What's this thread?
just like it says on the tin, I'm posting some concept and planning for a webcomic I'm planning. I've been working in silence for my past projects mostly, so I'm putting up a thread for possibly some feedback. I don't know if anyone would actually be interested in any of this, so I'm anticipating a whole lot of me talking to myself. In any case, this'll be a nice place for me to get my stories and concepts sorted for the final product. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Alright, so what the heck is this webcomic about anyway?SHUFFLE! is a Fantasy webcomic that follows the story of two siblings, our main characters Asrine and Maitus. Their character ref is posted below:
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Asrine is a 19 year old woman who's a recent graduate from the Golden Academy of Cardistry (think of it as a prestigious academy of magic for this world), ready to tackle the great and challenging world of dungeon diving, eager to make a name for herself and one day establish her own guild. She also is the owner of the Godgift 'DIAPHANIS', a pair of round-rim spectacles.
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Maitus is a 18 year old guy who did not receive a place in the academy unlike her sister, but spent the previous 5 years working in the miner's guild. He went on various expeditions to dungeons to extract minerals and crystals and has some knowledge on the workings of a dungeon. He left the guild to support his sister's dream of hitting it big in a dungeon.
Both of them are children of mildly successful adventurers, and teleported themselves on a one-way card to an active adventurer's town to carve their own path. They will face dangers and obstacles both in and out of dungeons and will discover that the life of an adventurer is paved with more sweat and tears rather than glory, and battles are also fought with words rather than sword or spell.
Overtly melodramatic pitch aside, it's meant to be a fun fantasy slice-of-life/coming-of-age story, with a few dramatic bits sprinkled in here and there.
Hold on, Cardistry? Dungeons? What's up with that?Shuffle! is set in a world where skills and spells exist in cards. There are augment cards (cards that boost or change your physical ability) and spell cards. Typical fantasy spells such as fireball, barrier, heal and such can be found and used in the form of cards. There also exists (and in much more greater number and frequency) cards which are less useful, such as 'summon droplet' 'smell like roses' and 'force laughter'. Most cards are one-time use, but very rarely a Golden Card can be obtained which allows indefinite use of the etched skill. (This is mainly influenced by Card Games such as MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh, but also partly influenced by game systems that use a similar concept, like the more recent 'Slay the Spire' or the 'Hand of Fate' games.)
Instead of characters using mostly combat orientated things, such as a mundane 'lightning bolt' or 'flare' etc, I'm inclined to having the main two fumble around with cheap but weak cards that are not meant for combat at all, and keep the audience interested in how they'll string a victory from those cards. Of course, as the story and threats escalate, I'll give the characters access new cards with varying levels of power and usefulness to keep the story interesting.
How babby a dungeon is formedThe way these cards are obtained are by crystals found in dungeons or dungeon-dwelling monsters. Dungeons are created in the world after each Eclipse (once every 1-2 years; think of it in game terms like wiping then repopulating a world with dungeons). During an Eclipse, the world would be shrouded in darkness for at most 2 days and monsters will be hyperactive and spawn in greater numbers on the surface. Townsfolk from the fringe areas would bring their families and livestock behind the town walls while present adventurers and soldiers fight for its defense. It’s a two day siege for civilization and at the end of it, guilds would commission or send out parties to mark and identify new dungeons while combing the surface for any leftover monsters.
On Crystals and Cores Crystals, like cards, are found in varying qualities. They're the energy source of this world and more importantly for adventurers, their essence can be extracted into cards. A cardist can extract cards from crystals, and a skilled cardist tends to give higher quality cards. All a cardist needs is a crystal, a card blank and the ritual for extraction. The skill cards obtained through extraction are always random, but different colored crystals do tend to provide a hint of what kind of card it'll turn into. Like red would suggest a physical or augment card, green something nature related etc. (this part is still under construction though. I'm thinking of adding yellow, blue, plain and also a prismatic type). There also exists, but found very rarely, a Golden Crystal, which would give rise to Golden Cards, which will never expire on use. The card given by a golden crystal is always random, so a golden crystal can either give a powerful 'explosion' card, or an extremely disappointing 'flatulence' card. Either way, golden cards have innate value and owning one is considered highly prestigious.
Located at the heart of a dungeon lies it's core. The highest chance of getting the most powerful cards come from extracting the 'Core' of a dungeon itself. Weaker dungeons would only have monsters guarding it (which of course, hints at a lower-quality core), but on stronger dungeons the core is able to animate and protect itself. The most dangerous of these is the Perfect Core, a core of immaculate quality and unimaginable danger, only seen once by a top-rank guild. These cores can also be used to fuel settlements, and a core is needed as payment to open a new Guild. (it's like Emperium in Ragnarok Online for those who played it. Aesthetically, the world I'm creating is partly influenced by that game as well)
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So far that outlines the foundational ideas of what Shuffle! Is going to be about. I’m currently done with the layout and roughs of the prologue and currently working on the linework of page 2 as of writing. I’ve have a general idea of the direction of the first story arc (which is a good handful of chapters), but still piecing together the rest of where the story would go. If you’ve made it this far then I’d like the thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings.
Cheers and have a good day. I'm pretty excited about this project and I’ll post up more concept work or even pages when It’s ready. Next I'll mostly likely outline what the heck a 'Card' actually looks like and some design works and ideas.
TLDR; SHUFFLE! is to be a fun fantasy slice-of-life/coming-of-age story, but i spent quite some time writing details down up there so read it pretty please
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Topic: A webcomic called 'Shuffle!' [Planning and writing] (Read 2286 times)