Oh he's working on the sprite routine? I noticed he has barely been on IRC as well

Also, I think he is working on another project atm, Idk if he's still working on the sprite routine but he might be more busy with Pokémon grayscale (see Revsoft)

Right.  We got in touch last week, though, so one of his goals, once things die down, is finishing the routine.  We just need clipping implemented.  I'm hoping the next screenshot I'll put up afterwards will be well worth the wait, it will allow the user to put buildings on the tilemap.  (If there were going to be public pre-alphas released, this would be the first one)  The code is done, it just needs the routine.

Of Mankind, the Ptaloids and the Tosonians (Part II)


...But Ryan did not heed this warning.  Despite Jamie's pleaing and her efforts to convince him that she had no "special" interest in Collin, he grew envious and finally left the group altogether.  Turning to revenge and his own selfish interests, he secretly led Captain Jackson Lee (and the men he brought with him) to the location of the children's campout, although only Jamie was there at the moment.  She was, of course, kidnapped, as Lee knew that simply by being on the planet, she had seen too much.  

Still believing that Jamie had a crush on Collin, it was Ryan's goal to rescue her and win her over once and for all.  Unable to do it by himself, however, he asked Collin and Megan for help, just until he reached a point where he was quite capable of handling the situation alone.  Knocking Collin and Megan unconcious, he took the rest of the rescue into his own hands.  It was the last mistake he would ever make, as he was captured by a security bot.

Waking up and realizing that Ryan was gone, both Collin and Megan suspected that he was responsible for their dillema, though they had no knowledge of his being abducted.  Their suspecisions and the situation required that they ignore whatever happened to Ryan, and instead they worked to free Jamie.

Back in her cell, Jamie learned the true nature of Lee's plans.  Although the Ptaloids had promised him a ruling position over Earth, they discovered his craving for power and realized that it would be a deadly mistake to have him as a leader over the planet.  Knowing his bargin was on the brink of being forfeited, Lee took over the research and production station centers, which cost the lives of hundreds of Ptaloids.  It was his goal to use his acquired assets to finish the task of the Ptaloids, but for his own gain.

Collin and Megan were successful at freeing Jamie, along with another captive named Hope. Finally noticing that Ryan was himself a captive, they sadfully but forgiveably left him behind, concerned that he would further hinder things for them.  The children narrowly escaped in a hovercraft as Lee attempted to lock them inside.

Knowing that Megan and Jamie needed time to recover from what Ryan had become, Collin guided the hovercraft back to the Tosonians who, despite their power, could not restore Ryan.  Jasilin shared in their sorrow, but encouraged them that their new member, Hope, would prove to be a valuable asset.  After regaining their strength, the children continued their journey to retrieve the rest of their materials, one of them being sulfur for fueling purposes.  

Not unexpectedly, the only place to get sulfer was in an underground volcanic region, inhabited by intelligent, insanly wicked creatures that neither the Ptaloids nor the Tosonians were able to exterminate.  A pure example of one region that the Tosonians considered forbidden for the likes of themselves.  Unknown to the children, Lee had successfully affected the mind of the king of the region, a dragon (known to the monsters of the region as "Carbor Bol"), ordering him--out of sure insanity--to eliminate the children by any means possible to keep his secret safe.

Hope was able to translate the language of these demonic monsters, and the plot for their extermination was discovered as the creatures evacuated the underground region to search for the children.  This meant the only thing blocking the sulfur was Carbol Bol himself. As soon as he discovered the children were after sulfur, he, with evil laughter, revealed his "orders" and battled the children, who had gained a lot of combat experience from their search for the materials.  After a fierce battle, they were able to destroy Carbol Bol (and his death meant all the other creatures of the region died instantly as well), but at a heavy cost, the death of Collin.  (TO BE CONTINUED)

Excellent!!  I love it!

How many parts will there be total?

Of Mankind, the Ptaloids and the Tosonians (Part III)

Jamie was able to recover from her hysterics at Collin's death, but there was no hope for Megan at the time.  But both Jamie and Hope understood that they needed to get home in time to warn Earth of Captain Lee, and so they left Megan in the care of the Tosonians and continued to where the last materials they needed were located.

The area was a great city.  The city was not floating on the clouds, but many of the buildings were so high that they reached the clouds,  In addition, the city covered a vast area, about the size of China.  By examining a particularly interesting shield, and by watching some of the windows, Hope and Jamie speculated, though they could not know for sure, that this was the home of the Ptaloids.  They therefore proceeded with caution.

On picking up the last of their needed materials, the two children journeyed back to the Tosonians.  Upon reaching the underground factory that the UFO had led them to (which was not very far from the city), they noticed a very large power source.  Hoping to buy Earth enough time to build better weapons to face the inevitable attack by Captain Lee--and perhaps the Ptaloids themselves--the two destroyed the power source, causing the entire factory to wreck.  This brought Captain Lee, now all but completely insane, to the scene, and he attempted to kill Jamie and Hope once and for all.  He failed, as some Ptaloids came to the scene and rescued the children.

Despite being rescued by the Ptaloids, Jamie and Hope still believed that they were now in grave danger, especially since they were forced into the underground factory--in essence, back where they started.  They refused to listen to anything the Ptaloids were saying, instead trying to escape their grasp.  Only upon seeing Collin--fully alive and well--did they calm down and hear the Ptaloids out.

The Ptaloids--essentially yellow, human-sized insects with especially hard exoskeletons--explained that the war they started with Earth was for the sake of Earth, as they were attempting to keep it from starting World War IV on itself.  To answer the rest of the questions, the leader of the Ptaloids, Zhas, took the children further underground to the chamber of the creator of both the Ptaloids and the Tosonians: Dzhanus (Pronounced "Janus").

Dzhanus was basically a pure-energy being, enclosed inside a large glass ball, with what appeared to be a dead humanoid body gripping the ball.  It was here that that Collin, Jamie and Hope really began to feel nervous, but the voice of Dzhanus did more than calm there fears, helping them realize he was more of a friend than a foe.  Dzhanus felt that the best way to answer all their questions was to tell his story.

Dzhanus started out as a pure humanoid, but immortial, life form from a distant planet.  Although it was forbidden to search for, or even think of, extra-terrestrial life, Dzhanus had interest in it ever since he was a boy.  But since spacial travel was as forbidden as the thoughts of extra-terrestrial life, he had to learn how to leave the planet, so he took great risks to his life to learn how to achieve magic powers that supposedly had only existed in myths.  With his new-found power, he was able to scan for new worlds and to teleport himself to them.

But Earth was of the greatest interest to him.  He took years of his life to study human beings, and what fascinated him most of all was they had a soul, a spiritual trait not found in any other lifeforms.  (Indeed, Dzhanus's race had something entirely different and foreign to us humans).  Completely intrigued by the idea of a physical body and a spiritual soul living in complete harmony, he started becoming desirous for seeing such complete opposites living together, but seperate from each other.  As he left Earth, he realized he had learned something else from humans that his own kind had not shown him--the joys of having children.

So it was Dzhanus's goal to create his own children.  He wanted his children to have free will, and he wanted to make sure that he could in no way interfere with their choices, wanting love to be given, rather than forced.  Dzhanus also wanted these two to recognize that he was indeed their father.  He wanted to create both a "male" and a "female" child to be siblings and represent the two races he would create.  But most importantly, it was his desire that one race be entirely physical, and the other race entirely spiritual, hoping that total harmony would exist between these two races.

Dzhanus knew, however, that he only contained physical characteristics, as his race lacked any spiritual characteristics, including souls.  So he attempted to create his own soul in order to feel more love for the spiritual race he was about to create.  He was close, but since his body was different from a human's, his "soul" contained and lacked characteristics of a human's soul.  For instance, his soul now had to leave now and then from his body to recharge, or he would eventually die.  Essentially, he explained to the children, he was at the moment recharging his soul, and it was his body that was gripping the ball, "inactive" because the soul was not present.

After successfully making himself both physical and spiritual, Dzhanus created the Ptaloids, made to be completely physical.  His direct son was Zhas.  The Ptaloids were given whatever desires one could find in the physical, including the planet called Coranus, which was the planet everyone was currently on.  To Zhas himself, Dzhanus gave immortality and the ability to forget nothing.

Dzhanus also created the Tosonians, completely spiritual, and gave them the desires that one could find in the spiritual.  To Jasiline, his direct daughter, he gave immortality and the ability to see a few days into the future.

Finally, Dzhanus created two beings that were just like him, physical and with a "soul".  He also provided them with a world away from the Ptaloids and the Tosonians, as well as their own glass balls for recharging their souls.  Although Dzhanus created these two with free will, he had a desire that these two would create a new species of humanoid life that wished for knowledge and harmony just like he did.

Dzhanus's hopes for peace and harmony between the Ptaloids and the Tosonians  were dashed after a few years.  The Tosonians started feeling that because they were entirely spiritual, they were superior, and Jasiline felt that she was even more perfect than her father Dzhanus was.  The Tosonians grew jealous that a race as "flawed" as the Ptaloids should recieve just as much love and care from Dzhanus as the Tosonians did.  This jealously turned to hate, and a war started.  Dzhanus knew he would be unable to interfere, and instead tried to talk sense into the Tosonians.  But Jasiline felt so perfect that she had shunned out her father Dzhanus entirely, believing instead that it was her own mind trying to talk to her.

For a while, neither race could do anything in the war, as the Ptaloids could not create spiritual weapons and the Tosonians could not create physical weapons.  But by and by, the Tosonians were successful in designing physical weapons, and the Ptaloids were forced to retreat.  However, they had a shield around their great city to keep Tosonians out entirely, so the Tosonians, still filled with hatred and desire to eliminate the Ptaloids, instead stayed on the planet in humanoid form, hoping to build a physical weapon powerful enough to eventually destroy the Ptaloid city.

Dzhanus never again revealed himself to Jasiline, knowing that her overconfidence had left him as no more than a memory in her mind.  Instead he stayed with the Ptaloids, as Zhas still showed complete devotion and loyalty to his father.  As for Jasiline, she was able to learn to predict the future as much as two months ahead of time, and her pride had her believing falsely that she could predict centuries ahead of time.  Her belief in the perfection of the Tosonians was now complete.

It was troubling times for Dzhanus, but he never forgot just how much he owed humankind for what they taught him.  So, upon seeing a World War IV that would result in Earth's self-destruction, he had the Ptaloids try to gain control of Earth just long enough to help it get back on track and end all of its dreaded nature.  Unfortunately, the children's destruction of the factory meant there was no way the Ptaloids could intervene any longer.  Zhas knew that Earth was on its way to its doom.

With a fond farewell, the children left Dzhanus's room and left to return the parts to the Tosonians so that they could build the vessel needed to return them home.  Megan, of course, was overjoyed to see her brother alive, but poor Collin was troubled and lost in thought.  It seemed to him that the Tosonians, especially Jasiline, were too kind and gentle to show hatred to their brothers and their father, so he didn't know what to believe, as the Tosonians refused to say anything about their lives.  As the children headed home to Earth, he was left with a single prediction from Jasiline: "Thanks to you and your destruction of the Ptaloid's factory, Earth will be at total peace for all time.  There will never be any war among your people again...and you, children, will live long and happy lives."  Collin knew that if Dzhanus was correct, Jasiline would not have been able to see that far.  So he was left with the most difficult means of knowing who was telling the truth--if there would indeed be a devastating World War IV or not.  For both the sake of Earth and the sake of believing that such a sad history revealed by Dzhanus was a complete lie, he hoped that there would not be a World War IV on Earth.  (To be continued)

I kinda like how the game story has some small elements similar to Final Fantasy, Star Ocean and other more sci-fi RPGs rather than just sci-fi stuff. It makes it different ^^

aah ok, but it's typical from RPGs to have such elements anyway. But again, each person get inspiration from different sources, maybe that's why, idk how to explain it.

nice work again

What are you doing with this story in the game?

Well, since the game takes place in 2420 AD, the story, and for that matter all information in this topic, is meant to introduce game players to the S.A.D. universe.  That way, when they play the campaign, they won't be sending me spammed emails with questions like "What is Coranas" "Why do Ptaloids and Humans respect each other so much" "Which faction invented the Degruser" etc etc etc. 

In other words, the story is in the manual, but the game itself takes place more than 300 years after the story