RMMV Project Discovery

[Nutty171]

​

Download:

Spoiler: Google Drive Download

THIS GAME IS STILL IN EARLY STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT, AND THUS THIS DEMO IS VERY SHORT (5-15 minutes, depending on how fast you go). HOWEVER, I BELIEVE THAT THE CONTENT THAT IS IN THE DEMO IS CLOSE TO HOW IT WILL BE IN THE FINAL GAME. The game is pretty simple, focusing more on story and world than gameplay. The combat is turn based, but you have AP (adrenaline points) without which you can't attack. Being attacked and stalling both increase AP. The protagonist is John Smith, who has no idea who he is and is determined to find out. In his search for information he is pulled into an epic quest to, you guessed it, save the world.

Screenshots:

Spoiler: Screen 1

Spoiler: Screen 2

Spoiler: Screen 3

Excuse the painfully default title screen, I haven't really done anything with it yet.

This demo is so that I can get an idea of how other people see and play my game. I want to find and fix every issue so please, show no mercy. And that's just about it. I'm not going to include much about the story or world because I want some mystery to it, and I want to see if you get interested in the story and are left wanting to see more.

Oh, and a disclaimer: I work on this in my free time, and not all of it, so later versions will probably take quite a while to come out. (If they ever do)

UPDATE: Added a boss battle at the end.

EDIT: Somebody voted "Too predictable" in the poll. It may be true that he/she finds it predictable, but I'll use this opportunity to say, PLACE YOUR VOTES SERIOUSLY!!! And whatever you do vote, please respond on this thread as to why.
EDIT2: I updated the poll. That doesn't mean I don't still want you to place your votes seriously and reply as to why, though.

Spoiler: Credits

Graphics
-KADOKAWA/Enterbrain
-(with some edits: Nutty171, Whtdragon, Autophagy, and others)
-Enemies by Thalzon
-Chest message graphic by Avery

Music and Sound
-KADOKAWA/Enterbrain

Eventing & Mapping
-Nutty171

Plugins
-Galv
-Shaz
-Yanfly

Story
-Nutty171

MADE WITH
RPG MAKER MV

ANY AND ALL FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED.

 

[Nutty171]

Y'know what? I'm going to bump this because I really really want to know how I can improve.

 

[Haydeos]

I might sound harsh, but it's with respect. Game making is difficult & takes time.

1) I was not impressed by the battle system. The characters are literally just punching monsters with their bare hands?

2) For a game that wants to focus on the story, there was not much of a story. It felt rushed, and the dialogue feels lazily written.

3) For a game that wants to focus on the story, the "boss fight" at the end felt entirely forced, unexplained, & lazily thrown in. There was no build-up, and really didn't even feel like a boss.

4) Why are gold coins a chest reward if nothing can be done with them? What will the gold-sink be?


Overall, if you want to focus more on story & world, rather than gameplay, then I'd suggest making a visual novel.

 

[Nutty171]

1) The battle system may be a bit more in-depth than you realize. I can never really be sure, but if you really look at it, you can maybe see the intricacies. Do you think a battle tutorial will fix it? Though I think I should make level-ups farther apart so that running out of AP is a real issue. As for the punching, I can't think of a better animation.
2) I noticed the "lazy" dialogue, I'll definitely try to improve that. Okay, but I realize the issue here. I said that the game was focused on story and world. I said that because is doesn't focus much on gameplay. I always think of the three possible focuses of a game as: gameplay, story, and world. And since the gameplay is, well, unimpressive, I suppose that it is true that the focus is more on story and world than gameplay, even if the focus isn't really on either of those things. But do keep in mind that this is a small portion of the game, and so you aren't seeing much of the story. Plus, most of the story that's in the demo is in the miner's journal.
3) I was going for an atmosphere kind of like, "this thing just ambushed you and you need to kill it quickly so it doesn't kill you first." Suffice to say, I didn't quite nail it. But I also do want to add some real story to the boss, but that would put it past the demo part of the game, and I wanted a boss fight in the demo.
4) There will be shops, but I have yet to balance the item-gold weights. I do think there are waaaay too many items in the demo alone.

Overall, I don't have VNMaker. I lied a little about the focus of the game. The real focus of the game is dumb fun that I, as a dumb person, enjoy both playing and making.

 

[TakeHomeTheCup]

Overall, I don't have VNMaker.

Sorry, but is that a joke?

 

[Nutty171]

Sorry, but is that a joke?

Yeah, I was playing off of Haydeos' "Overall. . . I'd suggest making a visual novel."

 

[Nutty171]

TIL that "bump" stands for "bring up my post."
Bump.

 

[M.I.A.]

OMG! Where did you get those melon battlers? Super cute!

-MIA

 

[Nutty171]

@M.I.A.
Thalzon's MV Battlers. He's super talented.

P.S. Any ways you think I can improve the game?

 

[M.I.A.]

@Nutty171 I have yet to sample your demo. I don't have too much spare time, but I'll try to get around to it soon-ish.

-MIA

 

[Rhino]

I gave this a go

So here's some things I noticed;

Spoiler

-When they first introduce themselves, Alice says "Oh that's incredibly interesting" about his name, which seems like a really weird statement.
-If their class is just going to be their names, I think you should hide it on the menu. Seems a bit weird saying "John" "John"
-I like the map name pop up a lot
-It was nice to have slightly different battle system so it didn't feel like spamming 'attack' was the only option, although that's what I ended up doing, just in a slightly more long winded way of having to press skill>attack>enemy instead of attack>enemy
-I'm not sure how in depth you're going to go with the battle system, but with a name like 'discovery' and an analyse skill, I think you could have added in a detail that shows you enemies strengths and weaknesses to make the battles a bit more strategic.
-I agree with Haydeos about the boss, I think as well as a bit more work developing the "this thing just ambushed you and you need to kill it quickly so it doesn't kill you first." atmosphere, the fight itself could have maybe done with some more dramatic music, the battler being a little larger, or even being attacked first, just *something* to make it feel more intense and less like an afterthought.
-I like the maps, they were 'oh wait where am I even going' and 'hm how do I reach that chest?" enough without getting too 'I'm lost and sick of random encounters ' though, I do find it a bit weird that there's tools lying about (and that you can walk over them) if John and Alice know they're going up against monsters, why wouldn't they have picked them up? Surely it'd be better than fighting them bare handed?
-I guess I count in the 'too early to tell' vote. I didn't really get too much sense of the story or where it was going, which is fair enough given how short the demo was, but I think if you want to get serious answers about what people think of the characters/world, you need to show a bit more of it. Personally, I would have liked to be able to interact with some objects and see the characters opinions of them. Not everything, but even just John wondering what the 'monument' was to show a bit more of his personality.

 

[Nutty171]

@Rhino First of all thank you for the input! Totally looking forward to reading this!

Spoiler

-When they first introduce themselves, Alice says "Oh that's incredibly interesting" about his name, which seems like a really weird statement.

Well, she thinks it's interesting that he doesn't know/remember his name right away. Can you think of any ways I could make that more obvious somehow?

-If their class is just going to be their names, I think you should hide it on the menu. Seems a bit weird saying "John" "John"

Yes, I noticed that and changed the classes to the characters' last names, so, "John" "Smith" and "Alice" "Snow".

-I like the map name pop up a lot

Thank you! I was honestly surprised at how good it looked when I first tried it. Fun fact: The frame around the map name is actually made with parts of RTP tiles.

-It was nice to have slightly different battle system so it didn't feel like spamming 'attack' was the only option, although that's what I ended up doing, just in a slightly more long winded way of having to press skill>attack>enemy instead of attack>enemy

I intend to make enemies give much less EXP so that you level up less often, so guarding and stalling for AP become much more important. Also you'll gain more skills as you level up.

-I'm not sure how in depth you're going to go with the battle system, but with a name like 'discovery' and an analyse skill, I think you could have added in a detail that shows you enemies strengths and weaknesses to make the battles a bit more strategic.

The "analyze" skill actually isn't really intended to be that, it's supposed to establish that even though John is rash (as you see when he's "desparate" (yeah I fixed that spelling error) to get to the nearest town), he's still the strategic and intelligent member of the party. I'll see what I can do about this.

-I agree with Haydeos about the boss, I think as well as a bit more work developing the "this thing just ambushed you and you need to kill it quickly so it doesn't kill you first." atmosphere, the fight itself could have maybe done with some more dramatic music, the battler being a little larger, or even being attacked first, just *something* to make it feel more intense and less like an afterthought.

Funny thing is, it literally was just an afterthought. As I said to Haydeos, I just wanted a boss fight in the demo. I plan to move that boss to a bit later in the game with a little bit more story to it.

-I like the maps, they were 'oh wait where am I even going' and 'hm how do I reach that chest?" enough without getting too 'I'm lost and sick of random encounters ' though, I do find it a bit weird that there's tools lying about (and that you can walk over them) if John and Alice know they're going up against monsters, why wouldn't they have picked them up? Surely it'd be better than fighting them bare handed?

D'oh! How did I not notice that? Now I feel stupid. Er, maybe they're attacking with weak magic (I'd have to change the animation of course) that is more powerful than the tools would be?

-I guess I count in the 'too early to tell' vote. I didn't really get too much sense of the story or where it was going, which is fair enough given how short the demo was, but I think if you want to get serious answers about what people think of the characters/world, you need to show a bit more of it. Personally, I would have liked to be able to interact with some objects and see the characters opinions of them. Not everything, but even just John wondering what the 'monument' was to show a bit more of his personality.

Actually, the majority of the story that is in the demo is in the miner's journal that you may (or may not) have found. I kinda want the player to be able to interact with objects, but if I do that, I'll have to stay consistent with how often I do it. Which would be a lot. However, in the towns of the game, there will be plenty of NPCs to interact with.

Again, thank you for the input!

 

[Eviticous]

two of your screen shots are broken

 

[Rhino]

@Eviticous They're still working for me, try refreshing your browser. Pictures on the forums don't always load first time for some reason.

Spoiler

Well, she thinks it's interesting that he doesn't know/remember his name right away. Can you think of any ways I could make that more obvious somehow?

I think just adding in that line as a thought or direct dialogue would work. Something like, "You struggled to remember your own name? That's odd..." shows that she's wondering/curious about it. It's not bad for her to say she finds it 'incredibly interesting', I just didn't understand what she was even talking about (to be honest, I thought she might have been accusing him of coming up with a fake name, seeing that it is 'John Smith' ) so just clarifying that would help. You don't have to word it the way I did (probably better if you don't actually, it wasn't great )

I intend to make enemies give much less EXP so that you level up less often, so guarding and stalling for AP become much more important. Also you'll gain more skills as you level up.

Ah ok, I think I was on about level 3 by the end? (I should have saved...) I did run out of AP a few times after just spamming the attack button, (since it takes you directly to skill/item I didn't notice there was still an escape option until near the end of the demo and ended up fighting every encounter....) but tbf I very rarely play turn based rpgs so I'm not really an expert at combat. (So why did I buy an rpg maker then, well that's a whole different story XD)

D'oh! How did I not notice that? Now I feel stupid. Er, maybe they're attacking with weak magic (I'd have to change the animation of course) that is more powerful than the tools would be?

Haha no worries, even triple A games sometimes have gaps in their logic. Normally people don't pick up on them/just accept is as part of the world, but I figured it's okay to nitpick a game in early development where you have a chance to change things if you want. Does having magic powers fit into your game world? Other things could just be the tools are too heavy to lift, too blunt to be effective or are covered in gross spores/ something else that would make them unappealing to touch.

Speaking of animation, I just remembered something about the ancient monument. I think it might be nice to have a visual aspect where either the monument glows or there's a little circle of light around John, just to give the player that sense of 'wow the crystal is glowing!' instead of having to rely on Alice just observing something we can't see.

Actually, the majority of the story that is in the demo is in the miner's journal that you may (or may not) have found.

Ah, I never even noticed it! I think because of the lack of interactable objects, I just didn't even bother to try clicking on more things. Maybe having an action indicator would help?

I went back and read the book, but I still have a lot of questions. Guess I have to wait for you to write more so I can 'discover' some answers.

 

[Nutty171]

two of your screen shots are broken

That happened to me once too. Refreshing the page fixed it.

Spoiler

I think just adding in that line as a thought or direct dialogue would work. Something like, "You struggled to remember your own name? That's odd..." shows that she's wondering/curious about it. It's not bad for her to say she finds it 'incredibly interesting', I just didn't understand what she was even talking about (to be honest, I thought she might have been accusing him of coming up with a fake name, seeing that it is 'John Smith' ) so just clarifying that would help. You don't have to word it the way I did (probably better if you don't actually, it wasn't great )

That's a good idea, thank you! And you (as the player) are not supposed to know what she's talking about yet.

Ah ok, I think I was on about level 3 by the end? (I should have saved...) I did run out of AP a few times after just spamming the attack button, (since it takes you directly to skill/item I didn't notice there was still an escape option until near the end of the demo and ended up fighting every encounter....) but tbf I very rarely play turn based rpgs so I'm not really an expert at combat. (So why did I buy an rpg maker then, well that's a whole different story XD)

I should add escape to the skills and remove that back menu.

Haha no worries, even triple A games sometimes have gaps in their logic. Normally people don't pick up on them/just accept is as part of the world, but I figured it's okay to nitpick a game in early development where you have a chance to change things if you want. Does having magic powers fit into your game world? Other things could just be the tools are too heavy to lift, too blunt to be effective or are covered in gross spores/ something else that would make them unappealing to touch.

John: "Ugh, this place is all covered in webs! Gross! Let's get out of here." <-- Think that would work?

Speaking of animation, I just remembered something about the ancient monument. I think it might be nice to have a visual aspect where either the monument glows or there's a little circle of light around John, just to give the player that sense of 'wow the crystal is glowing!' instead of having to rely on Alice just observing something we can't see.

Ah, yes, I was planning on doing that, but kinda gave up after changing the gem color in the generator didn't work right.

Ah, I never even noticed it! I think because of the lack of interactable objects, I just didn't even bother to try clicking on more things. Maybe having an action indicator would help?

I think that for any book, it's a given that it's readable. Maybe not, and I'm just weird. I'll see what I can do about that though.

I went back and read the book, but I still have a lot of questions. Guess I have to wait for you to write more so I can 'discover' some answers.

I'm looking forward to a bunch of plot holes! XD

^Reading

 

[Rhino]

John: "Ugh, this place is all covered in webs! Gross! Let's get out of here." <-- Think that would work?

Could do. It'd give the player some kind of expectation/explanation about all the spider enemies before they actually face them. I didn't really notice all the webs until after reading the miners journal and realising the spiders were something you'd consciously added rather than it being just an generic kind of 'you're in an abandoned place' monster like the rats. I'd web up the weapons for good measure too, so the player hopefully connects with the 'these are gross, I'm not going to pick them up' idea.

If you want to go even crazier with the webbing, whtdragon has some really big ones.

Ah, yes, I was planning on doing that, but kinda gave up after changing the gem color in the generator didn't work right.

I think just changing it in on the sprite would be too subtle, it is pretty tiny. The idea I had was sort of based off a lantern effect? Like in Echo's video around 2:30 it's just a semi transparent light circle. For a little cutscene it doesn't have to follow the players co-ordinates, but I supposed if you wanted to I think you can make events that work in a proximity/event distance so the player can see for themselves 'when I'm near this ancient monument, the crystal is glowing! Intriguing!' It's just one of those cool little details. Though, without testing it I can't really tell you if it'd work well/be such a pain to set up that it isn't even worth doing so it's a piece of advice you can take or just leave.

 

[Nutty171]

I'd web up the weapons for good measure too, so the player hopefully connects with the 'these are gross, I'm not going to pick them up' idea.

That's a good idea, I should totally add more webs.

If you want to go even crazier with the webbing, whtdragon has some really big ones.

I actually used that for one of the desks on the west side of the cabin.

I think just changing it in on the sprite would be too subtle, it is pretty tiny. The idea I had was sort of based off a lantern effect? Like in Echo's video around 2:30 it's just a semi transparent light circle. For a little cutscene it doesn't have to follow the players co-ordinates, but I supposed if you wanted to I think you can make events that work in a proximity/event distance so the player can see for themselves 'when I'm near this ancient monument, the crystal is glowing! Intriguing!' It's just one of those cool little details. Though, without testing it I can't really tell you if it'd work well/be such a pain to set up that it isn't even worth doing so it's a piece of advice you can take or just leave.

I'm thinking I can just manually edit the sprite to have a small glow, just so that it doesn't obviously not glow when you're near the monument.

P.S. You said you had like a hundred questions about the journal?

 

[Rhino]

I'm thinking that some of the questions I have will be answered by knowing more, so instead of bombarding you with questions and making you explain it all, I'll wait and then if there's things that haven't been answered or are contradicting, I'll let you know

Spoiler

My guess is that the ancient monument in the cave is the artefact described in the journal?
Though the descriptions don't really match up in my mind given that in the journal it's described as something like a 'book' (I guess it's describing a story/has some info?) but for the monument I think at that size it's hard to tell there is any writing. I know the rtp is super limited though. (Personally I always saw that tile as a door, I think it's been used in the essentials add-on as one.) So I wanted to wait and see if my guess was right to possibly suggest editing the tile, though if I'm wrong/there's human error given that the miners are miners and not archaeologists and it was never supposed to be anything like a 'book' then it doesn't need any changes.

 

[Nutty171]

Spoiler

My guess is that the ancient monument in the cave is the artefact described in the journal?

Yep.

Though the descriptions don't really match up in my mind given that in the journal it's described as something like a 'book' (I guess it's describing a story/has some info?) but for the monument I think at that size it's hard to tell there is any writing. I know the rtp is super limited though. (Personally I always saw that tile as a door, I think it's been used in the essentials add-on as one.) So I wanted to wait and see if my guess was right to possibly suggest editing the tile, though if I'm wrong/there's human error given that the miners are miners and not archaeologists and it was never supposed to be anything like a 'book' then it doesn't need any changes.

Well, it has ancient writings on it, (I think, haven't bothered to really stop and look at the tile), and so the miners assume that it's purpose is to store information. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe if there isn't writing on the front, there's writing on the back. (Which I'll have to make note of, of course)

I'm thinking that some of the questions I have will be answered by knowing more, so instead of bombarding you with questions and making you explain it all, I'll wait and then if there's things that haven't been answered or are contradicting, I'll let you know

Well perhaps in a later version of the game (which will include the first town) you can bombard the NPC who wrote the journal with all of your questions.

Seeing as there is very little story in the demo, I'm going to close the poll after a bit and hopefully replace it with a more relevant one.

 

[Nutty171]

Btw, I updated the poll and would really like some votes in it.