RMMV Call of the Overseer (Demo Available)

[Shuruzy]

Do you have what it takes to save a higher being? Of course you do! Now, get to it! ...Not like you have a choice.

Summary:
Six individuals find themselves summoned into a frigid, mysterious land. As they cross paths and band together, they will learn more of the land they were brought to, and why they were brought there...


Background:

Spoiler

The Five Planets within Vithias are given to different "Overseers", whose duty is to watch over their given planet without direct intervention. In the case that intervention is needed, they will call upon the "Aegis", chosen residents of the planet, to assist them.

Long ago, an overseer was given the planet of Erutia to watch over, though an occurrence within the planet that caused this Overseer, and their Aegis, to succumb to an untimely demise.

Ever since, there have been no known Aegis of Erutia...

Gameplay/Features (Demo):

• Two types of areas: Fields, which focus on seeing new monsters and exploring wide areas, and Dungeons, which focus on solving puzzles and gaining treasures.
• You know the "colorful cast of characters" alliteration? I'd say CotO's got that.
  • High amounts of banter.
• Fast paced battles? Well, that depends on how you play!

Gameplay/Features (Future):

Spoiler

• Various Enhancements and Souls that allow you to form each character however you wish. Want a character with low defenses to end up being the bulkiest one of the group? That's completely possible!
• A hub "...town" full of helpful, yet otherworldy beings.
• Special one-on-one conversations between characters that are unlocked as they fight together, or additionally through giving them gifts as the protagonist.
  • "Synchroforte's" -- exclusive attacks between two characters who have bonded through these conversations.
• Six distinct protagonists to choose from.
• Optional, (generally) lighthearted group conversations unlocked as you advance the story.
  • Four people are playing a card game? Three of them are trying to cook for the rest of the group? There's all kinds of potential for conversation among these six.
• Skill-learning system. Learn whatever skills you want whenever you want.
• More banter? More banter.
• Dungeons with dangers, traps, and more puzzles? Absolutely!

Screenshots:




More Screenshots:

Spoiler

Download (About 90 minutes):
[RMN LINK]
[ITCH.IO LINK]

Credits (Demo):

Spoiler

{General}
Kadokawa

(Animations)
hadecynn
Kadokawa
Mr. Bubble (https://mrbubblewand.wordpress.com/)
Timmah-Lexus

(Audio From)
Blue Reflection
Cross Edge
Dream of Mirror Online
Sigma Harmonics
The Alliance Alive
The Legend of Legacy
Trickster Online

(Audio - BGS)
Kadokawa
Sound Bible

(Audio - SE)
369 (http://www.369musiq.com/)
Kadokawa
Lofik
Orange Free Sounds
Sound Bible
Osabisi
Zapsplat.com (Sounds from Zapsplat.com)

(Graphics)
Aekashics
GrandmaDeb
Kilitar
Moghunter
RPG Maker FES Resource Pack (C) Gotcha Gotcha Games Inc.
Whitecat

(Graphics - Tiles)
Kadokawa
Mr Pyramid Head
NuraRay
Pandamaru
whtdragon

(Plugins)
Aries
Atreyo Ray
あわやまたな (Awaya_Matana)
Exhydra
Galv
Hudell
Kadokawa
LadyBaskerville
Moghunter
Shaz
SRDude
Yanfly
Yoji Ojima

Conclusion:
Thank you for reading this far and taking interest in Call of the Overseer! It will be some time before the next major update due to plans for a graphical change, but I will gladly fix any major errors/bugs/glitches, should you come across any.

If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it!

 

[Biestmann]

I was so surprised when I saw a new project in your signature! The premise is intriguing, the systems sound engaging and your character designs are smooth as always! I've downloaded the demo and will give it a try as soon as able. In any case, best of luck and you have my support!

 

[Shuruzy]

@Biestmann Haha yeah surprise! I've been nervous about it, but a story like this is one that I've had for a while and really wanted to do something with... Thank you for your support, it's very appreciated!

 

[Biestmann]

That was a very enjoyable demo!

Briar, Keir and Aadrios are well-realized characters without any of their traits being overbearing. They play off each other well too, so it is easy to see you have a knack for writing interactions between characters. The spritework complements that wonderfully too. (Aadrios shifting his eyes has to be my favorite expression of them all!)

The visual map design and the music is great at setting the mood, I was completely immersed in the places the demo put me in. The tower dungeon offered some interesting puzzle mechanics to boot that managed to trigger my dopamine. The cute jingle that plays when you solve puzzles helps too! I think it would be fine to mildly increase the difficulty of the puzzles as the game progresses, but I can see why you would want to keep things simple for a first bout.

The combat is straightforward and fun, and it is nice to see that the characters' personality still shines through in those sections too, such as Aadrios casting spells with a dismissive expression on his face.

Frankly, I couldn't spot any real bugs. The character portraits are missing, but you said the next update will rework some of the art, and I assume adding them is included in that. That's kind of it? Some tile passabilities seem inconsistent, but it seems you are aware of that too. That's really it. Small things that can be fixed in a flash. It's a really polished demo in this regard as well.

I really had a great time! I'll be sure to play the next versions when they release!

 

[Shuruzy]

@Biestmann
Thank you! I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed the demo! ^^

Character interaction/dialogue is one of my favorite things to write, so that's nice to hear! Same with the visuals! Admittedly, wanting to keep the map visuals is actually a big reason I chose the battle system that I did.
Making puzzles is completely new to me, so hearing they were enjoyable is great! And yep, I plan on upping the difficulty of them as the game goes on.

 

[Shuruzy]

QoL Update!
Hello, everyone! Today I bring you a quality of life update!
If you have already played the first demo, playing this one is not entirely necessary, considering there is no advancement in the story.

Still, there are many small changes that I have made, and I've got a list of them here:

Spoiler: Notable Updates

• Enabled dashing by holding SHIFT (there is also an option to enable automatic dashing in the settings menu).
• The “Order” option has been removed from the menu.
• Added arrow indicators inside of Temple of Advancement α.
• Added an “Ailment Guidebook”, received after the “Basics of Battle” tutorial.
  • This will tell you the specifics behind Burn, Frostbite, Daze*, and Regen.
  • *Renamed Paralysis to Daze.
• Crystals will now show the Energy (currency) you currently have while being asked to be healed.
  • Crystals inside the Tower of Advancement now cost the correct amount of Energy (previously, the message displayed the cost as 10, but it costs 12).
• Changed Aadrios’ second skill to “Flesh Rot”.
  • Flesh Rot deals Blaze damage to 1 foe and has a chance to inflict Burn.
• Changed the Battle HUD graphics.
• Made a game icon.

Spoiler: Minor Updates

• Added a chit-chat if you decide to walk back to where Briar woke up after Aadrios and Keir join.
• Updated some skills’ descriptions to better represent the time frame for casting and duration of effects.
• Made a few animations easier to see.
• Changed Ether Drain’s name & animation.
• Added World Map music.
• Added “Species” to Briar, Keir, and Aadrios’ info pages, as well as small blurbs about each of them.
• Made the icons of status effects inflicted on Nameir easier to see.
• Slight dialogue & enemy stat balance changes.
• Changed Bladed Will-O-Wisp’s name to Bladed Soul.
• Swapped the Flame Cryst enhancer for the Frost Cryst enhancer.
  • Flame Cryst will still exist, just not in this demo.
• Changed a few treasure contents.
• Fixed passability errors.
• Fixed sound effect when using a healing skill (Lumin Cure) from the menu.
• Attempted to fix a rare error with Aadrios’ movement in the cutscene at the roof of Tower of Advancement α.

• 
  
• Etc:
  • Briar, Keir, and Aadrios' designs have been finalized and I plan to show them by the end of the month. The sprites in this demo do not accurately reflect them, but there is a notable enough change to Aadrios' sprite in this version.

The first post has been updated with the link to the new demo, but here's a link to it here as well: [LINK]

Thanks again!

 

[Biestmann]

Nice update! Can't wait to see the cast's finalized designs!

 

[Shuruzy]

Log 1 [March 2021]: Fullbodies and Futures (Plans)

Hello! Hey! Howdy!

So, Call of the Overseer’s been out for a bit, and I wanted to start by saying that I'm very glad, and relieved, to see that it’s been received well between the sites I’ve posted it on & the people I've watched play it!

Though now the question is… What AM I doing for CotO now? What’s next for CotO? Well now that I've finished 3 of the protagonist's fullbodies (shown later in this post) I’m back in the engine, refining the ACTUAL cutscene that plays after the first Guardian (Nameir)’s battle. After that, it’s onto the next scene!

And as for what’s next in CotO's development, my goal is to have a “Major Update Demo” complete and playable by the end of this year!

So, what’s going to be in the “Major Update Demo”? What makes it so major? Well there’s planned to be…

Spoiler

• About 35% of the full game.
• All 6 protagonist will be selectable to play as, + all their prologues will be implemented (3-5 minute scenes, just prior to the events of the current demo).
• “Halcyon”, a hub location where you can converse with otherworldly beings, exchange energy for unusual enhancements and other rarities (or commonalities, if you really just need a LiChu Bead and don’t care about some rare “hyper elixir of all life”, or something), get to know the team better, and more.
• “Roots & Branches”; a skill learning system that involves changing a base (root) skill in multiple ways (branches). While you must pay a small fee the first time you want to learn a branch, you can learn or unlearn the branch for free afterwards.

And as for things that I would prefer to be in the Major Update, but may not fully make it in just yet:

• A preview of the optional “one-on-one” conversation system (name pending) between party members. The further you advance two character’s conversations, the more bonuses they will get. Eventually, the two involved can learn a devastating (or helpful) team attack, known as a “Synchroforte”.
• A preview of the optional “group chat” conversation system (name pending) between characters, whether they’re playable or not. These do not provide in-battle bonuses like the one-on-one’s, focusing more on how important characters interact with and learn from each other.

Now, let’s look at the goals for the Major Demo a bit more mechanically…
In the broadest of senses, there are *technically* only about 5 things that I need to get done for this next demo:

• -Character Sprites
• -Enemy Sprites
• -Story/Cutscenes up to the end of the 2nd Tower (end of Major Update demo).
• -Battle-related things (balancing, new enemy creation, character skills)
• -Character designs/waist-ups/cut ins.

...Clearly, there’s much more detail that goes into each of these things. And they all need each other to work properly. The cutscenes can’t be properly choreographed without new character sprites, the battles can’t be fully realized without all 6 protagonists being implemented, character sprites can’t be made without character designs being finalized, etc etc!

That’s why, despite the seemingly short list, I can’t confidently say the next update won’t be done until AT LEAST the end of the year. Also, real life things will get in the way at some point, I’m sure. And as for the full game itself, well… I have no given date yet. Still, CotO is a smaller scaled project, and something that I feel I can actually complete at some point without being scope-crept, given the format of the gameplay & story.

In terms of gameplay length, for the Major Update, the loose estimate of one playthrough is 3-4 hours. For the eventual full game, the loose estimate of one playthrough (at this point) is 9-10 hours?

Now, looking back at the list... the character sprites are already made, right? The enemies to some extent too, right? Well about that…

I’m planning on making my own sprites. For various reasons, that’s what I’ve decided.

Do you still call these “sprites” when they’re not pixel art? ...You do, right?

Making my own sprites is not something I’m entirely used to, especially when it comes to animating them. This will probably be the most time-consuming step for this update, and it’ll be a very new endeavor, so bear with me there!

Next month (April) is when I’m going to start working on these sprites! I’m aiming to get the sprite style/concept/proportions/etc right, then working on Briar’s walking + idle poses, if all goes well.

Well, one more thing before I’m done… Now’s the time to show Briar, Keir, and Aadrios’ fullbodies!

While the designs of these three in particular were very much based on their demo sprites, there are a few differences in their actual designs.

Spoiler: Briar

Briar Ardrel, Age 25, They/Them. A Luvine adept in harnessing the Sky element!

Spoiler: Keir

Keir Osiria, Age 22, He/Him. A Sirin adept in Life-restoring and blessed arts!

Spoiler: Aadrios

Aadrios Eldaum, Age 24, He/Him. A Luvine with Sirin blood-- adept in accursed arts relating to the afterlife!

And if you’d like to eventually see each character’s reference sheets (which are much more sketch-like), I’d suggest following the gamedev twitter! Things are a little bit more laid back around there in terms of what I post. I’m also posting the fully scaled versions of these drawings on there, since I reduced the size in half for the sake of this site.

There are three more protagonists that have yet to be seen, so I wonder if these three will still retain your interest as the others are eventually revealed...


That about sums up what I wanted to say for today! I can’t give an exact schedule on when I’ll post devlogs, but the end of every other month is the ideal. Which means the next log is planned for the end of May.

Well, until next time!

 

[Reinarc]

Super cool. Love the diversity and hard work! Looks great.

 

[Shuruzy]

@Reinarc Thank you! I'm glad to hear it!

 

[TheGentlemanLoser]

This looks rad! I really dig the snow theme (I've mentioned it elsewhere I think but I'm a sucker for snow). I'm not gonna lie, I'm not in love with the style/execution of the character art (though I appreciate the obvious effort put into them), but the in-game graphics are very solid. The font you chose is clean and readable but suits the mood/theme well.

I'll be able to give more substantive feedback if/when I play it. I should really play more games (not having access to RMN doesn't help) so you have my official certified permission (tm) to remind me to play this!

 

[Shuruzy]

@TheGentlemanLoser
Hey, thanks! Yep, I loveee snowy/icy areas in games, too! Always love reaching the "snowy continent or town" part of a game. About the art, well I know my art style isn't for everyone, so I get it. Still, thanks! And it's nice to hear you like the in-game graphics.

I'll be looking forward to the feedback if/when you decide to play!

 

[Walldeaf]

I downloaded the game and played it untill the end.
Nice boss fight and a laugh at the end of the demo.
I liked the battles, liked the puzzle and liked the story.
Really well done.

 

[Shuruzy]

Thank you very much! I'm glad to hear you had fun with it.

 

[Shuruzy]

Just a tiny thing, but there's now a page for CotO on Itch! This was something I'd planned to do way further down the line, but it really is better to just do this now, huh?

[Itch Page]

Spoiler: ???

On the twitter page, someone odd had introduced the three places that CotO is now available on.

To quote what he said upon his appearance:

"...Hm? You wouldn't happen to be curious about me, would you? I'm not a creation who was meant to garner the interest of others, so that's... unlikely.

...Either way, I am a being that you may refer to as "The Keeper". That's all that's needed to be known. Otherwise, we will become acquainted. ...Eventually."

 

[Shuruzy]

Log 2 [May 2021]: Sprites? Yeah, Sprites!
Hello! It’s the end of May, which means it’s time for the next devlog!
There’s a few things I want to discuss, and those are:

1. Sprites (+ Other Things Done This Month)
2. Plans for June+July
3. Thoughts & Plans for the “Major Update”

So let’s start with the sprites, since that’s what I said I’d be doing in the first devlog. Also, it’s pretty important for the game itself.

Spoiler: 1) Sprites

Honestly, I went pretty beyond what I said I was going to do.
In March, all I had planned was to find the right style and get Briar’s idle + walking sprites done. That was mostly because I didn’t know how difficult it would be to settle on a style or animate it, and so I wanted to give myself a lot of time just in case. And while it did take a bit of trial and error, I made a style that I liked a lot!

Pixel art isn’t my forte anyway, so I’m unsure why I thought I was gonna manage that. Small-scale lineless art, on the other hand...

And the animation process ended up going quicker than I thought, as well! So not only did I finish Briar’s idle pose & walking sprites, but I made Aadrios and Keir’s idle + walking sprites, as well as idle sprites for the other 3 protagonists!

So here comes the playable crew!

Karine, Keir, Briar, Aadrios, Elk, and Jay. This is the first time all 6 have been officially presented. Which do you like, appearance-wise? I’d love to know!

I worked on a number of other things between the two months, such as figuring out each area of the game, starting up on a few mechanics, and otherwise… some of which I’ll be getting into later in this log.

Spoiler: 2] Plans for June + July

Sometime next month (June), I want to show a video of the “Barrier” Scene & Miniboss Battle with the new sprites of Briar, Keir, and Aadrios! I hope that you’ll enjoy it!

So to start off June, I’ll be working on Briar, Keir, and Aadrios’ cutscene sprites and battle sprites. At least enough to get this video made. After that, I may need a little break on spriting.

Throughout June + July, I will be posting the fullbodies (& reference sheets) of Karine, Elk, and Jay. The plan is to host a stream on twitch later this month where I draw a fullbody for one of these three. The character that I will draw will be determined by a poll on the twitter account, so go check that out! By the time of posting this, the poll should be up around next week.

In April + May, I also sorted out a lot of the areas these 6 will be traveling to. That’s why one of my primary goals before the next devlog is to start working on the enemies! Whether it’s concept-ing or spriting itself, it’ll be a pretty enemy-focused two months. I’ll be starting that after the Barrier Scene video.

Spoiler: 3] Thoughts & Plans for the “Major Update”

So in the first devlog, I talked all about this Major Update Demo and what sorts of things would be in it. I’ve had a good amount of time to think in between logs, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it definitely won’t have all of those things. For one large reason:

THAT’S A LOTTA STUFF!!

Both from my end and the player’s end! Honestly, I’d rather you all not get burnt out, especially since carrying save data would likely not be possible between the “blueprint” major update and the final version.

I said the Major Update would contain about... 30% of the game? Hey, that’s a pretty sizable amount, honestly. And I hadn’t even realized it at the time, especially given the style of this game! Also, with pretty much all of the features and characters being in that blueprint, there wouldn’t be too much more to look forward to other than the story itself. All six protagonists would be available, and with all the eventing involved in that, I might as well keep going until I finish the full game instead of stopping & making a demo out of what I’ve made.

So, I definitely don’t want this Major Update to drop you at the beginning of the story and play around 30% of it, BUT, I don’t want absolutely no sort of update between now and the completed version of Call of the Overseer.

That’s why, at the moment, I’m heavily leaning towards an eventual “Gameplay” Demo. It’ll be a battle-centric demo that’s almost like a playground for you to experience all 6 characters combat-wise. It would likely consist of one large dungeon that will not be in the final version of Call of the Overseer. There would be little to no story/context involved in this demo, but it would still contain some character dialogue here and there.

I’ve considered other types of demo’s, but this one’s appealing to me the most. Let me know what you think about this sort of demo!

Well, that’s about all I wanted to say for this update, so in conclusion:

• The sprite-making operation was a success!
• I’ll be posting a video in June of the updated Barrier Scene with the new sprites.
• I’ll primarily be working on figuring out enemies for the next 2 months.
• I plan to host a fullbody drawing stream for the winner of an eventual twitter poll sometime this month.
• I’ve been reconsidering what I want from this “Major Update” demo.

Yeah, that about sums it up! I’m on break now, so I’m hoping to get even more done in these next three-ish months!

So, until next time!

 

[Shuruzy]

Log 3 [July 2021]: *Customizing sfx* *Customizing sfx*

Howdy! So, it’s the end of July… time for the next devlog!

This time, I just want to talk about what I have and have not done!

In the last log, I said that by the middle of June, I would have a video of one of the scenes+battles, recreated with the custom sprites I’d made.

That absolutely didn’t happen. Same with most of the other things I said I would do at the end of the previous log. Most plans from the last devlog are being held off to an unknown date, since I wanted to change focus.

I hadn’t realized it, but I’d gotten burnt out of character sprite making much quicker than I’d thought. Figured I’d be able to push out these battle graphics pretty quick and THEN take a break from sprites, but that happened much sooner.

In short, I felt like I wasn’t getting enough of the actual game made, and was also getting burnt out with custom character assets. I apologize for that.

Though I haven’t completely dropped asset-making for the time being.

Spoiler: Images

Custom background assets are another thing entirely. These assets are something that I’m going to be working on rather slowly, since placeholders got my back until I’m ready to put these things in, but yeah! I figured I should see how making my own background assets goes...

Oh, and I DID make a short video of the progress in the Character Selection Scene, which can be found here: [LINK].

Now, I’ve also thought a lot about what I want the Final Demo to cover. I have an idea of what I want, and I plan to release the final demo some time next year. I can’t give an exact date, but just know that I’m lining up the Final Demo’s release to be pretty close to the full game’s release. My ideal is that the release of both will be only a few months apart.

...And I believe that’s it for this log’s updates. There wasn’t much to talk about or show upfront, but that’s mostly because I’ve been working on behind-the-scenes database stuff these past two months. Speaking of, I’ve actually held a few dev streams over the past two months. If you’re curious, that can be found here [LINK].

I try to post Devlog streams at least once a month, and I always announce them on my dev twitter. I also post smaller bits of progress (like rough character dialogue) on my dev twitter. ...I would put a link here, but I already linked to it a few paragraphs ago.

...Alright, well, the end of September is the next log! I’ll be back in classes by then, so I can’t make any promises as to what will and won’t be there, but I hope to be back with some nice things to show!

‘Til next time!

 

[lolshtar]

=cant use mouse, this should be a must in every game imo
=instead of only stopping time on a command/target, I would use a key to keep the time going so you can plan exactly when you want to stop it back* this way you can also makes the fight harder
=puzzles so far way too easy* all of them are too easy, im braindead when it comes to puzzles and l could do them in 2 seconds
=the statue puzzle is bugged if you go through stairs too early the secret sound is activated when you go back up+ stairs reappear, l guess just freeze the sprite as soon as its completed
=last boss way too easy spam all abilities to win without any strategy involved, seriously 4 damage auto attack? l wasnt even grinding* again just make time continue with a button and you can make fight way harder
without needing the player to rush click abilities
=skills are not very original, basic one target with different element **** and the exact same skill but attack twice instead of once, no difference to me
=enemy skills are just auto attack and boss skills are just auto attack with skill attack harder
**I tried very hard to find flaws on your game because there aren't any besides that so good job.

 

[Shuruzy]

@lolshtar
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I'll be adding mouse control back in the next version. Honestly not too sure why I wanted to remove it in the first place lmao.

I'll be aiming for more varied/challenging puzzles and battles down the line, but wanted to keep this section of the game on the simpler side. Same with the skills, currently in the process of revamping some of the early ones.
As for the time pausing, I unfortunately don't have the ability to let battles pause with a button, but I'll be giving the ability to choose whether players want time to stop in battles or not (either inside the options menu or through a key item). Hopefully that, combined with general battle improvements, adds a bit more challenge.

& i'll fix that puzzle error!
Thanks again!

 

[Shuruzy]

Log 4 [September 2021]: Menu's and Dialogues

Hey! Hello! How’s everyone?

The log’s gonna be pretty short! Life, and all. Also, many things I’ve been working on aren’t... entirely devlog-friendly (lore, dialogue, story, gameplay spoilers(?), etc)...

So this time, I’ve...

• Made an in-game manual that tells you all about Status Effects, Stats, and Elements!

And maybe more if I think of anything else. Is there anything else you'd want to see in a manual like this?

• Started implementing the new main menu!

A lot of it (pretty much all of it) is placeholder images at the moment, but it should be more presentable by the next log.

• Started adding a number of small features/etc, making sure everything’s compatible with each other before I get too far ahead.

And for the future, I’ve been considering drastically changing how “Dungeons” operate. For reference, in the current two demo’s, the only Dungeon is “Tower of Advancement α”. It operates the same as the “Field” present in the demo, save for the “Dungeon Skills” and overall puzzles.

I have plans to differentiate dungeons further and to make Fields more interesting (with their own puzzles), but for now, I just wanted to quickly mention it, even if this is still in the planning phase!

And... that’s about it. Again, pretty sparse this month, though I did have a dev stream (shuruzy, on twitch) a few days ago! What I worked on there were mostly things I didn’t feel was necessary to talk about as a devlog update, like dialogue, skill, and item improvements!

Until next time!