The Cyriaan Chronicles in Development as an RPG

[Oblesklk]

The game is available to download for free!
https://oblesklk.itch.io/the-cyriaan-chronicles-10




Wow, it's been a long time since I regularly posted here on the TMF. Time flies when you're in retirement. My name is Oblesklk and I've been a member of the online tickling fetish community since the 1990s. In the late 90s I started a company called Agency Publishing. We had two main services we provided: running the subscription site TickleTown and running several series of tickling comic books.

One of those comic books was titled "The Cyriaan Chronicles." It was a swords and sorcery based series of books. The background came from my quasi healthy obsession with Dungeons & Dragons, and playing dozens of role playing games (RPG) growing up.

I've always loved video games, so one of my 2022 resolutions is to build a tickling based RPG set in the Cyriaan Chronicles world. I am posting this to create awareness of the project where folks can post questions, feedback, that kind of thing. I will post more follow ups as there's something to share.

I'm also sharing copies of the comics' covers with this post as I think that would be fun to kind of relive those issues if you ever read them.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


Will the game be free to play?

Yes, when it releases, I plan on hosting it somewhere and anyone can just play it as much or little as they like.


What is a "tickling role playing game"?

For this game, it means the game will play like a normal video game RPG, but it was written by a tickler. While there will be tickling magic being used by one of the characters, most of the tickling will occur as cut scenes and interactions amongst the characters.


I don't understand what this is exactly? Is it something you play like on an Xbox, Nintendo, or Playstation system or buy through Steam?

Since we're not charging money, it likely wouldn't show up on Steam to purchase. It would be available for free to play and enjoy. You would either download the game and play it on your local machine, or play it on a web browser while the game is being hosted on a server.


I've taken inspiration from games in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) era like Chrono Trigger, the Final Fantasy series (2, 4, 5, 6), Breath of Fire series, and Earthbound. I adored these games growing up, and still do. The graphics on the RPG Maker MZ will be similar to graphics in these 16-bit era RPGs. It's a RPG, so you take the role of a character and try to save the world. You meet up with other characters, do quests, kill dragons, save damsels in distress from ticklish fates, and try to keep your companions from likewise being captured by villainous enemies. It's a legit swords & sorcery RPG where you can play fighters with armor and swords, mages with ice storms, or priests with healing and support spells. There are boss fights, dungeons, cut scenes, inventory, experience and leveling, and side quests.


What tools are you using to develop it?

I purchased RPG Maker MZ late last year and spent two weeks getting down the fundamentals and working with various community created scripts to make this game slightly different than others created using the same tools.


Does this mean you're getting back into comic book publishing?

At this time, no. That may change in the future if I find retirement dull, or quit my day job.


You're calling this Cyriaan Chronicles #10. Is this like a comic book release?

Kind of. It's not a comic book, though. It will be a computer game you either download to your local machine and play, or play it via web browser. It will continue the storyline introduced in Cyriaan Chronicles #9, and leverage several characters already established in the series. But is it a unique, interactive story much like a comic book.


How can I contribute?

For now, the easiest way is just to stay engaged and keep up loosely with production updates. Feel free to post memories of the Cyriaan Chronicles comics specifically (if you ever read them), memories of tickling comics generally, if you're a game developer feel free to add feedback, and if you're a fan of RPGs feel free to share memories of games, characters, and scenes you've loved.


Would you ever charge for the game?

After it releases, no, that's not in my current plan. This is a passion project: a love letter to the community (hey, that's you!) who supported my comics and video projects for well over a decade.

Before release, I am considering whether starting a Kickstarter for this game makes sense. If only one person is interested in it, probably not! If I get a few dozen or so folks interested, then maybe. In exchange for contributing, players would get early beta access to the game, with me soliciting feedback on the game's development and content. The cash received would largely go to other artists: hiring artists to render images of the characters, possible custom battle animations, and possibly voice actors for some of the dialogue.


How far are you in development?

As of January 2022, I would say I'm probably 10% done. I have learned the coding needed, installed and tested the plugins for stability, and have done most of the scoping of the game. Now that the scope and basics are largely behind me, it's now about creating content. I have created two "zones" so far. Each zone represents roughly 60-80 minutes of game play. I am aiming for about 20-25 hours total to complete the game when it's done. I may go overboard with it and extend that time by adding new content and/or zones, but we'll see when I get there.


Will you do more of these?

It depends entirely how this goes. If one person is interested, I probably won't do further follow ups (although I hope the one person has a lot of fun with the game). If several people are engaged and excited by it, I would love to keep doing this. I find it really fun so far.

 

[Ekans]

I'm super excited to see this project take off! Loved reading Chronicles way back when and I'm sure this game will gather many eager members of this community, old and new.

 

[hellenberg]

Oh wow! Good to see you back. Consider me interested!

 

[Comfort Eagle]

Neat.

 

[Oblesklk]

I'm super excited to see this project take off! Loved reading Chronicles way back when and I'm sure this game will gather many eager members of this community, old and new.

That is my hope, and would be kind of fun to see!

 

[Oblesklk]

Oh wow! Good to see you back. Consider me interested!

Thanks!

Neat.

We're certainly aiming for neat.

 

[Sketch Zero]

I'm very interested in seeing your work! RPG Maker is a pretty versatile tool, especially with all the nifty plugins that have been created. Looking forward to your progress 🙂

 

[Cosmo_ac]

Just curious, but will there be any /m content?

That aside, looking forward to seeing what happens!

 

[Oblesklk]

I'm very interested in seeing your work! RPG Maker is a pretty versatile tool, especially with all the nifty plugins that have been created. Looking forward to your progress 🙂

I've been really impressed with the amount of control you have over things. And watching tutorials and seeing how indie devs are using the tools for fairly niche effects is really fun. Also, just remembering playing all those old RPGs as a kid, realizing they probably had very similar switches and controls making their games is kind of interesting to think about.

I got a suite of free plugins that I've used, and shelled out abou $50 to buy another package of them to customize the toolkit. I may wait until I'm about halfway done with development before I show anything. But I am excited to share the results so far on this goofy little project.

Just curious, but will there be any /m content?

That aside, looking forward to seeing what happens!

There easily can be, especially if the player base wants to see this. Knowing the general context of interest (fun poking tickles, romantic tickles, tickle torture) would be helpful to know, too!

 

[Oblesklk]

Update #1

Here is the first update.

The first thing I wanted to share is a capture of our work in progress title screen, linked below (click on the image below to show an animated .gif version). This is the first screen you see when you run the game. The menu options are very simple right now: New game and continue. That may or may not change as the game progresses.



For those fans of the Cyriaan Chronicles series, you may notice a familiar face on the cover. That is Princess Amelie, who made her first appearance in The Cyriaan Chronicles #6, drawn by the incomparable lostonezero. The title screen will likely change before launch, but it's a quick taste of what we're up to.

I just wrapped up the third zone of the game. My initial scope is to include 10 zones with the game, each of which will take 60-90 minutes of game play. I have just started development on the first optional zone of the game. Optional zones will include more quests, items, cut scenes, tickle scenes, and rewards, but aren't directly integral to the advancement of the plot. It's opportunities for character to interact and the player to get to know the game a bit more. On a first run through of the game, if a player does all the optional zones/content, I am aiming for 20-25 hours of total game play. I am budgeting about 2 weeks to complete each zone from here on out, or two per month. If I can keep up that cadence over the next several months, and then play test the game, I will be ready to bring on beta testers sometime later this year.

I have most of the systems defined and dealt with. However, I am strongly toying with a skill system revamp. Right now, the characters in your party are set, the player does not have a choice in who they bring in with them. Part of this is to keep the development a bit simpler since this is my first game. However, with no choice in companions, I would want to ensure the companions have choices of their own of how they play. Currently, that's not the case; each character progresses similarly down the same path. That may wear thin, hence the thinking about the skill system revamp to provide each character with a couple skill trees to give more choice during progression.

That's all I have for now. If you have questions or comments about development, let me know!

 

[Oblesklk]

Update #2

I just spent a few days completely revamping the skill system in the game. Skills are things your characters can do in (mostly) battle. Fighters can fight, mages sling fireballs, priests heal, rogue poison people, that kind of thing. Each time a character learns something new, that's called a skill. By the time they are high level, each character will have a lot of skills to choose from. I'm now pretty energized by the changes, as I think it will create a lot more replayability and give players more choices in party composition. I will spend a bunch of time in alpha and beta stages rebalancing the skills and trees, as I'm sure they need a lot of rebalancing work. But you have to start somewhere!


It's probably helpful to discuss how the system worked previously. Right now, there are four characters in the party. I have tried to keep the development scope simple, so these four characters are not interchangeable with other characters throughout the game. You're kind of stuck with what you have. Having said that, it was the usual RPG archetypes: fighter, mage, priest, rogue. So party balancing wasn't really an issue, but I was concerned that players would find the choices dull. So a couple weeks ago I included a plugin that focuses on earning skill points, and buying skills with those skill points that allow for customization of the classes. But that didn't go as far as I would like. So I kept using that plugin, but completely revamped everything again, and really like what I have now.


Instead, the game now has a skill tree system where each character has two skill trees they can explore. The playstyles for each tree are going to be quite different. Players can focus all their attention on one tree, or go down both as their characters develop. The system is purposefully flexible to allow more decision about play style. Each tree will have a skill point buy in to become essentially an apprentice in that tree. Once you purchase the buy-in, several skills will open up to you. After you've mastered all those skills, the next tier opens up, which opens up more skills to learn.


Skill points are earned throughout the game by killing monsters, leveling up, and doing quests. They are independent of experience points, which are solely earned by killing monsters.


So, let's take a look at each skill tree!


Character #1


Bladedancer

The bladedancer combines grace, speed, and precision in slicing foes on the battlefield. Bladedancers move along with their blade in a hypnotic rhythm, becoming one with their weapon. They are fierce protectors of their allies.


Elemental Mage

The elemental mage studies a variety of spells and can rain down fire, rock, water, or lightning upon their foes through bolts and storms. Each enemy has an elemental strength and weakness, and the elemental mage excels at seeking out these weaknesses and exploiting them.



Character #2


Ice Princess

The ice princess assails enemies with sheets and storms of merciless ice. Ice Princesses can summon large shields of ice for themselves and allies, protecting them from enemy attacks. Ice Princesses trade the versatility of the elemental mage for hitting really damn hard.


Bard

The bard, a master of song and mind, can tickle enemies with magic, charm them for entertainment, or confuse them with discordant melodies. The bard is also fantastic at supporting allies through songs of healing, mana regeneration, and haste.



Character #3


Sun Priest

The sun priest is mostly a support priest who can heal, cure, and raise allies from the dead. This is not just a defensive class, as the sun priests can also harness the power of their star to smite their enemies.


Death Priest

The death priest specializes in pain and death. Through poisons, plagues, and life force drains, the death priest can be a terror to bosses and minions alike. The death priest is mostly an offensive, damage dealing character, but can support allies through infusions of mana.



Character #4


Trickster

The trickster specializes in obfuscation through the use of smoke bombs, misdirection, stealth, illusions, and shapeshifting. The trickster is a master of applying debuffs on enemies, while ensuring the party is protected through the use of mirror images.


Assassin

The assassin deals out death and damage to mostly single targets. Through the use of poisons and foul elixirs, the assassin make life a living hell for mages through silence, or other enemies through debilitating attacks, paralyzes, nerve damage, and toxins.

 

[Featherfall]

Update #1

Here is the first update.

The first thing I wanted to share is a capture of our work in progress title screen, linked below (click on the image below to show an animated .gif version). This is the first screen you see when you run the game. The menu options are very simple right now: New game and continue. That may or may not change as the game progresses.

View attachment 689822

For those fans of the Cyriaan Chronicles series, you may notice a familiar face on the cover. That is Princess Amelie, who made her first appearance in The Cyriaan Chronicles #6, drawn by the incomparable lostonezero. The title screen will likely change before launch, but it's a quick taste of what we're up to.

I just wrapped up the third zone of the game. My initial scope is to include 10 zones with the game, each of which will take 60-90 minutes of game play. I have just started development on the first optional zone of the game. Optional zones will include more quests, items, cut scenes, tickle scenes, and rewards, but aren't directly integral to the advancement of the plot. It's opportunities for character to interact and the player to get to know the game a bit more. On a first run through of the game, if a player does all the optional zones/content, I am aiming for 20-25 hours of total game play. I am budgeting about 2 weeks to complete each zone from here on out, or two per month. If I can keep up that cadence over the next several months, and then play test the game, I will be ready to bring on beta testers sometime later this year.

I have most of the systems defined and dealt with. However, I am strongly toying with a skill system revamp. Right now, the characters in your party are set, the player does not have a choice in who they bring in with them. Part of this is to keep the development a bit simpler since this is my first game. However, with no choice in companions, I would want to ensure the companions have choices of their own of how they play. Currently, that's not the case; each character progresses similarly down the same path. That may wear thin, hence the thinking about the skill system revamp to provide each character with a couple skill trees to give more choice during progression.

That's all I have for now. If you have questions or comments about development, let me know!

First, this is really cool that you are doing this; glad to see that you are taking this big project and treating it with care. One question I have is that, as you gain party members, will there be options to take them aside for romance/tickle-related shenanigans (similar to the campsite of Dragon Age) independent of gameplay, or will those only be available as you progress the story or optional zones?

 

[pool234]

This all looks pretty neat! I'm excited to see where things go with this. It'll be fun to have a versatile RPG to explore!

 

[LordSebastian]

 

[Oblesklk]

First, this is really cool that you are doing this; glad to see that you are taking this big project and treating it with care. One question I have is that, as you gain party members, will there be options to take them aside for romance/tickle-related shenanigans (similar to the campsite of Dragon Age) independent of gameplay, or will those only be available as you progress the story or optional zones?

I'm treating the project with a fair amount of respect. I love gaming, and I really hope that passion is evident in the final product.

For your question: that's not in scope of the game right now, but I really love that idea. Persona 4 is one of my favorite RPGs, and I absolutely fell in love with its social bonding mini games with the other characters. It kind of culminated in the protagonist gaining a girlfriend, and watching that journey was really enjoyable.

There are two challenges in presenting this feature in the game:
1. Doing that here would take some extra programming and add to the dev time. If it's a feature that players like you really want to see, then I think it's worth adding to the roadmap during beta. It's an awesome idea.
2. The protagonist's personality is more straight laced, and she's initially straight, which might limit the fun you're suggesting. Each character has personality traits, and each of those traits (whether good or bad) carries game mechanics with them, as well. A primary male character that the protagonist travels with has a disadvantage of "lustful." Without getting too spoilerific, he's very flirty with all the female group members. So he might be a good person to explore such optional adventures with.

 

[Oblesklk]

This all looks pretty neat! I'm excited to see where things go with this. It'll be fun to have a versatile RPG to explore!

I certainly hope so! While this game was written by a tickler, and features tickling throughout its content, I want it to be able to stand on its own two feet as an RPG, regardless of the tickling. So I hope it will be fun to explore around a bit.

Thanks!

 

[rally]

This looks amazing. I actually got one of my suggestions included in the volume 8 pinup book so I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes!

I may have just missed it, but do you have a roster for which characters you're planning to include? Vice was always my favorite, even though I'm normally a foot tickling fan.

Thanks for doing this!

 

[Oblesklk]

This looks amazing. I actually got one of my suggestions included in the volume 8 pinup book so I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes!

I may have just missed it, but do you have a roster for which characters you're planning to include? Vice was always my favorite, even though I'm normally a foot tickling fan.

Thanks for doing this!

Oh awesome! I'm glad to hear we were able to get your suggestions into CC#8. What was the suggestion, if you don't mind me asking?

I do have a list of characters that we'll see, and I'm really, really having a hard time with the balancing act between: 1) Giving potential players enough information where they can become engaged and exicited about the game, and hopefully offer input on features and 2) Giving too many spoilers and ruining some otherwise fun surprises for players.

I'm being really conversative about spoilers right now because once you disclose something, you can't really take it back. But I will likely loosen up on it as development continutes (anyone know if you can mark text as a spoiler on the forum? I've never done it before)

 

[TickleMFG]

Wow, I somehow missed this. Very generous of you to provide for free given the quality of your typical (pre-retirement) products. Very excited to see this game and personally open to a kickstarter contribution if that’s is the way this ultimately goes.

 

[rally]

Oh awesome! I'm glad to hear we were able to get your suggestions into CC#8. What was the suggestion, if you don't mind me asking?

I do have a list of characters that we'll see, and I'm really, really having a hard time with the balancing act between: 1) Giving potential players enough information where they can become engaged and exicited about the game, and hopefully offer input on features and 2) Giving too many spoilers and ruining some otherwise fun surprises for players.

I'm being really conversative about spoilers right now because once you disclose something, you can't really take it back. But I will likely loosen up on it as development continutes (anyone know if you can mark text as a spoiler on the forum? I've never done it before)

Totally understandable!

And no problem at all. The scenario I had was Vice tied to a bed with the other girls lined up to tickle her. I THINK I suggested a spell that made her feet ticklish, or I intended to or thought of it afterward haha. I can't remember exactly now, but it came out really well all the same!

 

[Sketch Zero]

The updates and your explanation of your development process / design iteration are really enjoyable to read. Thank you 🙂

 

[Oblesklk]

Wow, I somehow missed this. Very generous of you to provide for free given the quality of your typical (pre-retirement) products. Very excited to see this game and personally open to a kickstarter contribution if that’s is the way this ultimately goes.

Thanks! I hope the quality ends up being up to everyone's expectations when it launches. I'll learn a lot from talking to several of you through the beta testing process.

Totally understandable!

And no problem at all. The scenario I had was Vice tied to a bed with the other girls lined up to tickle her. I THINK I suggested a spell that made her feet ticklish, or I intended to or thought of it afterward haha. I can't remember exactly now, but it came out really well all the same!

I'm glad you liked how this turned out. Vice had quite a following when the books launched.

The updates and your explanation of your development process / design iteration are really enjoyable to read. Thank you 🙂

I'm glad you enjoy these. I'll try to keep giving regular updates as there's information to share.

 

[Oblesklk]

If you want to join our Discord server for live access to game development, join us at https://discord.gg/bGX3MR2C55

 

[Oblesklk]

Update #3

If you want to join our Discord server for live access to game development, join us at https://discord.gg/bGX3MR2C55

This weekend, I wrapped up development on the fourth zone. In total, I expect the game to launch with roughly 10 main story zones, and 1 or 2 optional zones. The main story zones are required to advance the plot of the game. Once you play through all 10 zones, the game is over.

The optional zones will have optional quests, villains, tickling cut scenes, storyline, and interactions amongst the characters. But if you just want to whiz through the game, you can just walk on by it.

Now that we've done four zones, I wanted to talk about the zones a bit more, and references some call backs to the comics, without getting too spoilery. For you hardcore lore hounds out there, I hope you enjoy this update especially 🙂


The Fallung Region

The story starts in the city of Fallung. Fallung resides in the Aedylon Empire, currently ruled by a king and queen. They have two daughters, the oldest and heir to the throne is Princess Katrine (first appearing in The Cyriaan Chronicles #06) and the younger Princess Amelie (first appearing in The Cyriaan Chronicles #06).

The city rests as a critical port on the Danmarr sea. It is here that our protagonists's story begins. In this zone, the protagonist will meet up with three characters introduced earlier in the comic books: two character first appearing in issue #06, and one character first appearing in issue #05.




The Hallonshire Region

This is the second zone in the game, and is the sleepy region of Hallonshire, named after the small village that nestles in an arm of the Blue Mountains. The northern part of the region holds elven ruins from days before the Aedylon Empire, when the elves combined magic and science to study Cyriaan's atmosphere and weather patterns. The towers have since fallen to ruin.



The Eastern Plains

This is the third zone in the game. Still part of the Aedylon Empire, this area is known for its agricultural production. Meadowsbrook, the region's largest settlement, lies on the eastern part of the region, which also borders the Danmarr sea. The region is houses the Emerald Forest, and its self proclaimed "queen."

The protagonist will meet up with another character from the comics here, who first appeared in Issue #07. We enjoy being able to call up these other characters and try to make the comics and video game integrated into one world building exercise. We hope it's a good mix of showing something new and bringing back fan favorites.



The Aedylon Moors

This is the first optional zone in the game. A lich has set up camp nearby and is progressing his evil mechanations.

In many of these zones, I tried to implment real world terrain physics where possible, even though I hand crafted all the maps. When I talk about real world physics, I mean that mountains generally produce rivers, which usually either flow into each other, end in lakes or oceans. Towns are usually sitting on waterways, with roads placed where they make sense to.



The Silver Coast

This is the fourth main story region in the game.

This zone took me a really long time to develop. Not only is the zone itself the largest of any so far, but there were a lot of story elements taking place in this zone. The protagonist first meets two new characters who both first appear in Issue #06.

There is optional content in the zone that takes place in the Enchanted Forest. Fans may recall the Enchanted Forest was a primary backdrop for Issue #05. Fan may also recall one who owns those woods, and may be interested in the optional content involving that character.

There was a cut scene towards the end of the zone that included nearly 20 actors. Although I like how the scene came out, scripting it took me a very long time. Every single movement, dialogue, turn, takes coding. And for 20 actors, it's a lot. I may scale back my cut scenes in the future to reduce dev time. But I always wanted to do a scene like this, so it was kind of a bucket list thing 🙂

The Silver Coast region is named after the Silver Coast, sparkling, warm beaches along the Danmarr Sea. Although most of its residents are walls up in the city of Silver Coast itself, there are sprawling beach homes up and down the coastline. The Silver Coast is also home to the Arcane Academy, whom both Chersti (first appearing in Issue #02) and Ylie (first appearing in Issue #05) attended. The Arcane Academy is sadly not a point of interest in the game, thus cannot be visited. But fun to know where it's at and to breathe some life into these points previously covered in the comics.

We are still in the pre-alpha phase as of February 2022. I'm hoping to go into alpha phase (when all zones are initially developed) sometime late spring or early summer 2022.

 

[Oblesklk]

As mentioned above in the thread, we are seeking ways to help fund this game. While the game could launch in theory with stock graphics, that's really no fun. So we wanted to raise some funding to hire artists to come in, make custom art for the characters, as well as create tickling artwork displayed in the game to make the game more appealing.

We polled our potential users in both Discord and DeviantArt, and found that most people prefer to fund these things through either Gumroad (buying digital products and downloading them to keep), or Patreon (subscription service and access to unique tickling media).

So...

We've opened both!

If you would like to help fund this game, please visit our new locations:

Gumroad: https://oblesklk.gumroad.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oblesklk

Thanks everyone for your support!