CrowleyIsm

Yes, yes we very much need a sound designer, as we have NONE so far, unfortunately. Thanks for offering. If you sign up HERE I can get you over to the SXF section, where already a request has been made from one of the musick producers for an effect he needs for a current piece he is working with. Some samples would also be nice. Cubia, project manager

UPDATE Some guys have gotten confused with the legalities of this game, so I'll clear this up straight away to prevent confusion. Legalities for creating this widely-changed loosely-based fan-game is as thus: We're allowed to create the game AS LONG AS we do not rip models, textures,musick, or any other components from the .hack series games AND the game must remain free-to-play with no prices for expansions, extras, add-ons. In case of a change of mind, we are already prepared to change the titles of classes, events, etc. that reflect anything of the series this is based on. All core mechanics and ideas were developed and created by US only, and all material graphics and audio wise belong to US. I hope this clears things up a bit, because some guys are freaking out. It has ALL been taken care of. ------------- 3D modeler/animators are still wanted/needed, as well as flash artists. So any help is appreciated. Let's name 'The World' a reality. Character Creation Explained 2 This explains character creation as it will be in most all games produced by TTC. We hope to be able to bring you the most in-depth customization possible with our MMOs. Monsters! This shows a few of the monsters you'll be facing in ETTC. More videos are coming soon so stay tuned. Prepare to listen in for more game mechanics, such as the original 'roaming bubble system' and 'air/wing' mechanics for battles. ETTC promises to bring you a completely fresh and original experience, so we hope you stay tuned. Any help is needed 3D-wise and flash-wise for animations on Age of Inception. Cubia, project manager

I've edited the first post just a bit, with a few of the unfinished textured monster models, etc. Still looking for more modelers and animators, as well as flash animators and programmers. We NEED Graphic Artists that will help design menus, borders, and other artistic things both on the website and blog and in-game. We're also seeking an artist who's passion is to draw landscape/city/town view images to aid our 3D modelers. Please contact me: cubia@epitaphttc.hstorm.net if you can lend any of these talents (or any other talent *specify in your e-mail*). We're also looking for anyone to help us master/mix our audio tracks and vocal tracks to get a more perfected quality of sound. Any help there is extremely appreciated. More videos are coming your way soon. In the meanwhile, why not join up at our new forums: Official ETTC MMORPG Forums We've just got them up, brand new and organizing them. I'll be back with another update soon. Enjoy the little updates for now~! Cubia, project manager **Reading up and still don't know of a way to help? I have the perfect job for you, and it requires NO SKILLS WHATSOEVER! We're currently looking for anyone who will help put together small promotional videos, so if you feel like you can't help anyway else, now's your chance to benefit the team~! Nobody has to sit by and idle. Come join our team efforts.**

Hello, I am here again for an update. We've gotten QUITE A NUMBER of individuals from here who have joined our team full force, and we're still looking for more. We have a wonderful team of programmers, but need a PROGRAMMER LEADER with at least 6+ years of experience to help lead these guys (so I don't have to talk to all of them at once, just go through the lead and they'll organize the projects the coders work on). I need someone who is responsible and is looking for a fun, friendly environment and team to work with. It would also be nice if you are looking to work with the company long-term on all of it's future projects. Lately, the anime team for Age of Inception has been cracking down on plot lines and is preparing the dialogues for the voice actors. Because of the rapid progress, we're going to need more flash animators very soon. If anyone knows how to merge 3D animated models and 2D animation, it will be a plus, as we're possibly looking to make a 2D/3D anime mash-up. So if you're a FLASH ANIMATOR, please look this way. We've picked up some animator and 3D modelers, but we need MORE to make rapid progress, especially in the animation section. So if you're looking for a reliable team to help you design animations and models, look no further than Team Twilight Children. We appreciate all of the support we find. A SFX composer is needed for in-game sound effects, as well as someone to work with the voices/vocal/musick clips to make them sound cleaned up and professional. If this is your kind of work, WE NEED YOU. A 2D graphic monster artist who can take submitted concepts, clean, and color them is also greatly needed. And if anyone is interested in Flash web design or even in 2D web graphics design, we need you for our FORUM/BLOG/WEBPAGE DEV TEAM! Voice acting is still under casting, so also drop by (old forums) to pick a voice and start submitting your try-out pieces. We need some really talented voice actors to make the movie and anime enjoyable. Thanks for all of the support thus far. I hope to keep you guys updated in the future. I'll update the first post with some visual and audio progress soon. Thanks Cubia, project manager

Skeith Voice Acting Vote is ON! View the video and submit your vote. VOTE HERE! Thanks for any votes that are cast! And as always, keep supporting our projects. We appreciate any we get~! Cubia, project manager Team Twilight Children

Thanks guys for taking some of the pressure off of me. Anyways, I have revamped a staff list in the first post, added a few guys (not all of them yet), but you can see that we're growing. Just got an application for animation/texture/3d/writing from kingsize on here, so they will be added shortly after joining our forums. I have more I'm in contact with, and as soon as they join, I'm going to be adding. Just trying to get everyone up there: *if you're from here and do not see your name on the list, please tell me so I can add you* The list will be going up on our new forums ASAP. Auditions for Skeith are CLOSED. I thank everyone who has tried out. Now we're going to be on to the voting process. Video SHOULD be up sometime soon. Also, we're opening a store to sell t-shirts, musick CDs, mugs, dog bowls, etc. with our official art/musick slapped on them. Once we get a good handle on the store, I'll provide a link in the first post so you can pick up some goodies. All money will be going towards game production with a small percentage into a bank that pays our very hard-working staff. Stay tuned for more updates. We love the support we're getting from here! Cubia, project manager

Information Update: JOBS NEEDED A detailed FAQ is under works, as well as a brand new forums and website. We're currently looking for 2D artists who wish to help take our ideas and help design the forum/website layout and design. We also wish to go Flash with our website, so if you have any experience in coding a website with flash and need a position on a game development team, this is the perfect opportunity. We've recently picked up another 3D modeler and texture artist. More are always welcome, so hop aboard the project if interested. We still need extras for Rebirth (3d Movie) and other misc tasks. Savage: Unearthly Wars needs 2D artists to help plan and draw characters, monsters, and card layout revamps of their ideas. Flash Animators are still wanted for animating the flash anime, Age of Inception. If you are interested, please apply. Skeith VA auditions have been extended until Monday night (due to people having to buy mics that wanted to try out), so if you're wanting a voice role, get your clips in. ------- The first post will be edited tomorrow with new updates, so stay tuned to that. Also, a new video will be posted soon to our youtube account. Thanks for your continued interest in our project. We hope you see it through to the end! Cubia, project manager Team Twilight Children

Yes, I am a girl. The untextured white church model towards the end is the ETTC version of 'Hulle Granz Cathedral' from Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. Also, I'll get to answering everything in my PM box (I didn't even notice it was there at first...now I have so many PMs lol). We've gotten quite a number of programmers to join, so I've decided to split them into teams. One team will work with the resources we get from Gamma Prime and what we have now to start pumping out the MMORPG and online TCG. The others who come in will start brainstorming a brand new custom engine for use with all of our games and future games. So if you're interested in not only programming a game, but would like to aid in helping code a user-friendly extras-packed engine that will be of great use to us, hop aboard. Also, we have another child project that has newly emerged, set off by one of our 3D modelers, Azure Sarios. It is a 3D animated movie called .hack//Rebirth, and it is currently looking for modelers and all sorts of positions. So if you're not interested in helping with the game, perhaps that can be a satisfying route for you. On another note, Savage (the card game) NEEDS 2D artists to design monsters and various other things, so please respond if you can help. As always, we're desperately looking for any texture artists to help texture our models. It's probably the single-most important position we still need to fill MMORPG-wise, so if we can get a few texture artists on board, we'll be in swing. Character and monster modelers are also needed to aid the ones we already have. I've released a few of the tracks from our game onto youtube. We'd love comments/ratings if you please, plus some suggestions on how to improve or just encouragement to keep up the good work: Rock The Desert Full Version Glacial Abysm Please excuse my boyfriend's silly comment on Glacial Abysm. I was holding a serious discussion on a title for the song and he suggested "Jesus It's Cold". lol He's silly like that.

Video update showing off a bit more from our team, and featuring one of our lovely vocalists, Soi. WATCH IT HERE We love all feedback. Thanks for your support. Also, if anybody has any better vido editing software and knows how to use it, and would like to join the team just to make promotional/advertising/update videos for us, let me know. Thanks. More videos will be uploaded today showing off some musick tracks and flaunting our musick skills (courtesy of the musick composer team for ETTC). I'll make some edits to post one later today. Please stay tuned. Cubia, project manager P.S. I've been gathering opinions on this. What do you guys think of women as Game Development company leaders? I ask this because I am female, and have gotten some quite questioning looks my way when presenting the team's work ^^ Just wanted opinions. Thank you.

Thanks for all of the help and comments. Also, I realized I had added the wrong image for the last 3D model from Nova, so I changed it to the updated one (last image under the Nova 3D model section). Please continue to give your support. We especially need a texture artist at this moment so we can place some very hi-quality original textures onto our models to make them look outstanding. If anybody is interested, please e-mail me: cubia@epitaphttc.hstorm.net We've gotten quite a number of e-mails from very talented individuals wanting to help in various departments. I'll be updating the first post with all of the new individuals, as well as revamping the list (as I had missed some from before). As always, auditions are still open, and Skeith try-outs will conclude on Saturday, so please, if you have voice talents, head here: VA Tryout Thread A video update on our youtube account is in progress, showing more images and featuring one of our lovely new vocalists, Soi, as she sings 'Die Erste Trane' in synch to lovely artwork and models from our talented staff. Look forward to watching that soon! Cubia, project manager Team Twilight Children

We take in newbies and advanced individuals in each area, and they are treated as equals on the team. So even if you just have suggestions, we'd love to hear them out. Nobody is too young or new to contribute. This whole game so far was build by individuals with little experience or those who have built themselves up for solely working on this project. Again, thanks for the support. We've gotten quite a few e-mails from people here putting out their efforts. Cubia, project manager

I thank everyone who has made such nice comments towards us, as well as those who have already sent in e-mails stating that they are willing to help with game production. You are all truely key to this game's success. I never imagined it would even have become what it is today. Thanks everyone, keep cheering us on. Your constant support makes us work all the harder. Cubia, project manager

Team name: Team Twilight Children *not a registered company, but on its way to becoming one* In cooperation with: Bad Sync Entertainment (Savage: Unearthly Wars - Online TGC) and Gamma Prime (providing us with scripting/coding resources and support) Project name: MMORPG- Epitaph: The Twilight Children Online TCG - Savage Unearthly Wars Flash Anime - Age of Inception 3D Movie - .hack//Rebirth Brief description: Epitaph: The Twilight Children (ETTC) is an MMORPG-in-development loosely based on .hack's "The World." in order to revive the slowly dying series. It is a full 3D project that started out as a small 2D game near the beginning of March 2008, but turned to a 3D approach near middle April and has been growing ever since. Savage: Unearthly Wars is a card game concept developed by Bad Sync Entertainment, with close ties to parent project, ETTC. It is slated to be an online TCG, and may hit offline as well. Age of Inception is a Flash-based anime project stemming from ETTC, which tells of events prior to the game's storyline. It has 4 40-minute episodes planned for release and voice casting is currently under way. .hack//Rebirth is a new child project ran by AzureSarios. It is a fully 3D animated movie. The team will combine a few elements of each project as a package deal to present to Bandai and CyberConnects2 in order to gain permission to release the games/anime for non-profit. Because everything from Team Twilight Children us created from scratch (no rips, copies, characters etc.), if it does get rejected to be released as non-profit, all that will be needed to change is the names. Target aim: ETTC will remain free-to-play until further notice. Funding is gathered through donations as of now. Short Term: Produce an adequate amount of footage from the game/anime to advertise on Youtube and other various video sources. Put together a small but appealing package to present to Bandai and CyberConnect2. Long Term: Expanding into two more planned projects after the release of these, all original, for profit. Obtaining a game development headquarters possibly in Florida (already a work in progress). Compensation: At this moment, every team member is working for FREE, purely to fulfill their game design passions and hone their skills so that they may work for the company in the future. However, all staff do get in-game benefits once the game is released. A possible option for payment should be available soon, as we are getting a satisfying amount of donations (a percentage will go into a bank to pay our staff ONLY when the game has made a release). Technology: MMORPG is slated for release on most/all PC OS, also using game controller compatibility. Art Resources: GIMP, Photoshop CS3, Flash (all kinds), Drawing Tablets, any other media. Musick: FL Studio (main), others as well 3D: Blender, Sketchup, 3Ds Max Programming Languages: C++ (MMORPG/card game development), HTML/CSS, Flash for website/anime purposes Talent needed: **Most individuals who work at Team Twilight Children are under the age of 17, but have a passion for developing skills by helping with the project. Therefore, we take ALL experience types, from those who want to learn from the ground up, to those who have many years and may want to aid in helping others learn in a friendly environment.** 3D Character Design/Animation (NEEDED GREATLY) Landscape/Object Design Monster Design/Animation (NEEDED GREATLY) **Individuals working in the 3D dept. will work closely with 2D concept artists and texture artists, taking the concepts/textures to build and texture models. They are also required to learn/use animation software to create the movements of models that will be performing action.** 2D Landscape Design (NEEDED GREATLY) - Will design the towns, landscapes, scenery in 2D so the 3D artists may have an easier time of creating environments for use in-game. Flash (NEEDED GREATLY) Anime - Will work with the style of the character designer to create fluid animated scenes for the Age of Inception Anime. These can be broken up into background artists/animators, character artist/animators, and those who will colour the animated images. Website - Will work with the layout design provided for the website to create the desired effect, so that the website will have a very professional look. Texture Artists (NEEDED GREATLY) - Works in Gimp and Photoshop to provide hi-quality textures to be places on the 3D models. We need textures of all kinds at the moment, from character to clothes to grass to metal. We already have a few models looking to be textured so hop aboard and help us start making these models look very nice. Programmers Section Moderator (NEEDED GREATLY) - Expected to have at least 5+ years of C++ AND/OR HTML/CSS experience. You'll be in charge of making sure the programmers are working in sync and always have a projected goal to fulfill as well as answer questions they may have. C++ - To code the game using C++ programming so that all of the mechanics to run the game work correctly. You will basically be designing/tweaking the game's core so that others will be able to play it. C++ programmers are also needed to code Savage: Unearthly Wars. HTML/CSS - You'll be working with artists to maintain the web page and keep it neat and professional, as well as make sure all of the links work and are in order. Writers Section Mod - Responsibilities include gathering the writing team to produce the text that will appear in-game, on the website, and in the anime script. One mod per section: Game, Website, Anime Anime Script (NEEDED GREATLY) - Will write out the dialogue that will be spoken by the voice actors. Anime Scenes (NEEDED GREATLY) - Will plan out actions that will be shown in the anime, event-wise, to be taken to a storyboard artist to be sketched out. Game Script (NEEDED GREATLY) - Will write out the finalized version of the back-story, all character and in-game system dialogue, spell names, weapon names, NPC names, etc. that will appear in-game. Translators (NEEDED GREATLY) - Will translate the various texts into many languages so everyone of any language can enjoy the experience. So far we have a few German and Japanese translators. More are always welcome. Musick **All musick composers are welcome to provide a rich soundtrack, no matter how much experience you have, so we do not put a cap on musick production applications as of now.** SFX Producer (NEEDED GREATLY) - Responsibilities are to create very rich sound FX to be used in game: Running water, ambience, footsteps, etc. Only original creations please, no rips. Vocalists - Working with the other vocalists to provide a very nice sound for game/anime tracks requiring vocals. Back-up vocals especially needed (we have a few lead already, but if you have a strong/outstanding voice please apply). **We seem to be having a few problems with some submitting directly ripped soundtracks for use in-game, anime, etc. This is NOT tolerated. If we find that you didn't compose the musick yourself or if you are using a similar tune from an existing song, that it is thoroughly remixed, it will NOT be used.** Support Team This team is responsible for advertisement, recruitment, welcoming, and general support (answering questions, etc.). Even if it seems like an unimportant task, we NEED you. Having this team work solely on such matters frees others up to work more on game production, so by all means if you are willing, sign up for this section. If you have a suggestion or question for another team position, please inquire in this thread. I'm very open to accepting any help in ANY area. The ones listed here are the ones that are HOT and IN DEMAND. So if you don't see a position you may fill, please ask for others, stating what it is you'd like to help with. Team structure: Project Head: Cubia (me) - Duties is to keep everything running smoothly, make updates, recruitment, some art/layout design, managing forums, conference head, contacting companies, legalities, etc. I also serve as one o the musick producers, lead singers and lyric writer for the project. 3D Heads: Nova (experience - 2 months with sketchup), Alto (Weapons lead, few months exp with sketchup) Other 3d Team members: Rowen (new), Azure Sarios (few months with 3ds max exp., specializes in character design), spacenucls (new, landscape/weapons design) 2D Heads: Haura (character concept design, years of exp), Lauphingman/SIN (weapons design, years of exp), Arsonist (Monster Design, years of exp) Kazuki-san (lead chara/art designer for Age of Inception) Other 2D team Members: Ark (weapons design, few months exp), AzureSiren (monster/weapons/some chara design, years of exp), Esterk (monster design, year of exp)Hakashi (signature/banner maker) Programming Head: Haseo (5 years of C++ exp) Other Programmers: Darkiee (learning C++, Vis Basic years of exp., Java exp., Python exp.) Flash: Powerswithin, Esterk (learning) Web Design Head: xViper (html/css years of exp.) Other web Designers: Elmrok (html/css learning), Rowen (html/css learning), Ovan (html/css learning) Sesshoumaru (html/css learning) Luscarion (html/css learning) Writer Head: Formerly Maxi, but his full schedule didn't allow him to continue, so this position is open. Other writers: Rakuraiji (German translator, various writing), Luke (some Japanese translation) Kazuki-san (anime script) Musick head: prophet (a year in fl studio, 7+ years of musick composing exp.) Other Musick: Rakuraiji (new), Pyrne (new), spacenucls (years of composing exp.), Ovan (new), Cubia (lead singer) Support Team Head: Ashley Other support team: Supersonic, ShinTsukasa Event Planner Head: Rowen, Hanasaku, Tentaichi Other Event planners: Promethius126, Tmac, Zeno, Calcifer, ShinTsukasa, Emerica, many others Fuller List (still being reworked): Admins: Cubia Sesshoumaru Alkasirn Mods: Azurewatergod (pending) Musick theprophet8 Spacenukls123 Pyrne Rakuraiji Wignut Dankai Soi Ovan 2d art: Kaldeon Haura Lauphingman Ark Esterk Sou .hack//COUGH Kazuki-san Kingsmage Azuresiren Arsonist Bam Flash: Powerswithin Esterk 3d art: Sarios Nova Rowen Daiki-sama AzireAlto Sletten Scripters: Darkiee Sletten TheDude Haseo Lollancf37 Manciux Revanthedarth Event Planner: Tentaichi Tmac Prometheus126 Zeno Rowen Hanasaku Emerica Killua Calcifer XxJezixX GSky Savage: Pkamerica Rapter200 Skullknight393 Ovan Esterk Gsky (p) Kaldeon (p) Writer: Artemis ShinTsukasa Rakuraiji TheFairyTale Community: Ashley Ovan Web Development: XViper Hakashi Luscarion Website: The website is currently under construction. It will be hosted at: www.epitaphttc.com Please keep checking back for updates. I'll also announce here when the basic website goes up. Until then, please join the community boards: Forums Contacts: My email: cubia@epitaphttc.hstorm.net Forums Previous Work by Team: Most of the members of this team claim this as their first project. I have run many online projects, but nothing MMORPG-related. Our character artist, Haura, is on many manga/art-related projects. Luscarion has experience in running businesses and keeping things organized. That's about as far as our previous work relations go, as far as I know. Additional Info: Wallpapers/Character Art by Haura: Weapons Designs by AzureSiren, Cubia, and Lauphingman: Monster Designs by AzureSiren: Faceset/Stat Bars Designed by sasionstrife: Some 3d models by Nova: Mushroom/Untextured Music snippets by various musick team individuals: Walls That Speak Reckon Epitaph in Stone Rock the Desert Subtle Mystery And some of the voice try-outs for characters for the anime: Skeith Innis Skeith 2 Corbenik Magus Feedback: ANY and you are ENCOURAGED to post, please. We love feedback. Thank you for your interest in our project. We hope to hear from some of you very soon. Cubia, project manager cubia@epitaphttc.hstorm.net I'll see you in 'The World'.

Here's more detailed information: Epitaph: The Twilight Children ( a 2-D MMORPG based on .Hack) Well, as some of you know, a team and I are currently working on a 2-D sprite-based MMORPG called Epitaph: The Twilight Children (or ETTC for short) that is grounded on the hit gaming series of .Hack and ‘The World’. The project is in it’s earliest stages, though production has been going steadily and smoothly. Here I will discuss some features of Epitaph, as well as keep this thread updated so you guys can see the progress we make as the game comes to be released. For the most updated information, and a way to join the team easily, or just to be a part of the forum members, join the official forum here: http://z15.invisionfree.com/Epitaph_TTC 1. What exactly is Epitaph: The Twilight Children? Epitaph is a 2-D sprite based MMORPG surrounding the basis of the .Hack series, and of ‘The World’. While many features from both the original .Hack games and G.U. will be present, new features will also be added to enrich the gaming experience. Players will be able to interact with one another as well as gain member addresses, fight battles, level up and gain exp, and participate in lots of other activities. 2. Who is the development team? I, Cubia, am the head project and forum manager/admin, and head spriter for the game. The Prophet is the musick composer and head over the sound department to develop the tunes and sfx you will hear in-game. Laughingman is in charge of developing the graphics and effects for the weapons the players will collect and use in battle. Robin is a graphic artist and will be developing production arts, newsletter layouts, and face graphics for the forum and the actual game world. Jigoku, Blaze Shadow, and Theshadow19 will aid in event development and planning. With a base knowledge of some programming and development engines, I’ll take over the scripting as well until we get more scriptwriters for the game. We have others here that are helping to develop Epitaph that I have not listed, but all will be acknowledged in a short, more compact list I’ll be adding later. Epitaph could always use more helping hands, so if you’re interested in joining the team, just say the word. 3. What will the players look like in-game? The best way of knowing this is for me to give a small image example. This is the basic style of player design for the game. As of now, there are 3 sizes (each size pertaining to different classes I.e. twin blades will have small sized avatars) and 5 skin colour choices (pale, fair, tan, dark, and blue). The players will have a variety of choices to customize their avatars from face and body tattoos to accessories to hair and clothing. The other elements will be discussed further down. 4. How customizable will avatars be? So far we have a number of categories that players can use to their content upon creating a avatar. The first category will to be to choose classes and a base will be decided upon depending what class a player chooses. Male and female variety are there for every class. The player can choose between a set number of skin tones, and then add eye type and colour, hair type and colour, face marking and body marking types and colours, clothing types/designs/and colours, and accessory types /designs and colours. A semi-customizable (graphics wise) beginners weapon can be chosen to further add uniqueness to character avatars. So the possibilities are near limitless as we keep expanding our component tack-on database. The sprites will have tack-on components, much like Endless Online and other sprite-based MMORPGs. 5. What are face graphics? Another unique thing we have come up with for Epitaph is the addition of an anime-styled face graphic to represent your avatar character. As a player chooses components, the face graphic will be changed accordingly so that the sprite looks like the face graphic shown. The face graphics will not be sprite based, but will be more detailed and customizable. A player will get to choose face type and angle (yes, we’ll have it so that your character’s face can be viewed in varying angles so you can see which angle suits your character best!). The skin tone, eyes, hair, face markings, and/or hats/face accessories that you put on the sprite will show up in the face graphic. Furthermore, players can then add noses, mouths, make-up, facial hair, and more to make them look even more unique. The face graphic will be present at the bottom of a player’s screen next to their name, HP/SP stats, and remaining EXP bar. When you add players to your team, their face graphics will show up as well along with their information. Overall, this will look much like the original .Hack’s stat bars at the bottom of the screen. 6. What will the environments look like in-game? Again the best way to show you this is through an image example. We’re planning on having highly-detailed ‘still picture’ type graphics, much like Star Ocean: The Second Story’s in-town/dungeon screens. Click the links below for examples. One feature we may incorporate is a 3-D scrolling effect, where objects and players close to you look normal sized whereas those further away will get smaller. This is will only be available in set locations, such as the arena, where those on the opposite side of the audience stands you sit on will appear small, but those seated around you will be your size. Other places will have multiple still pictures making them up. Dungeon and field graphics will also be high in detail and will look much like ‘still pictures’ instead of same-old-same-old tilesets (like RPG maker xp defaults). 7. What about battles? This is still being decided upon, but we’re thinking about incorporating a mixture between Star Ocean’s full active view system with .Hack-styled battle commands and events. The battlefield will look 3-D due to scroll effects, so the battle will take place on a 3-D looking backdrop (no top-down view thank god!). Spells and special attacks will/can be accessed via menu, but in real-time, and these can also be set to hot buttons for those who like the easy way out. Items will have to be used via menu or hot key as well. There will be parameters around the battlefield so it is enclosed within a separate screen ‘much like Star Ocean’, but you will have a bit more freedom, including camera rotation and such to really get a good angle on your enemy. Battles will also have 8-Directional walking, to provide a clearer view of all action. 8. Will there be Root Towns? Yes, all Root Towns will exist, plus more. 9. And dungeon and field types? We’ve handpicked most of the ones we like from the .Hack and G.U. games and will place them into Epitaph, but there will be more variety now as well. The field and dungeon goals present in G.U. will also be in Epitaph, but in a different variety. For a more in-depth look at dungeons and fields, you’ll have to go to our forum. 10. Will towns allow for 8-directional walking? Yes, the whole game will be in 8-directional mode, where characters can be turned to front, back, and side views, but also have isometric views. The walking will constitute of arrow keys (no annoying clicking the mouse constantly to walk!), the four directions, and then coupled keys for isometric view/diagonal walking (I.e Press up arrow to walk up, press both up and right arrows to walk north-east). More directional views = more action, a realistic effect, better animation, better gameplay! 11. When you say the game will be fully-animated, what do you mean? Epitaph will be a fully animated game. Hardly anything will ever sit stationary (that’s boring for your eyes anyway!). When a character idles, they’ll have an idle animation, so they constantly look alive and moving. Components like hair and clothes will be animated upon movement, and maybe even blinking eyes will be present. Background ‘still-pictures’ will have some animations as well, like nice flowing water, birds, moving clouds, etc. Not to mention some NPC’s roaming around and speaking out! So the game will never look completely still, so in this case, we call it a fully-animated gaming experience. 12. Will the enemy characters from the .Hack games be in Epitaph? Some of them will, so you’ll see some of your personal favorites. However, a new breed of baddies will roam the fields and prowl the deepest dungeons! Keep your eyes peeled for rare monsters, and event monsters that will only appear once in a blue moon, or maybe once- period! The Wave 8 Phases and Cubia (especially Cubia <3!) will appear as event monsters sometime after the game is released. There are many surprising battles in store. 13. Grunties seem to play a somewhat persistent role in .Hack, so will they be in Epitaph? By all means yes! And what’s more, they’ll play an even more important role in Epitaph than in any .Hack game. Grunties will be raised, bred, battled, raced, and traded with, plus more! In fact, we’re assembling a whole team to work solely on Grunty events and systems because it is a separate part of Epitaph that some people will play this game for alone! We have a detailed post in our forums about Grunties and events/activities surrounding them, so if you’re interested in any aspect about Grunties and their presence in Epitaph, it’s best to look there. 14. What other special features will Epitaph have? Much! Admins and game mods will host one-time events (think the One Sin from the .Hack series) in which players will achieve special rare items and get to participate in incredible activities. Active members of the forum will receive informative newsletters that may also come with rare artworks (desktop themes, etc.) and musick and such, as well as codes they can use to gain special items, outfits, events, even gold and exp! Guilds can be created and customized, arena events will be held as well as the crowning of the ‘Guardian’, weddings, scavenger hunts, puzzles, and other sorts of special components will make up the wonderful world of ETTC. We’ll also use the ‘member address’ function, keyword creation, and quest shop events that you see in the .Hack and G.U. games. So overall, a very satisfying amount of features for players of all types. 15. You mentioned a musick score. Epitaph will have it’s own soundtrack? Yes! The Prophet and I, as well as a team of others, are working on a ton of MIDI tracks (may be revamped into MP3s or such on a better program) that will be specifically for ETTC. The musick is a mixture of styles, taking some elements from .Hack and one of our favourite online games Endless Online, as well as elements from Star Ocean’s scores. Overall, a unique sound…it’s gotten a very varying base of listeners, some of which like it and some of which don’t much. It’s an acquired taste, I guess! Either way, an in-game musick on/off option will be available for those who can’t get down with the mixes, or for those who dislike musick period. 16. Will the Data Drain technique be available in-game? We are unsure as of this moment. If we do decide to incorporate this, only a select person or number of persons will be allowed to have this (maybe after the completion of a special event?). 17. When will ETTC be available for play? Not for awhile. We’d like to get much of the events and things working and tested before we release it to the public. If you’re interested in being a tester, you may pm me or post on our forums or here and I’ll give a copy of the demo to you when it is released. 18. Will ETTC be free to play? Yes, as we can’t make profit on a game that is based on another series. 19. How can I join the team? Want to join? GREAT! Start by accessing the forums and creating an account, then going over to the application thread to fill out an application sheet. It’s as simple as that. If you just want to help out a little without the obligation of joining the forum, send me a message via MSN (terrorofdeath8@hotmail.com) or email me at i_love_cubia@yahoo.com. Only members who help create the game via joining the forum will get in-game benefits. That’s about all of the really basic information we have on ETTC. If you need to know anything further, check out the forum (it’s all open to guests as well), and join it if you can for special benefits. Also, if you have any questions regarding any aspect of ETTC, just ask them here and I’ll be sure to answer as soon as possible. Thanks, CuBiA

So my brother and I are starting a development team that will develop a MMORPG, and we need dedicated helpers to script, sprite, design, write, and everything else! So if you just want to see what it's about or help out, visit our site: http://z15.invisionfree.com/Epitaph_TTC/index.php?act=idx Thanks ^^