Introducing Myself

[Purpure Longstride]

Most of the time I go by TheOriginalFive or "something Lion" on the rest of the internet, but for pirates, I usually stick to the name Purpure.

I'm working on a pirate story in RPGMaker chock full of wuxia tropes set in an alternate South African region during the 19th century. It's about a girl snubbed by everyone except her uncle who got lost at sea, adopted by pirates, and ends up meeting an elder god.

Pirate games I've played in the past include Escape from Monkey Island, Puzzle Pirates, Risen 3, Uncharted Waters Online, Swords and Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story, and Arcane Waters.
Other games tangentially including pirates I've played were Soulcalibur 6 and the Adventure Quest webgame series.

Part of the reason I was drawn to pirate stories is my entire paternal line being sea-crazy and their folkloric faith centered on the elder god mentioned in my own project. In other words, it's a story about how the past shapes someone even as they walk towards their future.

I've attached some previews of Squire of The Sea below. I hope you like them.

 

[Grey Roger]

Welcome aboard! That sounds like an interesting story you're writing - tell us more.

If you ever get the old game "Pirates of the Caribbean", you could probably add a character based on the girl in those pictures.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

I'd have to pick up 3D modelling in that case.

As for the story, this is another summary I intend to post again when the game is officially ready for publishing:

Once, there was a little girl unwanted by her family.
Her beloved stepuncle put her out to sea.
But the sea took her away to another world.
This is a story about pirates growing up at the end of the Age of Sail.

 

[Grey Roger]

I'd have to pick up 3D modelling in that case.

Not necessarily - at least, not complete modelling. Many of the character models added to "Pirates of the Caribbean" are simply copies of original models, with different textures to change their appearance. This is "towngirl5", one of the models from the original game:

The long dress and shoulder-length hair are very similar to your character. All that is needed is to change the lower part of the dress to purple with white around the hem, and the upper part to purple and white stripes. You could also change the face - some models distort the face texture so it is hard to get the face to look the way you want, but this one shows the face pretty well exactly the way you draw it.

Later, your character appears to get a new outfit with trousers and a tricorn hat with feathers. There's another character model which could just as easily be changed to your advanced character just by giving it a new texture.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

Funnily enough, I do have a character sprite of the girl (all grown up) with the same look as the townie.

 

[Grey Roger]

That is so close to "towngirl5" that it has to be done! A quick bit of colour shifting on various parts of the dress gives a first approximation:

 

[Purpure Longstride]

Now I'm curious what the other model that resembles her decked in pants is.

 

[Grey Roger]

Meet Helen Ardent. This one is my own creation for a storyline I wrote for "Pirates of the Caribbean". The feathers are not properly shown here; in the game, they're white and fluffy. It should not be too hard to do the same to this one as I did to "towngirl5" to make the jacket and trousers dark purple, change the armour and sleeves to plain light purple, and make pink feathers.

What is your character's name? And in which year is your story set? I'm not about to try to write your story into the game, partly because that is a lot harder than retexturing a model, but mainly because it's your story. But the character can be set up for free play, which allows a player to see your introduction text, then play using this character to sail around and do whatever the player wants in the game - provided you want me to do this, that is!

 

[Purpure Longstride]

I wouldn't expect you to write my entire planned story in Pirates of the Caribbean's mod, of course. The girl's name is Purpure (no surname listed), but her story is set somewhat later than the mod allows, around 1840-1850.

I played Burning Sea where the game took place around 1720, so you could set her year to that if you'd like to add an Easter egg. Thank you for the offer.

 

[Grey Roger]

We already have one storyline set in 1830, so a free play character in 1840 should be fine. Some of the weapons would be out of date, that's all. We even have a few steam ships which can occasionally show up in the final period of the game.

According to your introductory text, "Her beloved stepuncle put her out to sea". Have you worked out his name, and what ship he put her on? As a free play character, Purpure is going to need some sort of ship to start with. (Unless you want to be evil, throw her over the side and have her start as a castaway!) Free play always starts with you standing in a cabin and talking to someone who sends you on your way, usually with a few words of advice, and the obvious candidate here is that stepuncle.

Meanwhile, I've made a few changes to the character model. She now has a slightly different face to make her a bit distinct from "towngirl5", and the collar is higher to match your sprite figure.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

The stepuncle's name is Gules, and the passenger ship she went on was the Carnation, a fictional sailing ship. Its disappearance into thin air parallels the SS Glasgow. Feel free to have the stepuncle only appear in the tutorial cabin, as in the RPGMaker version he never shows up in the pirate world after he sent her on the ship.

The pirate world was where she ended up when the Carnation got lost at sea.

 

[Grey Roger]

There's no suitable character model with glasses. This is "man8", who at least has a long, brown coat, reddish-brown waistcoat, and dark brown trousers. He's probably close enough for someone who will only appear once right at the start of the game.


Now, what sort of character is Purpure? The game defines these, among others:
. Adventurer
. Engineer
. Explorer
. Gambler
. Merchant
. Rebel
. Sailor
. Smuggler
. Social climber
. Land owner

The main difference is the skills with which the character starts the game, and some character types have special starts or may be given special quests later during the game.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

I imagine her as an adventurer type since that's what I currently play her as in Uncharted Waters Online.

 

[Grey Roger]

OK, she's almost ready to go! One other thing - what is her nationality?

 

[Purpure Longstride]

She's British.

 

[Grey Roger]

Good - I'd used British anyway, just to be able to finish putting Purpure into the game. And so, here she is!

I had to start her in 1830. It turns out that the last period is defined to end in 1830, so if I try to set Purpure in 1840, the game doesn't know what period that is and crashes. However, I was able to use a sneaky trick a little later... The ship is listed as an "armed schooner" but it's not very well armed and it is a trader, not a warship. It's also limited to the last two periods so it's a relatively modern type, and it's not used by any other free play character. Being a schooner, it sails better than a basic square-rigged barque.

So you start the game and meet your uncle:


That's the standard dialogue for starting a new game. A lot of free play characters have customised dialogue instead, so if you can suggest something more suitable for Uncle Gules to say, and for Purpure to reply, it can easily be added.

The game gets upset if it tries to start later than 1830. However, it does not try to change period after it has started - you could start on 31st December of the last year of a period and nothing special will happen the next day. Changing period within an ongoing game would cause all sorts of trouble! So while you're talking to Uncle Gules, I'm changing the date, which means by the time you go ashore, it's 1840.


Here's a close-up of Purpure in town:

 

[Purpure Longstride]

I really appreciate your efforts to add her as a modded player background. I've written what I'd like as game dialogue instead.

Gules: Purpure, we've finally arrived in the New World. It's a land of opportunity and I look forward to hearing from you again. Sadly, I can no longer accompany you after this. I'm getting on in years.

Purpure (1st reply): I'll miss you terribly, uncle! Take care of yourself when you get back to England.

Purpure (2nd reply): Dear uncle, is something the matter?

Purpure (3rd reply): I think I'll be alright, uncle. Don't worry about me. I can turn over a new leaf away from my father, at least.

 

[Grey Roger]

Uncle Gules' line would work, but the reason there are three possible replies in the standard dialog is:
"What do you mean by uncertain, Uncle? What seems to be the problem?" - leads to some hints about the mod, before continuing onto a further choice.
"Will you just spit it out man! Just tell me what you're doing here in my cabin!" - skips the hints and leads straight to that same choice.
The choice is to have Uncle Gules (or whoever else is in the cabin for other characters) lead the player through a series of basic tasks, which allows a novice player to learn a bit about how the game works; or you tell Uncle Gules that you know all that, which skips part of the tutorial and leaves you to complete some of the tasks by yourself; or you can skip the whole lot and go into a "stormy start".
"Sorry Uncle, THINGS MAY HAVE CHANGED, but there is no time to chew the fat about the old days..." - skips all the introductory tasks and goes straight to the "stormy start".

In the "stormy start" you are washed overboard, you're on a beach on a random island, and your ship is somewhere else on the same island. You have to walk overland to find the ship.

How about Purpure having two choices to start with? 1st reply leads straight to port. 2nd reply leads to another line for Uncle Gules:

Yes, Purpure. The wind is becoming stronger and I fear a storm is on the way.

Purpure can then use your 3rd reply, and that leads to the "stormy start".

 

[Purpure Longstride]

Oh, I see. That will work too.

 

[Grey Roger]

Done:


Purpure is about to get very wet! Uncle Gules was right about the storm, and it's still blowing after Purpure has fallen overboard and swum ashore. Fortunately, some random weapons also went over the side and ended up with Purpure, which is why she now has a big gun strapped to her back.