Lords of the Wasteland (with Demo version 1.06)

[McTone]

​

Lords of the Wasteland is an RPG with elements from a variety of styles. The world in which the story takes place, Mundi, is a world of many cultures and each area reflects that visually, by the actions of the residents, and by their interactions with other areas. My goal in creating this game was to explore the interactions of the characters and cultures more than to drive the plot forward. I have intentionally left out a lot of exposition and hand holding in order to create a more "in the moment" experience for the players. Ultimately, I want the entire game to reflect that from the visuals to the gameplay. I have also attempted to inject humor where I can (my sense of humor will become apparent rather quickly), and make this a game that knows what it is. I am aware that there exist some shortcomings and I hope to overcome those with the help of your critiques and my own hard work. So I would like feedback to be very honest, and as specific as is reasonable. Now, on to the nuts and bolts.

Mundi is a world that reflects our very own in many ways. You will find that each country is at least somewhat reflective of a culture you are familiar with (the country of Toshi is based on Japan for example). These are meant to be templates and not absolute rules however, so there is a fair amount of divergence. For this reason, it can not be said that this game takes place in any one particular setting (fantasy, steampunk, modern, etc.) as each area will be reminiscent of several themes.
 Religion plays a large part of each culture as well, and for this reason I should state that people who are sensitive to religious themes may be offended at times. There are three main religions in this world: the monotheistic Abraxism, polytheistic Collectivish, and pantheistic Worshipers of the Wild. I have completely fleshed these beliefs out into their various ideologies and practices, and the player will have the option to explore what each of these faiths are about. These belief systems will become motivators on small and large scales throughout the story. 
 

This is a world of magic and mystery of course, so a few familiarities will arise as well. For this reason I have not explained some things that I feel will be second nature to many players. If this game really takes off I will probably add a prologue to tighten up any possible areas left confusing for non-regular RPG players.

The history of this world will be revealed throughout the story, so I don't want to spoil too much in the introduction.

Beyond all of that I will be happy to answer any questions not made clear by the demo (or update the demo itself to clear these issues up).

Spoiler

These are just the main characters you will encounter in the demo. There are many more both playable and NPC.

 

Aeros Tachys

A youth from the village of Corsair. He makes his living as an escort helping the many travelers that visit his home village, the port town of Corsair, through the dangerous Grimwood that surrounds it. He has a dry sense of humor and jokes his way through tough situations in order to keep a cool head.

Davos Tachys

Davos is a straight-faced deep thinker. He lets Aeros do most of the talking when they are together so he can size up the situation. His reticence comes from a combination of weariness, experience, and the effect of losing his wife while she was in childbirth. He has attempted to raise Aeros in the manner he thought she would be proud of.

Sebastian Dozent

The pride of Grofstadt's prestigious Academie. Sebastian is considered by many to be the smartest man alive, and he has done a great deal to earn that reputation. He is the world's foremost authority on the studies of Alchemy and Engineering, and the inventor of several wondrous devices (including The Relic, an airship without peer.) He is more than a little driven to control situations, and probably enjoys his prestige more than he should.

My focus in selecting features for this game was immersion. Games are for playing, not playing against. So I tried to piece together things that create a gameplay experience that you aren't drawn out of by mechanics of the game itself. 

• Save anywhere. Difficulty in a game shouldn't be centered around repetition.
• ATB battle system, allowing more strategy and tension during play by increasing the importance placed on characters' speed.
• A set of skills that I actually intend for you to use! I hate sitting on skills until a boss fight.Battles balanced to incorporate the more useful speed stat and skill effects.

[*]Battle Symphony visual battle system
[*]On screen enemies means no random encounters, no grinding, steady challenge throughout.
[*]Gameplay that is focused on keeping you OUT OF THE MENU!!!!!!!!!
[*]Mini Game(s) (just one for now, there will be more).
[*]Skills for each character that are learned and used in unique ways (e.g. Sebastian's Alchemy skill uses combinations of items learned by finding Recipes, whereas Aeros' Finesse skill uses the TP system and new skills are acquired by completing special missions).
[*]Multiple story lines that occur simultaneously and converge to create the complete picture.
[*]Demo features ~5 hours of gameplay and covers roughly 1/4 of the total game.
​

I don't know about you, but this is always where I go first. So here ya go:

A shot of the menu

This monster is facing backwards for a very good (read: bad) reason...

A little piece of the world.

...is this going to be a long story...

Curiouser and curiouser

Sebastian's Alchemy skill

Philosophy at 10,000 feet

Mount Himmelen cliff face...it's a doozy

• I'll probably switch from a standard message system to speech bubbles from each character to keep the players eye connected to the action.
• I want "Damage" graphics for all the characters (so if anybody is feeling generous...)​In addition to this, I want to use those "Damage" graphics in battle as death state graphics rather than just having the actors disappear.

[*]​A couple of the enemies will be changed to animated character sprites when I figure out how to make this work with the cache script I'm using.
[*]I'm probably going to switch to Victor's ATB when they fix the run button bug (that's the main reason I want it)
[*]A battle cursor to keep the player's eyes on the actors.
[*]A unique font for this game
[*]I've got a couple of friends working on original music and artwork. Right now I'm relying mostly on Final Fantasy VI music (the best ever imho).
[*]Free pie with each level up! 
[*]You have to press F5 in order to go away from full screen. Alt+Enter won't work for some reason.
​

• Enterbrain
• Square Enix
• Lunarea
• Celiana
• Mack
• Indrah
• Galv
• Yami
• Yanfly
• Neon Black
• KilloZapit
• Tsukihime
• Victor Sant
• Zeus81
• Moghunter
• Khas Arcthunder
• Mithran

I'm almost certain I've forgotten someone, so feel free to throw things at me until I get it right. I want to credit those who did an extraordinary amount of work, which made this project closer and closer to what I really want it to be.


I hope you enjoy the game and please be specific and critical. I'm attached to this project and I want to see it grow. Without further ado, the demo!:

Make sure to get, and apply the latest patch along with the latest demo version! Without the patch you will be playing a less updated version of the game!

Version 1.06:

• New map for Corsair
• New map for Mt. Himmelen Pass
• Graphical updates for nearly every map
• New music in several maps (mostly got rid of the FF music now, next update should be all "original" music)
• Updates to shops
• Balancing tweaks to some fights
• Minor bug fixes

Version 1.04:

• Updated mapping in Oroboros Range
• Improved Ander character
• Other graphical fixes
• Minor bug fixes

Version 1.03:

• Minor bug fixes

Version 1.02:

• Smaller file size
• Fixed bugs with followers (for real this time!)
• There are a few scenes where I've used the Pop Message system. I may go to this for the whole game. Not sure yet. ​I know there are issues in these scenes with faces fitting on the screen. Any other issues, please let me know. 

​In the next update:

• Even more checkables
• Some condensing of a few maps
• Anything else pertinent that comes up from comments
• Maybe Pop Messages...

Link:

http://rpgmaker.net/games/6082/

This is a non-RTP download of the game. For the RTP go to:

http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/download/additional/run-time-packages

If anyone likes this game enough to officially show their support, I made this banner you can add to you signature or whatever you like!

Thank you all!

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

This seems interesting, and there's a lot in here that suits me as a player. I'll make sure to download this and try it out, seems like you have put a lot of effort into it so far!

Also: ​

"In addition to this, I want to use those "Damage" graphics in battle as death state graphics rather than just having the actors disappear."

If you don't want the actors to disappear from the battle when they die, just change their 'collapse effect' to Not disappear.

You can change it by going into the feature for the actors and pick 'Other' then change the collapse effect there.

I'm not sure if this is what you mean though, and if not I'm sorry

 

[McTone]

This seems interesting, and there's a lot in here that suits me as a player. I'll make sure to download this and try it out, seems like you have put a lot of effort into it so far!

Thanks! Let me know what you think. I started playing Violent Whispers last night and I'll be posting some of my thoughts on your topic as well. So far it's really good!

I tried setting the 'Not Disappear' but it didn't make any difference. Plus, if it just makes them stay there I'd rather them disappear if I can't change the collapsed sprite. Thanks though!

 

[Kes]

You may have slightly mutually exclusive objectives, though whether they are in reality will depend on how you have realised your game play.

You speak of battles where there is an increased importance on speed.

You also speak of doing things in the prologue which would help those not used to playing rpgs.  

Those people might find a strong reliance on speed (which assumes you know what you are doing from the get go) something of a barrier to getting into your game.  Also, speed requires good physical reflexes.  That already reduces the number of people who might want to play your game.

Just mentioning it in case it is of any use.

 

[McTone]

You may have slightly mutually exclusive objectives, though whether they are in reality will depend on how you have realised your game play.

You speak of battles where there is an increased importance on speed.

You also speak of doing things in the prologue which would help those not used to playing rpgs.  

Those people might find a strong reliance on speed (which assumes you know what you are doing from the get go) something of a barrier to getting into your game.  Also, speed requires good physical reflexes.  That already reduces the number of people who might want to play your game.

Just mentioning it in case it is of any use.

I see the error I made. When I say speed, I just mean the stat not necessarily the speed of the game play. The ATB is set to 'wait' so you still have time to make your decisions, but a character's speed will allow them to go twice before some others go once. In order to balance this I'm making some slower characters stronger or have more potentially devastating abilities, etc. All I'm really getting at is that in turn based combat your speed stat is a little less important as it just determines what ORDER you go in. With the ATB system, and the ability to see the enemies' ATB bars, you can strategize your actions based on who's going next and how many actions you'll get before your opponents (or how many they'll get before you). 

Another aspect this influences is skills. I've made the skills not burdensome or expensive to use (I always hated having skills I just sit on until a boss fight pops up), and adjusted the battle balance accordingly. I want each fight (and the whole game really) to be engaging and engrossing. Not just an exercise in how fast you can think, but how well you can think!

 

[Kes]

Ah, having the 'wait' function will make all the difference to those who aren't used to this type of game.  It can be a very steep learning curve if you are new and there's no wait to let you figure out what the hell you're supposed to be doing (and what was it that tutorial said?).

Actually, your additional description makes it so much interesting that I might give the demo a go myself.  

Having said that prompts the thought that perhaps you should tweak your opening post to incorporate these details?

 

[McTone]

Ah, having the 'wait' function will make all the difference to those who aren't used to this type of game.  It can be a very steep learning curve if you are new and there's no wait to let you figure out what the hell you're supposed to be doing (and what was it that tutorial said?).

Actually, your additional description makes it so much interesting that I might give the demo a go myself.  

Having said that prompts the thought that perhaps you should tweak your opening post to incorporate these details?

A great idea. Done!

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

Thanks! Let me know what you think. I started playing Violent Whispers last night and I'll be posting some of my thoughts on your topic as well. So far it's really good!

I tried setting the 'Not Disappear' but it didn't make any difference. Plus, if it just makes them stay there I'd rather them disappear if I can't change the collapsed sprite. Thanks though!

Ah that's true. I just wanted you to know that you can use this option in order to keep them visible once they die. I use Victor Sants animated battlers script, a long with full spritesheets (that includes death state as a column). So if you happen to create 'death state columns' for your actors yourself or have someone help you, then using the 'Not Disappear' will keep the actors visible even when they die.

 

[McTone]

Oh thanks a lot! That'll be very helpful pretty soon. You almost certainly saved me a headache.

 

[Kes]

I haven't got very far with this, but something has come up which means that I won't have time to do any more with it for quite a while, so I thought I'd give what feedback I have.

General:

There is the potential here for a nice game; some of the writing is very good, and there is plenty of humour.  It seems like it might be an interesting story being set up.

Maps:

Virtually every map could usefully be halved in size.  Most are extremely empty and barren looking and there is a huge amount of wandering around for little profit or pleasure.

No map names are given, except (I think) Ecclesia.  the player therefore has no idea where s/he is, and without map names giving feedback is going to be tricky.

Perhaps you should consider converting your mp3 music files to ogg to reduce the file size which already a huge 480MB and this is only the demo.  Many potential players will simply not be interested in such a big file, especially if their internet is slow, or they have limits on the amount they can download.

Opening: Belly of the beast.

Disabling dash when you are in a huge map is not amusing, neither does it add any sense of realism, it is just tedious.  A huge amount of walking, by the longest route that you could contrive on that size and shape of map for the chests.

probably far too much screen shake.  Given how long it took to get round the map it became trying.

Town

Transfers out of buildings – at the least these need to be one tile further down as you appear in the doorway, not properly outside the buildings.  Not only does it look bad, but if you want to re-enter, you have to step away from the building before you can then step back onto the transfer event.

Item shop:   Typo:  “…use to an fighter”

Why are there little piles of rocks inside the first warehouse to the right?

Wood

Got through the whole wood without getting a single drop.  As I had to use a number of healing items I am in one sense worse off rather than better off for fighting.  If a player wanted to level up here, could end up bankrupting themselves.

Mapping not good.  Solid blocks of trees.  There are ways of varying even these into irregular interior shapes, with small openings and glades.

Town

A lot of walking around looking for items, just empty really.  Nothing to hold or stimulate the interest of the player.

the whatever the building is with the council

Vast amounts of space to tramp around for virtually no items - I only found leather armor.  Nothing to hold or stimulate the player's interest.

I had to stop just as the fights with the guards were beginning.

Sorry, but no time to do more than this.

 

[McTone]

I haven't got very far with this, but something has come up which means that I won't have time to do any more with it for quite a while, so I thought I'd give what feedback I have.

General:

There is the potential here for a nice game; some of the writing is very good, and there is plenty of humour.  It seems like it might be an interesting story being set up.

Maps:

Virtually every map could usefully be halved in size.  Most are extremely empty and barren looking and there is a huge amount of wandering around for little profit or pleasure.

No map names are given, except (I think) Ecclesia.  the player therefore has no idea where s/he is, and without map names giving feedback is going to be tricky.

Perhaps you should consider converting your mp3 music files to ogg to reduce the file size which already a huge 480MB and this is only the demo.  Many potential players will simply not be interested in such a big file, especially if their internet is slow, or they have limits on the amount they can download.

Opening: Belly of the beast.

Disabling dash when you are in a huge map is not amusing, neither does it add any sense of realism, it is just tedious.  A huge amount of walking, by the longest route that you could contrive on that size and shape of map for the chests.

probably far too much screen shake.  Given how long it took to get round the map it became trying.

Town

Transfers out of buildings – at the least these need to be one tile further down as you appear in the doorway, not properly outside the buildings.  Not only does it look bad, but if you want to re-enter, you have to step away from the building before you can then step back onto the transfer event.

Item shop:   Typo:  “…use to an fighter”

Why are there little piles of rocks inside the first warehouse to the right?

Wood

Got through the whole wood without getting a single drop.  As I had to use a number of healing items I am in one sense worse off rather than better off for fighting.  If a player wanted to level up here, could end up bankrupting themselves.

Mapping not good.  Solid blocks of trees.  There are ways of varying even these into irregular interior shapes, with small openings and glades.

Town

A lot of walking around looking for items, just empty really.  Nothing to hold or stimulate the interest of the player.

the whatever the building is with the council

Vast amounts of space to tramp around for virtually no items - I only found leather armor.  Nothing to hold or stimulate the player's interest.

I had to stop just as the fights with the guards were beginning.

Sorry, but no time to do more than this.

Yeah mapping is probably what I struggle with the most. I really want someone to work with on this as far as that goes because it's the point where I get stuck more often than anything else. Most of the maps do have place names, and I'm fairly certain this feature is working. I really want big place names to pop up in the center of the screen and be all cool looking, but I want to have my friend draw the pictures custom before I implement that. Anyway, thanks for the feedback I'll definitely fix up what I can. 

 

[McTone]

New demo update. I added/changed a few things that I think will make the game work a little smoother and be a little more interesting. It's all up in the main post. 

 

[Milennin]

I tried your demo again, since you requested it, but for some reason it won't let me alt+tab windows or switch the game to a smaller window. I guess I'll just change the settings in the Game.ini, because otherwise I can't do my review properly. If the forced full screen and unable to alt+tab is intended, then screw you. Alt+tab is my best friend in any game, no, any program I use on my PC. Anyway, on to the actual game.

-Love having skills, especially useful ones, available at the start of a game.
-The ATB system is quite nice.
-Guard doesn't seem to do anything against Flame?
-Aeros's sprite remains distorted on the overworld after a battle ended while he was under the effect of Mirage.
-Full heal before the start of the boss fight would be nice.
-Game crash after beating the boss.
"Script 'Game_Character' line 179; NoMethodError occurred.
undefined method 'follow' for <#Game_Event:0x8b761c0>"

The combat system is by far the strongest point, at least this early in the game. Getting to start with 2 useful skills that are better than auto-attack and are usable in every battle thanks to mana regen is really good. Though, I was able to beat the boss purely by stunlocking him with Caltrops, not sure if that's an intended strategy (I believe I had the same experience the first time I played the demo). Also, the lack of any sort of (optional) tutorial might put off people not as familiar with RPGs... something to consider.

I'm not sure if I like having the textbox show up above the characters. They could potentially block out parts of the action if you have cutscenes with stuff going on during dialogues. Noticed a few spelling mistakes here and there, probably wouldn't hurt to go over your dialogues some time and fix that.

Playing through the intro before the game crashed took me about exactly 15 minutes, so that's pretty nice for an opening.

 

[McTone]

Thanks for the feedback Milenin! Here's some replies:

Spoiler

I tried your demo again, since you requested it, but for some reason it won't let me alt+tab windows or switch the game to a smaller window. I guess I'll just change the settings in the Game.ini, because otherwise I can't do my review properly. If the forced full screen and unable to alt+tab is intended, then screw you. Alt+tab is my best friend in any game, no, any program I use on my PC. Anyway, on to the actual game.

• I don't even know how that happened! It's certainly not intended. I'll look for a fix though because I do the same thing when I review games. 

-Love having skills, especially useful ones, available at the start of a game.
-The ATB system is quite nice.

• All part of my perspective on games (i.e. they are for playing)

-Guard doesn't seem to do anything against Flame?

• Nope. It's like 'Defend' in most games. Just reduces physical damage. 

-Aeros's sprite remains distorted on the overworld after a battle ended while he was under the effect of Mirage.

• This is a problem I had with all the State Graphics, but I fixed them except for Burn and Mirage. I'm still looking into it. He went back after you got into another battle though right?

-Full heal before the start of the boss fight would be nice.

• Not sure if that wouldn't make it a little too easy.

-Game crash after beating the boss.
"Script 'Game_Character' line 179; NoMethodError occurred.
undefined method 'follow' for <#Game_Event:0x8b761c0>"

• Got that fixed. Thanks!

The combat system is by far the strongest point, at least this early in the game. Getting to start with 2 useful skills that are better than auto-attack and are usable in every battle thanks to mana regen is really good. Though, I was able to beat the boss purely by stunlocking him with Caltrops, not sure if that's an intended strategy (I believe I had the same experience the first time I played the demo). Also, the lack of any sort of (optional) tutorial might put off people not as familiar with RPGs... something to consider.

I'm not sure if I like having the textbox show up above the characters. They could potentially block out parts of the action if you have cutscenes with stuff going on during dialogues. Noticed a few spelling mistakes here and there, probably wouldn't hurt to go over your dialogues some time and fix that.

Playing through the intro before the game crashed took me about exactly 15 minutes, so that's pretty nice for an opening.

• That's one of the best things I could hear. You spend a lot of time in combat so I want it to be fun.
• That's the intended strategy (almost word for word what you said last time!). That first boss is kind of a heavy hitter and you have to 1) Go into the fight with enough TP to use Caltrops 2) Get Caltrops to work enough to keep him stunned and 3) Have Stun stay for long enough to keep him at bay. I want it to be a nail-biter every time his ATB bar is moving. Next time you fight him (sorry about the crash...) let me know if you still get that lucky and I'll adjust some things. 
• I'm leaning heavily toward making a tutorial. It'll probably be in the next major update. 
• I'll think about the pop messages. Good point there.

The new demo should be up, so if you don't mind grabbing that again and letting me know what you think after that point. Thanks again man! Your help is invaluable this time around as well!

 

[Milennin]

Yeah, sure. I got the new version, so I'll continue from where I left. Saved right before the boss, so that's okay.

Back to the first boss fight. If you fear he might be too easy after a full party heal, you could just buff him in some way? Higher stats, extra skills? The advantage of having a healed party is that you know exactly in what state the player is going to be at the fight, making it easier to balance the fight to your liking. Especially since there's no way to restore the whole party in the intro area (no inn or resting place), there's chances a player might get screwed over somehow by going into the battle with very low health and mana, potentially making it very difficult for a first boss fight.

Moving on...=p

-Boss got a few hits in this time. He hits fairly hard, yeah.

-I'd love to have a run on/off toggle instead of having to hold down shift all the time (common issue with VXA). I know there's scripts for this out there.

-Lol, the music keeps playing even when I walk away from the piano.

-Can't talk to the innkeeper.

-Game crashes when trying to sneak past behind him.

"Unable to find file:

Data/Map002.rvdata2"

-Lol, you're using wall tiles instead of a desk in the weapon shop.

-Why are the weapons sold in the weapon shop worse than what I start with?

-Can walk over hole and broken barrel tiles in the town.

-Not being able to walk over shrubs on the floor in the town is annoying. Why do shrubs that large grow on stone tiles anyway?

-That messenger is pretty lousy for getting lost.

-Why is my character helping him out for free? Shouldn't they discuss a price for the guide service?

-Paralyse icon remains on my character on the overworld after a battle.

-I notice a bad pattern in forest encounters...

-Why does my character have to follow the messenger into the castle? He's just providing the service as a guide, he has no business with the message from the soldier for the king.

-Going to stop here since it's getting late...

I noticed a lot of issues that were present in the previous version are still there. Oversized interiors, mainly the Inn. The other building interiors aren't as bad, since there's some decorations, but you could easily shrink the Inn several times over while retaining everything of value in it. Large interiors are a major issue, and should take priority on your to-fix list. Because they waste the player's time, making walk distances unnecessarily long and they're boring to look at.

The second major issue I have is with the forest area. Monsters are loaded with skills that stun/paralyse/sleep the hero characters. Immobilising skills are the definition of unfun in an RPG batte, especially if there's no ways to counter them (Mirage seemed to not work). The other issue I have is with the soldier character who comes with only a single skill, which serves as some sort of guard other character. But since the other character already's got Mirage, this is kind of... unnecessary. Why doesn't he have an offensive ability? Spear Swipe to deal AoE damage for example. I know he's only around for a short time, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve attention. As of now he's just a 2nd body to attack with, which isn't very interesting. You have the tools to make interesting battles (you showed that in the intro part), ignoring to use them is inexcusable.

Then there's smaller things, like the weapon shop not selling anything of value. Several minor mapping issues. Some story things like I described above.

These were 2 things I mentioned in the first time I played through the game, but sadly neither got fixed. The game's got potential, but I feel it's hindered by some things that just aren't getting the attention they need. At least that's my opinion on it.

 

[McTone]

Very good notes.

Spoiler

-I'll beef up the boss to make that encounter a little more intense. I like what you're saying about fully healing, but I'm still unsure. I'll definitely consider it.
-I'll expand the interaction with Ander. Make it to where he's having trouble getting through the forest instead and they'll discuss payment.
-I'm gonna fix Ander to where he's useful against the immobility powers of the enemies in the forest. Also probably make Mirage protect that too. I'll think of something.
-I'm gonna think about why you go into the citadel with him. I've got something brewing I think will work.
-Shrinking maps is my next major update.

Thanks again!

 

[That Bread]

Hello Mileninn, it looks like you give some great feed back. With that I must ask if you can test out the demo found on this page.

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/22832-tears-of-the-sky-demo-availible/

 

[That Bread]

Woops wrong post... sorry

Well since I did, I gave your game a read. I love the concept! Its different and it sounds like something I would enjoy. I'll give it a play sometime, best of luck!

 

[Milennin]

Very good notes.

Spoiler

-I'll beef up the boss to make that encounter a little more intense. I like what you're saying about fully healing, but I'm still unsure. I'll definitely consider it.

-I'll expand the interaction with Ander. Make it to where he's having trouble getting through the forest instead and they'll discuss payment.

-I'm gonna fix Ander to where he's useful against the immobility powers of the enemies in the forest. Also probably make Mirage protect that too. I'll think of something.

-I'm gonna think about why you go into the citadel with him. I've got something brewing I think will work.

-Shrinking maps is my next major update.

Spoiler

Thanks again!

Sounds good.

Maybe the soldier can tell him he is afraid of getting mugged on his way to the castle since he carries an important message, and asks the main character to escort him as a bodyguard.

 

[McTone]

New demo up with some bug fixes. Should run smoothly now!