Ember of Mana (A brand new Mana adventure for Gameboy)

[Ok Impala!]

Thank you all! Since the last update I've been mostly working on a new design for the overworld. Currently all new outside areas are finished, though a lot of details and secrets will be added later. I'll share some more screenshots of new areas when I'm done with the details. Experimentation with color palettes has also started. Right now that's done with Super Gameboy / Emulator palettes, but these screenshot should give a good indication of how the game will look when we are done with colorization. 

[lexluthermiester]

Nice work!    Colour palettes seem to be spot on for the areas they represent.

[travel27]

has butchered for years?

What do you mean by "butchered" for years? Disagree. Aside from Dawn of Mana which, yes, was pretty bad (still looked good though) I don't think Square has butchered anything.  Sword of Mana was pretty good/fun, Children of mana was alright, Legend of Mana was easy but still a blast to play.  But other than Dawn, none of those 'butchered" anything.

[Ligeia]

This looks absolutely stunning ! Seiken Densetsu is one of my favourites games ever, so I can't wait it try this hack ! I'm willing to do some beta testing if this can be of any help.

Sure! The original game will be playable in color too. There is a lot to look forward to for Mana fans! 

OMG finally ! Thank you so much.

What do you mean by "butchered" for years? Disagree. Aside from Dawn of Mana which, yes, was pretty bad (still looked good though) I don't think Square has butchered anything.  Sword of Mana was pretty good/fun, Children of mana was alright, Legend of Mana was easy but still a blast to play.  But other than Dawn, none of those 'butchered" anything.

I also think Sword of Mana was a mess. I could never even bring myself to finish it. Sadly in the SD series only the first 2 games are really good. It all went downhill afterwards starting with SD3. I really wanted and tried to love that game but the gameplay is too much of a mess. At least they improved it on the 3d remake.

[Ok Impala!]

This looks absolutely stunning ! Seiken Densetsu is one of my favourites games ever, so I can't wait it try this hack ! I'm willing to do some beta testing if this can be of any help.

Thank you! I'll put you on the beta testers list. Will still be while though. 

[Ok Impala!]

A small update today. One of the main points I'd like to do with Ember of Mana is to create interesting dungeons. As players of Final Fantasy Adventure might remember, the dungeons in that game where pretty bland. Most likely that happened because the developers where on a strict time limit. Creative use of the game engine opens up several possibilities to make the dungeons more "Zelda" style. Here's one new gameplay mechanic I just got working. You can melt away Ice Statues with your Fire spell. There will be several grand dungeons in Ember of Mana with unique Dungeons mechanics like this.

[lexluthermiester]

That looks like a fun mechanic! Getting very excited about this project!

[Ligeia]

Sounds fun ! 

[Ok Impala!]

One thing that really hindered the gameplay in Final Fantasy Adventure was the constant swapping of things in your "equip" slot in order to use them. For example, if you wanted to open a door you'd have to first select the key from your inventory to equip it and only then could you open the door. On the other hand, if you'd have a key in your equip slot, the door would open automatically, using up the key without warning. The second problem was that closed doors kept respawning, making it possible for players to get softlocked.

I wanted to fix this in Ember of Mana. Finally I succeeded in creating a script that asks you to use a key. And even better, the game now uses 1 key, even when you haven't equipped it. Lastly I added a "flag", so doors stay open forever once you've opened them. So, now I can make it so that the player has to search for a key, in order to progress in the dungeon. Using doors as a gameplay obstacle, instead of an annoyance. And there is no way the player can softlock himself anymore! 

I'm looking more and more into creating these unique gameplay elements for Ember, so it will get an improved gameplay experience compared to Final Fantasy Adventure.

[Farlight]

Those sound like GREAT improvements.    So many times i remember having to backtrack, find a skeleton, and farm them for a 'Key' drop. 

Really looking forward to this in the future 

[njosro]

This is super cool!!
Looking forward to seeing this progress.

[Ok Impala!]

This is super cool!!
Looking forward to seeing this progress.

Thanks! I'll keep you all posted.  There are some other gameplay improvements I'd like to add in the future!

[Ok Impala!]

Lot of work has been done since the last update. The Ice Dungeon and Snow area are now completed. New gameplay mechanics introduced here are the melting of ice with the Fire spell, one-time keys to open doors (that stay open) and help from your partner to overcome obstacles (by using ASK). The aim is to make Dungeons way more interesting to explore.

Xenophile is making step by step progress on figuring out the colorization process. Please note that all screenshots currently have emulator added colors. We are not as far that we actually have these colors running yet in the game itself (but we will get there). The colors used in the screenshots fit the limitations of the GBC, so they are a realistic interpretation of the end result. 

Screenshot time!

Moogle Town of Hui




Snow Area


Ice Dungeon

[radimerry]

Very promising with lots of innovation!

[werewolfslayr925]

This looks amazing! I just finished Amida's Curse and loved it (I'm a huge Zelda II fan). Can hardly wat for this release! Thank you and your team for making excellent quality hacks. Will you be getting the same composer for Ember as for Amida?

[Ok Impala!]

This looks amazing! I just finished Amida's Curse and loved it (I'm a huge Zelda II fan). Can hardly wat for this release! Thank you and your team for making excellent quality hacks. Will you be getting the same composer for Ember as for Amida?

Thank you for the kind words!  Bentglasstube is unfortunately too busy to help out with Ember of Mana, but I'm in contact with some amazing people to help out on the music side of things! 

[Ok Impala!]

A small update regarding partners. In vanilla FFA partners didn't really do that much when you asked them for help. Some were useful with healing your HP or MP, but others only gave advice or changed the background music. In Ember of Mana the ASK function will be used more often. That way every partner can help you in unique ways. For example, the Chocobo can dig up hidden stuff.

Also note the new water animation, thanks to Xenophile! 

[lexluthermiester]

A small update regarding partners. In vanilla FFA partners didn't really do that much when you asked them for help. Some were useful with healing your HP or MP, but others only gave advice or changed the background music. In Ember of Mana the ASK function will be used more often. That way every partner can help you in unique ways. For example, the Chocobo can dig up hidden stuff.

Also note the new water animation, thanks to Xenophile! 

Nice!

[Ok Impala!]

Been a while since the last update. Progress has been made. I finished the Swamp Forest dungeon, added new graphics and worked on some new towns. Next will be the Final Dungeon. That doesn't mean the game is almost complete (far from that). But since resources are very limited, I want to work my way back from the end of the game. To make sure I can put in all the stuff I'd like into the final dungeon. Once I have to start making compromises because of space limitations, I will be sure that the final dungeon won't be affected. For Zelda II - Amida's Curse I had to make a lot of compromises near the end to make it all fit, this time I'd rather not do that while working on the last part of the game.

Screenshot time!

New title screen:


New ship graphics with animated water:


New floor tiles in a temple:


A place for reminiscence:


A house in the town of Flora:


Swamp town of Vera:


Chocobo!


Tropical town of Flora:


A cutscene in the Swamp Forest:

[Brutapode89]

Interesting hack!