El Secreto de los Cuatro Vientos announced

At the recent MSX RU in Barcelona, Víctor Sánchez presented his debut feature entitled El Secreto de los Cuatro Vientos (meaning "The Secret of the Four Winds").
Víctor had always dreamed of creating an MSX game some day, specifically a futuristic-themed RPG. After his uncle, the one who had given him his first MSX, passed away, he began to reminisce about his uncle's fascination with Galicia, its history and the Celtic world in general. So, he figured, why not make an RPG-type MSX game inspired by Celtic culture?

Preparing for this effort, he found the invaluable help of the children of his deceased uncle (Aitor and Yasmina) to write the script of the story, resulting in making Víctor find the determination to make it a reality. Additionally, Víctor has read various books about Celtic history, culture and traditions, in order to write the script of the game and to construct a solid plot as possible. Finally, Víctor attracted Kai Magazine and Manuel Dopico to respectively program the engine and to contribute to the music department.

The game's story deals with a druid who once upon a time tried to defeat the powers of darkness once and for all, but ultimately failed in his mission. Faced with his mortality, he decided to invoke a spell of hibernation, to awaken whenever darkness would attempt to conquer the world again. That time has now come, and the druid awakens in the early hours of October 31st to November 1st, the night in which, according to Celtic lore, the spirits of another world can roam the world of mortals. Then, he meets a policeman, after which the plot really starts to unfold...

Gameplay wise, it's an RPG with a turn-based combat system similar to the legendary Chrono Trigger, meaning that the action will take place on the actual playing field instead of the game switching to a separate battle screen mode. Also, it features nods to the classics Illusion City and SD Snatcher. It will work on MSX2, MSX2+ and MSX turbo R machines, but only on the latter will the game have scrolling (in lieu of flipscreen transitions on earlier generations). The display will be in screen 8 with 256 colors and the soundtrack will support MSX-Music, MSX-Audio and OPL4.

Relevant link: Presentation at MSX RU Barcelona (Spanish spoken)

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Comments (46)

By hamlet

Scribe (4106)

11-01-2018, 20:57

aWsome!

By Grauw

Ascended (10772)

11-01-2018, 22:00

Looks really nice!

By Manuel

Ascended (19470)

11-01-2018, 22:10

The graphics look absolutely amazing! Never seen before on MSX, I'd say.

By tfh

Prophet (3347)

11-01-2018, 22:13

WoW.. That looks pretty impressive!

By Colemu

Hero (542)

11-01-2018, 22:17

This looks amazing!!

By Philip

Champion (380)

11-01-2018, 22:29

Wow, that looks great !

By wyrdwad

Paladin (934)

12-01-2018, 08:15

Yeah, this does look pretty spectacular. I've gotta be the guy to address the elephant in the room, though, and ask: will it be available to play in English, or will it be in Spanish only? Because I'd love to play this game, but unfortunately, I don't speak a word of Spanish...

-Tom

By jepmsx

Master (254)

12-01-2018, 09:35

It looks great. I love the scroll in Turbo-R version and the images of the city in the video recalls the cities in SD-Snatcher and my favourite RPG Illusion City.

I look forward to seeing it done.

Good luck!

By Lazzeri

Champion (280)

12-01-2018, 11:51

It’s great to be an MSX user this days!

By FiXato

Scribe (1743)

12-01-2018, 11:56

How long did this game take to get it this far, and how far along is it; when is it expected to be finished?
Just hope it won't be another Realms of Adventure that won't get finished...

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

12-01-2018, 13:30

Hello, we have been working on this game for 9 months now. Victor contacted us with the proposition and he is funding the game.
The intro is finished, the complex story is also completed, most graphics and musics of the game are finished too (subjected to changes from the snapshots and video presentation).
The game will be translated into english, as usual.
The game will be finished, offcourse, and it will be finished this year. We might be late sometimes, but we always deliver.

By TheKid

Paragon (1238)

12-01-2018, 13:34

Yes, another msx title to look forward too. This msx years starts very nice

By FiXato

Scribe (1743)

12-01-2018, 14:15

Good to hear It certainly looks impressive, and the graphics remind me of SNES-era games.
I'm looking forward to a direct gameplay recording.

By Pippo

Hero (521)

12-01-2018, 15:18

I absolutely love these games!

Very, Very Long Life to Our Great and Beloved M-S-X !!
The Only Computer With a Soul !

By MsxIsAlive

Supporter (6)

13-01-2018, 01:37

great game!
count me in for the funding!!!

it looks like Secret of Manna or Chronotrigger, I guess. how did you convert these SNES graphics to the MSX 2?

msx is alive!!!

By Manuel

Ascended (19470)

13-01-2018, 00:03

Can someone demo it in Nijmegen?

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5672)

13-01-2018, 00:18

@ MsxIsAlive: I don't think they are necessarily converted graphics. The reason it looks so colourful is because screen 8 is used. It's a screen mode which has the same resolution as screen 5 (used in most MSX2 games) but allows for 256 colours at once.
It hasn't been used that much for games because of certain limitations (relative slowness, only 2 VRAM pages instead of 4) which are a trade-off for its glorious colours.

@ Manuel: Maybe Ramón and I can, but that's just a suggestion and I can't promise anything at this point.

By Grauw

Ascended (10772)

13-01-2018, 00:44

@JohnHassink I can’t see MsxIsAlive’s post that you’re responding to, seems to be a new user, needs admin approval?

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5672)

13-01-2018, 01:38

It did. I wrongly assumed it was already approved.
Can you see it now?

By Grauw

Ascended (10772)

13-01-2018, 02:36

Yes! Welcome MsxIsAlive.

By max_iwamoto

Hero (644)

13-01-2018, 04:25

Looks amazing. Reminds me of Amiga times...

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5672)

13-01-2018, 04:34

Now there's a compliment that will please any MSX developer.

By msd

Paragon (1515)

13-01-2018, 10:19

Also flip screen on msx2+?

By MsxIsAlive

Supporter (6)

13-01-2018, 18:53

I'm really thrilled about this. I foolishly did not know MSX could have such appeal.
What graphical editor did you use to make these lovely sprites and scenarios?

By zett

Hero (608)

13-01-2018, 22:31

you can find these kind of gfx all over the interweb. and just edit and then convert to sc8. you get then the same gfx.

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5672)

13-01-2018, 23:38

Yes, but let's assume Víctor Sánchez did these graphics himself. Possibly with some inspiration (I see a bit of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger), but I guess taking a bit of inspiration from other things is normal for graphic designers (as it is for music composers as well).

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5672)

14-01-2018, 00:42

(note that I don't mean to say that I think the graphics are literally from those games, they just remind me of the graphical style)

By MsxIsAlive

Supporter (6)

15-01-2018, 23:19

He is truly an amazing artist.

Do you guys know what graphical editor was used to craft these graphics?

Thanks!

By Wolverine_nl

Paragon (1160)

16-01-2018, 11:29

This looks seriously good! And I agree with Manuel, please someone demo this in Nijmegen

By MISXTOR

Champion (390)

19-01-2018, 23:44

Good afternoon everyone:
I'm Victor Sanchez. I wanted to thank you for your comments towards the game. I always wanted to do something for our MSXs. The idea of The Secret of the Four Winds began, to feel that person, my uncle, who died 10 years ago and was the one who gave me my first MSX. He loved history and the Celtic world.
When I started creating the script, the story, in the company of my uncle's children. I felt that this game, I pulled it forward. So I decided to finance making a game for our beloved MSX. I wanted to build on the Chrono Trigger, (for my nephews), with that air of SD Snatcher and Illusion City, my favorite RPG games on MSX.
I spoke with Óscar (Kai Magazine), to hire his time when making that game, since I have no idea of programming. Kai is responsible for the programming, the design of the scenarios and characters, as well as helping me to make a game of these characteristics, from his experience. And Daniel Dopico was reached, with the music, which already composed the BSO, Blue Warrior, Monster Hunter, for me, another great success that participates in RPG.
I hope you like it and enjoy The Secret of the Four Winds. I am, we are working to make it so ......

Greetings and thanks again all ...

By MISXTOR

Champion (390)

20-01-2018, 11:36

MISXTOR wrote:

Good afternoon everyone:
I'm Victor Sanchez. I wanted to thank you for your comments towards the game. I always wanted to do something for our MSXs. The idea of The Secret of the Four Winds began, to feel that person, my uncle, who died 10 years ago and was the one who gave me my first MSX. He loved history and the Celtic world.
When I started creating the script, the story, in the company of my uncle's children. I felt that this game, I pulled it forward. So I decided to finance making a game for our beloved MSX. I wanted to build on the Chrono Trigger, (for my nephews), with that air of SD Snatcher and Illusion City, my favorite RPG games on MSX.
I spoke with Óscar (Kai Magazine), to hire his time when making that game, since I have no idea of programming. Kai is responsible for the programming, the design of the scenarios and characters, as well as helping me to make a game of these characteristics, from his experience. And Manuel Dopico was reached, with the music, which already composed the BSO, Blue Warrior, Monster Hunter, for me, another great success that participates in RPG.
I hope you like it and enjoy The Secret of the Four Winds. I am, we are working to make it so ......

Greetings and thanks again all ...

By Randam

Paragon (1431)

20-01-2018, 12:10

Thank you guys for making this. Eagerly awaiting to see this finished and being able to play it.

By Grauw

Ascended (10772)

20-03-2018, 01:16

El Secreto de los Cuatro Vientos INTRO MSX2

Looks good!

By Wolverine_nl

Paragon (1160)

20-03-2018, 13:01

Very impressive! Cannot wait to see it for real. Big question, will there be an english version?

By journey

Hero (575)

11-01-2019, 08:49

News about this?

By journey

Hero (575)

28-02-2019, 10:36

journey wrote:

News about this?

No news?....

By GuilianSeed

Master (157)

28-02-2019, 18:37

Want to play it too !
Very impressive, thank you SO MUCH !!!

By hamlet

Scribe (4106)

11-01-2020, 14:10

Hope we‘ll get some news, soon?

By valkyre

Hero (662)

11-01-2020, 16:51

Yes, it would be nice if this one made it in 2020.

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

12-01-2020, 19:32

Hi guys,
Thank you for your interest.
We are dealing with msx productions as a hobby now, so we only do things for MSX on our scarce spare time and when we don't feel it as an obligation.
The game will be finished but we have no idea when.

By selios2000

Hero (575)

13-01-2020, 15:58

Kai Magazine wrote:

I'm glad to see Kai that it seems that you do not need the MSX to economically survive and that maybe, you are in a more pleasant life right now. It will also be nice if you can show us more screenshots or videos from it.

By timbru

Rookie (31)

11-01-2021, 10:27

Just found this post. I appreciate that this is a lot of work in spare time. But if and when this is available I will very, very likely buy it. It looks amazing and it's a type of game that I really love.

By sdsnatcher73

Prophet (3964)

11-01-2021, 11:27

Yeah, let’s hope this gets finished.

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

13-01-2021, 19:16

Thank you for your interest, guys.
We are still working on it. Slowly since now this is just a hobby, and we are in no rush, but I can assure you it will be finished.

By sunn

Expert (104)

14-01-2022, 09:10

Any updates or demo yet? Looks really nice.

By journey

Hero (575)

14-01-2022, 11:28

I hope it will be truly completed. It looks really cool. Can't wait!

El Secreto de los Cuatro Vientos announced

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