Cartoon / Alien Project (Custom Art and Battle system)

[ash55]

Hey guys on the RPG Maker reddit it was suggested I make a blog, so I thought I'd use a thread here for that purpose (and to explain my game in one concise place).

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/y0X28ZQ.jpg[/IMG]

DOWNLOAD:

*Link removed for time being since I just tried downloading it and I got an error. I'll try to get something up asap. But in the meantime I have a video of the tutorial below.*

Video of playthrough:













SYNOPSIS:

BACKSTORY:
My project (title still under consideration) is a lighthearted, cartoon sci-fi RPG about a jaded alien Bounty Hunter who gets mixed up in all manner of conspiracy theories and a quest for revenge. While tracking down a legendary Hunter with a bounty on her head, you come across some shady clients and ultimately crash your ship on the outskirts of a rather unpleasant city. As you explore the dark underbelly of this city, you'll find the means to repair your ship, encounter many allies and enemies along the way, and hopefully rediscover your passion for protecting innocents (rather than simply lining your pockets with cash).

GAMEPLAY:
The 4 main pillars of the game are exploration, combat, questing and collecting. The main explorable location is the city, which will serve as a hub with plenty of activities. Quests from NPCs, player housing and decorating, Bounties to accept, arcade mini-games, weapons to earn, shops, vending machines, burger joints, etc.

Combat is turn based and uses a custom battle system specifically made for this game. You can summon droids to fight by your side with unique passive abilities, wield a variety of weapons, activate a slot-machine Super Attack that calls in an airstrike from your starship, etc. Use a variety of skills and gadgets like Flamethrowers, Grappling Hooks, Fire Bombs, Stun Darts, Healing Probes, etc. You can even capture a target alive by carbonising them, Han-Solo style.

A big part of the progression system is expanding your Loadout with new combat Droids, weaponry, leveling up your Electro Dagger and acquiring new capsules for your AI companion. You can also equip Minions that you've captured/carbonised in Battle in order to make use of their passive abilities.

GENRE:

Cartoon RPG.

VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65jDidnC0L0

FEATURES*:

- Day / Night + Seasonal Cycles. See [screen 1-2]
- "From scratch" Unique Battle System with hand-drawn animations for each Ability / Weapon. See [screen 5,6,10,11,12]
- "From scratch" Menu System for managing your Mission Log, checking your Level / Status / Stat tracking, managing your Loadout. See [screen 3-4]
- A unique Store system (Vending machines and Aisles of items rather than menu-based stores). https://youtu.be/gEGbfXtMxrc?t=15 See [screen 9]
- Minion System. Carbonise enemies to add them to your collection and Level Up to learn their Passive Abilities.
- Holiday Events and Quests that reward you with festive weapons.
- Mini-Games at the city's Arcade. Buy home versions of some mini-games at the local Convenience Store.
- Tons of Weapons, Droids and Capsules to buy and acquire through quests and main mission.
- Player Housing (buy Houses, decorate them, rent them out).

*Some Features are complete, like the Battle/Minion System, while some are a work in Progress.


I've not included any Features on this list that aren't at least under development already, but plenty more
Features are planned.


EXAMPLE ELEMENTS:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/xaq7iDp.gif[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ESLjkuR.gif[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wGJptdr.gif[/IMG]

SCREENSHOTS (I've removed some screens so the post doesn't get too big)

Screen 2 - Winter is Coming
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jTl37wa.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 3 - Loadout (Menu)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/aY58wut.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 4 - Status Screen (Menu)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/r8WQTYQ.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 5 - Battle System
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/gLCHojG.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 6 - Battle System (Item Menu)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/UZ1mWtQ.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 7 - Reptilian Facility
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/nBAWwsN.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 8 - Cutscene
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1AyxTUL.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 9 - Shopping
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vfWx65B.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 11 - Battle System (Super Attack Slot Machine Screen)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/LmC6A5G.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 12 - Battle System (Positive and Negative Status Effects)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/LZhCJ2F.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 13 - Vending Machines
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GEv9lLK.png[/IMG]


Screen 14 - Opening Shot
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/UmlxZHN.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 16 - Security Droid boss mechanic. Scans your previous attack and counters it.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/3nWH6UE.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 17 - Introduction of a rather suspicious character.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/e3WEpuc.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 18 - Your personal star ship (crew missing at the moment).
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/80dMLcp.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 19 - Every city needs a seedy underbelly.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/fmMoKpD.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 20 - Minigames vs NPCs. Oops... went over 21. Bust.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BOUk3KH.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 21 - More interior areas (bar). 
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/MAXKmCB.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 22 - Various vendors have goods to sell to you. 
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/RQIS5g2.jpg[/IMG]
Screen 23 - Property ownership. Invest in cool stuff, transform your place, rent out, earn cash. BASIC HOUSE.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/kDpuMWO.jpg[/IMG]


Screen 24 - TRANSFORMED HOUSE. Alter the colour scheme, upgrade your TV, painting decorations, beds, statues, floor mats etc.
The more value invested into your property, the more you'll earn from rent (or from selling) if you choose to rent it out/sell.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/C51ftV2.jpg[/IMG]


Thanks for reading and if you have any critique or ideas for improvement (or any features you think would be cool), let me know. And feel free to let me know what you're working on too.

 

[taistelusopuli]

This looks so good! Amazing job

 

[Shade_Hunter]

I like that art style a lot! Interesting work, can't wait to see it ready! 

I watched the video. I'd only reconsider adding some new sounds (not rtp ones) 

Good luck!

 

[ash55]

Hey, guys I've been hard at work the past week building shopping options. This includes vending machines and stores. To show how it all works I made a quick video.

There's still more work to be done, such as icons for some of the items and I want to add a loyalty system so you can accumulate discounts and free lottery tickets from the shop.
One of the aisles is also empty. I'll be adding Droids to that I think.

I wanted the shopping in the game to be more immersive than scrolling through menus. Shenmue's design philosophy is a big inspiration for how I want to handle the open world design, and it has a little bit of Pokemon in there too. (I want you to have a city to explore, dense with activities and non-repetitive characters, and for every building to be explorable and have a purpose). It was tough trying to strike a fine balance because it could get really tedious constantly going up to items and waiting at the checkout constantly. I made it so that you only need to watch the checkout animation once (until you exit the store) and the game puts you back at the aisle you were at previously (so you don't have to manually walk back if you wish to buy multiple items). I'll be looking for ways to improve this further through testing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEGbfXtMxrc





--------

In reply to Natural below:
"Not gonna lie this is creative. You must be a wizard with JS and animations. I really like that battle system, pretty unique."

I don't know the first thing about JS :/. The reason I'm working with RPG Maker is because I'm no programmer, but wanted a program I could use to make a completely solo project while the rest of my indie team works on another more complicated game. Everything is basically a tangled web of Pictures, Events, Variables and Switches.

--------

Mini-Update:
I added new screenshots. Including one that's further on from this video. I've adjusted some prices and included the all-important Price Tags on the item previews.

 

[Natural]

Not gonna lie this is creative. You must be a wizard with JS and animations. I really like that battle system, pretty unique. 

 

[SomaelCK]

"I don't know the first thing about JS :/. The reason I'm working with RPG Maker is because I'm no programmer, but wanted a program I could use to make a completely solo project while the rest of my indie team works on another more complicated game. Everything is basically a tangled web of Pictures, Events, Variables and Switches."

A completely Evented game with custom-art and all! You sir, take my like and 5 stars vote!

 

[RocketKnight]

Thats cool, unique visual style. I just love it! Good luck BD

 

[SPP]

This looks epic

I have some questions if you don't mind answering them:

1) will this be a commercial/non-commercial game?

2) will you make an android port for this game?

3) will this game be somehow online? Weird question as it looks 1P from the screenies but this question popped out from my head from "- Holiday Events and Quests that reward you with festive weapons." and the "rent them out" part of "- Player Housing (buy Houses, decorate them, rent them out)."

 

[ash55]

The rules say don't bump a thread if it's been less than 3 days since the last update.... but it's impossible to bump my thread since it's currently on the top. So hopefully I don't get in too much trouble here for answering your questions. (edit: Oh that's just for double posting never mind):

 

Is it free ?

Undecided. If I sell it, it will be quite cheap, and I'll definitely give away some free copies. Also, all demos will be free obviously and I want them to be quite substantial demos. That's why I don't have one up yet. I want to include some open world stuff in it, but it's not quite there yet.

 

2) will you make an android port for this game?

It's a VX Ace game so I don't think that's possible.

 

3) will this game be somehow online? Weird question as it looks 1P from the screenies but this question popped out from my head from "- Holiday Events and Quests that reward you with festive weapons." and the "rent them out" part of "- Player Housing (buy Houses, decorate them, rent them out)." 

It's offline/single player.

There'll be a clock that tracks time of day, and time of year (within the game, not in real life), so I want certain events to pop up depending on that. Basically hidden quests. I want a suspended animation tank too so you can skip days at a time.
And I want every NPC to have an affection system so you can befriend anyone, they can join your starship's crew or live in one of your houses if you want. Renting could give you a certain amount of money per day but obviously the upfront cost of buying a house will be expensive.

 

Sweet, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

Too bad it wasn't made in MV and can't be ported but yeah I guess it's been only 2/3 months since MV was released and it 2/3 months don't seem like a long enough time to make all this.

The open world idea seems nice. Also make it so that there is still something to do post-endgame if possible as this looks like a keeper

I did buy MV and tried to port the game (spent many hours resizing images and such), but it didn't work out and I don't really have the programming knowledge to make it work. I built the game in perhaps a rather odd way since I'm not a programmer (all the menus and even the battle system such aren't made with scripts, they use events, variables and switches, and this exported as an utter, buggy mess into MV that I couldn't even begin to sort out). I would love to work with MV if I ever make a future project from scratch, but I'm not thinking about that right now.

Also, yes. The open world activities are a bigger priority for me than the actual story TBH. I'm interested in building a "world" as much as a game. Obviously, that sounds pretentious so I want to clarify I have no delusions... this is just a 2D RPG Maker game... Not an MMO or Fallout 4 etc. But yeah, this is an experiment for me, to just make something I would want to play. And I love games with lots of side-quests, challenging boss fights, and locales that feel as alive as possible. Absolutely not claiming that will be the end-result, but that's my goal.

 

[RocketKnight]

Please says its will be free, if you need help call me.

 

[SPP]

Sweet, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

Too bad it wasn't made in MV and can't be ported but yeah I guess it's been only 2/3 months since MV was released and it 2/3 months don't seem like a long enough time to make all this.

The open world idea seems nice. Also make it so that there is still something to do post-endgame if possible as this looks like a keeper. BD

 

[EternalShadow]

This kind of project is what RM was made for

 

[Bakuda]

This looks totally awesome! Very original. You should definitely think about making it commercial at some point. I think you'd be successful.

 

[Strashiner]

This could easily represent creators that can use RPG Maker VX Ace to it's fullest potential. This can hide the RPG Maker VX Ace software title under its creative premise.

Good job! Please post a demo sometime...

 

[kaine]

Good job!   

 

[ash55]

I rushed out a quick demo here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5333907/Cartoon%20Scifi%20RPG.zip

I wanted to wait until I did more cutscenes and the final boss of the Tutorial... (so this is kind of a demo of a demo). Anyhow, here's something playable. I plan on changing plenty of things. If it doesn't work or there's something game-breaking, I apologise (I haven't tested extensively).

Also, if you hear any weird sounds like they're glitched, let me know. I've had to go through and remove some "Play Sound" commands because they've been screwed up, so I may not have fixed them all. And just generally let me know about bugs, let me know if you think some skills are overpowered and so on. Are the fights too hard for a tutorial? Too easy? Any weapon ideas, passive ability ideas, item ideas etc. Any feedback you like.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I prefer if you go into the demo blind as a complete noob and then give me your initial feedback after your first playthrough. But after that's done and if you wish to experiment with the game further, here are a few tips that may not be immediately obvious:

DEMO TIPS:
- The Menu is triggered with Shift not Esc. I'll probably have a prompt in the final game explaining that at the start.

- First thing you should do is equip a Minion. Go to Loadout -> Scroll right to minions and press Up/Down to choose one. If you get 100 DNA, you can permanently learn the Minion's ability and switch to another.


- You can only have one buff at a time, so choose wisely. For instance, Cold Compress's Regen effect will override Stasis Bubble and vice versa.

- Using Items and Summoning Droids does not end your turn. 


- Make sure to use your Volt Hook skills to steal items. For instance, you can snatch a weapon from Halley.


- Droids are weak to Electro attacks (your Melee is an Electro-Blade). Halley's armour is easily cooked by Pyro attacks (your Blaster is Pyro-based). In addition, be sure to make use of Ice Creams to combat your Super Attack's RNG. Orange Sundae is good for Halley, guaranteeing Pyro missiles on your next super. Lemon Whippy, similarly, is good for the Droids.


- Keep your Droid summoned (in the "Skills" battle menu) if you have the Battery to spare (it will drain 1 Battery every turn) Also, use Welding Torches to boost his HP so he survives longer.


- Your Droid sidekick will absorb half of all incoming damage, and will attack the foe when you use a Melee attack. Very useful offensive and defensive capabilities.


- Stasis Bubble stacks with your Droid, so you can cut incoming damage down to 25% if both are active.


- Medical Gels will automatically revive you when you're KO'd, but they won't heal you back to full unless you use one manually.


- Halley will deal her highly damaging ultimate attack one turn after activating her Reflect Bubble. This is a good time to activate your own Stasis Bubble and summon a droid. Or you could use Stun Dart.

-----------

Strashiner

Please let me know of any minor issues you feel could be improved.


Also yeah I think the Battle system is a little slow right now. It's not supposed to be too fast admittedly since I wanted an emphasis on animation and it's 1v1 so only 2 attack animations will play per round rather than the several snappy animations in other games with more battlers. But I certainly could add an option that allows you to bypass animations or reduce waiting. For instance, less waiting when you draw your weapon, stop tapping your wrist computer when activating a skill etc. I haven't got round to it yet, but it's good to know that stood out to you so I can make a faster battle system a bigger priority. If you have any specific animations you feel are too slow also, please let me know. =]

Also, I'm suprised you like the music... I hate it, too repetitive.  But it's free I suppose (a friend made the environment music and I made the battle themes, they're at the very least placeholder atm).

EDIT: I just finished that fast forward feature Will update the file soon.
EDIT2: It's up. You can now fast forward through most of the animations.

 

[Strashiner]

Played your demo.

I'll give you the pro's and cons since that's what you want I believe

PROS

+ Art work is nicely done, it fits the techno premise.

+Music is great! Reminds me of TRON, one of my favorite shows

+ Combat system GUI is perfectly done, and its well colored.

+ Eventing is smooth

+Demo has a good file size

+ Landscape/environment is nicely done

+Cartoon is well drawn, and the animations of the battlers are pretty solid

CONS

- Battle system can get too slow at times, you might want to include a fast forward feature

Other than that, minor issues, which can be corrected.

Good work!

This can certainly grab someones attention.

 

[ash55]

Just dropping in to show some progress on a section from the first (non-tutorial) main sequence. You'll be looking for a mad scientist/droid engineer and find yourself in his secret facility. And that means, puzzles.

 

[ash55]

UPDATE: Have been working on the project some more. Created a final boss encounter at the end of the Tutorial as well as 2 new cutscenes and an introduction to the game. Seen here in these new screenshots. I'll also post a new video of the Tutorial walkthrough....

Screen 14 - Opening Shot[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/UmlxZHN.jpg[/IMG]Screen 15 - Face off with a Security Droid boss[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/K0SgrAo.jpg[/IMG]Screen 15 - Security Droid boss mechanic. Scans your previous attack and counters it.[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/3nWH6UE.jpg[/IMG]Screen 16 - Introduction of a rather suspicious character.[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/e3WEpuc.jpg[/IMG]
 

 

[taistelusopuli]

Great progress here! When can we look into the final release since the demo seems to be in shape?