[Demo] The messenger and the cursed one

[Nirwanda]

My first project thread ever *shivers*


Opening:


This game was originally planned for  the birthday bash event, but due to time constraints I asked for it to be moved to the project development sub forum.


For the event I chose to bring back from the dead one of my earliest concepts; in "The messenger and the cursed one" you'll take the role of Riev, a misterious wanderer who has to deliver a life or death message. He is joined by a cursed woman, and hounded at every step by brigands and law enforcement alike for there is a price on his head. The story is mostly a tale of friendship I don't intend to make some grand epic, but to make you care about these people. Hopefully, I've succeded at least partially. The original concept included a branching storyline, but I've settled on one storyline during the early develpment stages of the game and I'm very happy with it. So now it'll be a linear town-dungeon-town deal, with both dungeon crawling and sidequesting included. It's not a very revolutionary game, I admit.


Character Bios:
Riev

A messenger commited to his cause, he may seems too obstinate and single minded at times and he struggles to understand that duty and honor don't trump common sense and good will. Still, his heart is in the right place.


During battle Riev is a jack of all trades, able to use magic and melee skills, he'll be there to support whatever other party members need of him.


Gia

A mercenary with a misterious past and a carefree attitude, she tries to get Riev to smile more, which will not always be appreciated.


In battles Gia is a stereotipical warrior, big and tough, but known to faint when a rabbit is pulled out of a hat in her nearby area, her curse actually bolsters this as she takes an extra 25% magic damage.


Soanna

An envoy of the mage's guild in the town of Levin, she joins the duo in their attempt to protect the town from orc attacks. Scatterbrained, yet extremely intelligent and a little ruthless Soanna will puzzle (and even entice a little) Riev.


As magic user, Soanna is exactly what you would expect: a glass cannon, nonetheless she's very powerful and her spells will be a necessity in order to explore the forests of Levin.


Screenshots:

Spoiler

A very determined hero

He ain't so hot in combat though.

Don't be a jerk, Riev.

She knows her stuff.

A bleak morning.

Ever played Luxaren Allure?

Testimonial:


"I liked talking to the hermit's cat. It was cute" - Tenshi


Demo:


Once you talk to Aldes after meeting the thieves guild PR guy the demo is officially over. But there is quite a bit of city for you to explore if you haven't done so already.


http://www.mediafire.com/download/7n92ycolcn8tnjy/Messenger+and+Cursed+1.28.exe


Changelog:

Spoiler

- Rebalanced third boss battle so it'll be winnable by human beings .


- Fixed a major quest stoppping bug.


- Found a small bug that made a world of difference: I forgot to add the magic command to the hero!


- V 1.16 Powers up the character Soanna for an easier playtime, but sadly it needs a save prior to meeting her or a new game to take effect.


- V 1.17 Fixed some issues pointed out by @hiddenone


- V 1.18 Big update!
 >Fixed some issues pointed by AgonyAiane.
 >Speed Snatch had the wrong element assigned to it.
 >One early cutscene explaining Gia's curse was not activating.
 >Shuffled some elemental weaknesses (specially made more stuff weak to water so Riev's Drown will see some use).
 >Fixed minor mapping errors.


- V 1.19
 >Now item drops are displayed more clearly in the victory screen
 >Powered up Jacob's skills to make them more competitive
 >The forest has its own music now!


 >Increased item drop rates
 >A few other minor fixes


- V 1.2 Certain enemy spells had drown's tiny chance to cause instadeath...oops!


- V 1.21 Added missing audio file.


- V 1.22 Major bugfix thanks to Shayoko!
 >Fixed several typos
 >Corrected a sequence breaking glitch
 >Now containers make a sound when checked so it's easier to know if you've done so
 >Hera flowers are shiny and easier to find
 >Extended demo playtime


- V 1.23 Rebalanced magic system! Quite a few minor fixes.


- V 1.24 Rebalanced the magic system again! Some minor fixes. Extended demo playtime


- V 1.25 Slightly powered up some early enemies


- V 1.26 Rebalanced regeneration to not make it as overpowered (now you regenerate only while in battle). Populated noble quarter. Added a new -unfinished- area.


- V 1.27 A myriad of fixes thanks to Eien Nanashi. Thanks!


- V 1.28 Fixed a map transfer event thanks to Eeve93.

 

[byBibo]

The Title makes me want to know what the message exactly is about!

It seems to be a rather big project, fix limits right now or you'll get overflowed :/ Maybe limit your cutscenes to the most important ones (the ones you believe are essential for the plot), because it's a long process for only a few seconds of game. And don't worry about the linear dungeon-town-dungeon, it 's what works the best with short games anyway XD


Hope you'll finish that project

 

[Nirwanda]

@byBiboI'm actually tempted to make the message be something silly like "rpg maker is great!". Thanks for your interest

 

[DamianCastaway]

Wait, whats that! Could it be?


*Super, amazing, mega, Vampiric, reading skills activate*


"There is always a boss monster at the end of a tunnel."


Are those satirical jabs at RPG tropes I see? ;P


Ohohohhohoho boy am I looking forward to this  

 

[Nirwanda]

@DamianCastaway Sorry to disappoint, but rpg trope satire is not the point of the game. I might make a joke or two about them (as well as other subjects), but that's about it... And it's only because I don't want to make a game that takes itself too seriously all the time.


Thanks for checking out my thread, though.

 

[Nirwanda]

I've added a pretty meaty demo to the first posts and I'd love if someone could test it out. I wanna know just how much it sucks. *cold shiver*

 

[Chester]

Where are the tile sets from ?

 

[Nirwanda]

They're from the ds pack, the battlers are from the ds+ one, by the by.

 

[DamianCastaway]

Alrighty, lets cash in early.


I think whats done so far is pretty good. The level design aspect is intriguing and incredibly detailed.


The eventing is done quite well and the cutscenes are charming.


The tileset is one I'm very familiar with from my old Ace days so I can honestly say I love it.


The music is enough to maintain the atmosphere of whichever area you happen to be in.


I do have a tiny nitpick that could potentially be a red flag for difficulty. *Spoiler*

Spoiler

The guard behind the mayor absolutley destroys you, able to deal a total of 48 damage, even when defending. I faced all other guards before fighting him, then refilled my HP and CH and had close to 28 minor-potions on me. I wound up using them all and still losing at lv 4. Mayhaps he is a bit of a difficulty curve. 

That aside, I do believe it is well constructed and the abundance of loot is quite nice.


I'll wait until you fully finish before I give you a full review and rating, but keep up the good work ;P

 

[Nirwanda]

Thanks for trying it out man, a lot of love and hard work went into it. About your spoiler

Spoiler

Really? I was able to defeat him at level 2. Are you abusing Soanna's skills and ch regeneration? She's pretty OP

 

[DamianCastaway]

Mayhaps I just suck as videogames

 

[Nirwanda]

Warning: one quest was unwinnable prior to version 1.14. If you've downloaded a previous one, please redownload the game,  your saves will still be compatible. Sorry for the trouble.


@DamianCastaway Nahh, maybe you just got unlucky and he targeted Soanna too much, everything goes downhill when she's not around. EDIT: i just replayed that part and noticed she no longer regenerates ch, that does makes things a little more difficult.

 

[hiddenone]

I played your demo, and enjoyed what you have so far.  The cutscenes are pretty well done and the maps are nice.  I did find a few errors, but the only big issue was Riev not learning the skill from the hermit.  I had some touble keeping track of the sidequest things, a log for that would be helpful (but not completely needed if people have a better memory than I do).


The errors I found:

Spoiler

- 'Battle Damaged Armor' description is cut off
- The mapping is not bad, but there are a few passability errors (had the major's maid climb the drapes to wander outside the rooms)
- Soanna's face changed during some conversations (her hat turned green while talking to Warrior Mullenkedheim)
- Spelling errors when speaking to Hermit Jacob
-  Riev didn't learn Preach(?) from Hermit Jacob

It's a good start, keep it up!  I'm looking forward to the finished game. 

 

[Nirwanda]

@hiddenoneThanks so much for taking the time to test the game, and it makes me extremely happy you enjoyed it. Now about your points:


-Preach (and another spell) where part of Riev's arsenal, but I forgot to give him the magic command. It's been solved on latter versions, sorry.


-Well, you were in sidequest town, the following ones won't have that many, but if I end up including more quests than planned I'll consider adding a log.



Thank you as well for the bug report, all of those issues have been adressed.

 

[Nirwanda]

One major error in the game was a missing cutscene where Gia's curse was explained (oops!).


Full changelog


- V 1.18 Big update!
 >Fixed some issues pointed by AgonyAiane.
 >Speed Snatch had the wrong element assigned to it.
 >One early cutscene explaining Gia's curse was not activating.
 >Shuffled some elemental weaknesses (specially made more stuff weak to water so Riev's Drown will see some use).
 >Fixed minor mapping errors.

 

[Shaz]

Moved to Project Development at OP's request. Please check the pinned threads here and see if you need to make any changes/additions to meet posting requirements.

 

[Nirwanda]

I've updated the game's demo (I know you all were just so eager to try it) with a lengthier one that covers around half of the game (about 2 hours). New party members, new places to explore, more touching backstory to unlock, a lot to loot... What else could you ask for? I've also corrected and rebalanced several aspects of the game. I'm pretty sure things'll keep changing, but I'd like to believe the game is growing for the better.

The city of Risalia has MANY shops.