Human Transfiguration…The Ultimate Taboo!
@Antonio_Tiger You . . . you just fixed the problem! By completing human transfiguration, but altering the cross examination trait in our genetics, you create a perfectly obedient human servant! Of course, genetic alteration will likely be too advanced for a thirteen-year-old, but in the later years . . .
Who says you can’t be a magical savant? Inventing a new spell each week, each more useful then the last
I hesitate to say this, because I do not want to sound negative. However, I feel that I should mention the first concern that arose to me when reading this thread: I am not sure what the focus of the game is.
I am very fond of Academagia, with it’s staggering amount of content (not to mention incorporation of works submitted by the fans!). While the adventure are, to me, the main appeal of the game, there is no question it is a simulation game, rather than an RPG or a visual novel. And that is fine, because that’s the format it was built for, messy GUI and all.
However, ChoiceOf games are, naturally, most suited for the interactive novel format. I have played some of the more sim-like games, such as Life of a Wizard and The Fleet, and while they are fun and interesting, they feel rather ill-suited for the medium. I just can’t help but feel they would have been more enjoyable as more of a gamebook, or as a regular simulation game.
Now, I think Academagia has wonderful lore, and it’s a setting ripe with opportunity for exciting adventures, and I would very much like to play one! I just don’t want the story, the actual adventure, to get lost in all the sim elements. I don’t mind spending most of my time building my stats on Academagia, since there is plenty of random content scattered around, but I don’t want to do it in my gamebooks - it just feels dull and repetitive. Not every scene must be grand and dramatic, but multiple scenes that comes down to ‘you practiced negation’ are not much fun to read.
Lastly, don’t forget Academagia is written by a full team, not to mention user’s contribution. Being ambitious is great, but it’s best to have one strong element than multiple mediocre ones, so don’t kill yourself over this!
[By the way, you should consider posting about this in the Academagia forums. Might get other people interested, maybe have your own community submitted content in the game.]
Could I have a link?
@Jackrabbit Please don’t hesitate to give honest feedback, I appreciate it way more than you know!
A great example of what the game will sound like is the Let’s Play Archive for Academagia: entirely story-driven, and all the simulation aspects of the game (skill-building, etc) are done behind the scenes. Your stats will rise naturally based on the decisions you make – you don’t have to actively train them, although you can decide to spend more time practicing magic than socializing with your friends, for example. Skills are intended to limit your choices at critical moments in the plot, but they won’t be the focus of the game. It’s more about roleplaying as a student and feeling like you really do attend a school for wizards than it is about building your stats.
Speaking of which, there will NEVER be a scene where you choose “Train skill” and a little message pops up, “You have gained experience in this skill!” Because yeah, that gets old.
Instead, you might find yourself with a lot of free time one afternoon, and you’ll have the option of doing various things. You could socialize with your friends, meet new people, harass your rivals, go to the library, explore the school, or explore the city (and elsewhere). If you choose to study for your classes, the resulting scene will be as detailed as if you’d chosen to adventure in the city. That is, you’ll experience a “mini adventure” within the library, not just a bland one-liner that tells you “you have increased your History skill!”
Also, whereas Academagia has tons of random events that add flavour to the game, I tried to incorporate these scenes into the choices that you make. For example, after class, you can choose what to do (Socialize, Study, Explore, etc), and picking one of these choices basically leads to the equivalent of a (lengthier) random scene in Academagia.
I hope I’ve addressed most of your concerns, although a major one still remains:
Like you said, Academagia was written by a team, and I’m only one person (although I have a couple of awesome beta-readers who are willing to review my writing), so the scope of the game won’t be as insane as Academagia’s. However, I hope to achieve more depth in the story through the characters. Your friends will (usually) tag along on your adventures, and be a part of the story in a way that clique members in Academagia cannot.
Valhern is for me
This seems to be a very anticipated game
I want a pet human :3
A few things:
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This sounds really cool. Kind of makes me want to go back to my gamebook project… I hope your attention span and free time are better than mine.
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You’ve mentioned dialect a few times, but I don’t think I’ve seen an explanation of what it entails anywhere. (sorry if I missed it, I just saw this thread today and had a quick read through) I’m guessing it has something to do with languages, but could you give a better description and explanation of how exactly it relates to magic? Or is it just like a standard english literature class? If there is a language used in casting spells, then maybe dialect could be a class on the relationship between magic and language. Possibly, it could help with spell creation, if you are advanced enough?
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This is just a kind of idea I had, it comes partly from hp fanfiction, which include similar ideas. Arithmancy could also maybe linked to the theory of magic, to determine different information about certain spells, and maybe help with spell creation and so on. It’s fine as just a devination class, I just thought I’d suggest it.
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When you say there will be different races, will we be able to choose our race, or are we human by default? Also, I’m assuming race will also affect romance?
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You didn’t fully answer the question about goal and direction in the story. Is it like HP, where there is some main antagonist, and a big adventure at the end of each year? Is the goal just to get to the end of the year without being expelled and gaining achievements of your choice, such as top grades, or most popular student? There has to be an ending, right? I can’t really imagine a gamebook just going on endlessly, like an offline version of a text-based browser game.
Well, that’s it. Sorry if it seems like rambling, or isn’t very well explained. I’m kind of tired, but I was too excited about this game to wait to post.
@Blackheart Lol, and you can, with Psionics 
@haqeirah
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Thanks!
I know how you feel about not having enough free time. Luckily, this project is both a hobby and an excellent form of stress relief for me. -
Dialectics class is all about debate, deductive logic, and abstract reasoning. Kind of like a college philosophy course.
There is no corresponding Dialectics skill, however. It’s been a while since I made the thread, and I’ve actually retired most of the skills previously mentioned because I’ve received a lot of feedback about the stat system being too cumbersome. Right now I have 6-7 magic stats (one of which is indeed involved with spell creation), plus 3 “dispositional” stats that govern your character’s personality. -
I love this idea. It’ll definitely make Arithmancy a lot more interesting.
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Unfortunately, most students who attend the school are human. The player will interact with members of other sentient races, but they don’t usually like to mingle in human society too much. There are a few students who are “cross-breeds”, though they are quite rare.
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Yes, it’s a narrative RPG, similar to the Harry Potter novels except you get to choose your friends. There’s a big adventure at the end of each year, and you get to embark on a lot of smaller adventures leading up to the climax of the main plot. This game ends with the end of the first school year.
Hate to be that person that has to ask, but how is the game coming, while you’re still speaking of it? Do you think (and I realize that this is a very presumptuous thing to ask) you could give us a teaser?
That all sounds good. I agree, could we have a bit of a sneak peak?
So how is te project going
It’s coming along! I will post a teaser/demo sometime in November.
You should add an ‘illusions’ class or ‘manipulation’ where you can mess with the minds of others… Because messing with people’s heads are always the greatest source of fun in this time-space era. Other than that, it sounds pretty badass
Is transfiguration like alchemy from the FMA series?
How’s the game going?
Just read this, looks like an awesome concept! A few questions;
You said the punishment for doing really ‘evil’ things was exclusion. How tough will the school be? Would you be able to manipulate the staff into letting you stay? (An example being by getting someone else to take the blame?)
And would the ‘relationship’ side of the game have a major effect on the ‘plot’ side of the game, or would they be seperate?
Anyway, I’m looking forward to a demo, whenever that may be released.
I agree with @Bevillia, the whole manipulating teachers sounds great