Hey, everyone!
Because a lot of users may not be familiar with the album that this game is based off of, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a FAQ to answer any questions (or concerns) that might come up about the project!
So, let’s get started!
"You keep mentioning this 'album of the same name.' Why is that?"
Tales of the Elements FC is a Jazzy-Hip Hop album that I produced and recorded alongside Mega Ran and K-Murdock, who are best known for their video game tribute album “Forever Famicom.” It has a story concept where each of us who recorded had role-played like we were in a Japanese Role Playing game. On top of that, I came up with a backstory for the album where the story of the 4 elements of Hip Hop were re-imagined in a fantasy setting like any other JRPG.
The album is the “source material” for the game so it’s completely based off of that story I wrote for the album.
"Why did you choose to use RPG Maker?"
When we first started working on the album we weren’t planning on making a game alongside it. The idea for a game literally came after we were already finished producing and recording the album over the span of 2 years! Since the album was so close to being ready for release, I thought it would be a good idea to use an engine that I was already familiar with using and one that would be more appropriate for the scope of the project. In other words, the game was only meant to be played as an extension of the album and not as a game on it’s own. The idea to release on Steam came to us just a month ago!
Feel free to check out the album on iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp, or the Google Play Store!
"But, it’s RPG Maker and the sprites are generic."
RPG Maker isn't a sign of "lazy development" and it definitely isn't an automatic sign of bad games, either. I know my way around the engine because I've been messing with it for YEARS now. It also comes with graphic assets (just like Unity and Unreal does). It specifically works for making RPGs and that's what we needed for this project so naturally, it's what I chose to use. That aside, it was still a lot of work to create what I did with that engine. The development time for the game is sitting at 1400+ hours. Of course, that was spread across about a year and a few months of time.
As for the sprites I would really like to replace the map sprites (at least) as soon as possible. Anything to make this project better I’m interested in looking into! Also, Glen and I have been talking about porting the game to Unity or another engine in general. If we do that, we'll have to replace all of the sprites with new ones, anyway.
"'Tales Of?' Isn't that a ripoff of another game series? (Symphonia, Berseria)"
No. This project is not related to any of those titles.
"So, why did you pick the name 'Tales of the Elements?'”
When I first started recording the album I wanted to make an album that told the story of Hip Hop in a way that was like a JRPG. To make that theme clear, I came up with a name that sounded like a JRPG title. I could've probably said "Legend of the Elements" or something like that but "Tales of the Elements" sounded right to me. Plus, the album’s concept was meant to be a major tribute to RPGs like Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, etc.
If I knew from the beginning that we were going to be pushing a fully realized game out on Steam with the album I wouldn't have needed the title to be such an obvious nod to JRPGs and I would've done the same as I did with my first album "Save the World," which was also a nod to JRPGs but the theme wasn't as obvious as I wanted it to be, hence why I made it more obvious with this title.
"Aren't you afraid of a lawsuit?"
The possibility of lawsuit was brought up actually. We looked into it and the "Tales of" games actually have the full name trademarked; not just the "Tales of" part. We also located many games and other projects that start with the same term that have had no issues, so we're not worried.
"So, what’s up with the 'FC' in the title?"
“FC” stands for “First Chapter.” This is a release of the first of two parts. Funny story about that: we originally thought of using “Disc 1” but since iTunes wouldn’t allow us to upload artwork with a reference to physical packaging, I had to think of something fast; so I thought “First Chapter” would continue the project’s “trend” of dropping JRPG-inspired references.
"What about the cover artwork for Tales of the Elements FC? It looks familiar…."
Oh, yeah! It was done by Daniel Hill (Danji’s Designs) and the inspiration for it was taken from a piece of artwork used in Xenoblade Chronicles.
Glad to be able to answer any questions so if you have more, so feel free to start up a thread in the community hub or shoot me an email!
Thanks for reading!