[DEMO] Lost Legend: Dawn of the Managate

[Nanaki_Fan]

-Lost Legend-
Dawn of the Managate

DEMO DOWNLOAD
v2.1.1

NOTE: The demo is approx 2 hours long.


Synopsis/Plot

Spoiler

Lost Legend: Dawn of the Managate.

Set in the world of Al’erra Lost Legend: Dawn of the Managate (Managate) is a Fantasy RPG adventure set in the style of the early Final Fantasy games on the SNES. Side view battles, detailed maps, magical attack’s and supporting a Focus System, Managate aims to recreate that old school nostalgia with story driven adventures that many of today’s modern epics seem to lack.

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

The story begins with the Sages, a group off powerful Mages who collect and study magic, watching over Al’erra, vowing never to use their magic to interfere in world affairs. Such is their dedication to watching and not interacting that one of the Sages, Garlath, grows bored. His lust for power and control over Al’erra sees him secretly build the Managate. A powerful gem that grants unimaginable power to the person who wields it.


Near its completion the Gem’s, Garlath feeds it some of his own power which brings it to the attention of the Sage’s. Determined to stop him they kill Garlath but it’s too late. The Gem is finished and two powerful to be destroyed.


In an attempt to negate its power and prevent it falling into the wrong hands the Sages divide the Gem into four smaller parts and go into hiding around the world in an attempt to allow time to fade the Gem from existence…..


Hundreds of years later, the nations of Al’erra had entred into a war and currently two major powers, Bisdan and Dinale, sit in an unofficial ceasefire. A Paladin of Bisdan has learnt the location of one of the shards that belongs to the Managate and seeks to use it to put an end to the war but things may not appear to be what they are.


You play as a young warrior whose path crosses that of the Managate. As events unfold you uncover a terrible plot that could end the ceasefire and bring about the end of Al’erra. Discover the truth behind the war and prevent the Managate from being made whole.

Characters

Spoiler

Rhul

The Main character. A young man who is bored of the small town he lives in. Lives with his Grandfather after losing both his parents at a young age.Always looking for adventure and jumps at the chance. Very rash and inexperienced with limited knowledge of the world outside his village.

Fletch

Master archer Fletch, a playable character who joins Rhul to discover why the Orcs are rampaging through his forest. There is more to Fletch than he lets on. He has the ability to summon his pet wolf Greyback, Scan enemies to reveal their stats and basic healing knowledge.


Greyback

Fletch's wolf companion. While not a playable character Fletch can summon him into battle. His level matches that with Fletch's and thus grows as Fletch does.

Gizmo

A techno-mage. Specialist in gadgets she wields a pistol and electric spells to overcome her foes. Hired by the Queen to assist Professor Whiskers [place holder name], Whom she idolizes, in researching the Managate and possible site locations/links to the gate.

Morgana



Mage. Seeks to learn the arts of the Sages of old. Uses offensive and defensive magic. [NOTE: not yet in game, just a character concept]

Lance

Paladin of Bisdan. Hero of the people and champion of Light.....or at least he was. Seeking the Managate to prevent the tyrant rule of the Queen of Dinale and to save his land. Skilled in both Sword and Holy magic.

Gameplay/Features

Spoiler

- Side view battle system

- Character specific euips

- Summonable companion

- Focus system (this is similar to a Limit break/overdrive attack)

- Random encounters

- Secret areas, traps, puzzles!

Current stage

Spoiler

I have over 80 maps done and lot of story updates/changes from the last time I posted. Its in "DEMO" stage but a lot more needs to be done before I move to the next plot area.


The Demo is currently at 2 hours game play.

Eventually I would like a commercial release.

Screenshots

Spoiler

Credits

Spoiler

Enterbrain

Scripts


Yanfly

Dekita


Yami

Seer

Galv

Majirefy

TheoAllen

Selchar

Z3R0X505

Snow

Venka

DoctorTodd

Rbahamut

KilloZapit

Soulpour777

Zeusx81

Raizen

Hime


Resources

Holder

-RyU-/White Patisserie

captainproton

Candacis

Vitamindog

makio kuta

Relaypointmaterial - Vibrato

PandaMaru

Matseb2611

fenixfyreX

Kazzador

Avery

Archeia

EvilEagles

Thalzon

Closet:

スタッフロールへの記載
　・素材改造物に関しては、配布元の指示に従ってください。
　・RTP改造物については、任意です。
　・いれてくださる場合の配布元とURLはこちらです。
　　【CLOSET

Hiddenone

Karanum

Deebs


RainbowGrenade

Dainiri.Art

Music

Selected tracks from:

"RPG MAKER DS Resource Pack"

By Archeia and EvilEagles


"Tears of Sorrow"

From "Fantasy Music Pack"

by Murray Atkinson

"Foreboding Starlight"

By "Radiant Cadenza Studios"

Composed by Malcolm Jones

From The RPG Maker Community DLC


“Investigation”

“Isolation”

by Eric Matyas

www.soundimage.org

Testers

Dave Norton

JAD94

Milennin

Abe109

Version History:

Spoiler

Change log for Version 2.1.1


Fixed:
-Missing glow for Save crystals in Forest glade and Mountain pass.
- Missing background for skip cut scene text.
- Fixed miss-aligned text for save crystal tutorial.


Tweaked:
- Changed Book Faceset for tutorials/guides.
- Changed Fancy red Chest in Grandpa Home and Basement to wooden chest.
- Added extra dialogue to Save Crystal tutorial.
- Added Book Face to Save Crystal tutorial.
- Adjusted the price of antidotes from 20g to 15g
- Hornets, Spiders, Giant spiders and Flowing flesh vines have their drop rates for antidotes increased.
- Increased the damage of Rhul's Focus attack
- Reduced the power of Fletch's Focus attack
- Reduced the attack power of Fletch's Skills
- Re-balanced Fletch's bows to prevent overpowering character early on.


Added:
- Game Control tutorial and book in Grandpas house.
- Game control book is a key item.
- Added Save Crystal to Orc Bridge Cave.
- Skill merchant now has a normal "wares" section.


New in Version 2.0.0:


Characters:


- Gizmo has been completely redone. She no longer uses "claw" weapons but instead focuses on Pistols and gadgets. She can equip a "side arm" that allows access to a double shot; some pistols unlock new elemental skills too.


- Fletch has had some balancing worked done, with damage and skill costs adjusted. He became very powerful at a very quick pace and these changes have been made to reduce that power play.


- Fletch can no longer wear shields, but he can now equip quivers which affect his damage output.


- Rhul had some tweaks done and now starts with a skill. His skill costs have been re-done and has access to a few new skills


- All playable characters have a "bust" in the menu now. This was to make the menu stand out a bit more.


- Greyback now has a skill. When his FP is high enough he will use that skill randomly.


Menus:


- The main menu has a slight update, mentioned above. It will show characters busts, thanks to Galv's menu script. It just provides a different menu screen to make the game a little bit more unique.


- Equip menu has changed and uses Yanfly's More equips. This is so Gizmo and Fletch can use their new equipment.


Items:


- Most items have been re-balanced both in effect and cost.


- Potions are harder to obtain outside of shops. Before nearly every enemy dropped a potion guaranteed. Most now don't drop them and those that do have a lower drop rate than before.


- New "drinks" have been added. The starting Inn will sell Ale but not Elderberry Wine. Elderberry Wine can still be obtain through other means until you reach port town where it will be sold. (NOTE: Port Town is not accessible in the DEMO.)


- New status healing items added to cure things such as blindness, paralysis and what not.


- New weapons, armor and accessories added to the game.


Enemies:


- All enemies have been re balanced.


- Flowering Vines reduced in Forest areas.


- Vines reduced in non-forest areas.


- Vines and Flowering vines have new skills and skill animations.


- Orcs tweaked to provide more of a challenge and loot levels decreased.


- New Ogre boss added to Orc Hills


- Many other small tweaks.


- Bisdan soldiers have a bit more of a presence in the Orc Hills.


Maps:


- Most maps have had a refresh with more detail added.


- Some smaller maps have had expansions making them more worthwhile exploring.


- New secret areas.


- Most chest found in maps have been tweaked to provide a more balancing game play. High powered items completely removed.


- New areas


Quests:


- Bluefoil quest has been tweaked. Mostly dialogue stuff


- Chasing Rabbits quest added.


- Tutorials added for: fighting, save crystals, barrels & urns, Inns.


- Skip option added for Opening Cut Scene and Fighting Tutorial.


- Orc Skull quest added. Find three orcs performing a ritual, interrupt it and chase them down. Decide if you want to finish their ritual.


Dialogue:


-Many many spelling and grammar fixes.


- Mayor dialogue expanded


- More background for Rhul, Fletch and Gizmo in various dialogues


- NPC's now give useful information


- Many books in Vendale provide information.


- Some NPC's have different dialogue depending on whats happened.


Other stuff:


- Mini game added to the Tower.


- Barrels and Urns rewards tweaked. Harder to get stuff now.


- Interaction with more objects/people.


- Skill animations tweaked.


- Music for different scenes tweaked.


- Extended opening cut scene.


OLDER VERSION HISTORY


Version 10:


- Fixed game breaking bug in Tower entrance


- Fixed bug where event was blocking the path of another event causing it to freeze


- Tweaked Imp events to now have battle on touch


- Improved parallax in tower forest


- Fixed church parallax error causing altar to appear on all maps


- Added new maps/areas.


- Added new secret area


- Fixed Fletch Spider dialogue


- Added new enemies and one new boss
- Fixed some spelling in Grandpa hurt scene
- Added new items



Version 9:

- fixed falling rocks
- added new sprite/face for lance
- more unique sprites and faces for NPC's
- expanded opening story
- expanded opening orc attack
- side quest in vendale relates to events in vendale
- tweaked greyback encounter
- added cave escape scene
- expanded lance scene
- added more imp encounters
- tweaked Revive to give more health back.
- add more clutter to Vendale houses where needed
- tweaked mayor dialogue to reflect new storyline
- fixed old mill event issuie with orcs
- fixed bisdan knight in lower tower (no longer crashes)
- fixed crash when talking to gizmo
- fixed crash when leaving caves after escape scene
- fixed bug with spider bite on spiders.
- added useful information for some status effects at start of game.
- expanded grandpa dialogue and storyline
- lowered giant rat agility
- Green haired boy in vendale no longer obscures path
- lowered pricing of all goods in shop to be more afordable
- lowered INN price in Vendale to 5 gold
- Changed item in the well to a lower grade versions
- fixed some dialogue
- tweaked stats of some armor and weapons to be more balancing
- Opening Sage sprites now match faces correctly
- removed dash restrictions on interior maps
- fixed imp statue events, now will spawn correctly
- changed cave collapse. Flows alot better now.
- Added some new music tracks.
- added translation puzzle to help pick a chest in the tower
- Gizmo given further dialogue
- Inn's no longer revive dead players
- Inn's offer "well rested bonus" (increads EXP gain by 0.5%,
double gold and increase preemptive attacks)
-Fixed expanded scene's dialogue


Version 8:

- fixed more spelling and grammer
- fixed dialogue boxes cutting text
- fixed large gaps in sentences
- removed quest log as caused crashes
- added side quest in vendale
- added more dialogue for mayor
- grandpa has dialogue for when mayor sends you to find orcs
- fixed fletch dialogue
- tweaked giant rat stats
- tweaked lance to be a bit less over powered
- tweaked giant spider stats and attacks
- fixed walking over cliff errors
- fixed missing parallax in orc pass
- greyback battle sprite matches new map sprite.
- add battlebacks to missing maps
- changed world map music
- added encounters to world map
- Added new beastiary images for flesh vines and spiders
- lowered the price of crystal shards from 200G to 100G
- critical hits now do double damage rather than triple damage

Version 7:

- Changed FP potions to correct percentages
- Fixed Typo in FP potions.
- Greyback is now automated in combat.
- Removed Battle Order as it was causing a Crash to desktop (CTD) when greyback was summoned
- Tweaked the Lance beaten scene
- Added new music to title screen
- Added new boss music to Lance battle.
- Added save point to Under Tower
- Added option to save game after battle with Lance.
- Added one new map
- Added random enemies to tower levels

Version 6:

- Removed TP (tactical points) and replaced with FP (Focus points)
- Added FP bar to menu and status menu
- FP carries over to other battles
- New experience bar in Status Menu (no longer text based, instead has progressive bar)
- Fixed spacing in gaming controls tutorial
- fixed issuie with campfire in Orc Pass map.
- Fixed pink squares in forest
- Fixed Parallax graphics in grandpa's basement and Vendale INN
- Fixed bug in Cave pass that caused a crash to desktop
- Lance now has new loot drops including exp and gold.
- Fixed orc drop rates
- Fixed Bisdan soldier drop rates
- New window skin
- Changed price of Knife from 100 to 50 gold
- Changed makx FP to 150 (from 100, for balancing reasons)
- FP bar is now seperate from MP bar in battles
- Fixed Under Caverns path system
- Lance Boss battle tweaked. Now tougher.
- Giant spider tweaked to be tougher.
- Fletch now starts at level 2
- Added Guardian Scene at end of Lance battle.
- Fixed animated enemies appearing halfway
- Added scan skill to fletch
- Updated tutorials to reflect the use of FP and Scan skill
- Fixed Giant Spider tutorial bug.
- Added Battle Order system in battles to make it easier to see combat turns.
- Gizmo now starts at level 4
- Gizmo and Fletch now have starting gear
- Tweaked defence values of some armor to bring more in line with new sets.
- removed test events from players house.
- Fixed door bugs at Old Well farm.
- external updates to old well farm
- Fixed flickering of Fires in Old Well Farm.
- Increased troop numbers in orc battles at old well farm.
- Changed Greyback sprite to match his face set.


Older versions:

- New creatures: spiders, giant spiders, orc mages, knights, bats
- Hornets have a new sprite.
- Tutorial information updated.
- mini tutorial on controls when out of bed
- updated cut scene. New visuals, tidy boxes, uniformed text etc...
- pause function. Pressin ALT will pause the game.
- Pause graphic and music.
- Barrels and urns now can be broken and have a chance of minor loot.
- In later areas loot drops barrels and urns will increase in value.
- In later areas loot drops from barrels and urns can spawn monsters.
- New skills for the classes too many to list
- New playable character added
- New summonable playable character added as skill to new PC
- over 35 areas to explore!
- New world map
- New items such as fire runes ect
- Balanced starting creatures
- Balanced starting orc attack, lower power but bit more health
- RAT BOSS has health increase but attack power decreased to prevent one shot kills on both sides
- Rats now have a chance to drop potions and antidotes.
- Many areas now have lighting effects.
- light above well now dissapears when suposed too.
- Mayor dialogue sorted
- descriptions for items and names fixed
- Guard battle tutorial updated with some new features and info
- New tutorial in forest for "focus attack" system.
- Focus attack system: Like limit breaks from FF7. When you get to 100 tp you can use a powerful attack instead of normal attack.
- Visual notificiations for when Focus attack is avalible.
- New merchant who sells skills
- Gold icon added to gold rewarded after battle
- Heal when level up
- Guards toughed up and now have more skills including heal to help out in Orc siege.
- Guards will heal after each of the battles in vendale to help player stay alive.
- balanced loot in starting areas
- Secret caves added
- all houses in Vendal now have "interiors"
- Important map names displayed on screen when entering area (I.e Vendale)
- Gold icon now shows next to gold in Menu
- New system menu allowing for auto dash, change colour settings and exit game command
- New game over screen allowing to load last save, return to title or exit game.
- Improved and added to gramps dialogue to flesh out character.
- fixed picture overlay for paralax mapping (game engine fault. Awesome workaround. Basically means wont see overlay pictures from one map to another)
- Fixed collision errors in Vendale cliffs.
- Fixed mapping in tower area.
- Spider boss path-grid fixed along with balancing
- All skills now have animations attached: when casting spell wave sword in the air. When using skill step forward ect...)
- added new item: Camping gear. Allows you to fully heal outside of battle.
- RAT boss sprite fixed. No more random "dots" floating above it.
- Character expressions added. Some (Not all) characters will have diffrent expression "faces" show up. I.e looking shocked, sad ect...
- using life up no longer requires healing afterwards
- Old man willows dialogue speed corrected
- Willow farmhouse and store house light overlays from outside fixed.
- Willow farm storehouse door connection on exit fixed, no longer get stuck
- Fletch (archer) no longer starts with all skills.
- Focus potions fixed so no longer used on everyone in battle.
- Added more stock to traveling merchant.
- Fixed missing bushes in glade map
- reworked and fixed tags/code for all of fletches attacks. Should now work.
- Fixed dialogue in the Glade area
- Fixed spelling on antidote in "Grandpa's basement"
- Screen transfers (the things that allow you to move from one map to another) have been added all along "Glade area" map edge
- Changed some light settings in forest areas
- 4 new areas to explore. (3 caves areas below tower and "tower ground" area"
- Progressed the story line and added more dialogue for characters
- improved the various skills for the class types
- Made Lance tougher (new boss )
- added lighting to Save crystal in Vendale
- Removed axe as a possible drop weapon from orcs
- Added lighting to Mayors house in Vendale
- Added lighting to Weapon shop in Vendale

----->DEMO DOWNLOAD<-----

NOTE: Demo is approx 2 hours long.



​

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

I am working on trying to get a demo up guys and girls as I feel this would generate more interest. Please bare with me.

In further news I have created a few more maps and fixed a lot of mapping issues I had when tinkering with my tile-sets.

 

[Kes]

I hope this doesn't come across as being merely pedantic, but if you want to generate maximum interest, you can't afford for any aspect to look less than professional, especially if your ultimate aim is to go commercial.  Yet in your opening post and even in your short second post, there are lots of spelling and grammatical errors.  Could I suggest you get someone to proofread your posts and then edit them?  It will also help you to start spotting similar errors in the game itself.  If you are making these sorts of errors in your thread, it is likely that they will also be present in your game dialogue.

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

I hope this doesn't come across as being merely pedantic, but if you want to generate maximum interest, you can't afford for any aspect to look less than professional, especially if your ultimate aim is to go commercial.  Yet in your opening post and even in your short second post, there are lots of spelling and grammatical errors.  Could I suggest you get someone to proofread your posts and then edit them?  It will also help you to start spotting similar errors in the game itself.  If you are making these sorts of errors in your thread, it is likely that they will also be present in your game dialogue.

Not pedantic at all. My first post was written quite late at night and to be honest only scanned over it once done.

My second post was done in haste as I am currently using my phone whilst waiting for a train

I've gone through the posts and corrected some spelling and grammar. Though will go through it in more detail when I am home. Hopefully the current edits will make it seem less foolish and more polished.

 

[CrazyCrab]

Hmm, I really like your use of tints and the mapping is pretty neat. Lots of detail. 

That said that ray is a bit distracting and a little bit too bring in some screenshots, like in the burning village one.

In the same screenshot its also a bit weird how small the houses are, the barrel is just as high... if its not some gnome village you may want to make it 2 tiles high for consistency's sake, unless all your houses are that high - in that case it's not really too big of a problem and it would just take too much time to change with that many maps. The ''2D'' screenshot in the cave looks a bit confusing, as it seems to be from the side instead the top? Looks pretty cool though.

Anyway, looks quite promising, keep it up.

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

Hmm, I really like your use of tints and the mapping is pretty neat. Lots of detail. 

That said that ray is a bit distracting and a little bit too bring in some screenshots, like in the burning village one.

In the same screenshot its also a bit weird how small the houses are, the barrel is just as high... if its not some gnome village you may want to make it 2 tiles high for consistency's sake, unless all your houses are that high - in that case it's not really too big of a problem and it would just take too much time to change with that many maps. The ''2D'' screenshot in the cave looks a bit confusing, as it seems to be from the side instead the top? Looks pretty cool though.

Anyway, looks quite promising, keep it up.

Thanks for the feedback. I have fixed the house in the screenshot to 2 tiles high.

The "2D" cave is from the side not the top. It was me experimenting with parallax and perspective techniques. As most of the caves are standard top down I wanted something a bit more classic 2D for the area to make it more unique.

 

[Lunawolfcomics]

I like the story, it seems really interesting and plot driven. Lance, fletch and greyback especially caught my attention. I love the concept of a good guy turned bad. Is he completly bad? Or will he turn good again? Maybe this could be a possible good bad ending. Maybe set a variable or event that determines whether the player gets a good or bad ending. One ending lance helps you, one ending lance is like the final villain. Just food for thought.

Also the concept of having a summon that evolves with you is really interesting! I can't wait to see how that plays out.

The maps and levels are absolutely beautiful I love the lighting effects! Well done on that! I look forward to playing the demo

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

I like the story, it seems really interesting and plot driven. Lance, fletch and greyback especially caught my attention. I love the concept of a good guy turned bad. Is he completly bad? Or will he turn good again? Maybe this could be a possible good bad ending. Maybe set a variable or event that determines whether the player gets a good or bad ending. One ending lance helps you, one ending lance is like the final villain. Just food for thought.

Also the concept of having a summon that evolves with you is really interesting! I can't wait to see how that plays out.

Do you plan on uploading video game play? I'd love to see how the battles look and the other maps.

Lance comes across as a bad guy. You learn a little bit about him but at the moment its still up in the air as to whether he is good or bad

The summon was an idea I had and I found some tutorials and scripts to help. He is meant as an extra character without being to over powered.

I tried to record some footage but for some reason the sound did not carry over

EDIT:

Been testing a new battle system:

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

Been working on a major update to my game.

Having read a fair amount of feedback, reviews, idea threads, gripe threads (you know the ones where people talk about what they hate in a RPG), I have decided to re-vamp my TP system.

One complaint I keep seeing on the forums is the TP default system and how it doesn't make sense that someone "forgets" how to use a move until enough TP is gained and how it doesn't carry over to other battles. I decided I too don't like this. I thought about completely removing the TP system altogether but I found a use for it; to be honest I was already using it just with all the other stuff too.

In the new version TP has changed to FP (Focus points) and is used as a Limit break/Overdrive system instead. With the FP (TP) limit being raised from 100 to 150pts to compensate for overpowered game play in short/small battles.

Instead of skills using TP I have now made every skill in my game use MP and reserved a few high end skills (hidden until max FP (TP) has been reached (changing the dynamics of the game). The inspiration was of the limit break system from FF7 and the overdrive system from FFX. Thanks to a wonderful script by Selchar this is a reality.

What do you think?

 

[Kes]

As I am one of the regular 'gripers' about the default TP system, I applaud your willingness to do something different.

My question about having every skill use MP is this.  In your game, does MP = magic?  If it does, how does it affect your characters that they are now all magic users?  What about those characters who only have physical skills?

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

As I am one of the regular 'gripers' about the default TP system, I applaud your willingness to do something different.

My question about having every skill use MP is this.  In your game, does MP = magic?  If it does, how does it affect your characters that they are now all magic users?  What about those characters who only have physical skills?

This is something I have been thinking on.

In my game MP = Mystic Points. Everyone has a "Mystic Force" which attunes to their personality, traits and skills. So a warrior will have their "Mystic Force" emerge with a more "strength based skill set". While someone who studies and learns to manipulate their mystic force in attune with nature will have a more "elemental - magic skill set"

Some skills can also be learned/taught that are physical but have that elemental skill set i.e Fire slash, Thunder Arrow etc.

So even "physical attackers" have to have some sort of "MP pool"

EDIT: Its mentioned briefly in the start of my game that the mystic force exists in everyone and talking to some NPC's reveal that not everyone can use it. To me its a more of a back seat "lore" rather than an upfront, story/plot device that needs massive explanation in the game. But there are some hints/snip bits of info for the player to learn about.

EDIT 2: New system!

Scrap all that I found a way for TP to carry over and a way to display the TP bar in the menu. I am now going to us TP as the physical version of MP. While TP can only still be gained in battle it will carry over to the next battle.

Skills will still use TP and items and skills can be used to add to the TP pool. Focus attacks (my  versions of limit breaks) will still require a 100% TP bar (i.e a full TP gauge) in order to be used. I am also changing TP to FP (Focus Points) to fit with this.

 

[Lunawolfcomics]

Liking the looks of the new battle system

My project had the same issue with the default TP system, and I got some feedback saying that having the party lose their TP after every battle was pointless. So

I just set every character to reserve their TP. For balancing purposes I just slightly raised the TP costs for moves

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

Liking the looks of the new battle system

My project had the same issue with the default TP system, and I got some feedback saying that having the party lose their TP after every battle was pointless. So

I just set every character to reserve their TP. For balancing purposes I just slightly raised the TP costs for moves

Thanks.

Its really strange that more people don't make the TP follow over. It's a function built into the RPG MAKER.

Have you got a TP bar for the menu yet?

EDIT:

I know I promised a demo but I have just been going through it and there's some things I want to change/fix.

As it stands there is about 2 hours of game play so when its ready to be released it will be a long demo.

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

Hello everyone,

I know you are all waiting on a DEMO but I am currently working on re-balancing the game from some major changes with the TP (FP) system.

I am also currently re-writing the Intro scene to make it neater and flow better.

I have also just implemented a Difficulty choice mode. You now have two modes to pick from at the start of the game:

Normal mode - the game as is.

Hard mod - Enemies are 2x stronger, but you earn exp and gold 2x faster. I have also tweaked the starting stats and equipment to reflect this harder mode so the RATS quest can be completed without hassle.

Another feature I am testing is a LORE menu that shows history, places and terms. However I am struggling to get this to work correctly so might remove it.

 

[Lunawolfcomics]

Loving the new intro cut scene, looks fantastic! And the standard/hard mode you told me about is a really creative touch! Can't wait to play the new demo!

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

Loving the new intro cut scene, looks fantastic! And the standard/hard mode you told me about is a really creative touch! Can't wait to play the new demo!

I am just working out some new kinks and doing some updates. New demo will be ready later

 

[abe109]

GAME REVIEW:

-Highlights: First of all I don´t usually have compliments for a combat based game using RPG Maker but surprisingly this time around I actually do.

I enjoyed the combat with the rats and even the first tutorial- it is easy for the user to go through and fun. Although the first Giant Rat evades

way too much I almost ran out of pots on normal mode which could have easily killed the entire walkthrough for me.

I enjoyed the combat- I was fully entertained, the music is very nice as well. The basement was well mapped, although I would have liked it

to be bigger.

The biggest suggestion would be to NOT USE the character sprites and faces that come with the default software, go to char generator

and make custom characters for your game. Also the intro should also have a sad part to instead of ONLY battle based theme.

I feel like the whole game had a battle based theme to it.

Also please don´t use the Hit physical animation on the map screen- not a beautiful animation at all and detriments the beauty of the game.

More to come later.

-Green haired guy on first town map blocked my way for a FULL 5 MINUTES

-Innkeeper doesn´t tell you how much it costs to rent a room- she actually does say it!!! DID I READ THAT RIGHT?? if it´s 20 g that´s ridiculous it should be cheaper what if player has no gold left

- The stuff in the shop is the default RPG maker stuff.. I ALWAYS make my own unique game items with unique stat boosts.

-Most people -myself included hate random encounters. Why not just let them use the action button when they want to engage in battle and otherwise let some monster sprites roam around a specific area. not random walking sprites cause they can cause trouble like mr green hair.

-I find the potion ridiculously overpriced as well as the inn. also the INN- should be like the pokemon center where you heal for free or for 1 gold.

so here we go

Combat:   3/5

Music:   4/5

Story:   3/5

Gameplay:  4/5

Custom Content:   1/5

After the first 20 minutes of gametime I still don´t feel engaged.

I use a music maker program for my music and I try to make char sprites in the char generator.

That´s just a first step. Adding some graphic animations as well would be nice - custom tilesets are a good start.

Lighting effects would also be great there´s always Kah´s awesome light effects but you can watch

a quick tutorial on lighting effects without the need for scripts.

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

-Highlights: First of all I don´t usually have compliments for a combat based game using RPG Maker but surprisingly this time around I actually do.

I enjoyed the combat with the rats and even the first tutorial- it is easy for the user to go through and fun. Although the first Giant Rat evades

way too much I almost ran out of pots on normal mode which could have easily killed the entire walkthrough for m

I thought I solved the rat evasion problem! Guess I need to further lower his agility.

I enjoyed the combat- I was fully entertained, the music is very nice as well. The basement was well mapped, although I would have liked it

to be bigger.

Thanks, the music is a mixture of default and custom packs. Eventually I want the entire game made with custom packs, or with as little default music as possible.

The biggest suggestion would be to NOT USE the character sprites and faces that come with the default software, go to char generator

and make custom characters for your game. Also the intro should also have a sad part to instead of ONLY battle based theme.

Most of the characters in the first town do use the default faces/sprites. Off the top of my head only 3 characters use custom/modified faces and sprites. The first one being the farmer when you leave town.

AS for the sad part. Hmm I have an idea for this and I will need to tweak a fair bit of the later game to reflect it, but we shall see.

I feel like the whole game had a battle based theme to it.

Also please don´t use the Hit physical animation on the map screen- not a beautiful animation at all and detriments the beauty of the game.

It does to an extent. The beginning is meant to have a sort of urgency/threat to it.

Better get rid of the hit animations then! Just wanted a visual way of the Orcs being beaten as opposed to just disappearing after being fought.

-Green haired guy on first town map blocked my way for a FULL 5 MINUTES

-Innkeeper doesn´t tell you how much it costs to rent a room- she actually does say it!!! DID I READ THAT RIGHT?? if it´s 20 g that´s ridiculous it should be cheaper what if player has no gold left

I shall move him. That's the second person to get annoyed with him.

I shall lower the cost of renting the room in the starting town. In most classic RPG's INN's require 5-80G to rent.

- The stuff in the shop is the default RPG maker stuff.. I ALWAYS make my own unique game items with unique stat boosts.

-Most people -myself included hate random encounters. Why not just let them use the action button when they want to engage in battle and otherwise let some monster sprites roam around a specific area. not random walking sprites cause they can cause trouble like mr green hair.

-I find the potion ridiculously overpriced as well as the inn. also the INN- should be like the pokemon center where you heal for free or for 1 gold.

Most of the stuff in the shop is generic, such as the healing items. There are some uniques such as campfires and crystal shards though. I can see about tweaking the more generic stuff or add in more unique items.

In the weapon shop while they have the same name and icons I can assure you some if not most are tweaked. Most early armors have had their defense ratings dropped 1 or 2 points and the weapons also have been tweaked this way. Some stuff such as worn bandana and rusty knife are new.

I understand why some people hate random encounters, however this is being based on some very classic RPG's such as Final Fantasy and Shadow Hearts. I would like to stay as close to these themes as possible.

All items in the shop need a price over haul if I am to be honest. I will see to it

After the first 20 minutes of gametime I still don´t feel engaged.

I use a music maker program for my music and I try to make char sprites in the char generator.

That is a shame, there is so much more to see/do. I am going to work on some of the suggestions above and hopefully make you want to stick with the game.

Which music maker would that be? I would be interested in seeing this. I have used the Char Generator to make some characters but like I said its not many.

That´s just a first step. Adding some graphic animations as well would be nice - custom tilesets are a good start.

Lighting effects would also be great there´s always Kah´s awesome light effects but you can watch

a quick tutorial on lighting effects without the need for scripts.

Indeed it is. I am using parallax mapping in most of the maps and a lot of the early maps use the standard tile-sets. I have tweaked a lot of the default ones and while its not apparent I can tell you - the differences are there.

I am indeed using light effects. From the forest onwards there are sun beams, light effects, screen tints, shadows.

I want to thank you for your review, it has given me a lot to think on and has shown me some of the more annoying things in my game. Such as that rat and the green hair boy! I assure you that your review will be taken on board and look into adding more custom sprites and graphics.

-N-

EDIT:

With your review I made the following changes:

I have lowered rat boss agility and removed agility bonus.

I have changed the green haired boy's move route.

Changed a few NPC's to non-default sprites thanks to some DLC packs I brought as well as character generated custom sprites and face sets.

NOTE: some major characters such as Grandpa and Mayor still use defaults.

Changed a playable character you get later to a custom made sprite and face set (only two playable characters are now default)

Lowered the pricing off all goods in the shop to be more affordable.

Lowered INN price to 5G

Changed the item in the well to a lower grade one

Fixed some dialogue

 

[Milennin]

I'll be writing comments then as I play through the demo:

-Why the need to explain difficulty using so many unnecessary textboxes? This kind of thing can be done in 1 or 2 textboxes at maximum.

-Not sure if I like the music changing when I pause, that seems unusual. Isn't it more common to let the music continue to play or mute the game instead?

-I'll go with hard, but only because I dislike grinding, so getting double EXP is more appealing.

-In the intro cutscene there is a bald NPC, but none of the people speaking are bald in the textbox images.

-Disabling dash is a gamemaking sin.

-Dash should have an on/off toggle as well.

-The classic kill X rats quest.

-Starting off without a skill is a gamemaking sin.

-This game could benefit from a script that speeds up battle animations.

-Oh, hidden passage.

-The bonus on Short Sword is pretty huge, considering it's a hidden item.

-Nice, full heal on mini-boss fight.

-Lol, smashing all the pots and barrels in the village.

-Found a secret cave.

-Found an old shield inside the well.

-Why random encounters now?

-Died after party failed to escape four times in a row from a random encounter, leaving it at that.

To start with the things I didn't like:

Not being able to save anywhere and not being able to dash wherever I want nor having an option to toggle dash are both bad. There is no reason for these to exist since the only thing they do is disrespect the player's time.

I might have wanted to continue playing after dying from the encounter I wanted to escape from, but dying and starting over at the last save point, no thanks to that. That's just a waste of time. The same goes for not being able to dash. I might want to explore your interior maps, but with the slow walking speed I'll just do what I need to do and get out as soon as I can.

Before I get countered with the argument that not being able to save anywhere makes your game more difficult, that is not true. Difficulty is determined by the challenge your encounters provide, not by testing your player's patience.

Also starting out with no skills is bad. This could have been remedied by the skill I learn at level 2, but all that does is replace my auto-attack. There were no moments where I was not able to use it, and using it seemed to have no downside to using it over auto-attack.

Just because it's the beginning of the game doesn't mean that it has to be made boring. If I get a skill at the beginning, at least give me choices when or when not to use it. But if all it does is replace auto-attack, then that's no better than not having skills at all and using auto-attack instead.

But at least the encounters didn't last too long, most of them were over in a few turns. The only thing I'd like to see is a script that speeds up battle animations. Especially if you expect the player to grind at times, it would be helpful to have things go by faster.

As for the good stuff. Well, the mapping was pretty decent, considering most/all of it seemed being made with RTP. There's a good amount of detail without overdoing it, and none of the maps were too big or too small either. Hidden stuff like the cave and the well are also cool, that makes me want to explore. And smashing pots and barrels is always a good thing in my book.

The cliché-ridden story, while full of stuff that we've already seen a thousand times, it doesn't try to pretend to be more than it is. It doesn't take itself too serious, but at the same time it's not parodying the tropes either, so I like that.

Well, I've only played the first bit, but it seemed like an alright game that just needs some polish. People into the more classic RPG style of games would probably enjoy it.

 

[Nanaki_Fan]

Hmmm  the dash thing. I removed it from some interiors but I guess I can put that back in!

There is an auto-dash feature. Its in the menu under systems.

Never thought about having a skill at level 1. Interesting point about that and the skill at level 2. It would seem I need to make the resource costs a little bit higher and jiggle the levels around.

AS to the saving. I disabled saving everywhere to force people to think. It was not to make it more challenging but rather more of a "ok havnt' saved for a while, do I go back? Oh a save point ahead, why is is there? A boss maybe?"

There are save crystals all around the game. The three starting ones are in the basement, in the town and the second forest map. To counter not being able to save anywhere I put in crystal shards that allow this function, in the new demo I am working on they have had their price dropped to reflect the scarcity of save crystals available to the player....so I am working on it

I will add another save crystal to the Farmers Mill and outside the forest to help new players.

Random encounters start outside of the town. The only fights in the town are the Rats and the Orcs which are evented. One thing I have noticed is that the Flesh Vines are encountered in the first areas. This is a mistake as they are a bit over powered. They should only appear in the forest.

The maps, especially the early ones are mostly RTP but I am glad you like them.

I am glad you like the barrels and urns being smash-able. I wasn't sure how people would take to that.

There is alot of hidden stuff. I am a big fan of the old school find and seek RPG's. Your curious about everything on the map - you seriously clicking activate on everything? Ok here's a reward for your keen sense of exploration: That's how I see it.

Thank you for your review, I shall take what you have said and see how I can implement it. The dash feature will return for all maps!

As for the difficulty menu it was just a hey choose your difficulty. But then people wanted to know what the difference between the two were. I added an explanation. I then added a summary. To shorten it I could remove the summary.

Bold guy in the into? Ah! you mean the old man. Yes thats a bug until I make a matching sprite.

EDIT:

following changes made thanks to your review:

- opening sprites fixed to match faces

- more non-rpt sprites/faces in game

- no dash restrictions on maps