Central Impulse

[Matseb2611]

General Features:

- An all-robot cast!

- About 3.5-4 hours in length, depending on the player

- A beautiful sci-fi setting aboard a massive space station

- Gameplay is equally balanced between puzzles/minigames and combat

- Floating pickups!

- Flexible gear customization: any playable character can equip any piece of gear in the game (as long as they have a slot available), allowing the player to pick combat roles for the characters.

Download links:

Non-RTP version ~120 MB

RTP-inclusive version ~304 MB



Screenshots:

Gameplay trailer:




more samples...

Spoiler

Baryon boss mini-game

Media:

Spoiler

Review by Redweaver (RPG Maker Monday series)




Ep 1 of Deathspark's Let's Play




Ep 1 of Zevia's Let's Play

The Story:

(first lines)

“I think, therefore I am” – Rene Descartes

A conscious thought is a surest sign that you’re alive. But what exactly is consciousness? And where do we set the boundary between what is sentient and what is not? Is sentience the freedom to make our own choices? Or are they merely the products of cause and effect chains? Or perhaps there’s something else at work… something bigger… more powerful… more intelligent than us…

(/first lines)

In an unknown corner of space, there stands a massive station. This station is wholly automated and is controlled by machines, who constantly work in an attempt to expand this station without questioning its purpose.

The atmosphere on the station had always been peaceful and none of the machines had reasons to challenge its authority. However, as of late things began to change. Those in charge of the station began to act more crudely and more ruthlessly towards the simple workers – reducing their maintenance times, transferring them away from those they deem as friends, and in worst case scenarios, sending them for permanent disposal.

E1 is one of those simple worker robots. Shortly after his romantic interest was transferred to another sector, he banded with a handful of friends in an attempt to find out why things began to change. This quickly attracted the attention of authorities, who will not allow insurgence aboard the station, and who will attempt to catch and dispose of anyone who dares to move out of place.

Playable characters:



Name: E1

Bio: Rather laid-back and reserved. E1 is an honest worker who doesn’t usually ask questions and simply gets things done. Oftentimes he knows what needs to be done and how. However, he also likes to ponder on many things and issues surrounding him and the station.



Name: X3

Bio: Very friendly and outgoing. X3 always tries to be positive and likes to talk a lot about just about anything, especially small talk. He, however, doesn’t like trouble and tends to stay away from it.



Name: B5

Bio: Witty and easygoing. B5, just like all robots of her species, can move really fast and particularly enjoys doing so. She tends to like to do things without worrying about the consequences and oftentimes knows how to support her friends.



Name: K2

Bio: Huge and powerful. K2 is a big, tough robot who likes to get his hands dirty and to achieve goals. He dislikes unfairness and those who exercise power and instead feels protective for his friends.



Name: H6

Bio: Kind and supportive. H6 tends to take things at a steady pace, often stopping to recalculate things if necessary. She and E1 started to experience romantic thoughts towards each other shortly before she was transferred away into another sector.



Name: F9

Bio: Grumpy and cynical. F9 is sick and tired of the injustice that started to happen aboard the station and often tends to express his dissatisfaction out loud, ending up getting in trouble with the authorities.

Credits:

Spoiler

DEVELOPED BY:
Matthew Ashworth (Matseb2611)

SOFTWARE:
RPG Maker VX Ace by Enterbrain

ART:
Enterbrain/Tsukuru
Celianna
Vibrato
IceDragon
Thalzon
Double Period
Timmah
Elise
Matsuo Kaito
Soruve
Revival
Rajavali
Avadan
Matthew Ashworth

MUSIC:
Gyrowolf
Hyde 9318 (RM Coalition)
JDB Artist
Benjamin 'Scythuz' Carr
Kairi Sawler (Blodeuyn)
Jon Jones
Aaron Krogh
Joel Steudler
SoundRay Studio
Jeremiah 'McTricky' George
Alessandro Cornio
Kain Vinosec
Enterbrain
Intelligentsia
Matthew Ashworth

SCRIPTS:
Neon Black
Yanfly
Dekita

STORY and CHARACTERS:
Matthew Ashworth

SPECIAL THANKS:
The Stranger

TESTERS:

The Stranger

Vision_bond

Alessandro Cornio

Cabfe

 

[Matseb2611]

Adding some new things to the main post:

- Two gameplay sample videos

- Two new screenshots

- Edited the general features

Edit: Two more screenshots have been added.

 

[Matseb2611]

Update:

The beta version is out. 

Although it's beta, it's complete and even polished. There will be some minor things being added for the final version (new 'game over' screen, 1-2 more scripts perhaps), but otherwise it's open for feedback in regard to balancing and other suggestions. I hope you enjoy the game!  

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

Seems pretty interesting! Will follow the thread and download the game once I get some time over

 

[Matseb2611]

Thank you very much, and if you have any feedback and/or criticisms, I'd love to hear them and make the necessary changes to the game. 

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

Thank you very much, and if you have any feedback and/or criticisms, I'd love to hear them and make the necessary changes to the game. 

I'll make sure to post my impressions on it for sure, I'll try and play some next weekend

 

[vision_bond]

Hello again, Matseb2611.

I just finished your game and I'm here to give you my humble opinion of it.

I liked it. It is a very entertaining piece of software from beginning to end. Good job.

Here are my thoughts.

Spoiler

*It has an original idea among the hundreds of rpg maker games: Robots instead of the classic RTP characters. Extra points for that.

*The main story is well narrated, flows naturally and is entertaining. It touches some interesting philosophical points. Although I think the sub plots are a little weak. For example, the love story between E1 and H6 is barely touched. The same for the part when the team loses X3.

*I liked almost all the characters.

These have their role well stablished: E1 is our main hero. X3 is our friendly sidekick. H6 is the lady that gives variety to the group of men and the love interest. K2 is our tough guy.

But, in my opinion, you could have gone without the other two, in terms of story development and in terms of gameplay. Namely B5 and F9, but mostly, F9.

B5 because I did not see any special characteristic in her. We already have our healer lady in H6 and she already covers the romance interest role. But I can not remember a particular characteristic of B5.

And this is more notorious with F9. Just by chance I did noticed that he was part of the gang!

Hadron, for me, is a kind of bland enemy, he did not make a great impression in me. and in the end a total wuss. Although I am not really  sure if the last is because I choose the option: "We don't have to fight".

But in the grand scheme of things, the characters fulfill their roles very well.

*I liked the music selection, it gives a good atmosphere to the experience. I specially liked the music from the diamond sector (is that its name?).

*The gameplay is fun, the battles are well-balanced, and the puzzles entertaining. I specially liked the zero gravity concept. The final boss is a motherfu**** but its battle is not unfair.

*The mapping is good. I did not find any tiles with errors on its pasability or anything. The design of the levels flows naturally so i did not get lost, and they have a good atmosphere, specially the last one before the final battle.

*One special mention goes to the credits roll, really fun. Not your typical and boring wall of text that lasts for five minutes.

So I think that's it. A good game overall, and fun to play. I finished it in one gameplay session. I think that is a good sign of how entertaining it is.

I really recommend it.

Good job, Matseb2611.

 

[Matseb2611]

Hello Vision_bond and thank you very much for checking out the game. That's really impressive how you've completed it all in one sitting. I am glad it was that entertaining. Hehe.

Spoiler

You're actually the second person now who said that B5 and F9 aren't developed as well as the others, so I am guessing I might have to give them some more dialogue lines or something. Perhaps they simply didn't get enough chances to speak up, especially F9, since we get him fairly late into the game. Although I tried to introduce him already from one of the early scenes (remember him getting sent for disposal in the beginning by Hadron?)

And yeah, that's a good point about the romance between E1 and H6 as well. I really do need to put another romance scene somewhere in the game...

Hehe. So Hadron's mini-game was really easy, yes? Because that's what I've been told already, so perhaps I should step up the difficulty for it.

Yeah, Diamond sector is the white one that you go to right after rescuing H6. The song in it is by this guy. It's the one called Robot Factory. A very cool track, I agree.

For the zero-gravity puzzles, it uses pretty much the same mechanic as the slippery ice/floor puzzles that many games seem to use (in fact like the one you used in your game as well), except I simply made it fit the futuristic setting more. Glad you liked the puzzles in general. So there weren't any that were excessively hard?

And for the final boss, would you say it's worth turning down his difficulty by at least by a bit?

Hehe and I am very glad that you liked the credit roll. I figured it'd be a good idea to make it something fun so to keep the player till the very end.

Overall, thanks again for checking out this game and managing to complete it. I'll include your name in the beta testers list in the credits.

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

Just wanted to tell you that I have started playing now! I will come back with my thoughts later on

So far, it seems really promising!

Best Regards

~Dark.

 

[vision_bond]

Spoiler

For the zero-gravity puzzles, it uses pretty much the same mechanic as the slippery ice/floor puzzles that many games seem to use (in fact like the one you used in your game as well), except I simply made it fit the futuristic setting more.

Well, yes. I noticed that the game mechanic was made with slippery tiles. What I meant was that changing the concept of ice on the floor, for a zero gravity area, was a clever idea. I liked that.

Glad you liked the puzzles in general. So there weren't any that were excessively hard?

For me, the puzzles were entertaining and had a good amount of difficulty.

And for the final boss, would you say it's worth turning down his difficulty by at least by a bit?

No. Leave the difficulty like that. I said that he was a Motherf***** but also said that the battle was not unfair. For me that's how a final battle is supposed to be.

 

[Matseb2611]

Dark: Thank you and I am glad to hear you're enjoying the game so far. Hopefully you like the rest of the game the same way.

Vision_bond: Excellent, thank you. Your feedback has been very useful and I'll keep in mind all the suggestions when I'll be updating it to the final version. 

 

[vision_bond]

Overall, thanks again for checking out this game and managing to complete it. I'll include your name in the beta testers list in the credits.

Oh, yeah! My name in a game that's not mine. =D

I will do the same with your name in my game. Your comments have been really helpfull.

 

[Matseb2611]

Just wanted to mention that I'll be making the necessary changes to the game very soon and hopefully releasing the complete version sometime at the end of next week. Many thanks to all the beta testers who have given me feedback. If any other testers out there have tried at least a part of the game, then I'll greatly appreciate if you let me know what you thought. Of course the complete version of the game will still be likely to receive changes and updates in the future, but it will no longer be a beta. Thanks for all the support so far! 

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

I'm still playing the game, but I thought I should play some more so I can give some proper feedback before posting it

I havn't had a lot of time to play the game though, but I'll give you my opinions when I'm finished.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still playing it, even though it might take a little while before I'll post my feedback.

 

[Matseb2611]

Dark: Thanks for letting me know. I shall await your feedback before I go on to the next step then. Hope you enjoy the game.  

 

[Matseb2611]

Any more feedback, guys? I'm starting to work on a larger project, so I am going to be trying to get this game fully released by the end of the month or else it will just be left hanging there in the beta. Feel free to leave any more feedback you have and thanks for the support so far.    

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

Any more feedback, guys? I'm starting to work on a larger project, so I am going to be trying to get this game fully released by the end of the month or else it will just be left hanging there in the beta. Feel free to leave any more feedback you have and thanks for the support so far.    

Sorry man, been a bit busy so I havn't had time to play that much. I will try and get the feedback up before the end of the month.

 

[cabfe]

I finally managed to get enough free time to play other RM games and Central Impulse was on my top list.


I must say that I really liked this game. The all-robots environment gives it an unique atmosphere and the musics are well chosen.


Character development could have been a little deeper (I like background stories) but on the other hand, it could break the flow of the game which was great. I was never bored and even had fun, ain't these signs of a good game .


The puzzles were just right. Not too easy, not too hard.


The combats were maybe on the easy side though, but I won't complain given it's what I dislike the most these days. (Well, my own game doesn't have any combat at all).


Oh, and the Auto button was a relief for me !

Spoiler

F9's addition to the party is not the best part, to say the least. It comes rather late and has no particular strong point, so I never used it. Since we have K2 has a good close-combat fighter, maybe making F9 a good long-range could be it.

 

[Matseb2611]

Thank you for checking out the came, Cabfe, and I am very glad to hear that you've enjoyed it for the most part.

 Yeah, I suppose you're right, F9 doesn't seem to contribute much gameplay-wise. The thing is, we already have X3 and H6 as good long-ranged fighters, E1 and B5 are balanced, and K2 is good at close-range, so I figured I needed to make F9 good at close-range too. I was hoping his passive ability (a chance to counterattack) would be his redeeming quality, but now looking back on it, I don't remember it actually ever activating. Perhaps I'll look into it to see why it's not working and maybe give him a new passive ability.

 Thanks for your feedback and I'll add you to the beta testers list in the credits.  

 

[Matseb2611]

UPDATE:

The game has now been updated to the completed version! If any admins or mods are checking this, could you please transfer this thread to the Completed Games forum? Thanks in advance.

Many thanks to everyone who has tried out the beta (even if you haven't gotten a chance to give feedback). From the feedback that I have gotten, I've managed to make as many updates as I possibly could without changing the game too much or ruining the flow.

So here are the updates from the beta version:

- Added a new Game Over screen

- Changed the Battle Start animation

- Added another wave to Hadron's mini-game to make it slightly more challenging (it was too easy before)

- Added a new short scene to the ending just before the Credits

- Changed F9's passive ability to counterattack regular attacks (each enemy has a skill that counts as their default attack) and now at a slightly increased (10%) chance

- Fixed some dialogue in places and other minor issues

 

Enjoy the game!