The story, or at least the general idea of it. Ado wakes up, lost, alone, and scared, with no memory of where he came from. He has spatterings of memory, but not much. The big thing he remembers is that he has to head to the Mana Shrines for some reason. It's not long before he runs into Leine, who was hunting Gobbykins in order to sell their bits in town for money. Leine, realizing a Mana Spark would sell for way more than Gobbykin bits, lies to Ado agreeing to take him to the Mana Shrines. So the two set off, heading towards Leine's town. Along the way, Ado explains that all Mana Sparks are named Ado, and that Spark Wielders get the prefix "Ado" in front of their name. It's a very prestigious title; being a Spark Wielder is a pretty big deal. As they head to the town, they come across small patches of the Errata, which they see corrupting some Gobbykins. Stranger still, some Gobbykins seem to be able to harness the Errata to perform magic, which strikes Ado as strange as presumably the only way to use magic is through the Ado. Regardless, they eventually make it to Leine's town, only to find it's destroyed by a host of Errata-corrupted Gobbykins. After helping the survivors escape, they tell Leine how the Errata began to spread from the Mana Shrines. Partially to prevent the Errata from spreading to any other town, and partially for revenge, Leine [i]actually[/i] agrees to head to the Mana Shrines now. On their way to the Shrine (or perhaps sometime after the first one?) they come across a spooky ghost man, who seems to know Ado, and warns them of the dangers of the Errata. In particular, he tells them one very important tidbit; only the Ado can destroy the Errata, and only the Errata can destroy the Ado. They reach the Shrine of Fire, where they meet the other Spark Wielder mentioned earlier. He's there to purify the Shrine, too, and you work together through most of the dungeon, but he tries to take on the boss alone, and his Ado gets corrupted. After you defeat the boss, and purify the Shrine, you unlock the Element of Fire, releasing Fire enemies and Mana Rocks into the world. The other Spark Wielder is clearly upset about losing his Ado, but you ultimately lead him back to the Capital City, where he will eventually use his knowledge of the Ado to become the main Mana Rock merchant. Insert adventure to the Ice Shrine. Once you reach the Ice Shrine, you meet another Spark Wielder named Isabelle. Her Ado is, like, super quiet, and she's, like, a prodigy. Really good at magic. She offers to help Leine purify the Shrine, but after what happened at the Shrine of Fire Leine says Isabelle shouldn't risk her Mana Spark, and Isabelle lets you take it on alone. You purify the Ice Shrine, yada yada. You meet Isabelle again afterwards, and the two of you become fast friends. Insert little Isabelle-themed quest. Crucially, this will be framed as a sidequest (or, sidequest tutorial? Maybe you meet Isa earlier), similar to the ones you've found with other Spark Wielders, but unlike theirs it's actually required. Then, you continue on your quest, purifying the next two Shrines. You run into Isabelle a few times, and she seems to be putting a lot of trust in you to do this. During this time, the other Spark Wielders sidequests should progress, and you'll meet all six, and start the first parts of their sidequests before reaching the Shrine of Soul. Along the way, you'll also meet the spooky ghost a few more times, and he'll tell you a bit more about the Ado, but strangely doesn't seem to know a whole lot--or simply won't say a lot--about the Errata. The Ado exist to help protect mankind, and they do so by choosing Spark Wielders, who are always people with a kind heart. No matter how they might seem on the outside (such as the prissy lady mentioned earlier), deep down every Spark Wielder has the desire to protect the world, or so he says. Finally, you purify the final Shrine, and who else is there to congratulate you but Isabelle? She says that the Errata corrupting the Shrines had been holding her back, and now she could finally complete her mission. With that, beams of light shoot up from all four Shrines, coalescing into a single point in the sky, creating a giant eyeball looking down on the world (the Errata have an eye theme). Suddenly, a wave of much more intense corruption washes over the land! Isabelle then turns to you with a sad look in her eye, and says "I'm sorry, if there was another way..". She then tries to take Ado away from you, and nearly corrupts him. However, Ado whisks the two of you away at the last second, with a teleport! Downtrodden, and beaten, the two of you start heading back to the capital, pondering why Isabelle would turn on you, why the Shrines getting corrupted would hold back the corruption, and what to do about any of it. Along the way, you come across another Spark Wielder (one who doesn't have a sidequest arc) who had lost her Ado in the new wave of corruption. You help her back to town, and her despair steels your resolve to try and find a way to stop Isabelle. Now, I'm not actually sure what the next four dungeons would be, but somehow they would grant you access to Isabelle's big floating castle in the sky--which was formerly a temple to that ghost man from earlier. Said ghost man would set you out on the quest, and you'd head to the next four dungeons, solving the latter halves of every Spark Wielder's sidequests, and so on. Eventually, you'd confront Isabelle in the floating temple. She's not some evil "Mwahahahaha, I'm EVIL!" villain, but in fact looks very conflicted, and sad over what she's done. She tells you that she doesn't want to fight you, if you would just hand over Ado, and after you press her for answers, she finally tells you the Truth about the world. Because yes, exposition dump in the last dungeon, deal with it! She asks you if you know the origin of the Ado, or the purpose of the Errata? When you come up blank, she reveals it to you. Hundreds of years ago, humanity created a powerful machine known as the Crystal Cross. It had the directive of keeping humanity safe, and to do so it created the Ado. The original Ado didn't have personalities, they were simply mindless balls of power, that could bestow magic upon those they were given to. The Crystal Cross chose its wielders, great minds who would lead humanity to a new golden age. However, humans did as they always do, and through assassination, wars, and other acts of violence, the Ado were stolen, fallen into hands of those who would abuse their power. Humanity fell nearly to the brink of extinction. The Crystal Cross, realizing its mistake, created the Errata to destroy the original Ado, and replace them with a second generation. The new Ado had their own goals, and personalities, and should a Spark Wielder try to abuse their power, they would simply abandon them. However, according to Isabelle, the Crystal Cross also kept humanity on a leash. They existed only on this (island? Continent?) because it was too dangerous outside. Try to leave, and you were killed. Anything that came close to the (island) was killed, as well, in an attempt to keep the people safe. Humanity exists now to serve the Ado, and nothing more. She possesses the last remaining original Ado, one that does not have a will of its own, and used its power to modify the Errata, so that she could control it, and release it to destroy the Ado once again. But even more than that, she had to corrupt the land itself, so that no Ado could ever survive here. The Shrines are the place where the Crystal Cross sends the Ado and Errata into the world from its chamber, and by corrupting them, it had essentially cut off Isabelle's connection to the Errata, which is how she was able to release it once they were purified. You and Isa enter a fight, and when you come out victorious, you don't take her Ado and destroy it like your Ado wants you to, but you offer it back to her saying "I don't want to lose my Ado. You shouldn't lose yours either. Besides, I need someone to help clean up this mess.". Reluctantly, she takes your hand, and everything seems to be happy. Only, then your Ado starts acting very weird, insisting that you [i]have[/i] to kill Isabelle, yet also fighting against itself like it wants the happy "everybody's friends now" ending, too. Isabelle leaps into action, and using her magic, she separates the spooky ghost man from Ado. As it turns out, the spooky ghost man is a manifestation of the Crystal Cross, and it had tasked Ado with the goal of exposing and eliminating the traitor amongst the Spark Wielders. Now broken free of its control, though, Ado insists that Isabelle could be redeemed. When it attacks, Isabelle counters with the Errata, and corrupts the ghost man. It retreats through a portal, and you follow after it, hoping to present your case to the Crystal Cross that you need Isa's help. You find yourself in the Cross' chamber, only the Errata had dug deep into it. It looked like it had been corrupted--and not recently, either, but for a long time. It seems creating the Errata all those years ago had corrupted itself, too, and it is very clear that though its goal is still to keep humanity safe, Isabelle was right and that it was going way too far; planning to place all of humanity into stasis. Cue final boss fight. First against the spooky ghost man, and then against the Crystal Cross itself. You try to purify it, only it turns out its corruption is too deep to be purified, but through your battle it realized the threat the Errata poses to humanity, and rather than keep fighting it gives you one last request; to keep them safe, before it purifies itself, destroying itself in the process. With the Cross gone, no more Ado can be made, but the same goes for the Errata. You and Isa then head out to use your Ado to cleanse the last of the Errata, cue happy ending.

Here’s a clip of the basic gameplay. This build has no Elemental Powers, which also means no Mana Rocks. There are [i]technically[/i] Secondary Spells, but at the moment the only one is Heal, and I don’t actually ever use it, ‘cause I’m just that good. *flips hair* But, here you get a taste of the three basic enemy types (melee, ranged, magic), a feel for how Leine’s basic Cast spell works, and a taste of Ado’s mines (even if I’m not great with them). https://gamerdvr.com/gamer/the-first-aifos/video/156198686 I’m particularly proud of getting the mage enemy type to work. Wanted it to resemble how Leine casts her magic, but that was easier said than done. The whole targeting ring in general was pretty hard to pull off, actually, but getting it to work properly for both player & AI was fun.

I'm getting Spirit Tracks vibes woth this but with a much bigger emphasis on combat, which is great because Spirit Tracks is a jam. But, i would like to see Ado as more involved in the basic gameplay loop. Sure there's puzzles, but i feel like Ado's hust kinda there as another ability while in combat when there's some good potential you cpuld be missing out on. Initially, i thought it'd be cool to have Ado help gain more mana instead of the melee attack, but i've since thought of a better plan for him: Environmentally, Ado could set off traps, activate AoEs, or change the map layout somehow. You could also play into this with the elements. I'm not sure if you kentioned this in the OP, but it would make sense to have Ado's mines correspond with Leine's Elemental Form. But i think you could go further with it; have the mines do a short duration of AoE, and then if Leine shoots a spell pf another element into the mine, it'll change into one of the bonus elements. This will give the player another tool to shift elements even in a Form. Because, from the way interpreted it, i feel like Basic is the most interesting of the Forms. It might not be as strong or have as unique abilities, but being able to fully customize a loadout is going to give the player options that they like, and they'd probably end up spending mpst of their time in basic. I feel like adding more ways to get the bonus elements outside of basic might influence the player to constantly be switching spells and strategies mid-combat. Also, half the game for shrines might be too much; imo, a third would be better.

It sounds very interesting But I’m not gonna lie with the name crystal cross all I could think about was combining crystal chronicles and chrono cross

I really like the magic system and how it’s combinations have been fleshed out! I am a little curious though if it’s meant to be so focused on spells. Blasting everything with lightning and bein an awesome wizard sounds great, and then you’re back to punching people like a tree in minecraft for soul-mana. Miiight make a not so great gameplay loop, although I ain’t no game designer [i]Bumple[/i]

[quote]Good evening everybody! Today I’m going to talk about a hypothetical video game concept! Much like Blueberry’s similar threads, I’d appreciate any feedback you might have! Let’s talk some game design! [b]Story[/b] [spoiler]Our tale begins with a small ball of blue light. He is lost, and scared, and doesn’t seem to remember who he is. Just that his name is Ado, and that should anything ever go wrong, he should head to the Mana Shrines; ancient temples associated with the four elements; Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Soul. He’s rather wimpy at fighting, and many monsters bar his path. Thankfully, he meets a HUUYUUUMAN named Leine, and shares his magic with her. While her motivations only go so far as to sell our little Mana Spark in town, the tables soon turn, when said town winds up destroyed by a mysterious evil. That evil it seems, has also corrupted the Mana Temples (because when are evil temples ever not corrupted). As told by an ancient spooky ghost, all Mana Sparks are named Ado, and their Spark-Wielders are known as “Ado-(name)”. Thus, our hero takes up the name Adeleine (Ado-Leine), and heads out to destroy the corruption, and save the temples! Woo![/spoiler] [b]Basic gameplay[/b] The game will be played from a top down perspective, though preferably still with 3D models. At almost any point, the player can switch between controlling Ado—our little fairy buddy—and Leine, a human. When playing as Leine, Ado follows her, but when playing as Ado, Leine sits still. They both share a mana bar, and while only Leine can get hit, Ado has a much lower damage-to-mana ratio, and leaves Leine wide open to attack. Thus, Ado should be used mainly as support. Ado’s gameplay; [spoiler]Ado can drop mines, which can then be detonated by charging for a few seconds, hurting everything nearby (including Leine?). The mines can be detonated even when playing as Leine, but can only be placed when playing as Ado. Maybe a player 2 could also control Ado? Regardless, you can’t go too far ahead as Ado, or you’ll automatically switch back to Leine. Since Ado is invincible, he’s best used for sneaky first strikes, or a quick hit & run. This can also be used for puzzles, though, hitting multiple targets simultaneously. Example button map; LS - Move A - Place Mine LT - Detonate (4 sec charge) RT - Swap[/spoiler] Leine’s gameplay [spoiler]You will be playing as Leine for most of your playtime. Leine will have 3 main actions; 1. Basic spell. These will always be cast the same way; hold down a button to summon a targeting ring, and move it around with LS. Release for an explosion. 2. Melee attack. This will be slow, unwieldy, and do 0 damage. Its sole purpose is to restore mana on hit (like the Dream Nail in Hollow Knight). 3. Secondary spell. This will be more varied in what they can do. One might charge up a steadily growing aura around you, and then damage everything within. One might cause Ado to drop several homing mines. Then standard stuff like heals. You can probably have multiple eauipped, chosen from some sort of action bar. Each Element would have a different loadout. (more on that in a sec). Example controller map: LS - Move A (hold) - Cast LS (holding A) - Move Cast ring A (release) - Detonate Cast X - Melee attack Y - Secondary Spell LB/RB - Cycle Secondary LT - Detonate Mines RT - Swap If this sounds familiar, it is based on Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles’ magic system, though more in depth.[/spoiler] [b]The Good Stuff[/b] Alright, now this is where things get interesting. It’s time to talk about Elements, and Mana Rocks! Elements first! [spoiler]As mentioned previously, each of the Mana Shrines is associated with one of the four elements; Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Soul. When you clear one of these Shrines (which serve as the game’s dungeons), a few things happen. 1. Monsters of that element will begin spawning in the world (as opposed to only within the Shrine). 2. Mana Rocks of said element will be obtainable (more on that later). 3. The player will obtain that element’s “Elemental Form”. Elemental Forms will be accessed by pressing a direction on the D-Pad, and doing so will change all of your attacks. While your basic spell will remain more or less unchanged, aside from gaining that elemental affinity, your other attacks change more drastically. -Your melee will now use a different weapon, and while it still won’t do damage, it will inflict that element’s debuff. -Your selection of Secondary Spells changes entirely. Each element will have its own selection of Secondaries. For both the player, and enemies, each element would have 3 traits to them: 1. Weakness/Resistance. Deal more or less damage depending on the foe’s resistances. 2. A debuff. Each would be unique (no 2 DoTs, or 2 stuns). 3. An associated trait. Ex: Mana regen for Lightning, Defense for Ice. That trait is enhanced while in that Elemental Form.[/spoiler] Mana Rocks [spoiler]Now, once you start getting all these fancy Elemental Forms, most games would deem your Basic Form inferior, but that’s not the case here! See, in your Basic Form, and [i]only[/i] your Basic Form, you can enhance your skills by eauipping Mana Rocks. Each skill can have 2 Mana Rocks equipped, and they essentially tie that skill to that element, raising its “Affiliation”. Ex: Fire Form’s basic spell is essentially a Cast with Fire Affiliation 2. You could recreate that attack by equipping 2 Fire Rocks to your basic Cast. However, you don’t need to assign all your skills the same element. You could mix & match them to, say, have a Fire basic spell, but a Lightning secondary. That said, Fire Form would give a buff to Fire spells, so a given Elemental Form is still better with its Element, than a Basic Form with that Elemental Affiliation. But, Basic has one more trick up its sleeve to make it relevant! It can mix & match Mana Rocks on the same skill, creating entirely new elements! For example: Putting a Fire Rock, and an Ice Rock on the same skill would give it a Water element! It’d be something like; Fire + Ice = Water Fire + Lightning = Light Fire + Soul = Spooky Ghost Fire(?) Lightning + Soul = Dark Lightning + Ice = Earth Ice + Soul = Necromancy(?) And while some Secondaries wouldn’t change much when their Element shifts, others might become completely different, allowing for a ton of fun customization! Mana Rocks could also be combined at a smith to make more powerful versions, or possibly spent to upgrade spells of their Elemental Form.[/spoiler] Now, ideally, clearing the Shrines would only be the first half of the game, and so you’d still have a whole half a game to mess around with elements. If development issues ever made that too hard, though, NG+ baybay! (also, endgame bosses & junk. Cave of 100 trials, maybe?) [b][u]Tl;dr? Here’s my point![/b][/u] Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles magic system, but heavily expanded, and with some fun elemental shenanigans. I was actually making this on Project Spark, but I know my Koding skills will never reach my ambitions, so I thought I’d share here, too. But that’s all for now folks! Jambuhbye![/quote] Okay play station plus, should be called minus. Minus ten bucks in my pocket plus some trash games

I really like the naming concept. I have a couple of questions: 1. Can Ado's be corrupted? Affecting their mind to be to be less and less innocent, embracing the negativity of hatred and stuff. 2. Are there alot of them? 3. Will the players actions and in-actions change the shape of how the two heroes see the world, as they progress the game. - Not simply a choice but based on how much you want or not want to help the people around you. - Though it might end up having only a small effect. 4. I just imagine at some point an evil guy making a pact with an Ado but instead simply taking the power for itself and his name simply being just his name-Crushing the Ado's one out of existence 5. Is it possible to put a positive spin on Necromancy? - Though I suppose It would matter what you are summoning. Maybe purified souls of corrupted versions of foes, you defeated or something. - And they have quick snappy comments/Short conversations based on the fights you summon them in. I very much like elements and then combos of those elements! Unsure about the whole Mine idea. Though I imagine how the characters work the Mine will be used for Ado-Hyman puzzles! More reward for corrupted versions later!

Rather than making the shrines only half the game you could leave them as the full game but have no set order like the old Megaman games. Depending on how the elements combo, doing things in a different order could give the game a bit more replayability, particularly if it had an effect on the story as well.