Lost Blade UPDATED DEMO!

[Zefreonzack]

Dafuq is Gandalf doing in your world, lol.

Anyway, I've just played for about 30 minutes. Sure the the maps look empty and the dialogues should be improved further but I still enjoyed playing.

You should add Quest Log/Journal in the game.

 

[LtBenjamin]

Haha lol hes looking for frodo.

Yea i tried the quest scripts but they look aggravating to setup. I try to make it tell u your next step and got a guy in the castle you can go back to at any point and he will tell u where to go. Also got alot of places blocked off and they say "hey this isnt fire island!" Ect. Im so tired of setting up scripts lol i have 50 working together and had to adjust alot of them. Thanks for playing! I plan on finishing this and porting it to droid once the update comes out

 

[LtBenjamin]

I fixed the leaves blowing still inside of the buildings. new update out

 

[LtBenjamin]

i dont know what you mean. it has some rtp but it has mostly custom tiles. people say it needs more decorations but it doesnt look empty to me, looks full to me idk

ill take a look and try to improve it

 

[esby]

He means thinks like this, just dead empty space

Played 15 mins or so of the demo, but it really wasn't my cup of tea. You should focus on deciding which tiles and graphical style you want to use and start to create a cohesive experience (it should match from the title screen right through to the end screen) instead of using all of them. I also think your game has too many features and could benefit from being a little simpler and streamlined but that might just be me

First thoughts-

Spoiler

- I don't know if it's the pixel movement script or your database settings but there's some pretty serious passability errors.
- Mapping needs work, there's a lot of errors and it generally too big and too empty.
- Cave is way too dark, I can't see anything and the dodgy passability settings just makes it frustrating.
- There's no graphical consistency, it's really off putting. Windowskin, menu, title and battlescreen look like they're from different games. The use of RTP, Kaduki and DS sprites/tiles/faces just doesn't work (From your videos it also looks like there's High Fantasy resources too). Every battler seems to be a different style.
- Some battles are on screen encounters, some are random encounters. Why?
- I've won every battle so far by spamming attack.
- Dialogue isn't the best, I end up just guessing where to go. When you meet the fairy/princess?? it's really awkward, weird and creepy.

 

[LtBenjamin]

the pass thru issues are just a few bushes I haven't made into events that are passable. and the rest I just either havent seen or didnt think they were a big deal.

I see what your saying tho. the empty space is his yard. I guess i made some maps to big or didn't feel they needed to be covered with trees but i see what you mean now thanks.

as for the different tile sets and sprites (the high fantasy part is when it shows a flashback of when their parents getting sucked into a alternate dimension and everything looks different. I 

realize its surprising and it didn't turn out as good as i envisioned i will have to work on it. some tilesets like rtp and ds dont seem all that much different to me, but I guess its more noticeable than i thought.

The features are really cool but the looks could be changed to fit more with this game. haven't had time to redo a full scale game with different tilesets and menus. This is my first game and i've learned alot.  some of it (princess) and other things were meant to be funny. many games swap between on-screen encounters and battlecreens especially for big bosses. but i really did that as a test to see if i wanted the whole game like that. thanks everyone! 

 

[LtBenjamin]

btw the cave is dark because theres a lamp on the wall you can pick up. it says so in the text when you open the cave door. and the beginning has easy monsters because people were complaining it was to hard at the beginning. sigh. but there are plenty of monsters and bosses that take skill and tactics to win further in the game

 

[LtBenjamin]

cant wait for the new middleware to come out so i can port this game to android! prolly be a year away tho

 

[LtBenjamin]

AHAAAA! I've returned! Been busy! I'll be updating this game soon for all of you supporters, taking all of your ideas to heart....like the indian kid on captain planet. prepare to be amazed at the glory of low bit non 3d animation! Guess what day it is! Bout to get some cold cuts today!

 

[LtBenjamin]

New update! Hope you like it! If you beat the final bosses you sir get a gold star and a proverbial high 5

 

[Captain dundun dun dundun]

Not that it matters, but isn't that Trepidation Blade from magic the gathering???

 

[LtBenjamin]

possibly. it was on a free images place.

 

[dirtmonkeyAL]

I just ... what? What is with the random kanji for maps? What is with the random kanji for maps!?

Please, if you want help with a quickie translation, ASK. Don't just shove that stuff in because you think it looks pretty. Tu toku? BOKU? What is BOKU doing here?

Maybe it's wrong of me, but that bothers me more than the clumped together ... stuff just lying around and weird passabilities every which way. Don't just add kanji just to add kanji.

 

[LtBenjamin]

alot of people say this but i thought it looked fine like a ds type jrpg. first game so i was still learning. still dont know the difference. but you are referring to sticking with one tile set type and the matching characters types right? which tile type goes with these character types if you don't mind me asking?

 

[LtBenjamin]

oh ok looked up kanji you are talking about the Japanese symbols that pop up next to the name when you enter a map. Yes I admit that was just something cool cause I didnt think anyone here knew japanese since its a game in english lol sorry about that I will remove them if its important.  and yes i need to learn to map better lol  but i added things laying around because people complained it was to open in the middle of his yard

: (      

meh.....Is there a mapping tips post pinned on here somewhere? I tried to make it look nice but his yard is an old man in the woods with a cabins yard so it probably should look messy with grass and rocks everywhere.

and that darn passability. I tried to fix that the best i could. It confuses me. Ill have to look up a tutorial on that also

 

[dirtmonkeyAL]

You thought a place where people make games (usually inspired by JRPGs) wouldn't have someone that knows Japanese?

じいちゃんの庭 - Grandpa's Yard/Garden

村 - Village

For starters.

Also, there's lots of tutorials about mapping if you look.

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/40576-creating-memorable-villages/

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/40312-mapping-tips-ground-levels/

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/1176-mapping-in-five-easy-steps-indras-quick-and-practical-method/#entry14164

Three really good ones here.

 

[LtBenjamin]

thanks for the tips man i appreciate it.

 

[LtBenjamin]

did u like the gameplay/story tho other than the passability and incorrect japanese? I spent alot of time on this, havent had alot of time recently to work on it, been working full time and trying to start a business on the side.

 

[dirtmonkeyAL]

did u like the gameplay/story tho other than the passability and incorrect japanese? I spent alot of time on this, havent had alot of time recently to work on it, been working full time and trying to start a business on the side.

I did like the rest though the writing was a little hokey - but that kind of made it charming. The sudden wrong Japanese just threw me so badly that I had to stop.

I did spot a little oddity. When grandpa tells you to follow him into his yard area, you can do so, but if you go back to the house, he's still waiting outside. Should just need a simple self switch to get rid of him.

 

[LtBenjamin]

i was worried people would forget where to go lol tried to make it as guided as possible for the beginning. i hate when you play a game and first thing you do you get lost and don't know where to go or what to do next. so added alot of hints and popups to tell you to go back ect. in the beginning of the game and a guy who you can always go talk to and he reminds you if you forget what to do next in the story.