numbers -- whatever you want to call them). This isn't effecting some of the other work already finished up like the animation system or our loading systems...which, by the way, is pretty memory friendly now. =D
  • The Master Story Script is 2 weeks away from being done (if I'm reviewing it right). When it is, I'll print the whole thing up, take pictures of it, and act like I've just created the Bible. If a tear rolls down my cheek, I'll make sure to take a picture of that, too!
  • Voice acting sessions have been on the way for the past 2 months now and on November 20th, the roles for Khana, Casie, Nolan, Iberian, Mace, and Page (maybe), will be closed. If you're interested in doing voice over work, by all means, be my guess....but do it soon, because auditions won't be going on forever. =/

And that's that!

Ciao, everybody!

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Comments  (0 - 10 of 33)
V-H2O
V-H2O Sep 6 2009, 9:55am says:

will the camera angle be static or will it be dynamic

+1 vote     reply to comment
Mr.12
Mr.12 Sep 6 2009, 11:58am replied:

The camera is dynamic for the most part (it's simply a 3D camera locked into the X axis really). There's some in and out movement you can do with it as well, not to mention some nice twisting effects, but in terms of it being a conventional camera system, despite this game's 2D look and feel, it isn't.

Even though the camera system is basically finished, we're not showing it until the gameplay build is complete. Once it is, you'll see what we're aiming for. =P

+1 vote     reply to comment
shotgun_org
shotgun_org Sep 5 2009, 4:32am says:

Are you guys using flash to make this game?

+1 vote     reply to comment
Mr.12
Mr.12 Sep 5 2009, 2:11pm replied:

Flash is used to draw all the illustrations and objects, yes. However, the game won't be running on Flash (I dislike the memory limitations).

+1 vote     reply to comment
V-H2O
V-H2O Sep 2 2009, 8:17am says:

well...my psychology textbook says that "if handled properly, stress increases the probability of one's survival"
"Stress gives energy,increases human arousal and affects performance.However high stress can produce unpleasant effects and cause our performance to deteriorate"
"Conversely, too little stress may cause one to feel somewhat listless and low on motivation which may lead us to perform slowly and less effectively"
Hope this helps

+1 vote     reply to comment
teamsabre2
teamsabre2 Aug 16 2009, 11:02pm says:

Intended Audience: Girls 16+

Intended for Girls... O.o

Oh yeah, the main character is a girl so it would be much obvious. I'd be waiting for this game to finish. Just started the illustrations and outlines of the games. How about coding and programming? You should be on that too.

Good luck on this project! Have fun!

+1 vote     reply to comment
reybag
reybag Oct 3 2009, 7:29pm replied:

at tomb rider ,main character is a girl,and i dont think its intended for girls :D and im sure theres a lot other better examples of games where main characteres are girls but they are played a lot more for guys ,dont know the reason of that :D jajajajaj

is this game intended for girls,the creators say it is ,do they give a explanation,i dont know ,im a guy i like to cut limbs and look lots of blood rather than read all that text,its huge.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Mr.12
Mr.12 Aug 17 2009, 12:56pm replied:

We are working on code -- Tiji handles that mainly. =P
I focus on art and design (some code) while he handles engine tools and other code work. We won't show a half done game with broken/unusable code until we lock our gameplay build.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Black-Operative
Black-Operative Aug 10 2009, 12:12pm says:

Well...

You say the world has two million years?

Are you sure you didn't wanted to mean two billion years?

I mean Earth has over four billion years and it took over half a billion years for it to just stop being a molten fireball.

Unless Nor Prime was created through magic this time frame is hard to swallow.

If I were you I would say the planet took at least two billion years to reach current habitable conditions.

Sorry if I'm being yoggy but I'm just tring to help.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Mr.12
Mr.12 Aug 10 2009, 1:50pm replied:

lol, I didn't notice I put 2 million. Yeah, I meant to say 2 billion (spelling = fail). I'm glad you pointed it out. =D

+1 vote     reply to comment
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VHEL
Platform
PC
Developed By
Mr.12
Engine
Unknown
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Release Date
Coming 2010
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Real Time Strategy
Theme
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Single Player
Project
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Last Update
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